On May 23, 2022, the Charity Commission for England and Wales ordered Islamic Research Foundation International (IRFI) to shut down after an inquiry found that it had funded TV programming that promoted violence.
The National Secular Society (NSS) has expressed its concerns about IRFI since 2018 while questioning the involvement of Zakir Naik, founder and president of the IRFI, in an open letter to the charity commission.
The NSS specified the IRFI's record in its 2019 report, “For the public benefit?”, which calls for reform of charity law to remove 'the advancement of religion' from being listed as a ‘charitable purpose.’
PeaceTV, a television program involved with the IRFI, was reprimanded in 2012 by the Broadcasting regulator Ofcom after Naik said he "tended to agree" that Muslims should be executed if they leave Islam and tried to proselytize a different religion "against Islam."
In 2020, Naik’s Peace TV and Peace TV Urdu were fined £300,000 for “broadcasting hate speech and incitement to commit murder.”
According to the NSS, they also had a long line of very controversial speakers like Bilal Philips, who the US government named as a co-conspirator in the 9/11 attacks.
Another Peace TV speaker, Dr. Israr Ahmad, made anti-Jewish statements on air.
According to the Charity Commission, the IRFI’s remaining funds of £57,950 have been transferred to three charities with "similar objectives'.
