Shermon Burgess, one of Australia’s most notorious anti-Islam activists and former head of the far-right group United Patriots Front, has converted to Islam for its stance towards masculinity, gender roles and the LGBTQIA+ community.

“Islam is purety [sic] connected directly to Allah SWT. The west has lost its way, people are depressed and try fix all life’s problems with alcohol, drugs, porn, sleeping around,” he wrote on Facebook.

“Islam rids you of all of this and allows you to have meaning again. It returns light back into your very soul and re ignites the passion of life back into your heart.”

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Burgess became a national figure during the 2010s for his involvement in now-defunct far-right nationalist groups United Patriots Front (UPF), Reclaim Australia and the Australian Defence League. 

He also played a central role in the 2015 anti-Islam protests that centered on the construction of a mosque in Bendigo. At its height, his social media page “The Great Aussie Patriot” would share racist, inflammatory content to tens of thousands of followers.

Half a decade on, Burgess’ personal Facebook account is now adorned with a cover photo of a Palestinian flag overlaid with the Shahada. 

Burgess’ meeting with Muslim Freedom Movement leader Youssra Rose was instrumental in providing him a “clearer outlook towards Islam”.  

On his Facebook page in December last year, Burgess said “going back to 2015-2016, you would not have seen me standing side by side with a Muslim fighting for the same cause, not in a million years, but now — things have changed. Now I will stand side by side with the Muslims, to fight against these Zionist and freemason oppressors who are ruling over us.”

Burgess said that former UPF members attacked him online when they found out about his conversion.

“Many of them were heavy booze-drinking alcoholics and degenerates,” he said. “I liked the health aspect of Islam, how they train hard and refrain from alcohol and drugs.” 

Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the world, with the number of Muslims set to grow at more than twice the rate of the overall world population between 2015 and 2060 according to research by the Pew Research Center.

Last month, Father Hilarion Heagy, a prominent Eastern Christian Priest based in California, United States embraced Islam, according to various sources.