Via Daily Mail:
One of the extremist killers of Lee Rigby has revealed that he was inspired to convert to Islam by a hardline preacher who advocates beating women and killing gays.
After he was convicted of murder this month, Michael Adebowale wrote in a letter that the radical sermons of Khalid Yasin had taught him ‘the purpose of life’. […]
He said that he had converted to Islam in 2009 after investigating the religion and listening to a sermon by Yasin.
‘I have always been a fairly spiritual person in terms of belief in the unseen, and I suppose because most of my friends at that time were Muslims,’ Adebowale wrote.
‘So the combination of the two factors caused me to start reading up and learning more about Islam.
‘The more I learned the more interested I became, which led to me listening to a lecture by Sheikh Khalid Yasin – you may have heard of him, he is based in the U.S.
‘The title of this lecture is called “What is the Purpose of Life?” After hearing this I had to conclude that the purpose of life is to acknowledge and worship the creator.’
Yasin, 67, is a former gang member from New York City who grew up in a series of foster homes before converting to Islam as a teenager.
He has attracted attention with his extremist views, telling a documentary that gay people should be put to death, and has been accused of encouraging men to beat their wives.
His other beliefs include the claim that HIV was created by the U.S. government to oppress the third world, and that Muslims should not go to university because intellectual study is anti-Islamic.