Luqman Ameen Abdullah skimmed 20 percent of the profit off the furs, electronics and other items his followers fenced, and he preached that it was OK for them to steal as long as they prayed, FBI agent Gary Leone wrote in an affidavit filed with a criminal complaint against 11 group members.

Abdullah, 53, was killed Wednesday in a shootout with agents after the FBI raided a suburban warehouse the group used. Eight members, including Abdullah's son, have been arrested and authorities were seeking the public's help in capturing the two others. The group members are charged with various federal crimes, chiefly conspiracy to sell stolen goods.

The FBI said that Abdullah, also known as Christopher Thomas, had been an imam, or prayer leader, of a local faction of Ummah, a group that seeks to establish an Islamic state within the U.S. Authorities said that Abdullah preached hate for the government and encouraged his followers to commit violence, especially against police and federal agents.

According to the affidavit, Abdullah told a confidential FBI source that if the government messed with him, "it will be straight-up war."

Andrew Arena, head of the FBI's Detroit office, stressed yesterday that Abdullah's mosque, Masjid Al-Haqq, was in no way representative of the Detroit area's large Muslim community.

"This is a very hybrid radical ideology. I don't know that I'd call it a religion," Arena said.

Among Arab-Americans, there's a fear "this is going to be portrayed as another al Qaeda sleeper cell in the United States, and this is going to bring unwanted attention. . . . That's certainly not the way we feel," Arena said.

The government has not charged Abdullah's followers with terrorism-related charges, and Arena and U.S. Attorney Terrence Berg declined to comment about whether they planned to do so. A criminal complaint is a temporary charge that typically is followed by an indictment.

Berg said Abdullah's group's anti-government beliefs motivated them to commit crimes, but he declined to elaborate.

Rep. Peter Hoekstra, of Michigan, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, said he had talked with FBI Director Robert Mueller and had been told that the agency was trying to determine if the men were a "bunch of thugs with bluster" or possible homegrown jihadists.

The FBI said at least five of the 11 people charged by the government have felony convictions, including Abdullah, who was convicted of assault and carrying a concealed weapon in Detroit in 1981.