Clerics & Preachers

Clerics & Preachers

‘I’m elated’: Scenes as Aussie Muslims celebrate Hamas in south-west Sydney As images of the devastation continued to emerge from Israel, there was celebration in Sydney’s west — with one Muslim preacher declaring 'it’s a day of pride.'

October 9, 2023   

(News.com.au) A prominent Muslim preacher was filmed declaring “it’s a day of victory” to a roaring crowd in Sydney’s south-west on Sunday night amid violent scenes between Hamas and Israel. Wild scenes broke out in Lakemba and surrounding neighbourhoods as hundreds of […]

Academics & Education

Germany’s first cohort of locally trained imams graduates Germany set up its own training school for imams due to the large number of foreign-trained Islamic religious leaders. The issue now is the lack of jobs for the graduates.

September 30, 2023   

(Deutsche Welle) Twenty-four Muslims from across Germany formally passed their imam training at the country’s new Islamkolleg Deutschland in the northwestern city of Osnabrück on Saturday. The graduates, who included men and women, received their first certificate of completion after attending a two-year part-time course. […]

Arts & Entertainment

Birmingham police pull out of controversial Islamic conference after sparking outrage Speakers at the LPM conference have made charged remarks about non-Muslims and compared Israeli policy to the Nazis

September 29, 2023   

(GB News) West Midlands Police has pulled out of exhibiting at a religious conference this weekend after a GB News investigation uncovered a litany of controversial remarks by the speakers. The Birmingham police were set to exhibit at the LPM Conference, hosted […]

Clerics & Preachers

Pressure for investigation into ‘dangerous’ association between UK imams and Taliban A group of British mosque leaders and Islamic scholars held meeting with the Taliban on a 'fact-finding mission'

September 5, 2023   

(National-UAE) Afghan activists are calling for an investigation into British imams who met Taliban ministers amid fears they could have been influenced by the regime’s strict ideology. Hundreds of people including women’s rights campaigners and former Afghan politicians have signed a petition […]

Clerics & Preachers

Antisemitic Egyptian sheikh was to be hosted by Ottawa-funded Muslim group Nashaat Ahmed was pulled from the speaker list of the Muslim Association of Canada's annual convention after inquiries from the Post

September 1, 2023   

(National Post) Another year, another conference, another tableau of speakers associated with antisemitism, homophobia, misogyny and hatred. The convening organization is not the grotesque Goyim Defense League, a Hitler-admiring American neo-fascist groupuscule linked to a spate of graffiti, leaflets and posters the […]

Academics & Education

Taxpayers’ funding to controversial mosque halted amid investigation The Green Lane Masjid and Community Centre was set to receive £2.2million before GB News raised concerns about controversial speeches

August 25, 2023   

(GB News) A Birmingham mosque with a long history of hosting controversial speeches recently awarded millions in taxpayers’ cash has had its grant paused after a GB News investigation. The Green Lane Masjid and Community Centre in Birmingham was awarded £2.2million from […]

Clerics & Preachers

Muslim preacher warns it’s ‘haram’ to watch the Matildas A Muslim preacher in Melbourne has warned fellow believers not to get swept up in the Matildas fever gripping Australia.

August 21, 2023   

(News.com.au) A Muslim preacher in Melbourne has warned fellow believers not to get swept up in the Matildas fever gripping Australia, reminding his followers that it’s “haram” to watch women’s sport. Takeadean Mohtadi, imam at the MyCentre mosque in Broadmeadows, said in […]

Clerics & Preachers

UK probing Islamic center linked to Iran

August 20, 2023   

(Iran International) The UK Charity Commission has begun investigating an Iran-linked British foundation, which has hosted hardline Islamic clerics and paramilitary figures. According to the Sunday Times, the watchdog, which regulates registered charities in [the] UK, opened a compliance case into the […]

Clerics & Preachers

GOP reps raise alarm bells over Iran’s influence in ‘American religious institutions’ GOP reps demand to know if Biden administration has strategy to counter Iranian regime activities in US

August 1, 2023   

(Fox) Republicans in Congress have issued a tough letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland and Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines warning about the influence of Iran’s terror ideology in at least four U.S.-based mosques and centers. The GOP letter, exclusively obtained […]

Clerics & Preachers

Belgian imams can now receive salaries from abroad, says Belgian Constitutional Court Court rules that Flemish region decree prohibiting direct or indirect support or financing to places of worship from abroad violated Constitution

July 21, 2023   

(Anadolu) Belgium’s top court has issued a decision opening the way for Muslim imams in the country’s Flemish region to get salaries from abroad and similar arrangements. In October 2021, a decree was issued in the Flemish region prohibiting direct or indirect […]

Clerics & Preachers

Muslim groups condemn Riikka Purra’s ‘black sacks’ blog comment Purra's 'black sacks' comment, made in 2019, presumably referred to burqas, the full-cover garments worn by some Muslim women.

July 20, 2023   

(Yle) A total of 26 Muslim groups and organisations in Finland have issued a joint statement condemning a blog comment written in 2019 by the country’s finance minister, Riikka Purra (Finns). Purra’s comment, in Finnish but translated here in English, stated: “There […]

Academics & Education

Radical Islamist free to give Birmingham lecture despite pro-beheading comments Bangladeshi cleric Enayet Ullah Abbasi has given a slew of extreme speeches, slamming the queen and praising 9/11 terrorists

June 20, 2023   

(GB News) An Islamist cleric who said critics of the Prophet Mohammed should have their heads “chopped off” has been allowed into the UK to speak at an event. Sick Enayet Ullah Abbasi previously slammed the late Queen Elizabeth II for endorsing […]

Clerics & Preachers

France deports Salafist preacher accused of ‘radicalising Muslims’ to Algeria Salafist preacher Abderrahim Sayah was deported from France to Algeria after being accused of 'radicalising' Muslims in Hautmont

June 15, 2023   

(New Arab) The French government has deported an Algerian Salafist preacher who was accused of glorifying terrorism, French media reported on Wednesday. Abderrahim Sayah, who founded the As-Sunnah mosque in Hautmont which was shut down by authorities in 2018, was deported to Algeria on instructions from […]

Academics & Education

More Islamic lessons in Swiss schools? Knowledge about Islam can prevent radicalisation, so says a new study which advises offering more Islamic lessons in public schools. But the hurdles are high.

May 5, 2023   

(Swiss Info) With a “Salam aleikum,” teacher Nimetullah Veseli greets the pupils of year four in the Kirchacker school building. Veseli stands in front of the six boys and six girls in the classroom in Neuhausen, Schaffhausen. Wearing jeans and a white […]

Clerics & Preachers

Muslim preacher Mohamed Shaar’s Pride tirade A prominent Muslim preacher has come under fire for a raft of highly [offensive] messages about Australia’s gay community on his social media account.

March 6, 2023   

(News.com.au) A prominent Muslim preacher has come under fire for a raft of highly offensive social media posts about Australia’s gay community. Mohamed Shaar, who works as a natural healer and authorised marriage celebrant at Sydney’s Ruqyah Centre in south-western Sydney, regularly […]

Clerics & Preachers

Cleric is convicted in New York of supporting ISIS while in Jamaica Abdullah el-Faisal, a Jamaican who was an outspoken supporter of the Islamic State, was the first person to face trial under New York State terror laws passed after Sept. 11.

January 26, 2023   

(NY Times) For years, Abdullah el-Faisal, a Jamaican-born cleric, promoted an extreme form of Islam that advocated killing nonbelievers. In Britain, his incitements sent him to prison in 2003. He was kicked out of Kenya in 2010. At home in Jamaica, he […]

Clerics & Preachers

‘Imam of Peace’ calls on Arabs, Muslims to embrace Israel Hassen Chalghoumi strives to bring people together to fight antisemitism and Islamism, more specifically political Islam.

January 15, 2023   

(JNS) Born in Tunisia in 1972, Hassen Chalghoumi received his undergraduate degree from a university in Damascus before studying theology in Pakistan. The father of five children, he arrived in 1996 in France, where he became the imam of the Drancy mosque […]

Clerics & Preachers

Imam Iquioussen sent back to Morocco

January 13, 2023   

(Brussels Times) Hassan Iquioussen, the Moroccan imam accused by French authorities of spreading hate, was sent back to Morocco on Friday, Belgium’s state secretary for asylum and migration, Nicole de Moor, reported. Iquioussen had fled to Belgium in summer after France decided […]

Clerics & Preachers

Belgium wants to deport imam Hassan Iquioussen to Morocco Morocco’s government canceled a consular pass for imam Iquioussen’s deportation in September 2022.

January 1, 2023   

(Morocco World News) Authorities in Belgium are seeking to deport Moroccan imam Hassan Iquioussen to Morocco. News outlet BFMTV quoted sources that Belgium will deport the imam directly to Morocco. Belgian authorities arrested Iquioussen in September of last year. The imam has […]