Elham Asaad Buaras
One of the UK’s leading interfaith charities is set to close following the government’s decision to defund it over links to the country’s largest Muslim umbrella organisation, a move opposition MPs are calling “underhanded.”
Sixteen MPs wrote to the Communities Secretary on February 6 to ask him to reconsider defunding the Inter Faith Network (IFN). They argued that the government’s non-engagement with the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) was outdated and counterproductive.
“We are writing to raise our deep concern following reports of your intention to withdraw funding” from the Inter Faith Network because of the appointment of a member of the Muslim Council of Britain to its board of trustees,” reads the letter, signed by 15 Labour and one DUP MP.
The MPs, who praised the network’s excellent interfaith work in their constituencies, described the justification for defunding it as “underhanded,” as the Department for Levelling Up, Housing, and Communities had never informed the network that its funding is conditional on not having links to the MCB.
In addition, they argued that defunding one organisation based on MCB affiliation would set a troubling precedent, as hundreds of mosques and grassroots Islamic bodies receive government funding and could now face revocation. Furthermore, the letter praises the MCB for its “vital work advocating on behalf of Britain’s Muslim organisations and working to promote British values and mutual respect through interfaith initiatives.
Both organisations are well trusted and consulted across this house and play a vital role in strengthening community cohesion, particularly at a time of heightened tensions across the Middle East.” The signatories, including five Muslim MPs, also argued that preconditioning funding “implies bias by this government against Muslim communities.”
On February 7, the IFN’s board announced that it had taken an “in-principal decision to move towards [the] closure of the organisation.”
The network, founded 36 years ago to build “good relations between people of different faiths,” relies on government funding, receiving £3.8 million since 2010. However, on January 19, Michael Gove, the Communities Secretary, wrote to the charity, saying he was contemplating discontinuing funding because “a member of the Muslim Council of Britain has been appointed as a trustee.”
The MCB member in question is former MCB Assistant Secretary General Hassan Joudi, appointed as an IFN trustee in July 2023. The MCB, with over 500 mosques and educational and charitable associations affiliated with it, was subject to a government engagement ban in 2009 when an official at the council signed the Istanbul Declaration, which was interpreted as calling for attacks on Royal Navy vessels and enforcing a UN weapons blockade on Hamas-run Gaza.
The MCB has continuously denied signing or endorsing the Declaration, insisting that a ‘former Deputy Secretary General who signed the document did so in a personal capacity.’
And that ‘this was understood and accepted by the government at the time.’ The council also ‘specifically rejects any notion that we endorse an attack on the Royal Navy.’
The Labour government restored relations with the MCB in late 2009 and successive ministers of the coalition government, including then Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg also met the MCB. In 2015 the Conservative Party reimposed the ban.
The IFN said that its board did not seek Joudi’s resignation and “affirmed his role as a valued colleague.” The IFN had also refused to cut links with the MCB, saying doing so would sow “division” and that it would be difficult to do so anyway when the council has not been proscribed or had legal action taken against it.
On March 31, 2023, the DLUHC informed the IFN that it would no longer fund the charity. Four months later, following a ministerial review of its funded programmes, the department told the IFN that it would give the charity up to £155,000 in funding for the period between July 2023 and March 2024.
However, the IFN said it had not received any of the promised money. “Continued uncertainty regarding government funding for the Inter Faith Network has had a hugely damaging effect on the charity,” it said. “Continuing to operate without the £155,000 offered over six months ago has not proven possible,” it added.
It was also reported by The Telegraph that DLUHC officials were concerned that the IFN had not condemned the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel. Bob Blackman, the Tory MP for Harrow East, said that groups like the IFN “have got a big job to do to call out these terrorist atrocities.”
However, the IFN has a policy not to issue statements on overseas events unless they “directly affect relations between different faith communities in this country.”
Photo: MPs have criticized Michael Gove, the Communities Secretary, decision to defund the IFN after it appointed MCB member Hassan Joudi as a trustee, calling it “underhanded.” (Credit: Hassan Joudi & Policy Exchange)
Correction: in the original print edition The Muslim News has stated that the MCB has been subject to a government engagement ban since 2009 . However, this is incorrect as the Labour Government restored relations with the organisation in late 2009. We have included the correction in this article on 9 March.
