A Muslim group buying a historic London synagogue has apologized after a leaflet asking for donations called the location “a former place of worship for non-believers”.
The Pakistan-based charity Dawat-e-Islami has said that the brochure was poorly written, and meant to say only that the previous worshipers were not of the Muslim faith.
But the sale of the Wembley Synagogue building has invited further investigation with The Jewish Chronicle Reporting that the organization has problematic relations with anti-Semitic figures.
Muhammad Ilyas Attar Qadri, a founder of the group, has called Jews favor boycotting “enemies of Islam”, Jewish products, and have called for “not to imitate the Jews” by shaving.
In 2021, it hosted Sheikh Asrar Rasheed, a preacher from the UK said last year Adolf Hitler “did the Jews a favor” by fostering European sympathies, which enabled him to establish a Jewish state. He added that the Jews at that time “certainly had all the politicians in their pockets.”
A former rabbi of the United Synagogue, which owned Wembley Shul since the 1930s and recently sold it to Dawat-e-Islami, told JC, “For a synagogue to be sold to a group like this It was the height of insult to openly describe Jews as ‘atheists’.
Martin van den Bergh said, “It is against the principle of respecting members of other religions… All avenues must be explored to stop this sale.”
The Campaign Against Antisemitism said it would demand an inquiry into the “disturbing allegations” [the organization’s] The Midlands branch hosted a preacher who was accused of claiming that Hitler had ‘favoured’ the Jews and that its founder called on Muslims to boycott Jewish goods.
Meanwhile, the United Synagogue insisted that it carried out “robust due diligence procedures” before making a decision on the sale, and noted the group’s apology on the flier.
“All the professional advice we have received, as well as our own checks, indicate that this is a reputable and relatively large UK charity,” it said.
