With VIP membership, Qur’an school in Norwegian, and large amounts of state support, Islam Net leader Fahad Qureshi seeks to build centres across Norway.
The new Iman Centre at Haugenstua in Oslo has become popular, if one is to believe Islam Net leader Fahad Qureshi. Now the next objective is clear: to obtain millions in state support and build recruitment centres for radical Islam across the country.
The radical Islamist has a vision for Norway, and it consists of Muslims from all backgrounds uniting around his Salafism. In this way they will conduct “dawah” throughout Norway, which is their term for evangelisation.
This is Islam Net
Islam Net is a radical Islamist organisation that a broad political majority has warned against for a number of years. In a joint remark in the Storting, the Labour Party (Ap), the Socialist Left Party (SV), and the Centre Party (Sp) have described the organisation as “founded on Salafism, a literal interpretation of Islam with clear anti-democratic core values”. They called it “cause for concern” that the organisation plans activities for children and young people without being subject to supervision and reporting requirements.
Their principal attraction is Mohammed Hijab. The man is well known for being an extreme street agitator. At one of the demonstrations Hijab attended, it was shouted: “we are going to find some Jews, we want their blood”.
Hijab is so controversial that the Netherlands imposed an entry ban on him in February 2025 due to concerns about hate speech. A planned event in Canada was cancelled for the same reason. Member of Parliament Kjell Ingolf Ropstad (KrF) asked the Minister of Justice to consider similar measures in Norway after Hijab visited Islam Net in Oslo.
Hijab has been involved in a defamation case with Douglas Murray, who described him as a “pro-terrorist preacher”. Hijab lost the case and was completely discredited by the judge.
Hijab’s evidence was “worthless”, and he “lied on material issues”. His testimony was described as “not credible” and “fabricated”.
The judge also found that Hijab used the term “Hindutva” for rhetorical and propaganda purposes, and that he employed an identical tactic when he called the Jews he encountered in Golders Green in London “Zionists” – without any objective basis, solely in order to fit his own narrative. Hijab claimed in court that he did not know that Golders Green was a Jewish area. The judge found this “not credible”.
Hijab has also come under scrutiny following allegations that he manipulated a woman into a so-called Nikah Misyar marriage – a marriage contract in which the man may have sexual rights without the usual obligations.
Islam Net also makes use of international fundraising networks. Among others, the Indian preacher Zakir Naik, who is denied entry to a number of Western countries as well as India and Bangladesh under hate legislation, has actively promoted Islam Net’s projects.
How the Iman Centre came into being
Islam Net is led by Fahad Qureshi, who openly wishes to Islamise Norway. Salafists such as Qureshi hold that the Qur’an stands above Norwegian law. He has previously advocated the death penalty for homosexuality.
In a major new campaign, Islam Net is attempting to recruit new members to its Iman Centre. It all began in 2021, when they purchased the former Oslo Shooting Centre in Groruddalen for 63.5 million kroner.
In 2022, Islam Net transferred nearly 99 million kroner to the foundation Iman Aktivitetssenter. The foundation was recorded with 167 million kroner in equity and zero debt.
On the website they advertise two imams who are to provide the children with good instruction in the Qur’an.
But what few know is that the foundation now called “Iman Aktivitetssenter” was named “Islam Net Foundation” until the autumn of 2020. The name change took place simultaneously with the negotiations regarding the property. That was no coincidence.
Formally, Fahad Qureshi has no role in the new centre. It has been entrusted to his father, Inshaallah Qureshi, and his brother Zeshan Qureshi. The latter is a doctoral fellow at MF Vitenskapelig høyskole (Menighetsfakultetet).
Islam Net collects the funds and transfers them to a foundation controlled by the Qureshi family. In this way they avoid the transparency and reporting requirements to which religious communities are subject.
Here you can see the video in which Fahad Qureshi asks that one registers oneself and one’s children in his religious community in order to receive state support.
The campaign: Free for you, millions for us
But in a new major campaign, Qureshi addresses Muslims in the country directly and asks them to enrol.
In this way they can obtain millions in state support, without members having to pay a single krone.
– Establishing Iman Centre Haugenstua is one of the greatest things I have been part of in my life. We have created a weekend school that already gathers more than 180 children. Who thrive, and who love being in the mosque. Who make good friends and build a strong Muslim identity, Qureshi says in one of the centre’s new promotional videos.
He emphasises that they have admitted more than 120 students to their Iman Academy (Iman Akademi), which is a two-year part-time programme in Islam.
– This is a model. A blueprint for what a Norwegian Islamic centre can look like when the mosque is built by visionary people who understand today’s challenges. And who understand today’s needs. Now that we have the blueprint for the best mosque model in Norway, should we not expand? And should you not be part of this expansion? Of course! Muslims across the country need such centres. We have built all this without state support. But now the time has come to register the Iman Centre as a religious community, so that we, like everyone else, can receive state support and use it to take this model to new heights. If you have confidence in me, choose Iman Centre as your religious community, and enrol your children and let us together build the foundation for Islam’s future in Norway. It does not cost you a single krone to become a member.
Islam Net leader Fahad Qureshi has repeatedly been given airtime on NRK television.
The money at stake
On the Iman Centre’s website it is advertised that they receive 1,554 kroner per member one recruits to the religious community.
To understand what this means in practice: Islamic religious communities with 182,420 registered members already receive 283 million kroner in state support in 2025. They are the largest recipient group, ahead of the Catholic Church and the Norwegian Humanist Association (Human-Etisk Forbund). When the municipalities’ compulsory contributions are included, the total transfer to Islamic religious communities exceeds 613 million kroner annually.
If the Iman Centre succeeds in recruiting thousands of members across the country, we are quickly speaking of sums in the millions – drawn directly from Norwegian taxpayers.
From 1 January 2026, at least 100 subsidy-counting members are required to qualify for state support.
The expansion plans
The first centre is at Haugenstua, which is the converted Oslo Shooting Centre. But Islam Net states openly that it has plans in two other Norwegian cities. In the longer term, they wish to replicate the model and establish several such Muslim family centres in various locations throughout the country. They also envisage purchasing rental properties for long-term financing of operations and the establishment of further such centres.
One of the new locations is revealed in the Brønnøysund Register Centre (Brønnøysundregistrene), where they have registered three organisations:
- Iman Centre (935674468)
- Iman Centre Haugenstua (936012442)
- Iman Centre Strømmen (936005896)
In other words, it is clear that Islam Net is planning a new centre at Strømmen, an area that has already become well known for the density of immigrants, youth crime, and parallel societies.
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