Hardline cleric is invited to UK by Islamic charity for fundraising tour

Islamic Relief is being asked by the Charity Commission to explain why it invited a hardline Muslim preacher to star in a fundraising tour of Britain.

Yasir Qadhi, a Saudi-educated American academic, has been recorded apparently telling students that killing homosexuals and stoning adulterers was part of their religion. Dr Qadhi, who features in an eight-city tour starting this month, described Islamic punishments such as cutting off the hands of thieves as “very beneficial to society”.

After being alerted by The Times, the commission is questioning two other charities, Muslim Aid and Read Foundation, about their sponsorship of a speaking tour by Dr Qadhi in 2015 organised by Muslim Engagement and Development, an extremist-led pressure group.

Islamic Relief, a £100 million-a-year charity that has received…