Mosque praised by Lord Hermer rebuked by watchdog for anti-Israel sermon

Telegraph

a day ago

A mosque praised by Lord Hermer has been rebuked over an anti-Israel sermon in which Muslims were urged to 'wage war for Allah', The Telegraph can reveal.
The Abdullah Quilliam Society, which was branded 'inspiring' by the Attorney General last year, has been issued with an official warning over the 'inflammatory' talk held shortly after the October 7 massacre in 2023.
In the sermon focused on the war in Gaza, Haroon Hanif, an Islamic preacher, accused Israel of 'genocide' and told worshippers that Muslims should 'continue waging your war for Allah and his messenger, don't back down'.
He added: 'We're large in numbers right now, two billion. If the two billion just marched on Israel, it's all over; if you spat in the direction of Israel, two billion, it's all over.'
He also suggested that Muslims could be empowered to 'wipe out the Israelis in a blink of an eye' if they put their faith in Allah.
The nature of Mr Hanif's affiliation with the mosque, if any, is unknown. He delivered the sermon on Oct 20, roughly two weeks after the Hamas terror attacks on October 7.
The comments, which were livestreamed on social media, prompted campaigners to refer the Abudullah Quilliam Society and seven other Islamic charities to the Charity Commission.
The watchdog has now ruled that the mosque has committed a breach of trust or duty, or other misconduct or mismanagement, and issued it with an official warning under the Charities Act 2011.
This means that the charity, which has previously received around £8,000 in government grants, will have to take action to rectify the problem, including implementing 'robust' policies regarding the choice of speakers.
Stephen Roake, the Charity Commission's assistant director for compliance visits and inspections, told The Telegraph: 'We are clear that the sermon delivered at the Abdullah Quilliam Foundation was inflammatory, divisive and unacceptable.
'Our robust action in issuing the charity with an official warning sends a clear message to this charity, and the sector more widely.
'We now expect the charity's trustees to learn from what went wrong, and put in place the measures we've set out to protect the charity from further harm, including policies on speakers and social media use.'
'A huge, huge pleasure'
Lord Hermer went to visit the Abdullah Quilliam Society in August 2024, where he discussed ways to keep the Muslim community safe in the wake of the riots triggered by the Southport killings.
He said it had been 'truly wonderful' to hear about the community's response to the protests, which affected the mosque directly, and said he had come away with 'many ideas'.
In a video posted on the society's Instagram account, he said: 'It's been inspiring learning about the work of this mosque... It has been a huge, huge pleasure.'
It is understood that his trip to the mosque was organised through local justice and policing teams and formed part of a wider set of visits to the area that day.
The charity's stated purpose is 'to promote correct knowledge and understanding of Islam and its true spirit and faith for the benefit of all'.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Abdullah Quilliam Society (@aqsociety)
In the sermon in October 2023, Mr Hanif said, 'any Muslim who thinks the Palestinians are terrorists... you need to question your imam (belief)'.
Towards the end of the talk, he said: 'The message, whatever we're seeing happening right now... You and I can't do anything unless we do something with him... And everything that's happening... Allah's friend can wipe out the Israelis in a blink of an eye.
'He can wipe them out... He can send the most powerful of all armies against them... He can send against them a virus, corona, he can send anything against them... Allah has armies beyond what we can imagine. He can finish it in a moment. Just have iman in him.'
In the official warning to the mosque, handed down on Thursday, the Charity Commission ruled that the sermon was 'inflammatory and divisive' and 'not in the charity's best interest'.
It found that the society 'failed to have effective policies in place', including 'those related to speakers' and ordered it to 'create, implement, and adhere to robust and suitable policies' to ensure its assets are 'not exposed to undue risk in the furtherance of its objects' in future.
It added that 'failure to remedy the breach of duty and/or misconduct and/or mismanagement specified above may lead to further regulatory action'.