Bilal Philips

Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips is a Jamaican-born Canadian Islamic scholar and author who is the founder and chancellor of the International Open University, and who lives in Qatar. He has been described as a Salafi who advocates a traditional, literal form of Islam.
He has written, translated and commented on over 50 Islamic books translated into multiple languages and available online, and has appeared or presented on numerous national and satellite television channels, including Saudi TV, Sharjah TV, Ajman TV, Islam Channel, Huda TV, and Peace TV.
Throughout his career, Philips has become the subject of many controversies, resulting in him being banned from entering the United Kingdom, Australia, Denmark and Kenya, banned from re-entering Germany, ordered to leave Bangladesh, and deported from the Philippines. He was also named by the US government as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 [World Trade Center bombing]. Despite restrictions put on him by Western states, his "ideas and activism are important in understanding Salafism" in the West and among the African diaspora.

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Biography

Early life

Philips was born in Kingston, Jamaica, to high school teachers Bradley Philips and Joyce McDermott. Philips has one brother and one sister, as well as an adopted brother. Philips was raised a Christian, with his mother being an Anglican and his father a Presbyterian.
Philips spent the first 11 years of childhood in Jamaica, before migrating to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He attended Jarvis Collegiate Institute for junior high and Northview Heights Collegiate Institute for high school from 1962 to 1965. Philips moved with his family to Sabah, East Malaysia in 1964, as his parents were part of the Colombo Plan.

Education

Philips attended Simon Fraser University in Vancouver from 1967 to 1970, where he took biochemistry. Philips had been interested in communism and black nationalism in school, but encountered Islam several times in his travels. The book that won him over was Islam, The Misunderstood Religion by Muhammad Qutb. He converted to Islam in February 1972, giving Shahada in the presence of Abdullah Hakim Quick.
He received his B.A. degree from the Islamic University of Madinah in 1979 and his M.A. in ʿAqīdah from the King Saud University in Riyadh in 1985, then to the University of Wales, St. David's University College. There at the Lampeter Campus he completed his 1993 PhD thesis, Exorcism in Islam.

Preaching and career

Philips taught Islamic studies for a decade at Manarat al-Riyadh School in Riyadh and was an Arabic and Islamic studies teacher in the American University of Dubai for 10 years as well. He also lectures at the Ajman University (AU) in the United Arab Emirates. Philips set up an Islamic Studies department of Preston University in Ajman in 2002 and set up the Islamic Studies Academy in Qatar in 2007.
During the First Gulf War, Philips organized Islamic religious revival meetings for U.S. troops stationed in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, during which over three thousand soldiers converted to Islam. According to counter-extremism author J.M. Berger, some of the US military men and women who participated in his revival program were later recruited as volunteer trainers in the 1992–95 Bosnian War. Philips founded and taught at the Islamic Information Center in Dubai, under the Dar al Ber Society, and in Qatar he was an Islamic consultant and lecturer for the Islamic Information wing of Sheikh Eid Charity.

Islamic Online University

Philips founded the Islamic Online University in Qatar in the year of 2001.

Views

Western culture/civilization

Bilal Philips has called himself a "moderate" in protest against allegations that he is an extremist, calling the accusations "appalling" and "baseless".
According to The Courier-Mail newspaper, he "once wrote, 'Western culture, led by the United States, is the enemy of Islam'".
Philips denied this in an interview in the Muslim online magazine MuslimMatters.org, claiming the statement comes from Samuel P. Huntington's ideas in his work the Clash of Civilisations, about the efforts of "globalized western civilization" to "impose" their "culture throughout the world".
Nonetheless, he is highly critical of Western society, alleging that western news magazines have proclaimed that "western culture and society is dying", listing as evidence the rise of wife swapping, teenage and illegitimate births, sexually transmitted disease; and that what westerners see as "progress" and "sophistication" is actually the "death throes" of western civilization. The Counter Extremism Project quotes him as saying "... Europeans,... had gone around and smashed up everybody else's society, so they had to justify the destruction of human civilization by promoting their own superiority over others. Those feelings are expressed in much of their literature, in films, on television and so forth." He is on record as calling Jews "filth", according to the Jewish Chronicle.

Monotheism/Tawheed

Philips stresses that tawheed is of crucial importance in Islamic belief and "the basis" of the religion of Islam, in his work The Fundamentals of Tawheed. Those who have deviated from Islam, joining or founding heretical sects, try to "neutralize" tawheed. Philips warns that some seek the "destruction of Islam and misguidance of its followers", but being unable to oppose and destroy Islam militarily, "outwardly" pretend to accept Islam while working in secret "to destroy the religion from within".
Monotheism may be defined as the belief that there is only one God, but actually involves much more. Some of the concepts of tawhid include:

Predestination, the belief that all of life's events have been determined by God ahead of time. Whether an occurrence appears to be good fortune or bad fortune, fair and unfair, appears to be logical or make no sense at all, it is all part of God's plan. Believers will experience "fear, hunger, loss of wealth and life" as tests from God. Consequently, common popular habits that might appear to be harmless — believing in charms, amulets, and omens as good or bad luck — are actually "grave sins" against tawheed.
Opposition to belief in "free will". The idea may have infiltrated Islam from an early Christian convert.
Literal belief in the attributes of God mentioned in scripture – such as seeing and hearing. Belief that these are figures of speech is heresy.
Divine law and the need for its reintroduction. In the many "so-called" Muslim countries, governments now rule according to "imported capitalist or communist constitutions", and Islamic law is either "totally extinct" or relegated to a few areas of "minor importance". Accepting non-Islamic law is shirk and an act of kufr, and violation of a type of tawheed called Tawhid al-Ibadah. This is because shirk is not just praying to/worshiping more than one God, it is obeying anyone other than God. It is fard for "those in a position to reintroduced Islamic law" to do so; it is obligatory for those not in a position to act to speak out against non-Islamic law, and call for the implementation of shari'ah."

Marriage, women, sex

Philips bemoans the fact that in western society very few women
He preaches that the physical differences between men and women mean that rather than their being equal, as contemporary Western society teaches, under Islamic law the two genders have different but "complementary roles" in society, and that a natural hierarchy gives men the role of leading and women the role of obeying. In support of his position he quotes a sahih hadith where Muhammad says:
Other roles of men include being "protectors and maintainers of women", being "kind, gentle and helpful" to wives, and being prepared to "defend and enlarge the borders of Islam to the point of bearing arms".
Obedience to husbands is both an important role and religious duty of wives.
Attending to the needs of her husband is the wife's primary responsibility in marriage. A woman is thus forbidden to leave her husband's home to visit friends or relatives without her husband's permission; there is no such thing as rape in marriage in Islam, because it is the husband's right to have sex with his wife when he pleases.
Philips points out another Sahih hadith where Muhammad states:
She must also obey his orders to bath after intercourse, after menstruation or childbirth so as to achieve ritual purity; she must seek his permission before fasting, keep his home "comfortable and pleasant", and not present herself to her husband with "unkempt hair or slovenly appearance". The hierarchy also explains the greater inheritance that men receive according to Islamic law.
On the subject of physical discipline of wives, Philips emphasizes that any beating of a wife "must be light" and quotes a hadith forbidding men from hitting their wife "in her face".
Philips explains that the the "fragile emotional make-up" of a woman
On the subject of women and statecraft, Philips admits that while it is true that there have been some female heads of state, "these cases represent the exception and not the norm which Allah addresses".
Despite his emphasis on the importance of women being subordination to men, Philips also condemns the socioeconomic practices "riddled through" Western society that "oppress women".
He also mentions a few issues where Islamic law does not require a woman to obey her husband ; he must not practice Coitus interruptus without her consent and if he fails to provide her and her children enough support, she is allowed to pilfer from his wealth without his "permission and knowledge".

Polygamy

Philips is a strong supporter of a husband's right to take up to four wives in Islam and has written a book in defense of this view. Philips argues:

that the surplus number of women in society, will lead to a weakening of the "western family structure" from the surplus population of women "unable to fulfill their sexual and psychological needs" unless marriages of more than one wife are allowed;
that denying this right to multiple wives is tantamount to denying "the wisdom of divine decree" ;
in answer to the question: "If God is good and wishes good for His creatures, why did he legislate something which would be harmful to most women?", Philips replies that "Divine legislation" seeks to benefit "the majority of society", even if this may cause some "emotional harm to a minority".
that the "vehement" opposition to polygyny in Western society comes not from concern for women's rights, but from the "male dominated society" where men would rather be married to one woman and cheat on her, than have multiple wives to satisfy their desires and be faithful to them.

Age to marry

Traditionally, Islam has favored early marriage, and in recent times Muhammad's marriage to Aysha at the age of nine has been a controversial subject, at least among non-Muslims. Philips writes that Islam "sets the age of marriage at puberty, as it is then natural dividing line between childhood and adulthood. Menstruation indicates that a young girl has reached childbearing age." He also differentiates between Western pedophiles who "are not seeking marriage" and only want to exploit and have sex with children, and Muslim men who marry girls shortly after they reach puberty.

Women's modesty

Women are advised by Philips to be modest in dress and to cover all of their body "except their faces and hands", and to not wear makeup or perfume, when among men they could possibly marry,. "Undue mixing" of non-mahram men and women is "generally prohibited", as is staring at each other.

LGBT

According to the Counter Extremism Project, Philips has described gay sex as "evil," "dangerous," "deviant behavior," a cause of the dissolution of the nuclear family unit, and deserving of the death penalty. Philips has also complained that the fashion industry "is mostly controlled by homosexuals," and has "promoted the blurring of lines between males and females…"
On his website, he defends his position that gay sex is deviant, pointing out that the scientifically accepted position changed in the 1980s and 90s, and states, "the consequence of AIDS is enough to prove that homosexuality is evil and dangerous to society." Philips further argues that "Islam considers homosexuality to be the result of a choice," and cannot be excused as inherited or otherwise beyond the control of the gay person because it "is inconceivable that God made people homosexuals then declared it a crime".

Suicide bombing

Phillips had previously stated in a lecture and in one of his books that suicide bombers have been unfairly criticized for committing suicide, when in fact they are showing bravery by sacrificing their lives in a military operation.

When you look at the mind of the suicide bomber, it's a different intention altogether... The is either too heavily armed, or they don't have the type of equipment that can deal with it, so the only other option they have is to try to get some people amongst them and then explode the charges that they have to try to destroy the equipment and to save the lives of their comrades. So 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.

Philips' ideas on suicide bombing made news after the website of Luton Islamic Centre, where a suicide bomber had worshipped, was found to carry a link to a lecture by Philips in which he made "comments used to justify suicide attacks, and material expounding antisemitism and homophobia". The chairman of the Luton Islamic Centre has said Philips had made some errors in his comments posted on its website and that it should not have been categorized as "suicide bombings" because he was referring to military operations as opposed to harming innocent people. After this controversy, Philips stated in an interview that he believes suicide bombings actually do not comply with Islamic law.
Philips has also stated that he is opposed to Al-Qaeda and any type of terrorism in the name of Islam.

Controversies

Philips came under criticism in Britain for his statements on suicide bombers. Some civil rights advocates have defended Philips for his actions, claiming that he is being religiously persecuted. Philips has responded to such criticism by stating he is a moderate who does not endorse terrorism or the use of suicide bombings in Islam.
According to the Counter Extremism Project, one of the men convicted of the World Trade Center bombings,, Philips gave Hampton-El the name of American military fighters who were about to leave the U.S. military and who might be willing to aiding jihadists in Bosnia. Philips had also agreed to provide Hampton-El with funding to recruit non-American Muslims for fighting in Bosnia. However, some of the recruits decided that rather than go to Bosnia, they would to attack targets in the United States, and this led to the unsuccessful plot to bomb the Holland and Lincoln tunnels.

Bannings

Philips has been banned from entering the United Kingdom, Australia, Denmark and Kenya, banned from re-entering Germany, ordered to leave Bangladesh, for "extremist views", and possible terror links, and arrested in and deported from the Philippines for "inciting and recruiting people to conduct terrorist activities."
In 2007 he was banned from entering Australia on the advice of national security agencies.
In 2010 Philips was banned from entering the UK by home secretary Theresa May for holding "extremist views".
In April 2011, Philips was banned from re-entering Germany as persona non grata.
In 2012, Philips was banned from entering Kenya over possible terror links.
Philips was named by the US government as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. He has stated that this allegation was not factual hence he was not arrested.
In 2014, the publisher of a book authored by Philips entitled "The Fundamentals of Tawheed" was arrested by armed officers during a raid of Islamic institutions in Prague. 20 people were detained during Friday Prayer at a mosque and a community center. Law enforcement officials claimed Philips' book "incites xenophobia and violence" and insisted it was racist. Philips "vehemently" defended his book, denied it condoned racism, noting that millions of copies had been published in Muslim communities around the world, and stated that any action against the book could "constitute an attack on Islam itself."
In June 2014, the Bangladeshi intelligence service ordered Phillips, who had come to Dhaka to give lectures, to leave the country.
In September 2014, Philips was arrested in the Philippines for "inciting and recruiting people to conduct terrorist activities." He had been expected to be deported by Philippine immigration authorities after police arrested him in southern Davao City. The director of the Philippine National Police in Southern Mindanao, said Philips was questioned for his possible links with terror groups including the ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria). He was deported from the Philippines back to Canada. Philips denied the charges leveled by Filipino officials and denied links to terrorists groups. Some religious leaders and civil rights advocates have defended Philips and criticized his deportation from the Philippines, arguing that he has not done anything wrong and that he has been a victim of religious persecution.
In the April 2016 issue of Dabiq Magazine, The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, declared Philips to be a murtadd and threatened to kill him for denouncing ISIS.
One of Philip's works entitled "The Fundamentals of Tauheed" has been described as "extremist" by the United Kingdom prison service. As a consequence, this book has now been removed and banned from prisons.
In May 2017, Philips was banned from entering Denmark for two years along with other preachers including Salman al-Ouda and Terry Jones.

Intra-Salafi disagreement

Within the Salafi community, one Abu Khadeejah has alleged that Bilal Philips has been a "deceitful defender of Ahl ul Bida", and a proponent of "Ikhwaanee Manhaj". Philips has replied lamenting intra-Salafi infighting and accusing his critics of being excessively quarrelsome and deficient in their knowledge of Islam.
Another work critiquing Philips is a compilation of critical essays, A Critical Analysis of The Contradictions of Dr. Bilal Philips from www.darulikhlaas.co.nr.

Influence

According to the publication The 500 Most Influential Muslims, Bilal Philips founded both the first accredited Islamic university in India in 2009:, and the Islamic Online University, which has over 300,000 registered students studying accredited English-medium degree courses in Islamic Studies, IT, Business Administration, etc.
Philips has been described as one of "the key foundational figures" among African American Muslims who received scholarships to Saudi universities in the hopes that they would "aggressively" spread Salafi Islam when they returned to their home countries.
A strong African American Salafi movement did emerged in the 1990s, in many ways a by-product of the efforts of Philips and other Saudi-educated African American Salafi along with the regular networks and relationships they established and maintained with the major Salafi scholars in Saudi Arabia such as Ibn Baz and al-Uthaymin. Philips help create an indelible connection between Saudi Arabian Salafism and African American Salafis according to Jefrey Diamant:
Philips has produced a "formidable" output of books, booklets, and audiovisual materials, several of which have been translated into a number of European languages, such as German, French, and Spanish. His works are written in accessible language, assuming little or no prior knowledge of Islam, have considerable relevance to the contemporary Muslims in the West, especially the younger demographic often not connected to traditional Islamic religion and culture, and have attracted a wide appeal not just among Salafi but Muslims in general.
As of 2019 he had 670,000 followers on Twitter, over 6 million followers on Facebook, where he makes several posts a day, 40,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel and a considerable presence on Peace TV, Huda TV, and Islam Channel.