This article originally appeared in the National Post.
By Joe Adam George, February 14, 2025
Barely a month after the controversy surrounding the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir’s Khilafah conference, yet another event seeking to peddle extremist rhetoric under the guise of religious discourse has come to light in Canada.
The i3 Institute, a Canadian not-for-profit, has invited Mohammed Hijab, a British-based Islamist activist with a long track record of incendiary rhetoric, to speak at its flagship conference, Reviving Roots, later this month in Burlington, Ont.
The event, themed “Reclaiming the Muslim identity in a secular world,” underscores a troubling pattern: fundamentalist ideologues are finding an unrestrained platform in Canada to disseminate their messages of intolerance and conquest. It also raises pressing concerns about radicalization and the unchecked spread of extremism in western democracies.
Hijab, a British citizen of Egyptian descent, has built a social media empire promoting his brand of Islamism that is laced with virulent antisemitism, misogyny and open hostility towards the West. With nearly 2.6-million followers across YouTube, Instagram and Twitter, he has used his influence to propagate Islamist narratives on a wide array of socio-cultural, political and religious issues.
Hijab’s commentary on sexual ethics includes disturbing justifications for pedophilia, including suggesting it is better to have sex with minors who have “huge hips and huge breasts and huge body” than with old, frail women. A video posted on X shows him claiming that a straight reading of Qur’an implies it’s “halal” (Arabic for “lawful or permissible under Islamic law”) to have sexual relations with a five-year-old child.
Hijab’s views on Jews, Christians, Hindus and the LGBTQ+ community align more closely with the rhetoric of jihadist groups than with the principles of a pluralistic society. In 2022, he played an instrumental role in exacerbating sectarian violence between Muslims and Hindus in Leicester, mocking Hindu beliefs and encouraging violent confrontations.
While delivering a fiery speech at a London rally, Hijab issued a chilling threat towards Jews and Israel: “We don’t care about death, we love death” — ominously echoing the words of deceased al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, who, following the 9/11 attacks, declared, “We love death as you love life.”
He has also justified violence against Jews and Christians “until they give the jizya,” referring to a tax imposed on non-Muslims under Islamic rule, often as a means of coercion, subjugation or humiliation.
A video on Hijab’s YouTube channel, titled “A Message to the Jews,” ostensibly glorifies terrorism, with Hijab touting “the concept of martyrdom” as a strategic advantage. The video also features him soliciting funds for IslamNet, a Norway-based Islamist organization, whose followers are known to have travelled to Syria to join ISIS.
He branded the LGBTQ+ community as “a parasite to the western civilization” that destroys the West from within, which he said would benefit Muslims.
Hijab’s framing of Islam as a “warrior religion” focused on conquest rather than coexistence and his portrayal of the West as an irredeemable adversary proves he is not a religious reformer, but a bigoted zealot seeking to push Islamism into mainstream discourse in the West.
Despite these alarm bells, Canadian groups like the i3 Institute continue to offer him a platform, raising questions about their own ideological leanings and commitment to democratic values.
During a group discussion posted on the i3 Institute’s YouTube channel, featuring both Hijab and the institute’s founder, Sheikh Mehmet Usta, Israel is described as “America’s last colonial outpost in the Middle East” and accused of maintaining a “race-based apartheid system.”
One of the speakers in the video also pushes the widely debunked claim that Israel was responsible for bombing the Al-Ahli hospital in Gaza in October 2023, despite U.S. intelligence confirming the explosion was caused by an errant rocket fired by Palestinian terrorists.
Speaking on a podcast, Usta promoted the falsehood that the Middle East has been “occupied for the last 100 years” by western powers due to its wealth and criticized secular Muslims who live in the U.S. for identifying as “American Muslims,” suggesting they should instead call simply themselves “Muslims.”
The past statements of Hijab and Usta are not anomalies but part of a consistent pattern of radicalism. The problem, however, extends far beyond them. Canada has become a fertile ground for Islamist groups seeking to operate under the radar with no fear of retribution from the authorities.
Despite claiming to have cancelled its Khilafah conference last month following significant public backlash, Hizb ut-Tahrir reportedly moved it online and held the event anyway.
Local Jewish organizations like B’nai Brith Canada and moderate Muslim groups like the Global Imams Council have repeatedly sounded the alarm. Yet, for too long, western governments have hesitated to take decisive action against Islamists, fearing accusations of intolerance or Islamophobia.
Yet true tolerance does not mean permitting ideologies that seek to dismantle democratic societies from within. And there is a stark difference between protecting religious freedom and enabling those who use religion as a pretext for spreading bigotry and division.
If Canada is serious about combating antisemitism and the spread of Islamist extremism, it must enforce stricter policies to limit the dissemination of violent and extremist rhetoric.
Law enforcement agencies must closely monitor organizations like the i3 Institute to ensure they are not facilitating radicalization. Social media companies also have a role to play in de-platforming and restricting the reach of extremist figures who exploit their algorithms to gain influence.
Most importantly, moderate Muslim voices — those who reject Hijab’s brand of Islamism — must be amplified, ensuring that young Canadian Muslims are exposed to interpretations of their faith that align with democratic and pluralistic values.
The failure to act now will only embolden figures like Mohammed Hijab and the movements that sustain them. Canada must recognize that Islamist extremism is not a distant threat but an immediate hazard — one that thrives when democracies hesitate to take action.
The time for passive condemnations has passed. With national security among U.S. President Donald Trump’s top priorities, Canada must confront the growing Islamist threat head-on or it will soon find itself grappling with a deeper crisis of radicalization and extremism, which it would struggle to contain within its borders.
Joe Adam George is a national security analyst with the Macdonald-Laurier Institute and the Canada research lead on Islamist extremism with the Middle East Forum, a U.S. think-tank.
