An Egyptian-born cleric and former imam of Finsbury Park Mosque in London, now incarcerated in a US federal prison. The 2010 opening described his preaching of "a violent and politicised interpretation of Islam, also known as militant Islamism or jihadism." The word survives once in the article today but is gone from the opening, which now says he "preached Islamic fundamentalist views." A reader today learns he held fundamentalist views, and not that the opening once named that preaching militant Islamism or jihadism.
Read line by line and written up by hand.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01. “militant” appeared 1 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 1.
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The opening as it read in 2010
Abu Hamza al-Masri (أبو حمزة المصري Abū Ḥamzah al-Maṣriy ) (born 15 April 1958) is a former night club bouncer and Egyptian Sunni activist known for his preaching of a violent and politicised interpretation of Islam, also known as militant Islamism or jihadism . He is currently in prison in the United Kingdom .1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 369535895.
The opening as it stood in 2005
Condemned by many Muslims as too extreme, he denies any involvement in terrorism . His Finsbury Park Mosque has been linked with Zacarias Moussaoui and Richard Reid .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 16064533.
The opening as it stood in 2015 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
In this Arabic name , the name "al-Masri" is a laqab , not a family name, and the person should be referred to by the given names "Abu Hamza" or "Hamza" (but never "Abu").Mustafa Kamel Mustafa ( ; born 15 April 1958), also known as Abu Hamza al-Masri ( / ɑː b uː ˈ h ʌ m z ə ɑː l ˈ m ɑː s ˌ r iː / أبو حمزة المصري , Abū Ḥamzah al-Maṣrī – literally, the Egyptian father of Hamza), or simply Abu Hamza , is an Egyptian cleric who was the imam of Finsbury Park Mosque in London , England , where he preached Islamic fundamentalism and militant Islamism .In 2004, Hamza was arrested by British police after the United States requested he be extradited to face charges.He was later charged by British authorities with sixteen offences for inciting violence and racial hatred.In 2006, a British court found him guilty of inciting violence, and sentenced him to seven years' imprisonment.On 5 October 2012, after an eight-year legal battle, he was extradited from the UK to the United States to face terrorism charges and on 14 April 2014 his trial began in New York.On 19 May 2014, Hamza was found guilty of eleven terrorism charges by a federal jury in Manhattan.Federal Bureau of Prisons .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 660873165.
The opening as it stood in 2020
Egyptian-born British Islamist terrorist incarcerated in a US federal prison In this Arabic name , the name "al-Masri" is a laqab , not a family name, and the person should be referred to by the given names "Abu Hamza" or "Hamza" (but never "Abu"). Mustafa Kamel Mustafa ( ; born 15 April 1958), also known as Abu Hamza al-Masri ( / ˈ ɑː b uː ˈ h ɑː m z ə ɑː l ˈ m ɑː s r i / ; أبو حمزة المصري , Abū Ḥamzah al-Maṣrī – literally, the Egyptian father of Hamza), the Hook Hand or simply Abu Hamza , is an Egyptian cleric who was the imam of Finsbury Park Mosque in London , England , where he preached Islamic fundamentalism and militant Islamism . In 2004, Hamza was arrested by British police after the United States requested he be extradited to face charges. He was later charged by British authorities with sixteen offences for inciting violence and racial hatred. In 2006, a British court found him guilty of inciting violence, and sentenced him to seven years' imprisonment. On 5 October 2012, after an eight-year legal battle, he was extradited from the UK to the United States to face terrorism charges and on 14 April 2014 his trial began in New York. On 19 May 2014, Hamza was found guilty of eleven terrorism charges by a jury in Manhattan. On 9 January 2015, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.Inmate Locator search for register number 67495-054. Federal Bureau of Prisons .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 963530130.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Egyptian-born British Islamist terrorist incarcerated in a US federal prison In this Arabic name , the name "al-Masri" is a laqab , not a family name, and the person should be referred to by the given names "Abu Hamza" or "Hamza" (but never "Abu"). Mustafa Kamel Mustafa ( ; born 15 April 1958), also known as Abu Hamza al-Masri ( / ˈ ɑː b uː ˈ h ɑː m z ə ɑː l ˈ m ɑː s r i / ; أبو حمزة المصري , Abū Ḥamzah al-Maṣrī – literally, father of Hamza, the Egyptian ), or simply Abu Hamza , is an Egyptian cleric who was the imam of Finsbury Park Mosque in London , England , where he preached Islamic fundamentalist views. The UK tabloid press nicknamed him "Captain Hook" in allusion to the fictional pirate Captain Hook , due to his prosthetic hook devices. In 2004, Hamza was arrested by British police after the United States requested he be extradited to face charges. He was later charged by British authorities with sixteen offences for inciting violence and racial hatred. In 2006, a British court found him guilty of inciting violence, and sentenced him to seven years' imprisonment. On 5 October 2012, after an eight-year legal battle, he was extradited from the UK to the United States to face terrorism charges and on 14 April 2014 his trial began in New York. On 19 May 2014, Hamza was found guilty of eleven terrorism charges by a jury in Manhattan. On 9 January 2015, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Federal Bureau of Prisons . (original), Hamza Hook: a panto villain (reprint)" .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1174485660.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Egyptian-born British Islamist terrorist incarcerated in a US federal prison In this Arabic name , the name "al-Masri" is a laqab , not a family name, and the person should be referred to by the given names "Abu Hamza" or "Hamza" (but never "Abu"). Mustafa Kamel Mustafa ( Arabic : مصطفى كامل مصطفى ; born 15 April 1958), also known as Abu Hamza al-Masri ( / ˈ ɑː b uː ˈ h ɑː m z ə ɑː l ˈ m ɑː s r i / ; أبو حمزة المصري , Abū Ḥamzah al-Maṣrī – literally, father of Hamza, the Egyptian ), or simply Abu Hamza , is an Egyptian cleric who was the imam of Finsbury Park Mosque in London , where he preached Islamic fundamentalist views. The UK tabloid press nicknamed him "Captain Hook" in allusion to the fictional pirate Captain Hook , due to his prosthetic hook devices. In 2004, Hamza was arrested by British police after the United States requested he be extradited to face charges. He was later charged by British authorities with sixteen offences for inciting violence and racial hatred. In 2006, a British court found him guilty of inciting violence, and sentenced him to seven years' imprisonment. On 5 October 2012, after an eight-year legal battle, he was extradited from the UK to the United States to face terrorism charges and on 14 April 2014 his trial began in New York. On 19 May 2014, Hamza was found guilty of eleven terrorism charges by a jury in Manhattan. On 9 January 2015, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Federal Bureau of Investigation . 6 October 2012 . Federal Bureau of Prisons . (original), Hamza Hook: a panto villain (reprint)" . The original article in The Times is available by subscription.There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or templates on this page, but the references will not show without a template or template (see the help page ).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1296382210. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
“militant” appeared 1 times in this article's opening at its peak. Today the opening has none; the body has 1. Read the current article and compare.
2005
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militant
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terror
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islamist
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jihad
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Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined between 2005 and 2010.
Then
fundamentalist islamic cleric and one of the most distinctive radical islamic figures in the united kingdom
Now
former night club bouncer and egyptian sunni activist known for his preaching of a violent and politicised inte
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.