Article content continued

“Based on various sources of information, he was supposed to be inciting and recruiting people to conduct terrorist activities,” said Siegfred Mison, commissioner of the Bureau of Immigration. “Right now, he is in custody of the police. He is blacklisted.”

In response to a question about Mr. Philips’ arrest, the Department of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa said it was assisting him. “Consular services are being provided to the Canadian citizen who has been detained in the Philippines, as required,” said spokeswoman Amy Mills.

Mr. Philips did not respond to emails requesting comment. But on Facebook, he wrote: “Even in hard times, the longest day is only 24 hours. Everything passes, nothing stays. Have faith and keep walking, knowing Allah is with you.”

In a testament to his popularity among those drawn to his strident preaching, the post had been “liked” more than 15,000 times as of Wednesday afternoon. “May Allah protect and guide you from the kuffar [non-believers] in the Philippines,” one comment read.

Born in Jamaica, Mr. Philips converted to Islam in the 1970s after immigrating to Canada. He studied in Saudi Arabia and, according to the book Jihad Joe by J.M. Berger, in 1992 he was approached by the Saudis to start a program that would send American Muslim ex-servicemen to Bosnia to train Muslim fighters battling Serbian forces.

‘He’s classified as undesirable because of his extremist views and possible link to terrorist groups’

“That request marked the start of a program that would soon spiral out of control, embroiling U.S. military veterans in a jihadist circle with links to Al-Qaeda and to a stunningly ambitious homegrown plot to kill thousands of innocent victims in New York City,” Mr. Berger wrote.