Feiz Mohammad

Feiz Mohammad (born 1970) is an Australian Muslim preacher.

Mohammad is of Lebanese origin, and was born in Sydney, Australia, in 1970.

His wife, Mahtia Rahman and his son, Yusuf Mohamad have been described as cultural Muslims, Mohammed himself not being particularly religious in his youth.

After quitting school at year 10 to learn carpentry, during his adolescence he’d lead a life full of drugs, heavy drinking and street fighting, taking an interest in boxing, where he’d become the NSW amateur welterweight champion in 1987, and in bodybuilding, winning the national under-19 bodybuilding title in 1989.

At the age of 19 he’d begin explore world religions, studying Christianity, Buddhism and Judaism before finally choosing Islam.

Mohammad studied under Sheikh Mohammed Omran, the spiritual leader of Ahlus Sunnah Wal Jamaah Association (Australia), who sent him, in 1990, to Saudi Arabia's Islamic University of Madinah, where he spent four years studying Islamic law.

He returned to Australia in 1997.

In Australia, Mohammad and others founded the Global Islamic Youth Centre in the Sydney suburb of Liverpool in 2000 to "cater for the physical, social, educational and religious needs, especially for the youth and the children, in accordance with the teachings of the Quran".

Mohammad fled to Tripoli, Lebanon, in November 2005 and was believed to have lived there from 2007 through at least December 2008.

He was its head in 2005, and in 2008 was still active at the centre.

Even after he left Australia for Lebanon, he continued to direct the centre from abroad.

In 2007, a box set of 16 DVDs of Mohammed's sermons, called the Death Series, became a focus of attention of the Attorney-General of Australia.

The DVDs urge young Muslims to kill infidel non-believers and sacrifice their lives for Allah.

It says the children should be taught that there is "nothing more beloved to me than wanting to die as a Muhajid [holy warrior]," and that the parents should "put in their soft, tender heart the zeal of jihad and the love of martyrdom", preach jihad.

He said: "Kaffir (non-Muslim) is the worst word ever written, a sign of infidelity, disbelief, filth, a sign of dirt".

He also calls Jews "pigs," and laughs about killing them, as he makes snorting noises.

The DVDs came to public attention when they were featured in the documentary Undercover Mosque, which aired on Britain's Channel 4.

The DVDs were being sold by children in the parking lot of a Birmingham mosque.

The Australian Federal Police and Australia's Attorney-General investigated whether Mohammed's sermons broke laws against sedition, racial vilification, and inciting violence and terrorism.

In January 2007, two Australian Federal Police raided the Global Islamic Youth Centre and removed copies of the Death Series DVD set from the premises.

Australian Acting Attorney-General Kevin Andrews called the DVDs "offensive, unacceptable and outrageous" and "importations of hatred".

NSW Premier Morris Iemma said the DVD preachings were "reprehensible and offensive" and that "The sort of incitement that the DVD encourages is incitement to acts of violence and acts of terror."

The Opposition called for him to be charged with inciting terrorism, and Federal Opposition leader Kevin Rudd said the comments were obscene and an incitement to terrorism, and that he wanted the government to act, and that Mohammad "has no place in our society".

"I would say this to Sheik Mohammed: Do not return to Australia, you are not welcome here," said Rudd.

In July 2007, federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock, referring to the DVDs, said that Australia needed better laws to deal with items that encourage people to commit terrorist attacks, and that "Waiting for a terrorist attack to happen is unacceptable."

He added: "People who may be susceptible to carrying out a terrorist act ought not to be instructed in how to do it, how to use household products to produce a bomb, or be encouraged to think about violent jihad and taking their own life."

Vic Alhadeff, the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies CEO, said "He has a significant number of followers and ... it is inevitable that there will be some who will be influenced by these grotesque remarks."

Opposition education spokesman Andrew Stoner said the NSW government must ensure that his Global Islamic Youth Centre would not teach the "extremist views" and "messages of hate" of Mohammad to young school children.

He said:

"'Jews are pigs that will be killed at the end of the world'. He also said concerning Jews, 'They have got the most extreme racial pride in them. They say that every single non-Jew is a slave created to serve the Jews ... Their time will come like every other evil person's time will come.'"

As of December 2008, the Global Islamic Youth Centre had raised $700,000 towards a new facility in Liverpool.

A Centre spokesman said that the centre was "for all those kids out there who are lost," and would "encourage them to try to follow the right path."

In late 2008, a site he created called Faith Over Fear had links to the centre.

Its primary video showed Mohammad calling on Muslims to sacrifice their lives to wage war against the West.

He relocated to Malaysia to continue Islamic studies, aiming for a PhD in Sharia, and returned to Australia, likely in 2010, to open a new prayer hall in Auburn.

In March 2011, Mohammad returned to Australia after a six-year absence.

He established the Dawah Central centre in Auburn (now the Ahlus Sunnah walJamaah Auburn).

It has a number of other locations in Sydney and elsewhere in Australia.

He is associated with and supported by the Islamic organization Ahlus Sunnah wal Jamaah, and has delivered sermons at their centre in Auburn.

His last known residence as of September 2012 was in the Southern Highlands.