A trustee of an Islamic charity in Nottingham has been banned from holding any senior management position in charities for three years after delivering a sermon about killing Jews just six days after the October 7 Hamas attacks, following a 20-month investigation triggered by GB News footage.
Harun Abdur Rashid Holmes, who served as a trustee at the Nottingham Islam Information Point (NIIP), was disqualified by the Charity Commission after the regulator found his October 13, 2023 sermon “inflammatory and divisive” and lacking appropriate context during a period of heightened sensitivity.
The commission launched its compliance case in November 2023 after GB News sent footage of Holmes delivering a sermon titled “The Trials of the End Times” during Friday prayers. In the sermon, Holmes quoted religious scripture stating “Oh Muslim, here is a Jew behind me, kill him.
Holmes continued by saying there was something in the hadith that was “more interesting to know” before adding: “In another narration, the hour will not begin until the Muslims fight the Jews and the Muslims will kill them. Until a Jew hides behind a rock or a tree, and the rock or the tree will say ‘oh Muslim, oh slave of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him’.”
His speech was delivered as Israel was still reeling from Hamas attacks that led to the murder of more than 1,200 Jews, with a further 251 taken hostage. The Israeli military has since launched a campaign in Gaza in which at least 57,268 people have been killed, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
Commission Finds Misconduct
The Charity Commission determined that Holmes’s sermon “did not further the charity’s purposes, including to provide relief to those in need, and was not in the charity’s best interests,” therefore amounting to misconduct and/or mismanagement.
The regulator noted that Holmes, who is not a trained imam, failed to act in accordance with his duties as a trustee despite the charity receiving previous guidance when he was the charity’s Chair. The commission found that failure to comply with regulatory advice amounts to misconduct and/or mismanagement.
There was no consideration given to how appropriate it would be to deliver such a sermon just six days after the events in Israel of 7 October 2023,” the commission stated. “To the regulator, it showed Mr Holmes lacked the good judgement expected of a trustee.”
Holmes accepted that with hindsight the hadith was sensitive and that he had not given sufficient context to it. The disqualification order, which took effect in July 2024, prohibits Holmes from serving as a trustee or holding any senior management position in a charity in England and Wales for three years.
Part of Wider Pattern
The case is one of more than 300 involving charities in the past 18 months related to the Middle East conflict, according to the Charity Commission. Chief executive David Holdsworth revealed the scale of the issue in an opinion piece for the Sunday Telegraph.
Over the past few years, and particularly since the escalation of conflict in the Middle East in October 2023, we have seen charities misused to promote the personal views of those linked to the charity, in some cases inciting hate, or condoning violence,” Holdsworth wrote.
Of the 300 cases considered since the end of 2023 in relation to the conflict, about a third have resulted in formal statutory guidance being issued by the commission. More than 70 referrals were made to law enforcement when the commission deemed that a criminal offense may have occurred.
Stephen Roake, assistant director of investigations and compliance at the Charity Commission, said: “In times of conflict, people expect charities to bring people together, not to stoke division. In this case, we found due consideration had not been given to the words and rhetoric used.”
“The sermon was inflammatory and divisive, and we acted robustly and disqualified the trustee who gave the sermon. We also issued the charity with a formal warning,” Roake added.
Charity Response and Reforms
When initially approached by GB News in October 2023, NIIP defended the sermon, stating that Holmes “quoted from several sources of what the Prophet Muhammad ought to have said over 14 centuries ago, prophesying of things to come before Judgment Day.
The charity added at the time: “We at Nottingham Islam Information Point do not believe the Jewish people should be killed and British Muslims have not been ordered by any contemporary Islamic scholars or Imams to go over to the occupied territories of Palestine to kill Jews.
However, following the commission’s intervention, NIIP has apologised for any offence caused by Holmes’s sermon. The charity stated: “Holmes is not a qualified Imam and has not formally studied Islam. He was given the responsibility of the sermon at late notice and was not able to provide the necessary explanation to references used in the short timespan available.”
“In hindsight he recognises that other references would have been more appropriate. The trustees recognise that certain portions of the sermon may have been construed in a negative light and inadvertently and unintentionally caused offence. We apologise for this,” the charity said.
The commission noted that following its intervention, the charity’s remaining trustees have taken positive steps to improve their governance, including the introduction of a more robust events policy.
Broader Context
Nottingham Islam Information Point, based in Radford, Nottingham, was established to provide support to victims of Islamophobic attacks and address misconceptions about Islam. The charity also provides relief to those in need through various community services.
The commission’s investigation found that during Holmes’s sermon, attendees were also encouraged not to “busy yourselves with politics and voting,” which could be interpreted as encouraging people to disengage from the democratic process.
While the commission recognised that some of the sermon’s content had been taken from a specific hadith – a narration of historical events ascribed to the prophet Muhammad – it determined that the sermon was given without appropriate context to its source material.
Holdsworth emphasized the commission’s determination to tackle misuse of charitable platforms: “While trustees, like all of us, have personal rights to freedom of speech, there can be no hiding place for those who seek to use charities to promote hate or harm to others.”
I will not shy away from using the more robust powers Parliament has granted us when that is necessary, and taking action against those who risk undermining the incredible positive impact of charities at home and abroad,” he added.
The commission’s action serves as a warning to all charities that host events and speakers. “All charities that host events and speakers should take note of this case and ensure they have sufficient due diligence in place,” Roake stated.
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