Women and girls over the age of 12 have been banned by a mosque from taking part in a charity fun run, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
The 5km event being held in an East London park today – which has been billed as ‘inclusive’ and ‘family-friendly’ – is open to men and boys of all ages, but organisers insist that female teenagers and women can be forbidden from joining in.
The fundraiser, called Muslim Charity Run and organised by East London Mosque, is being held in Victoria Park in Tower Hamlets.
The local authority is run by the Aspire Party, set up by Bangladesh-born politician Lutfur Rahman, a former Labour councillor who was removed from office for electoral fraud in 2015, but re-elected in 2022.
Bordering on trendy Hackney, the area is often frequented by the capital’s hipsters and artists.
But the move by East London Mosque to ban females over 12 from the event comes amid growing concerns about the rise of sharia values taking precedence over British laws and traditions in communities across the country.
Last night, after being alerted to the Muslim Charity Run’s segregation rules by The Mail on Sunday, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said it would assess the case.
Outraged campaigners said banning some women was ‘plainly unlawful’ and ‘regressively sexist’ – and accused the organisers of being more ‘conservative’ than Saudi Arabia.
Women and girls over the age of 12 have been banned by East London Mosque from taking part in the Muslim Charity Run, The Mail on Sunday can reveal
The move by East London Mosque (pictured) to ban females over 12 from the event comes amid growing concerns about the rise of sharia values taking precedence over British laws
Baroness Shaista Gohir OBE, the chief executive of the Muslim Women’s Network UK, said the East London Mosque, which is behind the event, was ‘likely’ in breach of the Equality Act.
And Kellie-Jay Keen, founder of feminist group Party Of Women, said: ‘Banning women and girls over the age of 12 from a public charity event is plainly unlawful… and reinforces regressive sexist attitudes towards women’s place in public life.
‘No charity should be allowed to operate under a different set of rules because of religion or culture. Equality before the law must apply to everyone.’
The annual event, originally named Run 4 Your Mosque, has been held in Victoria Park since 2012 without drawing any public criticism of its anti-women policy.
But the MoS is aware of one woman, who goes by the name ‘Farahyd89’ on social media, who has repeatedly attempted to raise the issue with organisers.
She wrote on Instagram: ‘Why aren’t women allowed to join?’ and in another post she said: ‘Why are you not allowing women to even walk? Your grandmothers and mothers with prams also not welcome?’
On its website, the event claims to be an ‘inclusive’ family day out that allows ‘men, boys of all ages and girls under 12’ to take part.
When pressed by the MoS if that meant teens and older women could not run, the East London Mosque organisers confirmed that they are banned.
Runners take part in the Muslim Charity Run in Victoria Park, east London, in this year’s event
Baroness Shaista Gohir OBE, the chief executive of the Muslim Women’s Network UK, said the East London Mosque was ‘likely’ in breach of the Equality Act
Despite that, mosque leaders last night insisted that their policy was not in contravention of the Equality Act, which makes it illegal to discriminate against someone on the grounds of their sex.
However, they failed to explain why some girls could take part in the event – those under 12 years old – and not others.
The revelations will compound fears that there is a growing tide of ‘sharia’ values in Britain – a concern raised by President Donald Trump at the UN last month.
In a chilling warning, the US President said London wants ‘to go to sharia law’ under its ‘terrible’ mayor, Sir Sadiq Khan.
Mr Khan – who responded to Mr Trump by calling him ‘Islamophobic’ and ‘racist’ – last night did not respond to a request to comment on whether Muslim Charity Run’s rules were acceptable.
Sharia values vary across the globe. However, concerns have been raised about more hardline attitudes towards women and girls that have seen them limited in their access to education and sports.
Yesterday, Ms Keen said: ‘The East London Mosque Trust reports annual revenues exceeding £5 million, including £10,000 from the Government, and claims to spend much of this on education,training, social welfare and community cohesion.
‘It raises serious questions about how much of their charitable activity may also breach the Equality Act.
The revelations will compound fears of a growing tide of ‘sharia’ values in Britain – a concern raised by President Donald Trump last month – but denied by London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan
‘It is clear that this organisation does not understand, or chooses to ignore, its legal responsibilities to women and girls.’
It is not the first time that the East London Mosque Trust, which had an income of £5,597,271 last year, has raised eyebrows.
In May it was given an official warning by the Charity Commission over a £1 million loss in funds.
It had invested in an NHS-approved supplier which was forced into administration, and the commission found that the charity’s ‘due diligence’ was ‘not thorough enough’.
They also found that trustees ‘failed to have sufficient oversight of activities’.
Last night, an East London Mosque spokesman said: ‘The suggestion that our event breaches the Equality Act is entirely incorrect.
‘Single-gender sporting events are lawful under Section 195 and Schedule 23 of the Act, and are common across the UK, including the Women’s Run Series, Nike Women’s 10K, and gender-segregated swimming sessions at Orthodox Jewish facilities like Manchester Jewish Community Centre.
‘The Muslim Charity Run operates under the same legal framework as these established events.’
An EHRC spokeswoman said last night: ‘We consider each [complaint] carefully and take action where appropriate.’
KHADIJA KHAN: Despite what Sadiq Khan claims, we ARE creeping towards Islamic law
I wish I could say I was surprised by this shocking and shameful event. But, sadly, I’m not. I see the exclusion of women from a Muslim charity fun run in Victoria Park, Tower Hamlets, as the inevitable consequence of our obsession with multiculturalism.
This ruinous creed has quietly normalised the oppression of women when it occurs under the banner of Islam.
Last month, President Trump warned that the UK was sliding towards a culture of sharia law – a claim dismissed as ‘appalling and bigoted’ by a spokesman for London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan.
And, of course, in this country we don’t officially have sharia law but we are creeping towards a society that is compliant with its values.
Yes, misogyny exists everywhere. But we’re usually quick to call it out, whether it’s a sexist advert on the London Underground or discrimination in the workplace.
Only when it’s Islamic misogyny do we fall silent, excusing it as a cultural issue.
Ask yourself: how long would a Jewish or Christian run excluding women go ahead without sparking national outrage? That this event is taking place in Hackney – heartland of London’s progressive hipster set – only adds insult to injury.
The coconut cappuccino brigade would be first in line to boast of their feminist credentials, just not when Muslim women are being excluded by their own community.
Last month, President Trump warned that the UK was sliding towards a culture of sharia law – a claim dismissed as ‘appalling and bigoted’ by a spokesman for London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan
This isn’t just hypocrisy, but a betrayal. A betrayal of these women who are denied the basic freedoms most others take for granted. It’s infantilising, too – the unspoken suggestion that Muslim communities are somehow incapable of adapting to the secular, democratic values of wider society.
The liberal Left may not want to hear it, but there is a straight line between a seemingly innocent charity run and the horrors of so-called honour killings, or even the grooming gangs scandal.
These are not isolated incidents. They stem from the same toxic ideology, that women are inherently ‘less’.
So yes, I’m outraged. But I’m also profoundly saddened – because behind the headlines are thousands of women and girls still denied the freedom to run, swim, cycle or enjoy the simplest pleasures of life.
I know, because I was one of them. Growing up in a strict Muslim household in Pakistan, I remember the joy of riding my bike in the street.
But when I complained to my father that a group of boys had jeered at me for being so permissive, he told me in no uncertain terms that I was the problem and banned me from cycling ever again. I was eight years old.
It would take another two decades – and a move to Germany in my late 20s, leaving behind both my family and my religion – before I rode a bike again.
I cried when I did. Because to me, that freedom symbolised everything I had finally regained and everything I’d lost.
So make no mistake, while young girls may be on that ‘family’ run today, the fact their mothers are not participating tells us exactly what fate awaits them.
Once they reach puberty, they’ll be expected to hang up their running shoes for good.
How can we, as a democratic society in the West, tolerate this?
If Sadiq Khan had any backbone, he’d issue a statement making it clear: people are free to follow whatever values they choose, but when those values conflict with the core principles of the society we all live in, they must be condemned without fear or favour.
