Bilal Philips

Islamic ExtremismIslamic SupremacismPreacherSalafism

Aug 11

**DOB:** 9 September 1926

**Nationality:** Jamaican-Canadian

**Location:** Doha, Qatar
**Ideology/Affiliation:** Islamism/Salafism/Anti-West/Anti-LGBTQ

**Type of Leader:** Islamic Scholar and Founder of International Open University (IOU)

Also spelt/other names: Dr Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips / (formerly Dennis Bradley Philips)

Current status: Islamic Scholar, author, public speaker and lecturer

Biography

Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips is a Jamaican-Canadian preacher, author, and speaker residing in Qatar. He considers himself a Salafi who advocates a traditional, literal form of Islam. Bilal Philips is the son of an Anglican mother and a Presbyterian father. Philips grew up in Jamaica for the first 11 years of his life before moving to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He attended high school in Canada before moving with his family to Malaysia in 1964.

Philips had come across Islam on various occasions during his travels, but it was Muhammad Qutb’s book (Qutb being the younger brother of the mid-20th century radical Islamist preacher Sayyid Qutb) “Islam, The Misunderstood Religion” that convinced him to convert and ended up converting to Islam in February 1972. He graduated from the Islamic University of Madinah with a B.A. and an M.A. in Aqidah (Islamic Theology) from King Saud University in Riyadh. He then finished his PhD thesis, Exorcism in Islam, at the Lampeter Campus in 1993.

Philips hosted Islamic religious revival gatherings for US troops stationed in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, during the First Gulf War, during which approximately three thousand men converted to Islam, according to Philips himself. A counter-extremism researcher, J.M. Berger, would later state that some of the US military men and women who participated in Philips’ gatherings were eventually recruited as volunteer trainers in the 1992-95 Bosnian War. Philips established and lectured at the Dar al Ber Society’s Islamic Information Center in Dubai, and he was an Islamic consultant and speaker for Sheikh Eid Charity’s Islamic Information wing in Qatar.

Philips owns a solid social media following with 10M+ followers collectively. The respective social media platforms verify all of his accounts. Philips denies being an extremist, arguing that his words are misquoted and that his maltreatment by immigration officials is more analogous to Nelson Mandela’s captivity during the years of Apartheid in South Africa.

Due to his extremist views, he has been banned from entering various countries, including Australia, Bangladesh, Denmark, Kenya, Germany, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

7.9M followers

148K followers

1.2M followers

1M followers

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Bilal Philips

See personal website

Evidence of Hate Speech/Incitement:

June 2020: Joshua Lipowsky, a senior counter-extremism researcher, warned that Philips’ extremist teachings may radicalise students and encouraged UK universities to distance themselves from it. He stated that “Philips claims to abhor violence but he preaches an ultra-conservative form of Islam that leads people down a path to radicalization that concludes violence is necessary for the greater good.”

Similarly, Steven Merley, a global extremism researcher, claimed that Philips used the IOU to spread his Salafist ideology: Despite his [Bilal Philips] banning from the UK and other countries, Bilal Philips, from his home in Qatar, is still able to direct influence through supportive Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi networks around the world.”

September 2014: Philips was detained on suspicion of promoting terrorism and recruiting people to conduct terrorist activities in the Philippines and he was eventually blacklisted. According to a Philippine immigration officer, “he’s [Bilal Philips] classified as undesirable because of his extremist views and the possible link to terrorist groups,” and “this is not really considered to be suicide in the true sense. This is a military action and human lives are sacrificed in that military action. This is really the bottom line for it and that's how we should look at it,” he added.

June 2010: According to The Manila Times, Philips was barred from entering the UK for condoning suicide bombings. He claimed that “when you look at the mind of the suicide bomber, it’s a different intention altogether, the enemy is either too heavily armed, or they don’t have the type of equipment that can deal with it.”