Mick Hartley

From today's Times:

An Islamic charity is being investigated after extremist sermons that praised the Taliban and encouraged Muslims to fund jihadists were found on its website.

As well as pro-jihadist lectures, the Miftahul Jannah Academy, in Waltham Forest, northeast London, hosts antisemitic audio recordings referring to the “dirty qualities” of Jews.

The Charity Commission is investigating after being contacted by the National Secular Society. The lectures were delivered by Muhammad Patel, an Islamic scholar. The society also referred the Masjid-e-Umer Trust, which runs Walthamstow Central Mosque, to the commission after discovering that Patel delivers lectures and youth programmes there, according to the charities’ websites.

I know. Who could believe such a thing? A Muslim charity preaching jihad and spreading antisemitism….

In one lecture on September 11, Patel refers to the “amazing victory of the Taliban”, saying “Allah gave them victory on the battlefield”. He said people in Karachi, Pakistan, had prayed for the Taliban “without mentioning their name” for “political reasons”, but now they can pray “openly” for them.

In a lecture from 2019 he says that if a Muslim nation “wants to go and fight”, rich Muslims should help them buy “machineguns” and “rockets”. It also says Muslims should spend extra on “recruitment for jihad”. Patel says that if Muslims neglect jihad, they will face “humiliation in front of the kuffar” (non-Muslims).

Another lecture is entitled “A quality of the Yahood — to kill those who want to guide them towards the commands of Allah”. Yahood is the Arabic word for Jew. Patel says the killing of Islamic scholars is one of the “wretched” and “dirty” qualities of Jews.

The website of Miftahul Jannah Academy says its aims and objectives include “to further the true image of Islam”.

They seem to be doing a very good job there, at least.

Masjid-e-Umer Trust is also registered in Waltham Forest. Its charitable objects include “The advancement of the religion of Islam in accordance with the tenets and doctrines of the Hanafi Sunni sect of Islam”. Organisations that register as charities are required to serve a public benefit. The Charities Act 2011 outlines a series of “charitable purposes”. One of these is “the advancement of religion”. Both Miftahul Jannah Academy and Masjid-e-Umer Trust include “religious activities” in their classification.

In a 2019 report, the National Secular Society argued that “the advancement of religion” should be removed as a charitable purpose. Megan Manson, its head of policy, said: “This is a shocking example of how the charitable purpose of ‘the advancement of religion’ can be abused by extremists. These harmful and hateful sermons were facilitated by the charity system.”

Advancing the religion of Islam is clearly not serving a public benefit. An Islamic benefit, no doubt, but not a public benefit.