Canada-Based Islamist Imam Younus Kathrada: Using Terms Like 'Radical Islam' Amounts To Unbelief; All Commands Of Islam, Including Jihad, Are Moderate Acts

On October 16, 2022, the official YouTube channel of the Muslim Youth of Victoria published a video of a Friday sermon delivered by the South Africa-born Vancouver-based jihadi Islamist imam Younus Kathrada in which he denied that there are such things as radical or moderate Islam and argued that these terms are only used by the enemies of Islam and ignorant and hypocritical people. He stated that those who believe that Islam can be extreme have accused Allah of being extreme and therefore committed acts of unbelief. According to Kathrada, all the commands of Islam, including waging jihad for the sake of Allah are moderate acts.

Following are excerpts from the sermon.

"The Only Ones Who Use These Terminologies Are Either Enemies And Opponent Of Islam, Or Those Who Are Ignorant And Have No Understanding Whatsoever Of What Islam Is"

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In the sermon, titled "Radical Islam vs Moderate Islam," Kathrada started by saying: "Let me say from the outset, we hear this terminology a great deal. Islamic extremism, radical Islam and moderate Islam as opposed to radical Islam. We hear these terminologies very often and we read about them but I want to tell you from the beginning that the only ones who use these terminologies are either enemies and opponent of Islam, or those who are ignorant and have no understanding whatsoever of what Islam is or hypocrites who are out to distort the image of Islam."[1]

Elaborating on his argument, Kathrada noted that Islam's position and stance on extremism is that "we say in no uncertain terms that extremism in religion, exaggeration in religion and going beyond the bonds and being excessive in religion is blameworthy and denounced. Islam denounces it whether that extremism be in the form of exaggeration or negligence. When we talk about extremism, people only want to talk about one side where people exaggerate and go beyond certain limits, but they do not realize that there is another limit as well the bare minimum. When one goes below that, this is also a form of extremism."

He further stated that "Islam is the religion of Allah that he has chosen for his creation and that he has approved of for his creation so, if someone were to say that Islam contains extremism or there is such a thing as radical Islam or there is such a thing as extremism in Islam, then they have now accused Allah of extremism of being radical and this is an act of unbelief. This actually will lead a person outside Islam. It is disbelief to say there is such a thing as radical Islam or Islamic extremism because it would be accusing Allah of being extreme and radical."

"Jihad As We Know From The Quran And The Authentic Sunnah Of The Prophet When The Conditions Are Met, That Is Moderate And That Is The Middle Path"

Justifying his opposition to the term moderate Islam, he stressed that "the reality is, Islam, by nature, by definition... is moderate... there is no such thing as moderate Islam or radical Islam. This is something that has to be clear in our minds." According to Kathrada, all the commands and prohibitions of Allah, including waging jihad for the sake of Allah, are moderate acts. He said: "Anything that Allah has legislated in the Quran, whether it be commands or whether it be prohibition and anything which has reached us through authentic narration from the prophet of legislations whether it be prohibition or it be commands, know that that is the middle path, know that that is what is moderate no matter what the people have to say. Allah in the Quran commands that jihad be established, and the prophet Muhammad commands that jihad be established, of course with its conditions and of course with the proper understanding of what jihad is according to Muslims, not the definition of the infidels and the enemies of Islam and those who want nothing but evil for Islam and Muslims. Their definitions do not matter to us. Their definition is bogus. Jihad as we know from the Quran and the authentic Sunnah of the prophet when the conditions are met, that is moderate and that is the middle path."

After describing the Muslim person as "that individual who adheres to the religion of Allah, Islam. A Muslim is a person who enters Islam completely lock, stock and barrel and does not cherry pick, and accepts Islam in its entirety," he said: "If you are a Muslim as we just described, then obviously the disbelievers, the infidels and the unbelievers will never be pleased with that. The only thing they will be pleased with is if we leave Islam and we start following their ways and we adopt their values. This is the only thing that would please them."

Kathrada concluded by acknowledging that while there are Muslim extremists "there is no extremism in Islam, the religion of Allah. As for human beings, we may error and one of us might go to an extreme. We might exaggerate or we might be extremely negligent... the intelligent understands these things... I hope then you and I when we hear the news, when we listen to radio and when we read in magazines or in articles on the internet or wherever, whenever we see these terminologies: radical Islam and Islamic extremism know that it is from one of these three categories of people. Those words are not used by Muslims."