A London mosque registered as a charity is under investigation after sermons shared online appeared to encourage husbands to hit their wives and endorse the execution of gay people.
Videos posted to the Hackney Islamic Community Centre’s YouTube channel describe gay sex as “one of the most evil of acts” and tell men to “discipline” wives who disobey them—including women who refuse sex.
In another lecture, the same preacher praised Saudi Arabia for continuing to execute people accused of “witchcraft”.
A community elder at the East London mosque, also known as Masjid Daar Al-Hadeeth, described it as an “unfortunate reality” that many women now feel able to call police when their husbands assault them.
The National Secular Society (NSS) has referred the centre to the Charity Commission, arguing that the views promoted through its social media channels are incompatible with its charitable status.
As a registered charity, the Hackney Islamic Community Centre—whose stated aims include helping “mankind” and “advancing the Islamic faith”—receives a range of tax exemptions.
The centre paid no tax on £191,097 in income recorded for the year ending March 2025, according to its latest accounts. Nearly £155,000 of that total came from direct donations.
In April this year, it re-registered as a charitable incorporated organisation. The change separated its trustees from liability for the charity’s debts and enabled it to own property in a structure similar to a limited company, while remaining subject to charity law.
Hackney Islamic Community Centre teacher Yasin Munye described homosexuality and a wife’s disobedience as “major sins”
Megan Manson, the NSS’s head of campaigns, called the charity’s renewal “alarming”, saying it had hosted “lectures which promote violence against women, say women cannot refuse their husbands sex, and condone the death penalty for gay men and those accused of ‘witchcraft’”.
“Hackney Islamic Community Centre is just one of many charities promoting misogyny, homophobia and other harmful ideologies through the charitable purpose of ‘the advancement of religion’,” she said.
“This charitable purpose must be urgently reviewed. It is evidently facilitating the advancement of ideas which, far from benefiting the public, could fuel discrimination, division and abuse.”
Many of the most controversial statements appear in a series of lectures delivered at the centre by Yasin Munye, an “ustaadh”, or teacher. In the videos, he reads from Manthumatu al-Kaba’ir, a poem listing what Islam identifies as “major sins”.
He identified one such sin as “disobeying the husband, leaving the house without his permission, and disobeying the husband when it comes to calling her to bed, when it comes to calling her for intimacy, when she says ‘no’ without any excuse”.
He then said husbands should “advise her, and boycott her in bed, don’t touch her in bed—and discipline them physically as well, by lightly hitting them to show them who is in charge”.
If a wife continued to refuse, he said her husband “doesn’t have to give her a house anymore”. He added that a man with multiple wives could leave her and remain with another wife “until she becomes obedient again”.
In the same lecture, Mr Munye called gay sex “one of the most evil acts” and “a crime”, claiming that both participants would be “executed in the Sharia”.
He continued: “Scholars, they differ on how the execution occurs. Some of them say he is executed through the sword, like every other normal execution.”
“Others say that they are thrown off of a tall building and rocks are thrown after that on top of them.”
In another video, mosque scholar Abu Sa’ad Muhammad Al-Iraqi said it was “unfortunate” that women felt empowered to call the police if their husbands were violent
Countries including Iran, Saudi Arabia and Yemen continue to execute people for homosexuality under Sharia law.
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The terror group Islamic State executed dozens of men accused of homosexuality by throwing them from tall buildings during its peak in the late 2010s.
Elsewhere, Mr Munye said the act of ‘sihr’, or witchcraft, is ‘real’, and praised the government of Saudi Arabia for continuing to execute those accused of the practice.
‘Sihr (magic) is real, it is true… In Saudi Arabia, they are killed, alhamdulillah (praise be to God), bless that, because a lot of Muslim countries today you don’t find this ruling applied,’ he says.
‘Alhamdulillah, in that country, that punishment is still applied.’
In 2016, father-of-seven Jalal Uddin, 71, was bludgeoned to death with a hammer in a Rochdale park by Islamic State extremist Mohammed Kadir because he practiced a form of Islamic healing the terror group labelled ‘black magic’.
Misogynistic views were expressed in other lectures.
In another video, mosque scholar Abu Sa’ad Muhammad Al-Iraqi said a woman should serve her husband even if he ‘mistreats’ her.
‘If he is not nice to you and mistreats you, there is a way: you bring your family, speak to his family, to teach him a lesson. But you have to give his right, otherwise don’t be his wife,’ he said.
‘Women think these days, our sisters think, that you only be kind to him if he’s been kind back… it doesn’t work like that.’
Imam Jalal Uddin was bludgeoned to death in Rochdale in 2016 by an Islamic State fanatic who believed he was practising ‘black magic’
He added: ‘In another country they (women) can’t do that, they won’t. But it is an unfortunate reality of this country that they turn wife against husband.
‘They know if you slap them once, they’ll call the police for you. They don’t fear Allah.’
Masjid Daar Al-Hadeeth was contacted for comment.
The Charity Commission says it has received the NSS complaint and will consider it before making a decision on whether to open a statutory inquiry.
A spokesman 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.
‘Concerns have been raised with us about alleged sermons and social media content linked to Hackney Islamic Community Centre and we have opened a regulatory compliance case to further assess these. This will determine any next steps.’
However, the law may be on the mosque’s side.
The Equality Act and Human Rights Act make provisions for the expression of religious freedom, and charity watchdogs have refused to act because teachings are ‘in accordance with… religious beliefs’.
Earlier this year, Islamic preacher Ahmed Shah escaped censure after telling worshippers at Hatch End Islamic Centre that it was ‘mandatory’ for women to do the housework and serve their husbands.
The Charity Commission instead said it would give ‘advice and guidance’ to the mosque in north London, which took the sermon down from its YouTube channel.