It has been claimed that the teenage jihadi bride, Sharmeena Begum, as well as three of her school friends, Amira Abase, Kadiza Sultana, and Shamina Begum, allegedly fled to Syria to join Islamic State after being radicalised at a women's charity based at one of Britain's biggest mosques.
It is claimed that jihadi bride, Sharmeena Begum (16), recently married a Syrian IS fighter.
Family members as well as Islamic leaders are said to have initially blamed the internet for the radicalisation of the four schoolgirls from Bethnal Green Academy, East London. However, there are now claims that Sharmeena Begum, one of the youngest British teenagers to have joined IS at age 15, was first allegedly radicalised in the East London Mosque, based in Whitechapel. It is further alleged that she was radicalised by women from a group called Islamic Forum of Europe (IFE). There are claims that Begum then allegedly groomed her three friends.
The IFE have previously been revolved in controversy as one of its founders is a suspected Muslim extremist, who was accused of murdering 18 people, as well as war crimes in Bangladesh.
Sharmeena Begum's father, Mohammed Nizam Uddin (38), a waiter in an Indian restaurant, revealed that his daughter's behaviour significantly changed after the demise of his wife, Shahnaz Begum (33), who passed away of lung cancer in January 2014.
Begum used to be like any contemporary girl, who would enjoy listening to music and watching TV. She had aspirations of becoming a doctor, hence, she used to study hard.
However, after the death of her mother, she began attending the East London Mosque regularly, as well as started to wear the hijab.
Her father did not feel alarmed as he felt that his daughter's sudden interest in Islam was her way of coping with the death of her mother.
He reportedly said, “She used to tell me to take her to the East London Mosque as she wanted to go and pray there. Sometimes she used to call me to pick her up from there.”
Although Uddin did not directly blame the mosque or its groups for the radicalisation of his daughter, Begum's step-uncle, Baki Miah (35), allegedly said that the rest of the family blamed the IFE's women's group for brainwashing the girl's mind.
“They told her things like, if she goes and dies in Syria, she would go to paradise, where she would meet her mother. I am 500 per cent sure that she was groomed at the East London Mosque. She was spending most of her time in the mosque...”.
