A Qatari charity pumping money into British schools, mosques, and prisoner groups is led by a man who also launched a radical website that ordered Muslims to hate Jews and Christians and to destroy their monuments.
Yousef al-Kuwari is the chief executive of Qatar Charity UK (QCUK), which describes itself as “non-faith-based” but “distributes donations that are specifically earmarked for projects related to Ramadan and other Islamic traditions”.
The group’s work includes the construction of a new mosque in the north of England and supporting projects teaching British school children and former prisoners.
Despite working extensively in UK institutions, Mr. al-Kuwari also founded Islamweb, a website that issued edicts stating that it is “forbidden” to swear an oath to gain British citizenship.
Another edict from this June, uncovered by The Telegraph, told Muslim readers that “it is incumbent to hate [Jews and Christians] for the sake of Allah”.
It also called for non-Muslim statues, historical monuments, and tombs – including the ancient Sphinx in Egypt – to be destroyed and described music as forbidden, or haram.
QCUK is the British arm of Qatar Charity, a Doha-based charity funded by Qatar’s Islamist, theocratic, and authoritarian state, which has been banned as an organisation in some neighbouring Gulf States.
The group is currently tied up in a separate controversy, with senior members accused of bullying employees and threatening non-Muslims who do not convert.
In an employment tribunal, a former staff member alleges Fadi Itani, QCUK’s deputy director general, is guilty of “bullying and harassment” and warning those who do not submit to Islam that they would be “punished”.
Mr. al-Kuwari was previously head of information technology at the Qatari Ministry of Endowments before he set up Islamweb.
Between 1998 and 2010, fatwas posted on the website included ones calling on all citizens to “wage jihad by every means against the Zionist occupation and aggression” and stating that “living in non-Muslim countries is forbidden except for a dire need”.
Qatar Charity UK denied the allegations of harassment made at the employment tribunal and has distanced themselves from views expressed on Islamweb.
“The views and contents expressed on the website do not reflect the views of Mr. al-Kawari and cannot be attributed to him,” the charity claimed. “They certainly do not reflect the views of and cannot be attributed in any way to QCUK.”
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