John Georgelas: 5 things to know about the "highest ranking American in ISIS"

John Georgelas was an American jihadist who was one of the top-ranking Americans in ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria). John converted to Islam and married Tania Joya before moving to Syria to fight for the Islamic State. Their marriage, however, fell apart when Tania refused to put their children's lives in danger for the sake of John's ideology.

The details of John's marriage to Tania Joya will be the subject of an upcoming Discovery+ documentary titled A Radical Life, which will air on Thursday, October 13, 2022.

Continue reading to learn 5 details about John Georgelas.

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5 details about American jihadist and ISIS leader John Georgelas

John Georgelas converted to Islam post 9/11 attacks

John Thomas Georgelas was born in 1983, to a Greek-American family based in Plano, Texas. According to Graeme Wood's book The Way of Strangers: Encounters with the Islamic State, he was sickly with brittle bones since childhood.

He was also not academically inclined, which was exacerbated by a leg injury. John was irritated by a college instructor's portrayal of Islam and encouraged him to interact with local Muslims. He converted to Islam at a local mosque just before Thanksgiving 2001, on the first day of Ramadan, and sold his pickup truck before flying to Damascus, Syria, to study Arabic.

His actions came at a time when Americans were still reeling from the effects of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

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John Georgelas changed his name to Yahya al-Bahrumi

As is customary among jihadists, John created a new name from his existing one. Yahya al-Bahrumi was born in this manner. "Yahya" stood for John, while Bahrumi (Bahr= sea, rumi= Roman) came from the Roman sea, which was where John's ancestors came from, specifically the island of Crete in the Roman sea.

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John Georgelas gained mastery of Islamic texts, which helped him climb ranks

According to journalist Graeme Wood's book The Way of Strangers: Encounters with the Islamic State, John had "staggering mastery" of Islamic law as well as classical Arabic language and literature. While over 50 American jihadists were reported to have traveled to Syria, the majority of them were "knuckleheads" with little understanding of Islamic theology.

In an excerpt of the book published by The Atlantic, Wood wrote that John acquired the Arabic-English reference work called The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic, and memorized it in six months. The Hans Wehr was followed by the eighth-century Arabic dictionary by al-Khalil al-Farahidi Kitab al-Ayn.

What drew John closer to jihadi-extremism erected a barrier between him and his Texas family. In addition to becoming an Islamic scholar, John was technologically savvy. Wood stated that John had taught himself to program, and that while the rest of the world used Windows and Mac software, John's computers ran on Linux.

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John Georgelas was a close confidante of Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, and trained Musa Cerantonio

John was close to Abu Mohammad al-Adnani, the Islamic State's former Chief strategist and director of foreign terror operations. Musa Cerantonio, a former Australian jihadist and disciple of John aka Yahya, told Wood that John had pushed for the declaration of the caliphate in 2014 because all of the necessary conditions had been met. Wood's article added:

"...the group held and governed territory, and its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was a physically and mentally fit male of Qurayshi descent, capable of ruling according to Sharia. Delaying further would mean disregarding a fundamental obligation of Islam."

John's fears were allayed when Adnani informed him that a caliphate had been declared in secret and that it was only a matter of time before the news became public.

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John Georgelas was married to Tania Joya

John met British-Bangladeshi former jihadi Tania Joya on an online dating website for Muslims. The two became friends because of their childhood physical ailments and views on Islam. Following the former's first visit to London, John and Tania married. They envisioned having seven sons, one for each continent, and raising them as soldiers.

Tania, on the other hand, became less extremist with each child. She wanted to end John's engagement and provide a safety net for her children, but she also wanted to know what was going on in Syria, according to Wood. John duped her and his children into traveling to Syria, only to have them returned to the United States a month later.

Tania stated in the trailer for A Radical Life that she decided to leave John and Syria after he brought home a grenade. Tania fled Syria with her three sons while pregnant and settled with John's parents, who financially supported the children. While the family has not heard from John Georgelas in a long time, he is presumed to have died in the 2017 US bombings in Raqqah.