The former chairman of an Islamic organisation based in Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, was forced into bankruptcy following a debt relief order uk after a long running dispute over the way the organisation was run.

Zafar Iqbal had been the chairman of the Wycombe Islamic Mission and Mosque Trust Ltd for five years before being suspended after becoming embroiled in a dispute over the direction the organisation should be taken in.

Mr Iqbal was the leader of the Thara group, a faction of the trust which disagreed with another, the Seva group, in its idea that members should be able to elect a management committee. The Thara faction, after initially agreeing to the Seva idea, rejected it and said that the management committee should hand-pick new committee members.

The result of this dispute was a case heard at the High Court, where Judge David Cooke eventually ruled in favour of the Seva group. This also led to Mr Iqbal’s bankruptcy, declared at Aylesbury Crown Court, as well as his suspension from the position of chairman.

Any costs in the bankruptcy case will be recovered and paid to Mr Iqbal’s creditor, Ghalib Hussain, who has also been voted in as trust director recently.

Speaking of the whole affair, Mr Iqbal said:

“It is unfortunate it has gone this way, it is something we were not expecting, but I’m sure we will come out of it one day. At the moment it is a difficult time but I’m sure, one day, we will see things differently”.