A prominent Islamic charity has responded to accusations made in an article published in The Telegraph that its founder is anti-semitic, amongst other allegations forwarded by an “ex-Muslim” who’s organisation claims to “tackle Islamic extremism”.
The Telegraph wrote that Muslim convert, Abdurraheem Green who is the founder of the Islamic Education and Research Academy (iERA) is anti-Semitic. The article can be read here: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/10854579/Anti-Semitic-charity-under-investigation.html.
iERA is currently under review by the Charity Commission. The Commission’s press release on the investigation states:
“The regulator says its inquiry is investigating concerns about the charity’s governance. The inquiry was opened following a records inspection at the charity’s premises in January 2014. The regulator says that it identified a number of regulatory issues connected to the charity’s approach and policies for organising events and inviting external speakers and its associated records and documents. The inquiry is examining the decision making of the trustee body, specifically its due diligence and monitoring of speakers, various payments to trustees and a former trustee and its relationship with the connected company, Islamic Education and Research Academy Limited.”
The Charity Commission does not mention any allegations about iERA’s leaders promoting anti-Semitism as suggested in The Telegraph’s article.
Maryam Namazie of the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain (CEMB) submitted a 44-page report to the Charity Commission accusing iERA of promoting hate and violence towards homosexuals, non-Muslims and apostates, claims that have not been substantiated by any evidence except for online comments taken out of context.
CEMB states on its website that it is a human rights organisation which aims to counter Islamic extremism, fights for gender equality and the freedom to criticise religion. However, it is regarded by many Muslims as an Islamophobic organisation used by the mainstream media.
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iERA’s response
The following letter was written by the Head of Communications at iERA, Saleem Chagtai to Robert Mendick and Ben Lazarus of The Telegraph in response to their article:
“We at the Islamic Education and Research Academy (iERA) are writing this letter in response to your article today in the Sunday Telegraph. The article makes a number of assertions that are wholly rejected by our organisation, for which we provide clarifications at the end of this letter.
Firstly, we reject any allegations that iERA is an ‘anti-Semitic’ organisation in any way, shape or form. We take such allegations extremely seriously and will be seeking legal advice on the assertions contained within your article and considering libel action against any misrepresentation.
We feel such articles are detrimental to community cohesion and will also be seeking advice from the Press Complaints Commission and encouraging others to challenge any deliberate negative representation of Muslims and Muslim organisations.
Secondly, as an organisation, we are committed to presenting Islam to the wider public, for which we make no apologies. We aim to foster greater dialogue between British Muslims and the wider British society since such dialogue helps to open people’s minds, challenges the image portrayed by the right wing media, removes misconceptions about Islam and destroys Islamophobic attitudes. This is imperative for community cohesion. As long as communities fail to talk to each other, and refuse to get to know one another, than there will always be a ‘fear of the unknown’ festering in that society.
iERA has worked in communities and encourages community work both directly and indirectly. We have supported blood donation from the Muslim community, spoke out against domestic violence, fundraised for Breakthrough Breast Cancer and ran a snow campaign to help communities in the past. Some of this work is direct by the iERA team and some is carried out indirectly through the encouragement and support of other Islamic organisations. Many of our male and female speakers have also been nominated and awarded for their contribution to society. This and much more can be found on our website if you care to do the research.
Articles like yours today have no place in our balanced British media. The article is poorly researched at best and makes extreme assertions. Furthermore, the report by the CEMB, evidenced by your article, has already been criticised for its huge inaccuracies in our Press Release, where we have cited clear examples.
We recognise that there will always be elements of the far right public that will be opposed to the work of iERA due to their racist and prejudiced views on Islam, and therefore community dialogue and integration. British journalists must be conscious of taking the writings and speeches of such elements of our society. By writing your article, iERA believes that you have helped in bolstering the Islamic fear mongering that is prevalent today, which cannot be conducive to community harmony.
However, as stated earlier, we are an organisation that encourages dialogue and would therefore be happy to meet with you to eradicate any misunderstanding.”
