Bilal Philips in Finland

Posted on by

Jussi Halla-aho is a Finnish writer and an MP for the True Finns party who has been publicly demonized, tried, and convicted of “hate speech” for his opposition to mass immigration into Finland.

Bilal Philips is a Jamaican-Canadian convert to Islam who has earned an international reputation as a radical preacher, and been banned from several Western countries. Mr. Philips was recently invited to visit Finland by a group of “Finnish” Muslims in Helsinki, and the True Finns demanded that he be refused entry.

Last Friday Jussi Halla-aho appeared on Finnish state TV to debate a Muslim guest on the issue of Bilal Philips’ visit to Finland. In the clip below, you’ll notice the mild responses given by Mr. Halla-aho to provocative and leading questions. He obviously feels himself constrained, and is presumably loath to endure another trial and pay another fine. Watch his calm refusal to be baited.

Many thanks to KGS for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

Transcript:

00:11   Charges of terrorism connections and being banned from different countries:
00:15   these have been leveled against the Muslim preacher invited to Finland.
00:19   Finns MPs want to stop this preacher at the border.
00:23   But who should be allowed into Finland and who shouldn’t, and what
00:27   should be allowed to be preached in a Mosque, that’s what being discussed on A-Studio today.
00:31   A Muslim preacher deemed to be a radical, Bilal Philips,
00:35   whose picture is seen here, arrives in Finland at the end of March.
00:39   He has been invited by an organization called the “Helsinki Muslims”.
00:43   Jussi Halla-aho, why should Bilal Philips entry into the country should be denied?
00:47   I’ve been specific in that I haven’t offered a position on whether he should be allowed entry.
00:51   On that question I’ve wanted to
00:55   awaken a discussion what kind of religious teaching
00:59   is offered in mosques to Muslims living in Finland.
01:03   Because this leads directly to what kind
01:07   of Islamic trends are dominant in Finland,
01:11   which has links to security questions and terrorism and so on.
01:15   And above all, Finland’s growing Muslim population,
01:19   and how it relates to integration into Finnish society.
01:24   This is a chronic problem not only in Finland, but in all of Western Europe.
01:28   What does it look like, should we allow him in?
01:32   Coming in legally and under all the laws and regulations,
01:36   officials are there for figuring out whether he fills those requirements,
01:40   for coming into the country and being here. I can hope that
01:44   his acts here as other visiting religious public figures,
01:48   and the actions of the leaders, are kept under observation for reasons just mentioned.
01:52   But what is your personal opinion on whether Philips should be allowed into Finland?
01:56   I’m not an acting official. But what do you think?
02:00   Should he or not? I don’t think that the question in this situation
02:04   is very relevant. Why isn’t it? Because we have
02:08   we have officials to determine whether this person fulfills the requirements.
02:12   I think that it’s worrisome if an Islamic
02:16   fundamentalist style is preached in Finland because
02:20   it has a direct influence on
02:24   the Muslim minority’s integration
02:28   in Finland. I am worried about it.
02:32   But why is the this question is difficult to answer, yes or no? Because,
02:36   for example, if Bilal Philips comes to Finland, have him…
02:40   during the visit shall he be allowed to preach in the mosque while he’s here?
02:44   The greater picture hasn’t much meaning, but I want above all discussion
02:48   on the general question, what kind of Islamic norms
02:52   are being preached in Finland? Husu, how does this sound?
02:56   I want to say firstly, that it’s funny to hear
03:00   that Jussi doesn’t want to admit that he doesn’t want the Imam here.
03:04   In my opinion he simply doesn’t want that the imam coming here
03:08   to Finland. And based on that Jussi Halla-aho is worried for Finland.
03:12   I want to say to Jussi that
03:16   you don’t need to be worried about us Finnish Muslims;
03:20   we have been pretty moderate people for years,
03:24   while things have happened, such the prophet Mohamed being defamed,
03:28   eh, in Jussi Halla-aho’s own writings, which have called
03:32   Islam a pedophile religion and other things.
03:36   All Finnish Muslims have followed this, I’m one of these Muslims who live here, and have lived here for
03:40   20 years, and always when the word imam is mentioned
03:44   the word leader comes to mind, and Jussi Halla-aho is to me
03:48   one of these hate imams, and
03:52   a hate-spreading imam always when it comes to mind; Jussi Halla-aho is to me
03:56   the number one person that comes to mind. A real harsh
04:00   statement. What does Jussi reply to this?
04:05   Understandably he speaks of me like an Islamist, an Islamic fundamentalist.
04:09   But anyway, there is greater problem
04:13   for the Muslim community and Finnish society than what I write,
04:17   that it’s always better to beat the messenger.
04:21   No way am I saying to shoot the messenger, I’m just stating the facts.
04:25   Jussi like to play with the facts, he generally enjoys
04:29   playing with facts about Muslims and of all what happens here, and I
04:33   am only using facts. One fact… (what kinds of facts)
04:37   A Coptic Christian fundamentalist, in my opinion a fundamentalist
04:41   Christian type, Zakaria,
04:45   If I remember his name, if I can for a moment look for his name,
04:49   I have written for myself, named Zakaria Botros, an Egyptian,
04:53   a Coptic Christian, came to Finland a couple of years ago.
04:57   He was able to say anything he wanted with The Finns,
05:01   then, also Jussi Halla-aho,
05:05   his ‘brothers’, his ideological…
05:09   ideological brothers,
05:13   spread systematic hate of the Muslim minority,
05:17   and they are still voicing it,
05:21   what they are saying. All this is happening.
05:25   No Muslim, in the Finnish Muslim community,
05:29   no one has set out to provoke.
05:33   Thank you, let Jussi respond. Is it like what Husu said?
05:37   Are you spreading hatred, are you provoking?
05:41   I don’t know what I should say about the outburst, but last year’s
05:45   German institute report did a large study in Europe
05:49   on the mainstream Christian host society,
05:53   and also on the Muslim minority, concerning fundamentalism.
05:57   Fundamentalism was measured,
06:01   looking at whether religious demands go over the line of moderation.
06:05   and is there only one way to interpret religion,
06:09   and observe. In Muslim communities in Europe,
06:13   nearly half of them could be labeled fundamentalist,
06:17   while in the native Christian communities, the percentage was five.
06:21   So there is a great difference.
06:25   Just a moment, about Bilal’s status criteria.
06:29   The Schengen member Germany has stopped the hate preacher from coming into the country.
06:33   Isn’t that enough to stop him from coming to Finland?
06:37   I’m talking about Bilal
06:41   Philips…speak a little about this.
06:45   I respond to this as a Muslim
06:49   in Finland, I’m not above the law, and Finland is one
06:54   of the countries that signed the Schengen agreement, and if someone breaks
06:58   the law, then of course he should be stopped from coming to Finland, but
07:02   on the other hand, as I said earlier in the discussion,
07:06   I don’t know if this is the case.
07:10   I am not here to defend Bilal Philips, because I don’t know the person in question.
07:14   But as I said, I know a few imams, and Jussi Halla-aho
07:18   type imams who spread hatred in this country,
07:22   like Bilal Philips, I’m not going to shoot someone who hasn’t said anything yet
07:26   in this country. Should Philips be allowed to come to Finland?
07:30   I don’t want to say ahead of time who should be allowed to come
07:34   or not, If the law forbids, if he’s guilty of something, than no, not in any case.
07:38   As Jussi said earlier, I
07:42   trust the Finnish authorities, the police and the foreign office
07:46   and others, and believe that they will decide for us and am ready to obey it,
07:50   as devout Muslims.
07:54   But the border guard department will decide. Yes, but let’s stick to the discussion at hand
07:58   The Helsinki Muslims are the ones who invited Bilal Philips to Finland.
08:02   But they refused to come. You, Husu, do not represent them, or any other group.
08:06   What do you think, why do you think he was invited here?
08:10   If I look back a bit, on that
08:14   organization, which has previously invited for years
08:18   other imams, a year ago, Khalid Yasin,
08:22   was also here, if I remember right, I didn’t follow. I remember at the time
08:26   that there was a great desire that the imam in question should not be allowed to come
08:30   to Finland. He came, was here, and they didn’t
08:34   want him to come. What was interesting was the media’s view and coverage
08:38   of what he was saying there,
08:42   and didn’t finding it not true what was said, and why they didn’t themselves
08:46   (unclear) in my opinion
08:50   are people who do voluntary work and other stuff.
08:54   I don’t want to speculate why they didn’t want him to come here.
08:58   But Husu, why Philips, he’s a controversial character?
09:02   In my opinion, I could ask the same question of them,
09:06   but if I am to guess, they invite someone who
09:10   possibly can come and speak to people about matters.
09:14   But it rests on the law whether such a person
09:18   can possibly come. Jussi, what opinion… what do you think?
09:22   Why Philips is invited to Finland? My answer is the same:
09:26   why am I invited to speak in Helsinki, if people do want to hear me?
09:31   His type of preaching interests many,
09:35   because fundamentalists and their views are in great demand
09:39   in Islamic communities in Europe.
09:43   How do you know about Finland? Because Bilal Philips has been invited here,
09:48   to speak. That speaks for itself.
 

For links to previous articles about the persecution of Jussi Halla-aho, see the Jussi Halla-aho Archives.

For a complete listing of previous enrichment news, see The Cultural Enrichment Archives.

8 thoughts on “Bilal Philips in Finland”

    • It may be irritating. but it shows the facts are fully on our side. Forget democratic processes which are continually sold as the greatest gift our civilization has to offer, the only “democratic process” that I have seen work is the sixties student revolution.

      • I must have slept through the report where the listed all the democratic processes produced in the 60s student revolution. Oh wait, which century?

        • The events described in Kimball’s The Long March which was replicated in Europe at the pivotal moment commonly established at May ’68. The protests, the riots, the sea of indignation, the pressure upon university administrators, and so on. I believe such movements are the only possible route to see major changes in a democratic environment.

  2. Too vague. Jussi should take the opportunity to bring up the issues people can relate to, rather than whether a particular imam is ‘fundamentalist’ or not. Such as stating (and this can hardly be ‘hate speech’): “the authorities should decide whether the imam defends equal rights for both genders, tolerance of homosexuality, western laws on marriageable age, sexual abuse and defends freedom of apostates. Journalists like you should investigate where he stands on these issues and report on it, start a public debate on it.”

    • Agreed. Perfect suggestion for a statement Jussi could have and should have made. Goes right to the core of it.

  3. Sorry to see the Finns have lost their minds. What the hell are muslims doing in Finland? Where are earth can one escape this curse? Good luck Finnish people.

Comments are closed.