# Abdulqadir Mumin (Cabdiqaadir Muumin)

> Abdulqadir Mumin: preacher in Sweden and Britain, al-Shabaab figure in Puntland, founder of the Islamic State in Somalia in 2015, and his reported role in the group's wider network.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/people/abdulqadir-mumin/
Last checked: 2026-11-12
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## In short

Abdulqadir Mumin leads, or has led, the [Islamic State in Somalia](/en/institutions/islamic-state-somalia/), the armed group based in the mountains of [Bari](/en/regions/bari/) region. This page records his public role from the sources, without taking sides.

## Background

Wikipedia records that he was born in [Qandala](/en/regions/qandala/), in today's [Puntland](/en/states/puntland/), in the early 1950s, and is Majerteen (Ali Saleban). He lived in Gothenburg, Sweden, from about 1990 to 2003, then moved to the United Kingdom ([Wikipedia, Abdul Qadir Mumin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul_Qadir_Mumin)). AFP reported in January 2025 that he gained British citizenship and was a preacher at mosques in [London](/en/diaspora/london/) and Leicester and in online videos in the 2000s ([Al-Monitor, AFP, 5 January 2025](https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2025/01/quiet-financier-islamic-states-elusive-strongman)).

## In al-Shabaab

Wikipedia records that he left Britain for Somalia in late 2010, after the UK security service investigated him, and joined [al-Shabaab](/en/history/al-shabaab/); AFP reported that he burned his British passport on arrival and became a propagandist for the movement (Wikipedia; Al-Monitor, AFP). Al-Shabaab sent him to Puntland in 2012, and he took over its fighters in the Galgala area after [Mohamed Said Atom](/en/people/mohamed-said-atom/) left in 2014 ([Wikipedia, Islamic State – Somalia Province](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_%E2%80%93_Somalia_Province)).

## The Islamic State in Somalia

On 22 October 2015 he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. Only a small number of the local fighters followed him at first (Wikipedia). On 31 August 2016 the US State Department designated him a Specially Designated Global Terrorist (Wikipedia).

AFP reported in January 2025 that analysts saw him as the most powerful figure in the Islamic State's global network, without the formal title of leader. Tore Hamming of the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation called him "the most powerful one". An unnamed European intelligence official told AFP that money and fighters were sent from Somalia to other branches in Africa and beyond (Al-Monitor, AFP).

On 31 May 2024 a US air strike southeast of Bosaso targeted him (Wikipedia). Puntland's offensive against the group from January 2025 is described on the [Puntland security forces](/en/institutions/puntland-security-forces/) page.

## Sources differ

- **His current post.** Wikipedia records that Abdirahman Fahiye Isse Mohamud replaced him as head of the Somali branch in 2023 and that he leads the wider al-Karrar office; other reports still describe him as the branch's leader.
- **Whether he is alive.** Some reports said he was killed in the 2024 strike; AFP treated him as alive in 2025.
- **Birth year.** Given as between 1950 and 1953.

## Read the primary sources yourself

- AFP, "The quiet financier: Islamic State's elusive strongman" (2025), via Al-Monitor: [article](https://www.al-monitor.com/originals/2025/01/quiet-financier-islamic-states-elusive-strongman).

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