July 2 2026 - 3:20pm
The editor of a British news site widely described as Islamist has called for a “mass physical training program” for Muslims to defend themselves.
Roshan Salih, the founding editor of 5Pillars, said in a podcast that “we need to have a mass physical training program within the Muslim community, every single mosque providing that training, every single community center, money being poured into physically training Muslims.” He added that this would mean “we are the fittest community in this country, the strongest community in this country, and the community that is most able to defend itself in this country.”
Salih’s comments were made on the 5Pillars show Muslims Uncensored in the context of a discussion on the new film Citizen Vigilante, in which a civilian takes justice into his own hands and hunts down violent criminals. Salih called Citizen Vigilante “an anti-Muslim snuff film”, where “this guy goes round killing Muslims and black people, where Muslims are portrayed as criminals, as rapists, and he’s the avenger.” As a result, he said, “resources do need to be put into confronting the far Right — in a peaceful way — at street level.”
5Pillars, which attracts roughly half a million monthly readers and has over 630,000 followers on Facebook, has itself previously given a platform to figures considered far-Right or white nationalist, including former British National Party leader Nick Griffin and Patriotic Alternative leader Mark Collett. The UK press regulator Impress ruled in 2024 that the site had promoted “hatred and abuse” of Jews and LGBT people. 5Pillars has also praised the Taliban and spread conspiracy theories about Jewish control of institutions. In 2021, the publication had to pay back a £3,000 Covid emergency grant after its deputy editor Dilly Hussain described homosexuality as “a gross crime against Allah”.
Salih previously worked for outlets including the BBC and Al Jazeera, before founding 5Pillars in 2013 to combat a perceived lack of coverage of Muslim issues in Britain. Last weekend, the publication ran a message on its social media channels, signed by him, which instructed that “every Muslim living in the UK must learn how to defend themselves — men, women and children.” It went on: “There is a clear campaign to intimidate Muslims here which is happening in politics, media and in the street. So-called patriots are now following Muslims around in the streets and in parks trying to provoke incidents.”
In the online post, Salih wrote that “every mosque and community center must provide martial arts training so we can protect ourselves. We must become the fittest, strongest and most street wise community in the UK. We are under threat so we have no choice but to face that threat.” Calling for “no more letting ourselves be intimidated by thugs”, Salih argued that “they should know that taking on a Muslim will not be a easy thing to do [sic].”
