Londonistan is the term for London's role as a base for Islamist militancy in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The 2005 opening described how the activities of London based militants came under scrutiny after the 9/11 hijackings, and how British authorities arrested the Finsbury Park Mosque preacher Abu Hamza, described as leading many militants. Today's opening is a bare definition of the word as a sobriquet, and militant appears only once in the article. A reader today learns that Londonistan is a portmanteau used in a few publications, and not that the term arose from exiled Islamist groups establishing political headquarters in the city.
Read line by line and written up by hand.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-01. “militant” appeared 4 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 2005
The British capital of London was given the perjorative sobriquet Londonistan in the late 1990s owing to the number of exiled Islamist groups that estabished political headquarters in the city, and from where they sought to overthrow Middle Eastern governments they considered ‘heretical’. Britain attractions for Islamist dissidents included its tradition of granting asylum to victims of political repression, commitment to freedom of speech, and critics allege, generous welfare benefits. London itself had a reputation as the centre of the Arab press corp, with leading newspapers such as Al Hayat and Al Quds al Arabi published in the city. Relatively unimpeded by the British authorities, the British capital became the international headquarters for such Islamist groups as Takfir-wal-Hijra , Hizb ut-Tahrir , Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia, Bahrain Freedom Movement and Algerian Armed Islamic Group . The presence of so many active Islamists in London caused tensions with Middle Eastern governments who alleged evidence of many of these groups' involvement in terrorist attacks. After terrorist attacks by Algerian militants in France, Paris too accused the British government of not doing enough to curtail their activities. Foreign governments were particularly angered when the head of Al-Muhajiroun , Omar Bakri Muhammad , claimed he lived in the UK under a "covenant of security" whereby he was left alone by the authorities as long as he did not sanction attacks on British soil. The British government denied the claim. The activities of London based militants came under greater scrutiny after the 911 hijackings , which brought home the vulnerability of western countries to large scale terror attacks. Subsequently, the British government arrested a number of key leaders including Abu Hamza , the preacher of the base for many militants, the Finsbury Park Mosque . Rather than facing internment in the British government’s crackdown after 9/11 many of militants chose to leave the UK, while others went home after domestic political reform, such as Ali Salman who returned to Bahrain to help found the country’s biggest opposition party Al Wefaq . However, senior police officers have warned that despite greater surveillance, a terrorist attack on London on the scale of 9/11 or the Madrid train bombings is ‘inevitable’.1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 17955800.
The opening as it stood in 2010 12 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Londonistan ( Urdu : لندنستان ; Arabic equivalent ليدنس ) is a pejorative sobriquet referring to the British capital of London , and the British Government 's alleged tolerance for Islamists provided they wage their terrorist campaigns outside of Britain.The word is a portmanteau of the British capital and the Persian suffix -stan , meaning "land" (used by several countries in South and Central Asia ).The term has been used in a number of publications, including the The New York Times , Vanity Fair , The Weekly Standard , and in the 2006 book Londonistan: How Britain is Creating a Terror State Within .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 366032337.
The opening as it stood in 2015 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Londonistan is a pejorative sobriquet in use by parts of the media referring to the British capital of London and the British Government's tolerance of the presence of various Islamic groups in London and other major cities of Britain as long as they carry out their controversial agendas, ideologies or terror campaigns outside Britain. The word is a portmanteau of the British capital and the Persian suffix -stan , meaning "land" (used by several countries in South and Central Asia ). The term has been used in a number of publications, including The New York Times , Vanity Fair , The Weekly Standard , and in the 2006 book Londonistan: How Britain is Creating a Terror State Within .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 640425857.
The opening as it stood in 2020 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
" Londonistan " is a sobriquet referring to the British capital of London and the growing Muslim population of late-20th- and early-21st-century London. The word is a portmanteau of the UK's capital and the Persian suffix -stan , meaning "land" used by several countries in South and Central Asia . The term has been used in a number of publications, including The New York Times , Vanity Fair , The Weekly Standard , and in the 2006 book Londonistan: How Britain is Creating a Terror State Within .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 958412346.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Sobriquet referring to London and its growing Muslim population For the book, see Londonistan: How Britain Is Creating a Terror State Within . " Londonistan " is a sobriquet referring to the British capital of London and the growing Muslim population of late-20th- and early-21st-century London. The word is a portmanteau of the UK's capital and the Persian suffix -stan , meaning "land" used by several countries in South and Central Asia . The term has been used in a number of publications, including The New York Times , Vanity Fair , The Weekly Standard , and in the 2006 book Londonistan: How Britain is Creating a Terror State Within .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1169241237.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Sobriquet referring to London and its growing Muslim population For the book, see Londonistan: How Britain Is Creating a Terror State Within . " Londonistan " is a sobriquet referring to the British capital of London and the growing Muslim population of late-20th- and early-21st-century London. The word is a portmanteau of the UK's capital and the Persian suffix -stan , meaning "land", used by several countries in South and Central Asia . The term has been used in a number of publications, including The New York Times , Vanity Fair , The Weekly Standard , and in the 2006 book Londonistan: How Britain is Creating a Terror State Within .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1294016762. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
“militant” appeared 4 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
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
militant
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terror
4
2
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1
1
1
islamist
4
1
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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 2010 and 2020.
Then
pejorative sobriquet referring to the british capital of london
Now
sobriquet referring to the british capital of london and the growing muslim population of late-20th- and early-
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.
