NSW Leader Vows to Keep Radical Islamic Preacher’s Prayer Hall Shut

Wissam Haddad had delivered numerous hardline sermons to scores of Muslim men in the Al Madina Dawah Centre.

Wissam Haddad leaves the Federal Court of Australia in Sydney on July 1, 2025. Two leaders of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry sued the Islamic preacher for racial discrimination over allegedly anti-Semitic sermons. AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts

A prayer hall where a controversial Islamic preacher held “racist, anti-Semitic” lectures will remain closed, New South Wales (NSW) Premier Chris Minns has vowed.

According to an earlier court judgement, Wissam Haddad was found to have delivered numerous hardline sermons to scores of Muslim men in the Al Madina Dawah Centre in southwestern Sydney since April 2021.

A Federal Court ruled in July that three lectures by Haddad in late 2023 contained “devastatingly offensive” imputations that were based on the race or ethnicity of the Australian Jewish community.

Minns said it would be a “disaster” if Al Madina Dawah were to reopen, adding “the time for confronting that kind of division in our community is long overdue.”

“The verdict’s in on this prayer hall and any other prayer halls that are found to have preachers that are responsible for racism in our community,” he told reporters on Sunday as he returned to the scene of the Bondi massacre.

The Al Madina Dawah Centre, which is used as an illegal prayer hall run by radical Sydney cleric Wissam Haddad, in Bankstown, Sydney, Australia on Dec. 24, 2025. AAP Image/Dean Lewins

“Anyone who is found to have preached hate or put hate in the hearts of anyone in our community should have their prayer halls shut down as soon as possible.

“The government will take action to ensure we are in a position to close down, by turning off the utilities, the water and electricity, of anyone who is deemed to use their premises without the lawful permission of the local council or the New South Wales government.”

It was more than Haddad’s words that led to the centre’s undoing, with the Canterbury-Bankstown City Council last week saying it was operating from a decades-old building never permitted for use as a religious centre.

The building, on Kitchener Parade in Bankstown, was only recently approved to operate as a medical centre.

Changing the use to a prayer hall, or place of worship, requires development consent, which had not been sought, the council said.

“Our recent surveillance indicates there is a strong suspicion the premises is being used contrary to its intended use,” a spokesperson said.

“We have issued the cease use notices which will be effective immediately. There are no compromises, and we will be taking further action if they don’t comply.”

The centre said its closure was not permanent.

“This pause is purely to ensure full compliance with council requirements and to obtain the necessary approvals,” it said in a statement on Tuesday.

Haddad, born and raised in Australia, is also known as Abu Ousayd or “father of Ousayd” in the Muslim community, in recognition of his eldest son Ousayd.

By Grace Crivellaro in Sydney.