The Charity Commission has opened a statutory inquiry into a Birmingham mosque over concerns about its administration and management.
According to the Commission, concerns about Dar ul Uloom Islamia Rizwia (Bralawai), also known as Central Jamia Mosque Ghamkol Sharif, include the trustees’ failure to ensure that policies and procedures relating to safeguarding have been implemented, and the conduct of some trustees and staff members on social media.
The charity provides a place of worship, religious teachings, community services and also operates an educational centre in Small Heath, Birmingham.
The regulator initially engaged with the charity in 2019 and found that safeguarding policies and procedures were not in place. The charity’s trustees were issued with regulatory advice and gave assurances to the Commission that the educational centre would be closed and would not re-open until required improvements had been made.
In November 2021, the Commission carried out a compliance visit to the charity’s premises following regulatory concerns in relation to the social media activity of some of the charity’s trustees and staff. These posts resulted in the charity receiving negative media attention about a mosque official allegedly praising the Taliban and complaints being raised directly with the Commission.
As part of the compliance visit the Commission established that the educational centre had re-opened without adhering to the charity’s policies and procedures. The re-opening had also taken place despite there being incomplete disclosure and barring service checks in place for those engaged in regulated activity.
The inquiry will examine:
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- The trustees’ failure to ensure that the charity’s policies and procedures relating to safeguarding were complied with
- The conduct of trustees and senior management on social media, and whether they acted in accordance with the charity’s social media policy
- Whether there are unmanaged conflicts of interest in relation to working with partners
- General governance concerns including financial controls, the making and recording of key decisions and securing proper application of charitable funds
Central Jamia Mosque Ghamkol Sharif has yet to comment.
