Islamic media has reported that the UK charity Muslim Aid recently hosted a reception at the U.K. House of Parliament where the organization received effusive praise of MP’s attending. According to a Muslim News report:
Muslim Aid hosted a reception at the House of Parliament on April 26 to mark the official closure of its year-long 25th anniversary celebrations commemorating the Charity’s achievements. The reception was aimed at raising awareness about the contribution of faith-based charities in promoting international relief and development worldwide. Speakers from the three political parties paid glowing tributes to Muslim Aid, noting its success story from humble beginnings to becoming a major faith-based international relief and development agency. Welcoming the guests, Chairman of Muslim Aid, Sir Iqbal Sacranie, thanked supporters and donors who made the charity what it is today. He said the Muslim Aid has grown ‘from strength to strength and served humanity in more than 70 countries’ in the last 25 years. ‘By increasing political engagement with our leaders and political parties in the UK, we have been able to enhance our rapid response capability in emergency and disaster situations and delivered humanitarian assistance to people in high impact disasters and emergencies worldwide,’ he added. Addressing the reception, Attorney General, Dominic Grieve, praised the work Muslim Aid does. ‘The work you do is immensely valuable and impacts greatly on the people you fundraise for. Muslim Aid is a very important organisation which connects the Muslim community in Britain with charitable fund raising, which seems to me to be an important charitable British tradition,’ he said. In his address, the Shadow Secretary of State for Justice, Sadiq Khan, said: ‘Muslim Aid has brought vital support to those in the most abject of human situations. This organisation is a beacon of hope in the darkest of times. As long as there are people in need, the work of Muslim Aid will continue.’ In her address, Shadow Minister for International Development, Rushanara Ali, said: ‘Muslim Aid works alongside many NGOs and international institutions. Muslim Aid’s ability to work with other faith and non- faith organisations shows that it can play a vital role in the field of international development.’ The Co-Chairman of the Liberal Democrat Backbench Committee on Foreign Affairs, Martin Horwood, said: ‘This fantastic organisation has led the way in the development world in terms of building links within communities and promoting tolerance. I am particularly impressed with their microfinance initiatives which can really help individuals to build a better and sustainable future for themselves.’
Muslim Aid is a member of the Union of Good, a charity coalition headed by global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi and described in a NEFA Foundation report as:
The Union of Good is a coalition of Islamic charities that provides financial support to both the Hamas “social” infrastructure, as well as its terrorist activities. It is headed by global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi, and most of the trustees and member organizations are associated with the global Muslim Brotherhood. The Union of Good was banned by Israel in 2002 and was recently designated a terrorist entity by the United States, although neither Youssef Qaradawi nor any of the Trustees were similarly designated. Despite the fact that action has been taken against some of its member organizations in Europe, many of its other European member organizations continue to operate. Further, the Union of Good itself does not appear to be under investigation in Europe.
Another NEFA report discusses the four U.K. Union of Good charities in detail, including Muslim Aid, stating:
As with the UG itself, the U.K. member organizations, their donors, and their leaders are often associated with the global Muslim Brotherhood and are themselves frequently inter-related, sometimes sharing Trustees, banks, and in some cases, using each other to deliver aid and/or donating to each other. The U.K. member organizations appear to also deliver aid in a similar manner, donating to “partner” organizations in the Palestinian Territories, many of which are associated with Hamas and who are responsible for use of the aid money. It is often difficult to understand how the UG member charity money is actually used, as funded projects are described in only general terms.
The NEFA report reviews the evidence at that time linking Muslim Aid to terrorism.
A UK journalist has commented on the recent decision by UK charity regulators that links between the charity known as Muslim Aid and terrorists are unsubstantiated. The commentary begins:
The Charity Commission, Britain’s most ineffective regulator, has once again whitewashed an organisation linked to fundamentalist Islam. In March this newspaper reported on allegations that the charity Muslim Aid, a close associate of the fundamentalist Islamic Forum of Europe, had channelled funds to eight organisations linked to the terrorist groups Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Muslim Aid has admitted funding two of the organisations and has repeatedly refused to deny funding the other six. Now, however, the Commission has published what it is pleased to call a “regulatory case review” into the charity saying that allegations of terrorist links are “unsubstantiated.” It has only been able to reach this verdict by completely ignoring the vast majority of the allegations made against Muslim Aid, and by redefining the single allegation it did choose to “investigate” in a way which allowed it to exonerate the charity. By its own admission, it did not even investigate seven out of the eight allegations which it now claims are “unsubstantiated.”
Read the rest here.
Political analyst Chris Blackburn has also written a report titled “Muslim Aid’s International Network” in which he details Muslim Aid’s ties to the Pakistani Jamaat-E-Islami, Pakistan’s largest fundamentalist party and a strong ally of the Global Muslim Brotherhood.