The Hackney Islamic Community Centre is facing a Charity Commission investigation after sermons shared online allegedly encouraged husbands to hit their wives and endorsed the execution of gay people and those accused of witchcraft.
The east London mosque, also known as Masjid Daar Al-Hadeeth, has been reported to the regulator by the National Secular Society (NSS), which said the material was incompatible with charitable status.
The Charity Commission said it had opened a regulatory compliance case to assess concerns about sermons and social media content linked to the centre. It will consider whether further action, including a statutory inquiry, is required.
Videos published on the centre’s YouTube channel include lectures by Yasin Munye, an Islamic teacher who reads from Manthumatu al-Kaba’ir, a poem listing what are regarded in Islam as “major sins”.
In one lecture, Mr Munye described disobeying a husband, leaving the house without his permission and refusing intimacy without an excuse as major sins. He said a wife should first be advised, then denied intimacy, before adding that husbands could “discipline them physically as well, by lightly hitting them to show them who is in charge”.
He also said that if a wife remained disobedient, a husband did not have to provide her with a home and could stay with another wife until she became obedient.
In the same lecture, Mr Munye described gay sex as “one of the most evil acts” and “a crime”, saying both participants were “executed in the Sharia”. He added that scholars differed over whether the punishment should be carried out with a sword or by throwing people from a tall building before stones were thrown at them.
In a separate lecture, Mr Munye said “sihr”, or witchcraft, was real and praised Saudi Arabia for continuing to execute people accused of practising it.
“Sihr (magic) is real, it is true… In Saudi Arabia, they are killed, alhamdulillah (praise be to God), bless that,” he said. “Alhamdulillah, in that country, that punishment is still applied.”
Other material from the mosque featured scholar Abu Sa’ad Muhammad Al-Iraqi discussing the treatment of women. He said a woman should continue to fulfil her husband’s rights even if he mistreated her, while suggesting that families should be brought in to address his behaviour.
He also described it as “an unfortunate reality of this country” that women could call the police after being struck by their husbands.
Megan Manson, head of campaigns at the NSS, said the centre’s renewed charitable status was “alarming”. She said it had hosted lectures promoting violence against women, suggesting women could not refuse sex with their husbands and condoning the death penalty for gay men and people accused of witchcraft.
“This charitable purpose must be urgently reviewed,” she said. “It is evidently facilitating the advancement of ideas which, far from benefiting the public, could fuel discrimination, division and abuse.”
The Hackney Islamic Community Centre describes its work as helping “mankind” and advancing the Islamic faith. It received £191,097 in income in the year to March 2025, including almost £155,000 in direct donations, and paid no tax on that income.
The organisation re-registered as a charitable incorporated organisation in April this year. The change separated its trustees from personal liability for the charity’s debts and allowed it to own property in a structure governed by charity law.
The Charity Commission said: “The Commission has clear expectations that all charities, regardless of their purpose, must operate for the public benefit and provide a safe and trusted environment for all.”
Masjid Daar Al-Hadeeth was contacted for comment.
The regulator’s action comes amid questions over the limits of religious expression under charity law. The Equality Act and Human Rights Act contain protections for religious freedom, while the Charity Commission has previously declined to act over some teachings on the basis that they were in accordance with religious beliefs.
