Anger at leader advice not to work with mosque boss
City chief told councillor it was best not to engage after controversy
THE leaders of a city mosque have written a letter of complaint after council leader Ian Ward advised a local councillor not to work with its manager because of a controversial Facebook post.
Saddique Hussain, manager at Central Jamia Mosque Ghamkol Sharif, said he was furious that Cllr Ward had told local councillor Safia Noor Akhtar not to engage with him.
He said that as he was the mosque’s main point of contact with outside agencies and the most senior employee, the message amounted to the council ‘blacklisting’ the mosque - and it was a view shared by trustees.
“It is naive and disappointing that rather than approach me directly about this, the leader of the council has told a councillor not to speak to me,” said a frustrated Mr Hussain. “I think this is discriminatory.”
Cllr Ward confirmed he had advised Cllr Akhtar that it would be “sensible” for her not to work with Mr Hussain because of concerns over a Facebook message he posted earlier this year.
In response to our inquiry, he said: “I did not say that Cllr Akhtar would not be working with the mosque. I did however - following a conversation with Cllr Akhtar - point out in an email to a Small Heath resident that she would not be working with Saddique Hussain... allegations have been made about Mr Hussain that have been referred to the Charity Commission and therefore it seems sensible that Cllr Akhtar awaits the outcome of any investigation.”
In the post referred to, put up in August, Mr Hussain shared a video showing an armed group of Taliban leaders at prayer after taking over the presidential house in Kabul, reciting from the Qur’an, and wrote this message: “How beautiful and civilised and no ‘I’. May Allah SWT guide us on to His beautiful religion.”
Mr Hussain later deleted the post and apologised for the offence caused, claiming his comment was about the recitation of the prayer, not who was performing it.
Cllr Akhtar flagged up last month that she was talking to the mosque about community issues in Small
Heath, including the future of Small Heath wellbeing centre and the local park.
Cllr Ward later intervened and that sparked an angry retort from Mr Hussain, who said he had effectively cut off the council from engaging with a major faith setting, serving thousands of city residents, with up to 1,000 people daily using its services.
He said the post, dating back ‘many weeks’, had been immediately deleted, an apology issued and no further action taken by any agencies, including the regulator and police.
A regulatory compliance case was opened by the Charity Commission into the mosque’s finances and governance but no findings have been declared, nor action taken. It is not a full blown statutory inquiry.
Mr Hussain said Cllr Akhtar was ‘stepping up and trying her best’ for Small Heath as an elected member for the area, and it was right she engages with all major community organisations.
In a Facebook post on the mosque’s official page, the mosque said they had struggled to find any official communication from the council with the mosque, nor had it ever been approached to work with the council.
Whereas, the statement said, “the mosque has approached the council and offered to help deliver their basic promise to treat their citizens with equality of opportunity and improve upon services like the Small Heath Park, the Wellbeing Centre, fly tipping, littering, begging, drug dealing and prostitution.”
It added: “We are shocked and at a loss to why the council do not want to work with a community based charity and its partners.
“Is it because we are an Islamic faith based organisation, or is it we are becoming proactive in representing the wider needs of our neighbourhood, or is it both?”
The statement, signed “Central Jamia Mosque Ghamkol Sharif”, added: “If Birmingham City Council wish to work with us, our doors, including our mosque, is open for all public sector agencies who have a legal, moral and ethical duty to serve all Birmingham residents equally.”
A Charity Commission spokesperson said of the inquiries into the mosque: “We are aware of ongoing local concern about this charity. We are actively engaging with the trustees around these issues and cannot comment further whilst this is under way.”
We offered Cllr Akhtar the opportunity to comment on this story without response.