Bilal Philips

In May 2017, Philips was banned from entering Denmark for two years along with other preachers including Salman al-Ouda and Terry Jones.

In the April 2016 issue of Dabiq Magazine, The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, declared Philips to be a murtadd (or apostate) and threatened to kill him for denouncing ISIS.

In 2014, the publisher of a book authored by Philips entitled "The Fundamentals of Tawheed" was arrested by armed officers during a raid of Islamic institutions in Prague. 20 people were detained during Friday Prayer at a mosque and a community center. Law enforcement officials claimed Philips' book "incites xenophobia and violence" and insisted it was racist. Philips "vehemently" defended his book, denied it condoned racism, noting that millions of copies had been published in Muslim communities around the world, and stated that any action against the book could "constitute an attack on Islam itself."

In June 2014, the Bangladeshi intelligence service ordered Phillips, who had come to Dhaka to give lectures, to leave the country.

In September 2014, Philips was arrested in the Philippines for "inciting and recruiting people to conduct terrorist activities." He was expected to be deported by Philippine immigration authorities after police arrested him in southern Davao City. The director of the Philippine National Police in Southern Mindanao, said Philips is being questioned for his possible links with terror groups including the ISIS (Islamic State in Iraq and Syria). He was deported from the Philippines back to Canada. Philips denied the charges leveled by Filipino officials and denied links to terrorists groups. Some religious leaders and civil rights advocates have defended Philips and criticized his deportation from the Philippines, arguing that he has not done anything wrong and that he has been a victim of religious persecution.

In 2012, Philips was banned from entering Kenya over possible terror links.

In April 2011, Philips was banned from re-entering Germany as persona non grata.

Phillips had previously stated in a lecture and in one of his books that suicide bombers are unfairly criticized as they are not really committing the suicide that is forbidden in Islam, but are showing bravery in committing a military operation. However he would later state in a 2010 interview that he believes suicide bombings actually do not comply with Islamic law.

In 2010 Philips was banned from entering the UK by home secretary Theresa May for holding "extremist views".

In 2007 he was banned from entering Australia on the advice of national security agencies.

Philips taught Islamic studies for a decade at Manarat al-Riyadh School in Riyadh and was an Arabic and Islamic studies teacher in the American University of Dubai for 10 years as well. He also lectured at the Ajman University (AU) in the United Arab Emirates. Philips set up an Islamic Studies department of Preston University in Ajman in 2002 and set up the Islamic Studies Academy in Qatar in 2007.

Philips founded the Islamic Online University in Qatar in 2001.

He received his B.A. degree from the Islamic University of Madinah and his M.A. in ʿAqīdah (Islamic Theology) from the King Saud University in Riyadh, then to the University of Wales, St. David's University College (now University of Wales, Trinity Saint David). There at the Lampeter Campus he completed his 1993 PhD thesis, Exorcism in Islam.

Philips was named by the US government as an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. He has stated that this allegation was not factual hence he was not arrested.

During the First Gulf War, Philips organized Islamic religious revival meetings for U.S. troops stationed in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, during which (according to Philips) over three thousands soldiers converted to Islam. According to counter-extremism author J.M. Berger, some of the US military men and women who participated in his revival program were later recruited as volunteer trainers in the 1992-95 Bosnian War. Philips founded and taught at the Islamic Information Center in Dubai, under the Dar al Ber Society, and in Qatar he was an Islamic consultant and lecturer for the Islamic Information wing of Sheikh Eid Charity.

Philips attended Simon Frasier University in Vancouver from 1967 to 1970, where he took biochemistry. Philips had encountered Islam several times in his travels, but the book that won him over was Islam, The Misunderstood Religion by Muhammad Qutb. He converted to Islam in February 1972, giving Shahada in the presence of Abdullah Hakim Quick.

Philips spent the first 11 years of childhood in Jamaica, before migrating to Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He attended Jarvis Collegiate Institute for junior high and Northview Heights Collegiate Institute for high school from 1962 to 1965. Philips moved with his family to Sabah, East Malaysia in 1964, as his parents were part of the Colombo Plan.

Abu Ameenah Bilal Philips (born Dennis Bradley Philips; July 17, 1947), is a Canadian Islamic teacher, speaker, author, founder and chancellor of the International Open University, who lives in Qatar.