NSS calls for action on charities which hosted extremist cleric

The National Secular Society has reported four Islamic charities to the regulator after they recently hosted an extremist preacher.

The NSS referred the charities to the Charity Commission after social media posts indicated they had hosted Ibtisam Elahi Zaheer, an Islamic scholar from Pakistan, during his visit to the UK this month.

Zaheer has condoned the killing of 'blasphemers', people who leave Islam and members of the Ahmadi Muslim community. He has also said sexual slavery is acceptable, and has 'forgiven' an accused paedophile.

Charities which hosted Zaheer during his July tour of the UK include:

• Umm Ul Qura Foundation, which runs a mosque in Bradford and is endorsed by Zaheer.
• AlHikmah Project, which runs a mosque in Keighley.
• Makki Masjid, a mosque in Manchester.
• Markazi Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith UK, an umbrella group based in Birmingham with over 45 mosques and other organisations affiliated with it.

All four charities are registered under the charitable purpose "the advancement of religion". The NSS has long highlighted how this purpose can enable the promotion of extremist ideology.

In response, the Commission has opened "assessment cases" into the charities.

Zaheer: Ahmadi Muslims "don't have the right to live"

According to subtitles on a video uploaded to YouTube in 2012, Zaheer said "Qadianis" are "apostates" who "don't have the right to live on Earth".

'Qadiani' is a derogatory term for Ahmadi Muslims, who are severely persecuted in Pakistan because their theology is considered blasphemous by clerics in the majority Sunni Muslim community.

In the video, Zaheer said if Ahmadi Muslims call themselves Muslims and refer to their places of worship as mosques, "we will never grant them the right to live".

Zaheer said he doesn't care what people think of him for expressing his views, adding: "Let them consider me as an extremist or a terrorist".

Anti-Ahmadi hate has been recorded in the UK as well as Pakistan. In 2016, Tanveer Ahmed murdered Asad Shah in an attack in Glasgow motivated by anti-Ahmadi hatred. In 2020 the all party parliamentary group (APPG) for the Ahmadiyya Muslim community published a report calling on the UK Government to act on anti-Ahmadi propaganda.

Zaheer also supported the death sentence given to Asia Bibi in Pakistan in 2010 after she was accused of 'blasphemy'. Zaheer said pardoning her would be "criminal negligence" and would cause inter-religious tension. Asia Bibi was released in 2018 following a final appeal.

Captured women can be "distributed to the soldiers" or "sold as slaves"

In a post on his Facebook account in 2021, Zaheer said Islam "designed a solution" for laundi (female prisoners of war), which means "they are distributed to the soldiers in an organised manner" or "sold as slaves".

Zaheer repeated this view according to a 2010 television interview transcript published on MEMRI, which monitors the media in the Middle East. In the interview, he said it is permitted to use Jewish women captured in Israel as "concubines".

He also compares being the "owner" of a woman to being the owner of a goat or horse, and implies men therefore have a right to sell women.

According to several news stories published in April this year, a cleric arrested on suspicion of attempting to rape a boy was released after Zaheer intervened and said he 'forgave' the cleric.

A video published on Zaheer's YouTube account within days of the Hamas attack on Israel last year apparently shows Zaheer asking a pro-Palestine rally if they are "ready" to "make the Jews of Israel suffer". The crowd cheers in response.

NSS: Reform needed to stop charities platforming "harmful extremists"

NSS head of campaigns Megan Manson said: "It's galling to see tax breaks handed to mosques that host fundamentalists with divisive agendas when this clearly serves no public benefit.

"Outdated laws which regard the 'advancement of religion' as charitable purpose must be reconsidered.

"It should be obvious to all that charities shouldn't be used as a platform for harmful extremists."

Media coverage:

• Mosques which hosted Islamist extremist preacher investigated by charity watchdog (The Telegraph)
• Regulator assesses concerns at religious charities that hosted 'extremist' preacher (Civil Society)
• Regulator looks into charities that hosted preacher who 'condones sexual slavery' (Third Sector)

Image: Graphic advertising Zaheer's appearance at a Markazi Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith UK conference, from Zaheer's X account