The Muslim Charities Forum has criticised an article in The Daily Telegraph alleging the umbrella body had links to terrorist organisations, and has said it is taking legal advice.

The Forum said it was "shocked and dismayed" by the article, which alleged that the umbrella body had “ties to the Muslim Brotherhood”, a group which David Cameron ordered an investigation into in April this year, following assessments by MI5 and MI6.

The article, which appeared yesterday, also reported criticism of a grant, which it referred to as a “donation”, of £18,397 given to the Muslim Charities Forum and noted in the Department for Communities and Local Government’s (DCLG) spending report.

The article quoted Sam Westrop, director of Stand For Peace, a multi-faith organisation which tackles extremism, describing the grant as “madness” and “completely counter-intuitive”.

Westrop said: “If the government is really committed to fighting extremism and ultimately preventing radicalisation to the point of terrorism, it actually needs to stop enabling and funding it."

A Muslim Charities Forum spokesman said that none of its members were involved in terrorism.

“We would also like to reiterate that no MCF member has a political purpose or is involved in political work, a point which was made clear to the newspaper when we were invited to comment,” he said.

He said that the Forum is consulting with its lawyers over these allegations.

He also said he wanted to clarify that the funding from the DCLG "was a grant and not – as wrongly described – a ‘donation’ to the Muslim Charities Forum".

The Telegraph reported that American think tank Nine Eleven Finding Answers claimed that five of the Muslim Charities Forum member charities were early participants in the Union of Good, a fundraising body with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood which was created to raise money for the terrorist group Hamas. The US Treasury has said that the Union of Good is a sponsor of terrorism.

But the Muslim Charities Forum denied in the article that any charities under its remit are members of the Union of Good.

A spokesman for the DCLG also said in the article that no members of the Muslim Charities Forum were members of the Union of Good.

He said: "We do not fund any organisation involved with violent or non-violent extremism.

“This funding actively encourages integration, by promoting inter-faith work, promoting the role of women in faith, tackling youth crime and providing training in child protection.”

The spokesman from the Muslim Charities Forum added that through the project which received funding from the DCLG it is creating “pluralism, integration and better community relations, and also working to reduce youth crime”.

He went on to say that all members of the umbrella body are registered charities, who are “purely humanitarian organisations, dedicated to alleviating poverty and promoting sustainable development around the world”.