A Call to Arms, for Educational Purposes

Friends, but not those ones

He goes by Abu Ahmad, a young and increasingly popular preacher, according to The Sydney Morning Herald, which revealed the sermon on September 28. He teaches at the Al Bayyinah Islamic Centre, opened in Springvale in 2024. In mid-July, he told the faithful not to "take the Jews and the Christians for friends", almost word for word the Quran's verse 5:51. Devotion to Allah, he went on, also demands declared enmity towards His enemies, since opposition of the heart is not enough:

"It is to declare opposition: indeed, to take up arms against his enemies."— Abu Ahmad, sermon posted by the Al Bayyinah Islamic Centre, July 2026

Among the enemies of Islam, he listed atheists, Jews, Christians, modernists, Zionists and communists, who supposedly want to make Muslims "the ass of the chosen people". In another sermon, the Daily Mail reports, he explained that living in the West is "prohibited", since the risk of losing one's Islam is too high. He preaches in Springvale.

The Bankstown branch

Al Bayyinah enjoys the backing of Wissam Haddad, a Sydney preacher whom a court found to have breached racial discrimination law with antisemitic sermons. Haddad urged his "Melbourne brothers" to attend its weekly prayers, and Abu Ahmad reportedly preached against the "infidel" West at Haddad's Bankstown prayer hall in early 2025. In 2025, Australia’s public broadcaster, the ABC described Al Bayyinah as part of a pro-Islamic State network revived by Haddad. In December 2025, an attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach killed 15 people. One of the two alleged gunmen reportedly frequented the Bankstown hall, closed in January. Haddad denies any involvement, and the Herald stresses that nothing suggests Abu Ahmad is under investigation or supports the Islamic State.

Free speech for every pulpit

After Bondi, the government wanted to ban hate groups and criminalise the promotion of hatred. In January, short of votes, it kept the bans and dropped the hatred offence: the Nationals feared for the free speech of conservatives, the Greens for criticism of Israel's war in Gaza. Hizb ut-Tahrir was banned in March. Yet the Melbourne sermon is "more radical than anything Hizb ut-Tahrir ever said", says Josh Roose, who studies extremism at Deakin University. The preacher, he adds, could always argue that his call to arms was colloquial.

Twelve years, in theory

What survived is not nothing: a religious leader who urges violence against a group now risks up to 12 years in prison. Pauline Hanson, of One Nation, wants powers to close "extremist" mosques, which no federal law provides, and asks whether taxpayers fund such groups. Home Affairs says Al Bayyinah received no grant funding. The Family First party asks the federal police to investigate, and Allegra Spender, the independent MP whose seat includes Bondi, wants stronger hate speech laws.

Just a reading

According to the site Matzav, Abu Ahmad says the clip was cut from a lesson in which he read and explained a scholarly text on al-wala' wal-bara', loyalty to Muslims and disavowal of unbelievers. That teaching, he says, does not allow harming peaceful non-Muslims. The Australian National Imams Council, which represents more than 400 imams, "unequivocally" condemned any call to take up arms against civilians, while rejecting any collective blame on Muslims.

The January law counts as a religious official anyone who "provides religious instruction". The preacher's defence: he was providing religious instruction.