A charity named after a Victorian-era convert to Islam who was educated on the Isle of Man is under a further statutory investigation by the UK’s Charity Commission over allegedly inflammatory social media content, including various antisemitic claims about an “Israeli lobby” influencing the Westminster Government.

The Abdullah Quilliam Society, based in Liverpool, is being investigated after posting a video in June that suggested senior government members had received donations from the “Israeli lobby” and were acting improperly. The video, drawn from a sermon delivered at the charity’s premises on 27th June 2025, also alleged that the Charity Commission was being unduly influenced to “silence” trustees.

The investigation follows an earlier complaint by the UK’s Campaign Against Antisemitism, which led to an official warning from the UK Government being issued to the charity on 12th June 2025. According to the campaign group, this earlier warning related to sermons about the Israel/Gaza conflict in October 2023 that were “inflammatory and divisive” and lacked “appropriate context”.

Abdullah Quilliam, after whom the charity is named, spent most of his childhood on the Isle of Man and was educated at King William’s College before becoming Britain’s first prominent Muslim convert in the 1880s. Born William Henry Quilliam in Liverpool in 1856, he founded the country’s first mosque in 1889 and was later recognised by the Ottoman Caliph as Sheikh of Muslims in Britain.

After leaving England in 1908 due to professional problems, Quilliam returned to live much of his later life at Onchan on the Isle of Man under the assumed name H.M. Leon, where he remained until his death in London in 1932.

The charity bearing his name was established in 1996 to restore the Liverpool Muslim Institute on Brougham Terrace, which Quilliam had founded as Britain’s first functioning mosque. Despite the controversy, the mosque received a high-profile visit from the hard-left Lord Hermer, the Attorney General, in the wake of the Southport riots. Hermer commented at the time: “It’s been inspiring learning about the work of this mosque… It has been a huge, huge pleasure.”

The Charity Commission has now imposed an order preventing the charity from hosting events or posting content that does not further its charitable purposes. The inquiry will examine whether there has been mismanagement or misconduct by the charity’s trustees, with the scope potentially extending if additional regulatory issues emerge.