Judge rules Mohammed Hijab lied in failed Spectator defamation case

The Islamic street preacher Mohammed Hegab has lost a defamation case against The Spectator and the magazine’s associate editor, Douglas Murray.

The case stems from September 2022. The article in question was a critique of multiculturalism in the wake of the 2022 Leicester riots, which broke out after India played Pakistan at cricket in the Asia Cup. The unrest saw groups of British Hindus and British Muslims engage in ethnic violence.

Hegab, better known by his YouTube name Mohammed Hijab, had travelled from London to Leicester in the wake of the tensions, with a video circulating of him addressing a crowd of masked men and making derogatory comments about Hindus. Mocking the Hindu belief in reincarnation, Hijab stated: “If they believe in reincarnation, what a humiliation and pathetic thing for them to be reincarnated into some pathetic weak cowardly people like that. I would rather be an animal.” Murray referenced these inflammatory remarks in the article, describing Hijab as a “street agitator”.

Murray also addressed a situation where Hijab had been speaking at a protest where a masked man was filmed chanting “We’ll find some Jews. We want their blood.” Hijab had also visited Golders Green, a predominantly Jewish area in North London, with Ali Dawah, another Islamic YouTuber. The provocative and filmed visit to question people about the events in Palestine led to confrontations, with Hijab later claiming he did not know Golders Green was a Jewish area.

Hijab’s pursuit of legal action centred on his claim that describing him as a “street agitator” was unfounded, and that his remarks in Leicester had not been directed at Hindus in general, but rather at Hindutva (extreme Hindu nationalists). He argued that a non-Hindu could be Hindutva, claiming that Tommy Robinson, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Douglas Murray himself were all Hindutva.

He asserted that Murray’s words had directly resulted in the loss of sponsorship deals and other revenue streams.

According to those present at the case, Hijab was at the back of the courtroom eating doughnuts while his lawyer delivered his closing submission.

The judge ultimately ruled in favour of Murray’s assertions, concluding that Hijab had lied repeatedly throughout the case, to the extent that his evidence was deemed “worthless”. The judge further described Hijab as “combative and constantly argumentative”.

In his conclusions, referring to Hijab, the judge said: “He sought, at every turn, to debate with counsel, responding to questions with (rhetorical) questions of his own, arguing his case rather than giving straightforward responses, and denigrating the character of the second defendant to whom he bears palpable personal animosity. I am satisfied that he lied on significant issues, with the consequence that his evidence, overall, is worthless. Specifically, I am satisfied that he lied in respect of the event at Golders Green, the counter-protest at the rally for Israel, the seminar on Hinduism at the Sapience Institute, his repudiation of vigilantism, his evidence as to the involvement of the Hindutva, his evidence about his choice of language in his speech, and his evidence in support of his claim for financial losses.”

Hijab’s media personality is often combative and aggressive. A recent video shows him making derogatory comments about Catholic priests, while in another he tells a Christian debater that he is “nothing, a nobody”.

However, he has also come under online scrutiny after accusations surfaced that he manipulated and tricked a woman into a Nikah Misyar, a marriage contract accepted in some parts of Islam where a man and woman marry but agree to waive certain marital rights, such as living together or financial support. It is often seen as a way for a man to extract sexual privileges without the normal commitments of amarriage. Hijab is understood to also be in a separate marriage.

While Hijab is yet to respond to these allegations, his most recent X post states: “It is an honour to have as enemies those who oppose Islam and Muslims,” likely a reference to the court proceedings.

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Photo: “Mohammed Hijab during his Q&A session with Zeeshan Ali” by Islam Net, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=166262425

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