ISIS-sympathiser cleric Wissam Haddad’s ‘anti-democracy’ book scheme

An ISIS-sympathising fundamentalist cleric is calling for thousands of dollars in donations for ‘anti-democracy’ booklets to distribute across southwest Sydney and abroad.

Sydney-based Islamic cleric Wissam Haddad, also known as Abu Ousayd, speaking on his podcast.

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An ISIS-sympathising fundamentalist cleric is calling for thousands of dollars in donations for “anti-democracy” booklets to “save Islam” to distribute across southwest Sydney and abroad.

Wissam Haddad, also known as Abu Ousayd, is crowd-funding for at least $2000 to produce more than 5000 self-made booklets, which he claims will dispel myths about democracy.

It comes as the preacher returned to YouTube with a new podcast, while claiming the government was withholding his passport, as he spruiked plans to launch a second religious centre in Victoria.

The fringe figure – Mr Haddad has been criticised and shunned by mainstream Islamic leaders, many of whom are frequent targets of his sermons – said he was prompted to pen the books after Muslim political movements launched ahead of the next federal election.

“With the shirk of democracy affecting (Muslims), we have put together a booklet refuting the common doubts surrounding the issue of voting,” Mr Haddad said.

“We are looking to raise $2000 to print 1000 booklets that will be printed and mass-distributed to the Muslim community for free.”

Attaching his bank details in a post to his near-10,000 followers, Mr Haddad said the booklets would “help save the Islam of the people”, adding on Tuesday that he was now printing about 5000.

On his new podcast, which has returned to YouTube after the platform took down his old account, Mr Haddad has been vocal about the recent British riots, and said followers from the UK had been in touch to distribute the anti-democracy material on British shores.

“A lot of people want to donate from the UK and are requesting a PDF,” Mr Haddad said, adding he also hoped to ship to the US. “If I can find someone to distribute, we can have them printed (there) as well.”

The Australian revealed in July how Mr Haddad had slammed democracy at his Bankstown-based Al Madina Dawah Centre, simultaneous but separate to an anti-democracy sermon by extremist organisation Hizb ut-Tahrir.

In August, he ramped up his calls to shun democracy.

“Democracy is not justice, it is not a way out … not for Muslims,” he said, claiming it was “one rule for some” and another for Muslims, referring to anti-terror laws and democracy.

“A democracy that’s supposed to be freedom … the right of speech, freedom of action, of religion, yet it only (is used) to target Muslims.”

Mr Haddad, who recently said the government was withholding his passport, has also spruiked plans to open a centre in Melbourne.

“There’s a couple of things I have to deal with in Sydney; once they’re out the way, we’re looking at opening up other (centres) across Australia, not just in Melbourne,” he said.

His stance is in contrast to mainstream Muslim leaders and organisations, and comes amid the community’s burgeoning political campaigns.

Muslim Votes Matter launched its national campaign on Sunday aiming to mobilise the community amid discontent with the Labor government, endorsing candidates who were strong on key topics, like Palestine.

Its national representative told The Australian it would aim to hold Labor accountable for a “failed” response to the Israel-Hamas war, targeting a hung parliament and “empowering” the community within the political process.

Another campaign, The Muslim Vote, has endorsed independent candidate Ziad Basyouny in Tony Burke’s seat of Watson.

The community’s peak bodies, like the Lebanese Muslim Association and Australian National Imams Council, have also been vocal on the importance of democratic engagement, while Lebanese Muslim community leader Jamal Rifi has established a “Friends of Burke” political campaign.