Solad Sakander Mohammed and Another v Boston Mohammed & Others

JurisdictionEngland & Wales
JudgeMr. Justice Norris
Judgment Date23 March 2018
Neutral Citation[2018] EWHC 805 (Ch)
CourtChancery Division
Docket NumberCase No: PT-2008-000193
Date23 March 2018

[2018] EWHC 805 (Ch)

IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE

CHANCERY DIVISION

The Rolls Building

7 Rolls Buildings

Fetter Lane

London EC4A 1NL

Before:

Mr. Justice Norris

Case No: PT-2008-000193

Between:
Solad Sakander Mohammed & Another
Claimants
and
Boston Mohammed & Others
Defendants

Mr. Joshua Winfield (instructed by Rafina Solicitors) for the Claimant

Mr. John Ditchburn (instructed under the CLIPS Scheme) for the 4 th, 5 th and 12 th Defendants

Mr. Justice Norris
1

This is a dispute about a mosque located at Abbey Mills, Canning Road, London and held at present under Title Number EGL374498. When I refer to it as “a mosque”, it is, as I understand it, both a place of worship and a form of community centre. For simplicity I will simply refer to it as “the Mosque”. The registered proprietors of the Mosque are Zulfiqur Ali, Ibrahim Sheikh (“Mr Sheikh”) and Solad Sakander Mohammed (“Mr Mohammed”) expressed to be “the Trustees of the Anjuman-E-Islahul-Muslimeen of London (UK)” (“the charity”). The date of their registration as proprietors is not apparent but appears from other material to be some time in 1996.

2

I have been shown on a confidential basis (such that the material has not been disclosed to the defendants) a Trust Deed date 5 th November 1996 naming Zulfiqar Ali, Mr Mohammed and Mr Sheikh as those declaring the trusts. It recites a conveyance dated 5 th November 1996 and that the premises had been purchased “by the Trustees with the intent that a Mosque and other buildings should be erected thereon”. The Declaration of Trust says in clause 1 that:

“The Trustees shall permit the Mosque and any buildings erected or to be erected to be used, occupied and enjoyed as a place for the public worship of Allah and for preaching and teaching the precepts and teachings of the Muslim faith according to the principle and usages for the time being of the Muslim faith and for the instruction of children and adults and for the promotion of such religious and other charitable purposes as shall from time to time be directed by the Trustees.”

Although an application was made by counsel for Mr Mohammed and Mr Sheikh in the course of his submissions that this document be subject to restrictions as to who may see or refer to it, being a declaration of trust of a charity I see no reason to impose any restrictions upon who may see the document itself.

3

There is a dispute about the charity. There appear to be two strands to this dispute. The first is that there is a proposal to redevelop the site and although initial development proposals seem to have been turned down, there is a prospect of some development proposals being approved by the local Planning Authority. If approved, they would give a value to the site of the Mosque of something of the order of £10 million. That £10 million will undoubtedly, if realised, be subjected to charitable trusts and might have to be the subject of a scheme devised by the Charity Commissioners in the event that the application of the funds could not be agreed within the terms of the charity. So there is a dispute about how the development might proceed and what is to become of the site or proceeds of sale of the site.

4

But there is a quite separate dispute relating to the precise charitable trusts upon which the Mosque is held. There are three Trustees and registered proprietors of the Mosque: but of late Mr. Sheikh and Mr. Mohammed have sought to remove Mr. Zulfiqar Ali as a Trustee on, I think, the basis that his health prevents him from acting as a Trustee. But whether this has been correctly carried out is a matter for further examination. At all events, Mr. Zulfiqar Ali, even if not a Trustee, remains a registered proprietor of the charity property. But he is also a Trustee of another charity bearing a similar name, “the Anjuman-E-Islahul-Muslimeen (Madrasa Taleem Ul Islam) of United Kingdom”. This is sometimes referred to as the “Dewsbury Trust”. There is an issue about whether a Mosque is held on the Trusts of the Deed of Trust dated 1996 or upon the Trusts that apply to the Dewsbury Trust. I have outlined the dispute only in the barest outline for the full subtleties of the dispute have not been explained to me.

5

Those two disputes – how the property should be developed and where the benefit of the development should go, on the one hand; and what, precisely are the charitable trusts on which the Mosque is held, on the other – have produced dissention amongst the worshippers at the Mosque. Two of the Trustees, Mr. Sheikh and Mr. Mohammed, have commenced proceedings whereby they seek to exclude from the Mosque 13 named defendants whom they variously accuse of fomenting dissent within the Mosque, of seeking to take over the management of the Mosque, of seeking to occupy the Mosque or of conducting themselves violently when within the Mosque. These proceedings have been commenced without the consent of the Charity Commission because the two claimants consider that the dispute does not relate to matters within the charity itself and its administration and the achievement of its objects, but as dealing with a hostile and adverse claim is the charity properties.

6

On what I have seen, I am inclined to the view that these are charity proceedings which ought to be drawn to the attention of the Charity Commission who may have something to say about the way they are conducted. But, for present purposes, I intend to consider the application now before me notwithstanding the absence of Charity Commission consent, (if needed).

7

The application in its present form seeks an order against 13 named defendants endorsed with a penal notice prohibiting them, until after final judgment, from entering the Mosque except with the prior written permission of the claimants (who are two out of three of its registered proprietors and maybe the two (or perhaps two out of three) charity Trustees). Furthermore, by amendment made in the course of this application, the claimants seek an order excluding the 13 defendants from a two-mile radius around the Mosque notwithstanding that some of them live within that exclusion zone or have elderly relatives whom they visit also within that exclusion zone.

8

The basis on which this relief is sought is the witness statement of Mr. Solad Sakander Mohammed who speaks to the following:

i) That the Trustees have not registered the charity with the Charity Commission;

ii) That they are assisted by a small Management Committee whom they themselves have appointed;

iii) That the Centre is open to the public and the day-to-day management is conducted by the Management Committee;

iv) That there is no membership list nor are any membership records maintained;

v) That some time in 2012 Mr. Zulfiqar Ali's son, who is the fourth defendant, “started kicking up a fuss amongst the Trustees” because he felt that Mr. Zulfiqar Ali was being sidelined and not included in decision-making processes;

vi) That in 2013 the fourth respondent, together with a group...

To continue reading

Request your trial
2 cases
  • Mehboob Bhamani v Abdul Sattar
    • United Kingdom
    • Chancery Division
    • 17 Septiembre 2020
    ...for charities where the purpose was to avoid the necessity for periodical transfers of property. He relied on Mohammed v Mohammed [2018] EWHC 805 (Ch) in which Norris J refused to grant an injunction against thirteen individuals restraining them from entering a mosque. The judge dealt with......
  • Mehboob Bhamani and Others v Abdul Sattar and Others
    • United Kingdom
    • Court of Appeal (Civil Division)
    • 26 Febrero 2021
    ...Muslims regardless of race, colour or gender” and “whatever the Country of his/her origin”. As Norris J put it in Mohammed v Mohammed [2018] EWHC 805 (Ch) at [13], a not dissimilar case concerned with another mosque, the charity trustees did not hold the land for their own benefit and: “Th......

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT