The double gold medallist set up the Mo Farah Foundation with his wife Tania in 2011 to help people affected by drought in the Horn of Africa. So far the charity – which is backed by Bono, Sir Bob Geldof, Richard Curtis and Paula Radcliffe – has raised more than £900,000 for poor communities in Somalia. But the body originally charged with delivering Mo’s mission on the ground in the country is headed by Dr Musharaf Hussain, an Islamic scholar with anti-West views.
The Nottingham cleric features in a number of videos on YouTube including one in which he uses the offensive Arabic term “kuffar” to describe non- Muslims. He goes on to justify the use of jihad by Muslims against non-believers. In a 2010 sermon, he said it was a “wise cause” to fight non-believers “because they are tyrants”. He added: “This is why the Koran says get out and go whether you are lightly armed or heavily armed, whether you have all the means or not, you must take part in this jihad.” The cleric, awarded an OBE in 2009 for services to community relations, then ranted about Britain and America’s involvement in conflicts in Muslim lands.
He is the head of Muslim Hands, a charity that raised an income of more than £13million last year alone. In accounts posted on the Charity Commission website for the financial year ending March 31, 2013, trustees of the Mo Farah Foundation boasted of their close relationship with Muslim Hands. They said they helped feed 20,000 people, sunk 50 wells, restored three canals and set up a clinic with Dr Hussain’s help. Mo’s charity also lists controversial Islamic organisation Tauheedul Relief Trust as a partner on its website. In February the Trust donated £20,000 to the Mo Farah Foundation.
But it later emerged that a school run by the Blackburn-based group forced pupils to wear a hijab in and out of class.
AWARD: Controversial Hussain meets Her Majesty the Queen in 2009 [PA]
Rules at Tauheedul Islam Girls’ High School also require its 800 pupils to “not bring stationery to school that contains un-Islamic images”. In 2011 Sheikh Abdul Rahman al-Sudais, a Saudi cleric alleged to have referred to Jews as “pigs” and “scum”, visited the school. Last night Diana Nell – Mo Farah’s sister-in-law, inset, and spokeswoman for the Mo Farah Foundation – claimed the partnership with Muslim Hands was now defunct. She initially denied any link, saying: “I can categorically tell you we are not partnered with Muslim Hands.” But when asked why the partnership is mentioned in the most recent report of the trustees, she said: “When we established in 2011 they helped us with delivering programmes into Somalia.
“We do not use them now and won’t be doing so in the future.”
