Mosque faces probe after imam claims wives have ‘obligation’ to have intercourse with their husbands – and shouldn’t be ‘profession ladies’

A mosque has been referred to the charity watchdog after it’s imam made misogynistic comments about women. 

Mustafa Abu Rayyan was holding a panel discussion in Birmingham when he argued that a woman’s ‘number one’ responsibility was to ‘follow, obey and respect her husband’. 

Adding that they have an ‘obligation’ to have sex with their husbands and should not strive to become ‘career women’.

The event took place at Green Lane Masjid, a mosque and community centre, registered as a charity to help advance ‘the Islamic faith for the public benefit’.

Following on from the highly controversial comments the National Secular Society referred the mosque to the Charity Commission, arguing: ‘If charities can spout misogyny under the banner of advancing religion, charity law is in dire need of reform.’

Mustafa Abu Rayyan was holding a panel discussion in Birmingham when he argued that a woman’s ‘number one’ responsibility was to ‘follow, obey and respect her husband’

Following on from the highly controversial comments the National Secular Society has referred the Mosque to the Charity Commission, as the panel was hosted in Green Lane Masjid and Community Centre, a registered charity

The community centre within its role as a charity also offers a ‘specialist-trained Muslim female drop-in support worker’ and a ‘free and confidential helpline’ for vulnerable women needing emotional and housing support.

Mr Abu Rayyan said in a video uploaded to the Green Lane Masjid’s YouTube account that it was ‘important’ and ‘an obligation’ on a wife ‘that she makes herself available for her husband as it relates to the physical intimacy’. 

During the discussion Mr Abu Rayyan and two other panelists also discuss the ‘ideal Muslim home’.

The imam said: ‘I never advise sisters to go and work just for their career. This is very narrow-minded.

‘My beloved sister, you are a wife and a mother, or you’re a wife and you soon may become a mother. Look at yourself from then onwards as a wife and a mother, not as a career woman.’ 

During the panel discussion, which was uploaded to YouTube, saw Mr Abu Rayyan and two other panelists discuss the ‘ideal Muslim home’

The Centre is registered with the Commission to help advance ‘the Islamic faith for the public benefit’

He continued: ‘If you’re gone for most of the day and very tired when you come home, can you properly help in raising your children? Can you properly fulfil the rights of your husband, the rights that you need to fulfil?

‘If that’s going to create a burden and a struggle whereby you will need the support of your husband more, and this may cause certain tensions, all of that for a few extra pounds? This is not advisable.’

The same mosque has come under fire before for extremist views and hate speech in the past.

In 2023 an investigation by the Mail on Sunday found that the Green Lane Mosque in Birmingham had imams giving sermons on how to stone a woman ‘correctly’ for adultery and delivering speeches that appear to incite murder of homosexuals. 

A video of a sermon delivered by the mosque’s head imam, Sheikh Zakaullah Saleem, emerged on social media, where he told his congregation of the correct way to stone a woman after she had been found guilty of adultery.

The cleric said she must be buried in the earth up to her waist ‘to protect her modesty’, after which stoning to death can begin. The video sermon, which was once available on the mosque’s YouTube channel, has now been removed.

In another speech from 2007, Al-Thahabi said: ‘If I were to call homosexuals perverted, dirty, filthy dogs who should be murdered, that’s my freedom of speech, isn’t it? But they’ll say no, I’m not tolerant. But they feel that it’s OK to say something about the Prophet [Muhammad]?’ 

The Green Lane Mosque and the Charity Commission have been approached for comment.