Yahya al-Bahrumi | |
|---|---|
| Personal | |
| Born | John Thomas Georgelas December 2, 1983 |
| Died | presumably October 2017 (aged 33) |
| Religion | Islam |
| Nationality | American |
| Spouse | Tania Joya (divorced) Unidentified Jamaican wife (divorced) Unidentified Syrian wife (widowed) |
| Children | 4 sons, 2 daughters |
| Movement | Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant |
| Main interest(s) | Jihad, Caliphate |
| Other names | Yahya Abu Hassan; Ioannis Georgilakis |
| Occupation | Islamic Scholar, Militant |
Yahya al-Bahrumi (born John Thomas Georgelas, also known as Ioannis Georgilakis and used the kunya Yahya Abu Hassan; December 2, 1983 – October 2017) was an American jihadist, Islamic scholar, and supporter of the Islamic State (ISIL). Having converted to Islam, he studied to the point of developing "a staggering mastery of Islamic law and classical Arabic language and literature". He was close to Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, the ISIL spokesman, chief strategist, and director of foreign terror operations.[1]
A supporter of the re-establishment of a Caliphate, al-Bahrumi had sufficient connections and support among Iraqi and Syrian Sunni extremists to plan to threaten Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi with war if al-Baghdadi failed to declare a caliphate.[1] About a year after a caliphate was declared in mid-2014, al-Bahrumi was able to join the Islamic State in its capital of Raqqah, where he became a "leading producer of high-end English-language propaganda" for IS.[1]
In his social media and propaganda work, Bahrumi urged hatred for non-Muslims, called for the killing of Muslim leaders who did not support the Islamic State,[2] and maintained irhab (terrorism) was "declared obligatory" by "notable scholars" and "supported verbatim by the Quran itself."[3] He was also a follower of the ultra-literalist Islamic legal school Ẓāhirī.[4] It is believed that Bahrumi died during the 2017 Mayadin offensive, at the age of 33.