East London Mosque Bans Women From "Inclusive" Charity Run.
When "Family-Friendly" Means Mum Can't Run: How Victoria Park's Muslim Charity Run Excludes Half The Population While Claiming To Welcome Everyone.
(Image: Times of Eswatini
Article Category: UK News | Women’s Rights | Religious Freedom | Tower Hamlets | London Events
Reading Time: 8 minutes
You know me; I’m never one to get involved in controversy. However, when an East London Mosque’s Muslim Charity Run bars women and girls over 12 despite claiming to be “inclusive” and “family-friendly,” I have to interject. Here’s why this charity event violates equality laws and basic human rights.
Wow, I can sense the fatwa coming my way already, and I haven’t even got to the first paragraph yet.
By the way, does anyone know the difference between a fatwa and a thinwa?
A fatwah is the full-fat version—the actual deed, the direct action, the consequence, the thing that happens to you when you’ve crossed the line.
A thinwa? That’s the diet version. The fatwa that went to Middle Eastern WeightWatchers. It’s been slimmed down, trimmed of all the actual danger, but they still want you to think it’s threatening. It’s just the warning. The “you better watch yourself, mate.” The strongly worded letter. The social media pile-on. The accusation of “Islamophobia.” The calls to get you sacked, deplatformed, and cancelled.
Now, it’s not that I intend to be deliberately contentious, you understand, because my neurodivergent brain doesn’t handle well any words with too many consonants and too few vowels, but am I not right in thinking that everything in life has its polar opposite, or, admittedly, in some cases, perhaps bi-polar opposite, and that again my neurodivergent brain says it’s therefore logical to have a thinwa? And you know me, if you’ve been following these posts for any length of time, my brain works on the principle that if it ain’t logical, practical, or a combination of both, then bin it, whatever it happens to be.
So yes, to be absolutely clear: there’s no such thing as a “thinwa” in Islamic jurisprudence. I completely made that up. It’s pure fiction. A bit of linguistic wordplay. The fatwa went on a diet in my imagination, and somewhere along the way, Middle Eastern WeightWatchers intervened. But logically? Practically? It should exist. Because everything has an opposite, doesn’t it?
But don’t hold your breath waiting for that to matter.
See, we live in the age of the thinwa—real or not. It’s the low-calorie version of censorship! Nobody actually does anything anymore—they just threaten you into silence. They don’t need the full-fat fatwa when the diet thinwa works perfectly well. Why bother with actual consequences when you can just make people terrified of potential consequences? It’s all the intimidation with none of the legal liability!
And it works! Look around! Everyone’s terrified. You can’t question anything, can’t point out obvious contradictions, can’t say “hang on a minute, this seems a bit off” without someone screaming “ISLAMOPHOBE!” at you. That’s the thinwa in action. That’s how you police speech without ever lifting a finger. It’s the Slimfast of social control!
But here’s the thing: I’m not interested in playing that game. You want to throw thinwahs at me? Go ahead. I’m going to point out the bleeding obvious anyway. Because someone needs to. And if that means I get the thinwa—or hell, even the full-fat fatwa—then so be it.
At least I’ll know I stood up for women’s rights in public spaces. What will you be remembered for? Staying silent because you were too scared of the diet version?
Right. Deep breath. Let’s get into this...
Breaking: “Inclusive” Charity Run Excludes Half the Population.
The Muslim Charity Run, organised by East London Mosque, has banned women and girls over the age of 12 from participating in their annual 5K charity event in Victoria Park, Tower Hamlets—despite marketing the event as “inclusive” and “family-friendly.”
The event is open to men, boys of all ages, and girls under 12, but women and teenage girls are relegated to spectator status, allowed only to “cheer on the runners” from the sidelines.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission has announced it will investigate the case after campaigners described the ban as “regressively sexist” and “plainly unlawful.”
Read the original coverage:
Yahoo News: London mosque faces criticism over charity fun run
Mail on Sunday: Mosque bans females over 12 from charity park run
GB News: Mosque bans women and girls over 12 from charity run
THE EQUALITY ACT SMOKESCREEN.
So these geniuses at the mosque say, “Single-gender sporting events are lawful under Section 195 and Schedule 23 of the Act,” and they’re comparing themselves to women’s races like the Nike Women’s 10K.
Yeah! Let’s compare apples and oranges wrapped in BS!
Those women-only races exist because for about a thousand years, men told women they couldn’t run because their uteruses would fall out. I’m not making that up! Doctors actually said that! So women’s races are there to compensate for being excluded. They’re remedial! They’re saying, “Hey, sorry we were a’holes for centuries, here’s your chance.”
This? This is using anti-discrimination law TO DISCRIMINATE. That’s like using the fire extinguisher to START the fire! You’re taking a legal protection designed to HELP women and weaponising it AGAINST them. It’s legal jiu-jitsu for numbnuts!
The Equality Act allows single-sex events when there’s a legitimate aim—like addressing disadvantage. What’s the legitimate aim here? “We don’t want men to see women running because it might give them impure thoughts”? Well, that’s YOUR problem, not hers! She’s trying to raise money for charity, not audition for your spank bank!
You don’t get to use PUBLIC POLICY to manage your personal sexual issues! Get therapy!
THE “INCLUSIVE” INSANITY.
They say “everyone belongs”—everyone EXCEPT HALF THE HUMAN RACE!
That’s not inclusion, that’s a lie! Words mean things! “Everyone” doesn’t mean “everyone with a willy!” And calling it “family-friendly”? What families? Families where Mum can’t run, but she can watch? That’s not family-friendly, that’s 1950s-friendly!
Here’s an idea: how about we just use accurate language? Call it what it is: “The Annual Men Get To Do Stuff Whilst Women Stand There Fun Run!” At least that’s honest! At least you’re not taking the, you know……proverbial!
The Muslim Charity Run’s own website literally describes the event as having an “inclusive atmosphere” that “ensures that every individual, from the youngest to the oldest, can take part”—and then in the next breath tells you that women over 12 are banned from participating.
THE AGE CUT-OFF CREEPINESS.
Let’s talk about this 12-year-old cut-off, because this is where it gets really creepy.
Girls under 12 can run. Girls 13 and up? BANNED.
You know what that is? That’s when girls hit puberty. That’s when they start getting breasts. And suddenly—SUDDENLY!—her running becomes a problem.
Think about what you’re telling that 13-year-old girl: “My dear, your body is now sexually provocative. You need to hide it. Men can’t control themselves around you.” You’re not protecting her—you’re teaching her she’s RESPONSIBLE for men’s thoughts!
She’s thirteen! She’s trying to run a 5K for charity, not do a striptease! But no, suddenly her body is so dangerous, so tempting, so scandalous that she can’t be seen jogging in public!
That’s not religion, that’s paedophilia-adjacent thinking! You’re sexualising children and then blaming THEM for it!
THE PUBLIC PARK HYPOCRISY—AND THIS IS THE CRITICAL PART.
Now look—let me be absolutely clear about something here, because this is where the line gets drawn.
What the East London Mosque does inside its own walls? That’s their business. Their mosque, their rules, their playbook. If they want gender-segregated prayer services, separate entrances, women-only sections—fine. That’s their private religious space. Even if the rest of us think some of it looks prehistoric, it’s THEIR space. Religious freedom means you get to run your own house however you want.
But this? This is happening in Victoria Park—a PUBLIC park.
PUBLIC! As in, belongs to EVERYBODY! As in, funded by TAXPAYERS—including women taxpayers!
You see the difference? Inside your mosque—your rules. Inside a PUBLIC SPACE that belongs to ALL OF US—OUR rules. British rules. Equality rules.
Women are literally PAYING—through their taxes—to be excluded from their own park! That’s not religious freedom, that’s using public resources to impose your private religious restrictions on everyone else!
Imagine if they said, “No Jews can run.” Or “No Black people.” There’d be RIOTS! Parliament would be on fire! But because it’s women, and it’s wrapped in religion, everyone goes, “Oh well, cultural sensitivity!”
Sod cultural sensitivity when you’re in a SHARED PUBLIC SPACE! Some cultures are BETTER than others when it comes to public policy! There, I said it! Any culture that lets women participate in public life is BETTER for PUBLIC SPACES than one that doesn’t!
This isn’t about attacking anyone’s faith. This is about understanding the difference between private religious practice and public civic participation. You don’t get to export your private religious rules into OUR shared public spaces!
THE GOVERNMENT FUNDING SCANDAL.
Oh, and you’ll love this: The East London Mosque Trust gets £10,000 from the Government—and has revenues over £5 million.
So the GOVERNMENT is funding discrimination! Your tax money—WOMEN’S tax money—is going to an organisation that excludes women from public events!
You’re paying for your own exclusion! It’s like paying the bloke who’s robbing you! “Here, take my wallet AND my dignity!”
As feminist campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen pointed out, this raises serious questions about how much of their charitable activity may breach the Equality Act.
THE “FAMILY-FRIENDLY” FARCE.
“Family-friendly”!
What family? The Manson Family? A family where Mum can’t participate? Where teenage girls learn their place is on the sidelines? Where boys learn that girls exist to WATCH them, not compete with them?
That’s not family-friendly—that’s training the next generation of misogynists! You’re literally teaching boys: “You matter. You do things. Girls? They cheer.”
Congratulations! You’ve created a nursery for a’holes!
THE FEMINIST SILENCE.
And where are all the feminists? The ones who scream about “manspreading” and “microaggressions”? Where are the howls of outrage?
SILENT!
You know why? Because they’re so terrified of being called “Islamophobic” that they’ll throw women under the bus! They’ve got their heads so far up their own arses about “intersectionality” that they can’t see ACTUAL OPPRESSION when it’s staring them in the face!
A bloke interrupts a woman in a meeting? PATRIARCHY! A mosque excludes women from a public event? “Well, we must respect their culture...”
WHICH IS IT?! You can’t have both! Either women’s rights matter or they don’t! Either discrimination is wrong or it isn’t!
But no—they’ve decided that women’s rights are negotiable depending on who’s doing the discriminating. That’s not feminism, that’s cowardice!
THE DOUBLE STANDARD.
In Iran, women can’t participate in public sports, and you know what we say about Iran? “Oh, that’s terrible! That’s oppression! That’s theocracy!”
And then we IMPORT THE SAME RESTRICTIONS into our PUBLIC SPACES and call it “diversity”!
We’re not learning from other countries’ mistakes—we’re COPYING them! We’re going BACKWARDS and calling it PROGRESS!
That’s not tolerance—that’s SURRENDER! That’s not multiculturalism—that’s giving up on the values that make modern Britain work!
The Bottom Line: Why This Matters.
This violates British law. It violates the Equality Act. It violates basic human decency. It violates common sense. It violates women’s rights. It violates children’s well-being. It violates the actual definition of the word “inclusive”!
The ONLY law it doesn’t violate is Sharia law.
And here’s the thing: religious communities absolutely have the right to follow Sharia law within their own private spaces. That’s religious freedom, and that’s fine.
But we don’t live under Sharia law in PUBLIC BRITAIN. In shared public spaces, we live under British law. And in Britain, in OUR parks, women get to RUN!
But sure, let the women watch. Let them stand on the sidelines and clap for the men. I’m sure the Suffragettes are just THRILLED with this progress. I’m sure Emmeline Pankhurst is up in heaven, going, “You know what we fought for? The right for women to be SPECTATORS in public parks! Nailed it!”
This is 2025, we’re in LONDON, in a PUBLIC PARK, and we’re debating whether women should be allowed to JOG.
We’ve got self-driving cars, AI that can write poetry, and we’re putting people on Mars—but apparently, a woman running 5 kilometres in a public space is TOO RADICAL.
Congratulations, humanity. We’ve peaked.
What Happens Next?
The organisers have been contacted by BBC London for comment. The Equality and Human Rights Commission has said it will look into the case. Kellie-Jay Keen, founder of feminist group Party of Women, has called for action, noting that the mosque receives government funding whilst potentially breaching equality legislation.
The event has been running since 2012 without drawing public criticism of its anti-women policy—until now.
The question is simple: Should religious organisations be allowed to use public spaces to enforce gender segregation that would be illegal in any other context?
Further Reading:
Related searches: Muslim Charity Run 2025, Run 4 Your Mosque, East London Mosque Trust, Victoria Park events, Tower Hamlets Aspire Party, Lutfur Rahman, Section 195 Equality Act, Schedule 23 Equality Act, Baroness Shaista Gohir, Muslim Women’s Network UK
Share this article if you believe women deserve better than being reduced to spectators in their own communities.
Follow the story: The EHRC investigation is ongoing. Check back for updates on this developing story.
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