Plano, Texas – In a sweeping and incendiary sermon, militant American imam Yasir Qadhi addressed worshippers at the East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC), a mosque with a history of controversy. From the tax-exempt pulpit, Qadhi compared Israel to Nazi Germany, accused the Jewish state of genocide, and declared it “more evil than the Nazis.” He also refused to condemn the October 7 Hamas massacre that left over 1,200 civilians dead.

The sermon, which spanned more than an hour, was framed as a spiritual reflection on Gaza. But in reality, it was a political broadside laced with conspiracy theories, blood libels, and repeated invocations of Islamic history to shame the Muslim world into action. Qadhi’s oration deliberately blurred the line between religious exhortation and political agitation.

In his opening remarks, Qadhi declared that “655 days have passed” since the so-called siege of Gaza, characterizing Israel as an “apartheid regime” and the “last remaining settler-colonialist state.” He claimed Israel has imposed “a total embargo on food,” and is “literally starving to death” two million Palestinians in front of the eyes of the world. He falsely claimed that Israel is blocking baby formula and compared images from Gaza to “emaciated skeletons” from Nazi death camps.

“I have visited the death camps of Auschwitz and Dachau,” he said. “But the current regime of Israel starving 2 million people—it is demonstrably something more evil… than anything the Nazis have done.”

This comparison, widely recognized as a form of Holocaust inversion and antiSemitic defamation, was followed by Qadhi’s explicit refusal to condemn the October 7 Hamas terror attacks. Instead of denouncing the mass murder, rape, and torture of Israeli civilians, Qadhi mocked the demand for moral clarity. “Do not fall prey to the propaganda,” he said. “Instead of asking, ‘Do you condemn October 7,’ we must push back and say: ‘Do you condemn Zionism?’”

In this context, “Zionism” serves as a thinly veiled substitute for “Jewish.” It is an Islamic political cloak, weaponized as a coded euphemism to demonize Jews while preserving plausible deniability. Within Islamic rhetoric, it has become the socially acceptable proxy for overt Jew hatred.

Qadhi’s sermon also included repeated attacks on American politicians, accusing them of being “bribed by AIPAC” and claiming the U.S. is “held hostage” by Israel. He cited conspiracy theories involving Jeffrey Epstein, asserting that “Allah is exposing them from the White House to the prison cells of Epstein.”

Framing the war in Gaza as a moral crisis for the entire Muslim world, Qadhi invoked tribal boycotts from 7th-century Mecca to shame Muslim rulers and populations into coordinated action. “Does a pagan Mushrik from the Quraysh have more humanity than the Ummah?” he asked. “Are we going to eat to our fill when our brothers and sisters are starving in Gaza?”

He then issued what can only be described as a political call to action: urging Muslim-majority governments – especially Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, and the Gulf states – to unite and defy Israel by delivering aid regardless of diplomatic consequences. “If all of you came together… Who would stop you?” he said, calling such a move a “diplomatic slap in the face.”

Qadhi’s message to Western Muslims was equally confrontational. He warned against “media disinformation” and told his followers to “learn to have a backbone” and “speak out,” declaring, “If you do not do so, who else will?”

He framed resistance as inevitable and justified, saying that the oppressed “have every right to defend themselves,” and rhetorically asked if a father whose family was attacked could be blamed for “any tactic.” Though he avoided directly inciting violence, his messaging leaves little doubt about the moral framework he is advancing.

Throughout the sermon, Qadhi distorted current events while ignoring key facts. He did not mention Hamas’s use of human shields, its refusal of ceasefire deals, or its exploitation of humanitarian aid. He offered no acknowledgment of Israeli suffering, instead calling on the global Muslim community to mobilize, donate, and petition governments until they break the “blockade.”

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation and other international groups are actively working to bypass Hamas and provide aid directly to civilians—a fact Qadhi never acknowledged. He claimed instead that “nothing is going in” and that “donations are not coming in right now,” despite evidence to the contrary.

Qadhi also launched an emotional guilt trip against Muslim inaction, suggesting that even the death of the Prophet Muhammad did not stop the ummah, and that Gaza should not either. He closed by urging Muslims to “make dua” and prepare for collective Islamic strength, saying the “dawn shall break” and that Islam “will flourish.”

Delivered from a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt mosque, the sermon raises serious questions about the use of religious platforms for radical political agitation. Qadhi’s statements appear to violate IRS guidelines on nonprofit political activity and could warrant investigation.

What Yasir Qadhi offered was not a sermon, but a mobilization speech. He used sacred space to deliver propaganda, to justify terrorism, and to sow distrust against the U.S. and its allies. While cloaked in religious language, the purpose was clear: to advance the political goals of the Islamic worldview, and to do it under the legal protections of a tax-exempt institution.

It’s time for that protection to end. This is not religious freedom. It’s ideological warfare from behind a pulpit.