Head of UK Islamic school urged Muslims to ‘take up arms’ days after October 7 attack

A Muslim cleric in Blackburn responsible for the education of almost 1,000 children gave a sermon days after the October 7 massacres extolling the virtues of martyrdom and urging listeners to take up arms, the JC can reveal.

The incendiary speeches of Suhail Manya – one of two imams at Masjid e Tauheedul Islam and the head of the religious school affiliated with the mosque – have also featured praise for Hamas, a call to “oppose” Jews and support for killing those who collaborate with non-Muslims.

In his chilling sermons, delivered mostly in Urdu and translated for the JC, Manya has also voiced opposition to the criminalisation of Holocaust denial and suggested that Jews hate Muslims because they are jealous.

Online recording of one of Suhail Manya's sermons at Masjide Noorul Islam. (Credit: YouTube/Masjide Noorul Islam)[Missing Credit]

A whistleblower at Manya’s mosque who preferred to remain anonymous told the JC that the imam had transformed the mosque – once a place of peaceful worship that celebrated British values – into “a breeding ground for division and radicalisation”.

The source said: “His views pose a serious risk of influencing young and impressionable individuals, fostering extremist attitudes, and even laying the groundwork for potential radicalisation.”

The Charity Commission has an ongoing regulatory compliance inquiry into the Masjid e Tauheedul Islam “to address concerns raised with us about how this charity is run”, the regulator said.

“As part of this case, we are in contact with the charity’s trustees to gather more information in response to allegations received about sermons delivered at the charity’s premises,” a spokesperson told the JC.

Manya is the principal for the madrasah – the religious school affiliated with the mosque – and has been responsible for teaching 950 children in evening classes since 2006.

In one sermon from July 27, 2023, concerning the Day of Ashura, the tenth day of the month of Muharram (the start of the Islamic New Year), Manya warned congregants to “oppose” Jews and Christians, because they are following a “false path”.

“If someone becomes a Muslim and then an apostate, what will we do with him? Mandatory death,” the imam said.

If a Muslim is “causing harm” by collaborating with non-Muslims, “mandatory death” is proposed again as the answer by the imam, who qualified at the Darul Uloom Azaadville in South Africa.

The Charity Commission has an ongoing regulatory compliance inquiry into the Masjid e Tauheedul Islam, 'to address concerns raised with us about how this charity is run'. (Credit: Masjid e Tauheedul Islam)[Missing Credit]

He went on: “When Muslims emulate others, this is rebellion, this is a great crime. Don’t underestimate it.”

Manya discussed the fragmentation of the Shiite and Sunni traditions – two branches of Islam – and claimed that the seeds of division were planted by Abdullah Bin Sabah who, according to parts of Islamic tradition, was a Jew who pretended to be a Muslim convert.

In a sermon from October 11, 2023, four days after Hamas’s deadly attack on Israel that saw 1,200 murdered and more than 250 taken hostage in Gaza, Manya questioned why the world was condemning the proscribed terrorist group.

“Since 1942 till today, thousands of our Muslim brothers, sisters and children have been killed,” the imam said.

“Now what is the whole world saying about those who killed some of their people? That Hamas is a violent terrorist, and the news in which this word is not mentioned, is now under pressure to say this word.

“This shows that no news agency can be trusted. They are all liars.”

Elsewhere in the sermon, Manya questioned the criminalisation of Holocaust denial.

“You [Jews] came [to Israel] because of oppression. And what kind of oppression was that? They write and say that they were oppressed in Germany – [and] the Holocaust took place,” the imam said.

“And they passed a law that whoever denies the Holocaust will become a criminal and a culprit. What is Holocaust denial? [A] crime. What was the need to make this law? In Amritsar, this British government killed thousands – one hundred thousand people. At that time, this law was not passed,” he added.

Later in the sermon, Manya advised Muslims not to trust newspapers.

“The first thing Muslims need to learn is that they should not take the things they are putting in front of us through the news and newspapers as truth,” he said.

In another sermon in the wake of the October 7 attack, Manya encouraged his followers to take up arms in a military context. “Martyrdom is supreme. Living in this world is lowliness,” he said.

“Be eager for Allah, leave lowliness. He who does not have the desire for martyrdom and does not intend to be martyred dies the death of a hypocrite in his bed.”

Elsewhere in the same speech, he assured his congregants that martyrs would go to “Paradise”. “Under the enemy’s sword, under the enemy’s missile, behind the enemy’s bullet, under the enemy’s tanks, under the enemy’s bombing, the martyrdom of Muslims. This is the greatest success for Muslims,” he said.

“Take up arms, take up whatever you have and stand. And this is the command of Allah,” he said. “Some of you will be so successful that they will remain alive after the battle, and will taste the sweetness of victory, success, and some will be so successful that they will taste an even greater success – by drinking the cup of martyrdom.”

In the same speech, Manya accused Israel of controlling newspapers and therefore the narrative on war in Gaza. “Despite what happened to the Palestinians, that thousands of them have been killed and are dying now, what do we read in the newspapers everywhere? That so many Israeli people were killed, and killed with such cruelty,” he said.

“The newspapers are theirs. The journalists are also theirs.”

In other sermons from 2023, Manya advised his followers to refrain from taking part in New Year’s Eve, anniversary and birthday celebrations with non-Muslims, because it is “not permissible for any Muslim to follow the ways of any other religion, any other community or any other practice, when Islam has given you the best for example”.

Elsewhere, he called the Big Bang Theory and evolution “complete and utter rubbish” because such concepts “are not proven from the Quran”, before labelling science as “indoctrination”.

In an English language sermon at another mosque in Blackburn – the Masjide Noorul Islam – on October 15, 2023, entitled “Prayers for Palestine”, Manya described an incident when a tourist from Israel came to his mosque and asked to speak to an imam.

Manya told the audience that he asked the tourist: “Why do you hold such animosity and hatred for Muslims? What have we ever done to you? When you were living under the Christians, you perished, you were oppressed, but [whenever Jews have experienced] peace and comfort and rights and a good quality of life, it was under Muslim rule.”

According to Manya, the man, who was implied to be Jewish in the anecdote, said the hatred is because of “envy” and “jealousy” – because there was a time when the majority of the global population were Jews, but this has dwindled over time due to Christianity and then Islam.

The whistleblower at Masjid e Tauheedul Islam, who has been a member of the mosque for nearly 40 years – as were his parents and grandparents – said Manya had sowed the seeds of “hostility and division”.

“His words actively discourage Muslims from integrating into British society, breed distrust towards non-Muslims, and create an us versus them mentality,” he said.

Manya – who has worked for the mosque since 2004 – was temporarily suspended from his role by the institution’s trustees for 12 weeks in May 2024 after concerns about his conduct, the JC understands.

The trustees accused the imam of incitement of disorder, behaviour unbecoming of an individual with imam responsibilities, and gross misconduct. Manya has dismissed the allegations as “fabricated and retaliatory”.

The trustees then appointed Peninsula Face2Face, an independent HR agency, to conduct a disciplinary hearing into Manya. It concluded in November 2024 that he should be dismissed from employment without notice, after several alleged instances that would constitute gross and serious misconduct, including intimidating behaviour and inciting violence against members of the congregation.

Internal disputes have been plaguing the institution for the past year – with the imam accusing trustees of orchestrating proxy elections to undermine his position at the mosque.

On June 14, 2024, the trustees of the charity announced that an annual general meeting should take place to trigger the dissolution of the current committee and the election of a new one.

Following a nomination and voting process, the results of the election – heralding in a new 15-member committee – were posted on the notice board of the mosque on August 7.

Six members of the mosque took their opposition to the election to the High Court, where they argued that it violated aspects of the charity’s constitution and was therefore unlawful. The judge ruled in the applicants’ favour and declared that another election should go ahead.

In court documents from the case which have been seen by the JC, Manya accused those behind the election of aiming to “establish a committee with ulterior motives, one of which was my removal due to my whistleblowing activities and influence in the community”.

Manya was previously the headteacher at Al Jamiatul Islamiyah, or Bolton Darul Uloom, an Islamic boarding school for boys in Deane, Bolton.

An Ofsted report in May 2018, when Manya was headteacher, found the institution “required improvement” and said attainment in English lagged behind that in other secular subjects, with year 10s studying texts of primary school-level difficulty.

Bolton Darul Uloom was further downgraded by the regulator to “inadequate” in June 2019, following the resignation of Manya, trustees and some members of staff in May of the same year.

Inspectors described the school as “chaotic” with several documents, computer files and pieces of equipment not available to the new leadership. Pupils’ attainment in English was described as below average with several vacancies for specialist teachers in different secular subjects. Important past records, including about safeguarding pupils, were not readily available to Ofsted at the time.

The executive committee of Masjide Tauheedul Islam told the JC that “an internal investigation is underway”.

They added that last Thursday, Lancashire Police confirmed it had received a complaint in March but determined that it “does not meet the threshold for a criminal or hate crime investigation”.

They also said: “We confirm that we remain in active and ongoing dialogue with the Charity Commission regarding allegations concerning sermons delivered at the charity’s premises under the previous trustee board.

“We, the new trustees, continue to approach this matter with the utmost seriousness and diligence, fully engaging with the relevant regulatory processes.

“As part of our investigation, claims generally against the named imam were thoroughly examined by us and also independently by Counsel. [The] Counsel’s assessment concluded:

"... The Mosque’s new Executive Committee has appropriately fulfilled its duty by ensuring an independent scrutiny of these allegations. Our assessment finds that the claims do not meet the threshold for criminal proceedings. Furthermore, in our view, the charity’s reputation remains intact..."

The JC contacted Suhail Manya and Bolton Darul Uloom for comment.