27 Apr Why would religious leaders use funds for their own benefit?
A few people from Wembley Central Mosque had spoken out of frustration with the way the mosque has been run within the last 18-24 months, with one saying ‘I have never witnessed leadership as embarrassing as this
Wembley Central Mosque had been a popular mosque for Muslims across London to visit with an imam that is known to recite the Quran in own unique beautiful way. It is the mosque that serves the fifth-biggest Muslim community in the UK.
Over the past 18-24 months, the most had been going through turmoil with worshippers and members of the committee attacking each other violently and verbally. This was all after the mosque Imam was sacked. A video had been posted of a row involving members of the committee, worshippers, and the police. Imam Abdul Sattar and the mosque committee had different views on how the mosque should be run. It was understood, the mosque committee wanted to take the approach of ‘Tablighi Jamaat’ which Islamic movement which encourages Muslims to return to practice the religion the way it was practiced when prophet Muhammed was alive. Whereas, others such as worshippers’ and Imam Sattar wanted an approach that was more inclusive to reflect on the diverse Muslim community in Wembley. Worshippers have even suggested that members of the committee should step down also.
I managed to get in touch with Imam Sattar and spoke to him about what he feels is going on with the situation. He said, “I had been an Imam at that mosque for over 20 years and to have me thrown out with no remorse had made me realise the prioritise in this committee are all over the place”. I even asked if there were new people in charge and was asked to return, would he consider. He answered, “No, that ship has sailed”.
4 members of the ‘Do not donate’ campaign have stated that they had their suspicions throughout the last year and a half, with some damage inside the mosque, had not been fixed such as a leak on the top floor causing the walls to be damaged. 5pillarsuk reported that worshipers have forced their way into the mosque because they believed its closure to be wrong and had to be escorted out by police. However, it was admitted to 5pillarsuk that some worshippers had removed CCTV devices to avoid any potential criminal allegations. Also, some people had refused to leave the main prayer hall and covered he CCTV cameras with tape until the police had it removed.
A regular worshipper at Wembley, Yahya Dahir told me “the Mosque had been a circus as us mosque-goers had been violated in our trust with those who are in charge, we do not even trust them with the money we donate”. The money that had been under scrutiny by the ‘Do not Donate’ campaign. 5pillars have also reported the accounts of Wembley Central Mosque for the year ending March 2019. It had shown that £22,000 of the Sadaqa account (which is a restricted fund to not be used for general use) had been transferred to the main bank account. The mosque made a pledge of transferring the money back within the net few months. It was also that £19,000 had been used for security and £6,500 on legal fees.
The committee had been compared to the infamous church group ‘SPAC Nation’ by one worshipper who wanted to remain anonymous saying “they both are the same just trying to manipulate the people who pray to Allah”.
‘SPAC Nation’ is a church group from South London who has been accused of financially exploiting young members. They have been accused of manipulating religion to take money from young people joining their organisation. The BBC had made a panorama on the organisation with former members of the group giving evidence on this program of money had been taken in things such as universal credit under their name. one girl named Gracy spoke to the BBC someone changed her details to having two children and that made her eligible for a payment of £1,200.
SPAC Nation has prided itself on having young people from a life of gang, violence and tough upbringings to join their church. Former gang leaders leaving drugs, money, and deadly weapons at the altar have been shown on lots of videos online, in an attempt to bring in more youthful worshippers. The church is mainly gathered by mainly young people under 30 of black ethnic minorities. The Church leader Pastor Tobi had even got some of the young churchgoers to form a group called the ‘Hope Dealers’. They are a ‘Drill’ rap group, who make rap songs about their faith. They have been criticised for showing off flashy outfits, jewelry, and cars to promote the religion. Pastor Tobi has been under a lot of scrutinies himself as he is always attending the ceremonies at expensive designer clothing and shows of his outfits. This has come across as blasphemous and does not show humility which a pastor should show. People now assume the young people that now attend the Sunday services are more intrigued with expensive designer clothes and sports cars. A Pastor at Sudbury Baptist Church had spoken to me about the alleged fraud committed by SPAC Nation and said, ” I don’t want to straight away assume they are guilty but if it is true I hope the police take it seriously enough to stop them and punish the Pastor as soon as possible”.
SPAC Nation’s Pastor Tobi has denied all allegations
This has put Pastor Tobi and the entire SPAC Nation organisation under fire because they are accused of using the word of God and making it seem as to whether he is genuinely a man of God. Or whether he and other members of that church are doing their job in a blasphemous approach and manipulate and take advantage of young worshippers landing them in heavy debts without their knowledge
This then had me wanting to know how much money is invested in religion and it was shown that and how that had been manipulated. According to The Guardian, the charity commission show had an income of £1.17 million and an expenditure of £1.19 million. However, the Serious Fraud Office was not able to confirm nor deny whether the church was under investigation.
A church once lauded by members of the media, and the public for getting young people off the life of gang violence has now lost the respect of these people after learning off these allegations against the church.
These two places specifically, has given people a lot of doubt into how religion can impact people’s lives. If people are taking advantage of worshippers money and their faith in God, this is more evidence to prove that the way religion has become an afterthought in recent years and more people have cased doubts to their belief in Gods existence simply based on the fact that people in the Mosque in Wembley are taking money out of accounts that should not be touched and SPAC Nation taking vulnerable young black people who were involved in gangs to be taken advantage and have money taken without their knowledge.
