{"id":631092,"date":"2026-09-29T13:18:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T13:18:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/631092\/"},"modified":"2026-09-29T13:18:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T13:18:13","slug":"imams-council-condemns-melbourne-islamic-preachers-call-to-take-up-arms-against-enemies-melbourne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/631092\/","title":{"rendered":"Imams\u2019 council condemns Melbourne Islamic preacher\u2019s call to \u2018take up arms\u2019 against enemies | Melbourne"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Australia\u2019s peak body for imams says it is \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d about reports a Melbourne-based Islamic preacher called for followers to \u201ctake up arms against his enemies\u201d and not take \u201cJews and the Christians for friends\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The Australian National Imams\u2019 Council (ANIC) released a statement on Tuesday after Nine newspapers revealed the preacher who goes by the name Abu Ahmad made the comments during a sermon in July.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Reading from a book chapter, Ahmad said Muslims should not \u201ctake the Jews and the Christians for friends\u201d in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/Da7hWq5mrqR\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&amp;stkn=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">a video posted to the social media feed<\/a> of Melbourne-based Al Bayyinah Islamic Centre in July.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cFor the sake of Allah, it includes the obligation to declare enmity for his sake, opposition for the sake of Allah. It is to declare opposition, indeed, to take up arms against his enemies, to shun them, and to stay far from them both in word and deed. This proves that simple opposition of the spirit is not enough and that it must be complete by honouring of your commitment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cIf the aim of the enemies of Islam, whether they are atheists, or Jews, or Christians, or modernists, or Zionists, or communists, is the emasculation of \u2026 the Muslims and the erosion of their unique character in order to make them the ass of the chosen people, as it is put in <a href=\"https:\/\/encyclopedia.ushmm.org\/content\/en\/article\/protocols-of-the-elders-of-zion\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the protocols of the elders of Zion<\/a>, then the urgency of this issue should become clear to every Muslim,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><a data-link-name=\"standard link button Primary\" data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/email-newsletters?CMP=copyembed&amp;CMP=emailbutton\" class=\"dcr-rh233e\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">In an Instagram post on Monday, the Al Bayyinah Islamic Centre <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/Dd1K3QvzF8m\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&amp;stkn=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">included a statement from the preacher<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cThe statements the article is attributing to me were from a passage of a book that I was reading during a lesson on al-Wal\u0101\u02be wal-Bar\u0101\u02be. They were not a personal call from me for Muslims to attack Christians, Jews or other non-Muslims,\u201d the post signed off by Ahmad said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The post attached a video which he said was an \u201cexplanation of that very passage from the same lesson\u201d and explained it \u201cdoes not permit harming, oppressing or being unjust towards peaceful non-Muslims.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cUnfortunately, quoting the book without including the explanation that followed gives a completely different impression of what was being taught,\u201d the post said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">ANIC said it \u201cstrongly and unequivocally condemns any call by any religious or non-religious preacher, leader or individual to take up arms against civilians, religious communities or the Australian people\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">ANIC said it would not make findings about the \u201cindividual or the precise context of the reported remarks\u201d until it could properly review material.<\/p>\n<p><a data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" href=\"#EmailSignup-skip-link-12\" class=\"dcr-76akua\">skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter |When needed<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-vf9hps\">Sign up to Breaking News Australia<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-djbwnz\">Get the most important news as it breaks<\/p>\n<p><img src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/1790687893_749_2998.jpg\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"dcr-gx9601\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"EmailSignup-skip-link-12\" tabindex=\"0\" aria-label=\"after newsletter promotion\" role=\"note\" class=\"dcr-76akua\">after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">ANIC reiterated it \u201ccategorically rejects incitement to violence, hatred or harm against any person or community\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">\u201cThe safety, security and wellbeing of Australia and the Australian people are fundamental responsibilities that Australian Muslims, Imams and religious leaders must uphold. Islamic teachings require Muslims to honour the sanctity of human life, fulfil their responsibilities to society and contribute positively to the communities and country in which they live.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The peak body called on all religious leaders, regardless of faith, to exercise responsibility in their public statements. It added that the alleged conduct of an individual should not be used to condemn or blame an entire faith or community.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The Albanese government was forced to abandon anti-vilification laws that would have given authorities greater powers to crack down on religious leaders who promote hatred on the basis of religions, race, gender or sexuality after it failed to gain support from the Nationals and the Greens.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">On Tuesday, the independent federal MP Allegra Spender <a href=\"https:\/\/www.smh.com.au\/politics\/federal\/hanson-spender-both-call-for-crack-down-on-hate-preachers-20260929-p610z8.html\" data-link-name=\"in body link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">told Nine newspapers<\/a> the comments showed \u201cwhy we needed stronger and nationally consistent hate speech legislation\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia\u2019s peak body for imams says it is \u201cdeeply concerned\u201d about reports a Melbourne-based Islamic preacher called for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-631092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}