The words that shut down racist preacher’s prayer hall

Hard-line Islamic preacher Wissam Haddad and his followers are searching for a new home after their controversial prayer hall in a medical centre was shuttered.

A prayer hall where a controversial Islamic preacher held “fundamentally racist, antisemitic and devastatingly offensive and insulting” lectures has been closed.

Wissam Haddad had delivered numerous hardline sermons to scores of Muslim men in the Al Madina Dawah Centre in southwestern Sydney since April 2021.

The sermons have come under attack from Jewish groups while Liberal Senator James Patterson last week described the centre as “a factory of hate”.

Other preachers have warned followers the government was “pushing Muslims into a corner” and “jihad is the solution”.

The Federal Court in July found three sermons by Haddad in late 2023 contained “devastatingly offensive” imputations that were based on the race or ethnicity of the Australian Jewish community, including age-old tropes that were “fundamentally racist and anti-Semitic”.

Mr Haddad has also been linked historically to one of the gunmen involved in the December 14 Bondi shooting – links which he denies.

But it was a far more benign set of words that has been Haddad and the centre’s undoing.

Canterbury-Bankstown City Council on Tuesday said the prayer hall was operating from a decades-old building that was never permitted for use as a religious centre.

The building on Kitchener Parade in Bankstown was only recently approved to operate as a medical centre.

Changing the use to a prayer hall, or place of worship, requires development consent, which had not been sought, the council said.

“Our recent surveillance indicates there is a strong suspicion the premises is being used contrary to its intended use,” a spokesperson said.

“We have issued the cease use notices which will be effective immediately. There are no compromises, and we will be taking further action if they don’t comply.”

Earlier surveillance to prove the centre’s unlawful operations was unsuccessful.

The council previously booted Mr Haddad from the Georges Hall premises, which were only approved to operate as a gym.

Premier Chris Minns backed the council action.

“There is no place for hate speech in NSW, which is why we are supporting all action to clamp down on those inciting hate, and we will not stop,” he said in a statement.

Police have said Mr Haddad’s sermons – even those denounced by the Federal Court – do not meet the legal threshold for criminal charges.

“More action needs to be taken against hate preachers and extremist groups who hide in plain sight,” radicalisation and religious violent extremism expert Josh Roose said, speaking generally on Tuesday.

Mr Haddad, born and raised in Australia, is also known as Abu Ousayd or “father of Ousayd” in the Muslim community, in recognition of his eldest son Ousayd.

The preacher and part-time carpet layer could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.

By: Luke Costin/AAP