Britain’s independent charity regulatory body, the Charity Commission, has issued a formal official warning to the Lewisham Islamic Centre, a prominent Muslim religious and community institution in southeast London, following two separate sermons delivered by its imams that the regulator deems inflammatory and divisive, marking a new flashpoint in ongoing debates over religious expression, charity governance, and solidarity with Palestinian communities amid the ongoing Gaza conflict.
The first of the two flagged sermons was delivered by Imam Shakeel Begg in October 2023, at the height of Israel’s large-scale military bombardment of the Gaza Strip. During that address, Begg spoke extensively about the widespread humanitarian hardship faced by Palestinian communities, framing their experience as suffering inflicted by “oppressors and the Zionists”, and went on to publicly criticize high-profile global celebrities Justin Bieber and Kylie Jenner, describing the pair as “sick” for their public vocal declarations of support for the state of Israel in the wake of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks.
A second sermon under regulatory scrutiny was delivered in August 2024 by Imam Ashraf Dabous, in the immediate aftermath of a wave of far-right rioting across parts of the UK that targeted Muslim communities, ethnic minority groups, and minority-owned businesses. During that address, Dabous asserted that the hidden manipulators behind the coordinated far-right violent disorder were Zionists and active supporters of the state of Israel. The statement comes in a context where multiple senior figures in the current Israeli government have previously openly endorsed and promoted Tommy Robinson, the controversial far-right British anti-Islam activist whose legal name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.
In an official public statement released this week by leadership of the Lewisham Islamic Centre, the organization confirmed it has already begun consulting specialized legal representation to evaluate all potential next steps in response to the regulatory warning. The centre’s leadership emphasized that the dispute extends far beyond the fate of a single local mosque or registered charity, framing the conflict as a foundational test of whether Muslim religious institutions across the UK are permitted to fulfill their core religious and charitable mandates without facing punitive regulatory action. The institution argued that expressing collective solidarity with the Palestinian people, conducting long-established forms of communal Islamic worship, and addressing pressing concerns that matter deeply to their congregations — including public rejection of Zionism and condemnation of the Israeli state’s actions that many global human rights organizations have labeled war crimes and genocide — are protected legitimate activities for a religious charity.
“Solidarity with marginalized and oppressed communities must never be treated as a justifiable reason for punitive sanction from the charity regulator,” the centre’s statement continued. Leaders added that if they move forward with formal legal action to challenge the warning, they will issue a public call for other Muslim and faith-led institutions across the country to join a coordinated united challenge against what they describe as an overreaching, overbearing regulator, to defend fundamental principles of religious freedom for all communities in the UK.
Under longstanding UK charity law, an organization cannot maintain formal registered charitable status if its core purposes are deemed to be explicitly political, a legal clause that has long been subject to debate over how it applies to faith institutions commenting on global human rights conflicts.
In its formal regulatory ruling, the Charity Commission stated that the two referenced sermons included explicit content that was inflammatory, socially divisive, and demonstrably not in the best interests of the registered charity’s stated charitable objectives. The regulator’s formal warning explicitly notes that the Lewisham Islamic Centre will face escalated, more severe regulatory enforcement action if it fails to fully implement the commission’s mandated corrective recommendations. The regulator ordered the mosque to ensure all activities hosted by or affiliated with the institution do not carry unnecessary risk of harming its public reputation, and to develop, roll out, and strictly adhere to a comprehensive, robust events and guest speakers policy that applies equally to every individual delivering addresses on the charity’s premises.
The original report was published by Middle East Eye, an independent news outlet focused on in-depth coverage of the Middle East, North Africa, and related global geopolitical and community issues.