Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips is a Jamaican-Canadian Islamic scholar and professor who converted to Islam in the 1970s. 3
Philips has written 50 books and claims that he and other Muslim chaplains converted 3,000 U.S. service members during the 1990s while also founding the online International Open University (IOU) in 2007. 9
Philips founded and directed the Islamic Studies department of Preston University in Ajman, United Arab Emirates in 2002, as well as the Islamic Studies Academy in Doha, Qatar in 2007. 11 11
Alleged Extremism
In a lecture, Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips claimed that suicide bombers are not really committing suicide, which would be against Islamic law. Instead, he suggested they were carrying out “a military action and human lives are sacrificed in that military act.” 16
In 2022, in response to a question about his views on suicide bombings, Philips said he was taken out of context. He cited an incident of Palestinians suicide-bombing a bus of Israeli troops in 1995 as a justifiable use of suicide bombings, and differentiated that from suicide bombings of civilians, which he said was “haram,” or impermissible under Islamic law. 18
In 2011, Philips was banned from re-entering Germany. 20 In 2014, Philips was also banned from both Bangladesh and the Philippines, where he was accused of “inciting and recruiting people to conduct terrorist activities.” 23 He claimed that he was not endorsing the murder of homosexuals in Islamic states, but rather explaining the practice. 25 All four universities denied any relationship to Philips. 25
In May 2017, Philips was banned from Denmark for two years “in order to prevent hate speech and protect public order.” 0){
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