Don’t blame me for Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel terror attack, says radical Sydney preacher Abu Ousayd

One of the nation’s most radical Islamic preachers hits back at mainstream Islamic leaders and claims Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel hates Islam and speaks against the prophet Mohammad.

Abu Ousayd, left, and Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel.

One of the nation’s most radical Islamic preachers has said “don’t blame me” for the stabbing of an Assyrian Christian bishop in an ­alleged terrorist incident but claims the bishop hates Islam and speaks against the prophet ­Mohammad.

Abu Ousayd – also known as Wissam Haddad – used an online sermon on Friday to claim he and his Al Madina Dawah Centre have been blamed by mainstream Islamic leaders and the community for last Monday’s terror incident.

“You want to push hate on to us for no reason, with allegations that have no proof,” Mr Ousayd said.

“Because you have a personal agenda against us.”

NSW police on Thursday charged a 16-year-old boy with committing a terrorist act, alleging he travelled 90 minutes to Wakeley’s Christ The Good Shepherd Church before stabbing Assyrian Christian Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel, as well as three others.

Mr Ousayd said he “did not condone” the attack or the boy’s alleged action, and said the bishop’s comments about Islam were “harmful … anyone who heard (them) would be angered”.

Mr Ousayd, pictured in front of Bankstown’s Al Madina Dawah Centre. Picture: Justin Lloyd.

Mr Ousayd’s name was raised last week among community members who alleged the teenager had similar views to those preached at the Al Madina Dawah and could have been influenced by it. An audio message was also circulating in which a local community leader alleged the boy’s mind and views had “been poisoned”.

The Australian does not suggest that is true, but that those views were being aired in those community circles.

The Australian is also not suggesting Mr Ousayd had any involvement – implicit or explicit – with the teenager or the attack, reiterating that he himself claims he has been wrongly blamed.

In his Friday sermon, Mr Ousayd said he “did not condone” the teenager’s alleged actions, but criticised Bishop Emmanuel’s remarks about Islam, although adding it did “not justify” what happened.

“This is an individual (the bishop) who speaks against and hates Islam, who speaks against the prophet,” he said, adding that Bishop Emmanuel knew he was “antagonising” the Muslim community. “Words are harmful … they stir up emotions in anyone who believes in (Islam), and anyone who hears the insults would be angered.

“He (the bishop) said himself that he was willing to die for the words he has said … he said he understood his words were causing anger and harm to the Muslim community.”

In December, another of the centre’s directors, Ye Ye, posted a video taking aim at Bishop Emmanuel’s comments about Islam, and in which he theologically “challenged” the bishop.

Titled the “Muslim Challenge Bishop Mar Mari with Koran”, Mr Ye said “the whole community was waiting for you”, although the video is short and does not stray away from that theological “challenge” to the bishop.

Bishop Emmanuel has an ultra-orthodox reading of Christianity, often questioning the validity of other faiths, particularly Islam.

“I don’t have a problem with the Muslim people,” he said.

“But I’ve got a question mark with the faith of the Islamic world.”

He has also said Mohammed would “not greet” people at the gates of heaven, and that he “rotted in a grave” and was dead.

Mr Ousayd and his centre’s long history of inflammatory statements – which have ramped up since the beginning of the Israel-Hamas war last year – has made them a point of community speculation since last week’s stabbing.

Mr Ousayd claimed on Friday that the state’s most prominent Islamic leaders, including Sheik Shadi Alsuleiman, the Australian National Imams Council president, audibly blamed him.

“They have a personal issue with myself and this centre, and in a gathering a day after the attack took place (they tried to) stand and push blame of what happened on myself and on this centre,” he claimed.

“Why? Because we have exposed them (mainstream Islamic leaders).

“You (mainstream leaders) have a personal agenda against us, so you push the heat to us for no reason.”

Vision of the incident, where Bishop Mar Mari Emmanuel was stabbed multiple times.

Mr Ousayd has long targeted Sheik Shadi for his opposition to the ANIC president’s mainstream application of Islam, and his willingness to work interfaith and with the government.

Sheik Shadi and his organisation condemned the attack last week and have played a key role in helping quell rising societal tensions in its aftermath.

NSW Premier Chris Minns, centre, met with religious leaders on Thursday. Picture: Jonathan Ng

The Al Madina Dawah Centre has hosted a raft of incendiary sermons mainly targeting Jewish people, but has also warned of violence and death if Allah or the prophet Mohammed were attacked, which prompted the country’s peak Jewish body to lodge a vilification complaint to the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Mr Ousayd has never been charged over any of his sermons. NSW’s hate speech criminal protections are currently being reviewed, given operability concerns.

Gamel Kheir, secretary of the Lebanese Muslim Association, another organisation Mr Ousayd verbally targeted, said Monday’s attack required denunciation from all faiths.

“We’re not going to shy away from the fact there may be (radicalisation) issues, even if isolated,” Mr Kheir said last week.

Mr Kheir also said it was vital that if kids were “falling between the cracks”, both the Muslim and wider communities “needed to understand why”.

“It’s about helping people reintegrate back into society,” he said.

The LMA, along with all leading Islamic bodies, condemned the attack and urged social cohesion.

“Everyone who tries to divide our society will never win,” Mr Kheir said.

Detectives leave a house searched as part of the investigation carrying a evidence bags. Picture: Rohan Kelly

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw on Friday said police examined the charged teenager’s electronic devices and would continue to trawl through them.

“People have thousands and thousands of videos and images that they store, and also what we find on social media,” he said.

“The investigation will go through all of that material forensically to establish what the other avenues of inquiry are, but also evidence going to the charge.”

NSW Police Commissioner Karen Webb has said the teenager allegedly made comments “centred around religion”, while Premier Chris Minns said the terror designation was not “performative” and the boy’s history and rhetoric aided the decision.

The boy’s parents have said their son suffers from anger issues, telling The Australian they believed he had an undiagnosed mental health condition and that police were too quick to label his alleged actions as terror-related.

The boy remains in custody, having appeared before a Children’s Court on Friday, and will next appear in June, although his solicitor said it may be sooner given his “history of behaviour consistent with mental illness” and the need for a “psychological assessment”.