Anti-Islamophobia monitoring group Tell MAMA faces explosive accusations

Tell MAMA, an anti-Islamophobia monitoring group, is facing fresh accusations after having its government funding cut last month. Now, peer and chief executive of Muslim Women’s Network UK, Shaista Gohir has accused Tell MAMA of under-reporting instances of Islamophobia, not offering support to certain MPs, and of potentially being used as a Tory monitor for so-called extremism.

Gohir’s remarks come just a month after Tell MAMA had its funding pulled by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), as reported by the Observer. However, Tell MAMA then announced that MHCLG were in fact funding them for 2025/26. Now, Gohir’s continued questioning of the organisation is bringing up further questions.

Emerging questions for Tell MAMA

Gohir has raised questions over Tell MAMA several times, including during a debate in the House of Lords when the group initially appeared to have lost their funding:

I am really glad that the Tell MAMA funding has been reviewed. I had been raising red flags and concerns about the Tell MAMA project for one year, with a 10-page letter and 30 questions—Oral Questions and Written Questions. I am glad that has now resulted in an open bidding process.

The open bidding process that Gohir refers to is a MHCLG funding opportunity where the department have established a new Combatting Hatred Against Muslims Fund. Interestingly, MHCLG have also launched a new working group that will build a working definition of Islamophobia. Given MHCLG have committed to funding Tell MAMA for another year, it’s unclear how the latter organisation fit into the coming reshuffle of government ties to Muslim organisations combating Islamophobia.

In fact, the Guardian reported that MHCLG told them that the department:

would “soon be opening a call for grant applications to ensure we can meet the challenges communities face today”, to which Tell MAMA is welcome to apply.

However, this is at odds with the fresh competition the government is introducing in a field previously dominated by Tell MAMA. Faith minister Wajid Khan has asserted that:

ministers do not have concerns about financial, structural or governance issues in respect of Tell MAMA.

Whilst this may be the official line, doubts are growing over Tell MAMA’s ability to connect with Muslim communities during a period of rising Islamophobia.

Relationship to government

The Guardian reported that Gohir:

has also accused Tell MAMA of failing to provide detailed data on anti-Muslim hate crimes, being “silent” when politicians have targeted Muslims, and questioned whether the Tories used it as a vehicle to monitor extremism.

In the House of Lords debate Gohir asserted that Tell MAMA is not a charity and therefore subject to different financial requirements. She has also called for an inquiry:

We need an inquiry because, if you look at the questions, they’re very simple: how much was spent on salaries? How much was spent on consultancy fees?

The organisation has had £6 million in government funding since 2012, and Gohir isn’t the only one asking questions. Sayeeda Warsi has also spoken out against the group, writing:

I was there at the outset of Tell MAMA and despite opposition from my government colleagues at the time fought for it to be funded in government, however sadly over the years too many questions have arisen which in my view make the organization unfit for purpose.

Worryingly, Warsi has also raised concerns as to the motivations and links behind Tell MAMA:

There are deep concerns about its finances, governance, associations and connections, including with the now-defunct Quilliam Foundation—which has associations with think tanks in the United States that are peddling anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobia—and with people whom successive Home Secretaries have excluded from the United Kingdom. These are really serious allegations about an organisation that is there to protect Muslims in the United Kingdom.

Structural Islamophobia

An immediately post-9/11 landscape saw a ratcheting up of surveillance and detainment of Muslims. Over 20 years since 9/11, that hostile environment for Muslims is a cornerstone of British society and culture. The fact Tell MAMA has operated on government funding thus far is reason enough to be concerned. Governments, of any party, simply cannot be on the side of British Muslims – foreign and domestic policy has been built on the subjugation and surveillance of Muslims and nowhere near enough has been done to address that.

Warsi is quite correct to bring up whether Tell MAMA is even able to connect to British Muslims anymore:

On a personal anecdotal note – too often my regular engagement with a hyper diverse British Muslim community has shown that large sections simply do not trust or chose TM to report their experiences of anti Muslim racism and attacks. This at a time of rising anti Muslim hate is unacceptable.

Government policy has never been able to encompass the diversity and complexity within British Muslims as a community. In 2024, Byline Times reported that during the period 2017 to 2022, Tell MAMA under-reported Islamophobic hate crimes by more than a whopping 90 percent.

Muslims will never be able to trust governments, and whilst Warsi and Gohri’s comments are welcome, they are both firmly embedded in government. Continuous governments have ignored the Muslim Council of Britain for decades, and the establishment of a new British Muslim Network (which Warsi has praised) will not herald the change it promises.

Funding is incredibly difficult for organisations to secure, but when it comes to combatting Islamophobia, accepting government funding severely compromises any Muslim organisation’s capacity to serve its communities. State involvement is never in the interests or safety of Muslims.

Featured image via the Canary