The Muslim Institute Community Empowerment Fund provides an annual £10,000 grant to grassroot UK Muslim organisations or individuals working for the common good in our most neglected and overlooked communities. The fund seeks out and promotes excellence and high achievement.
The first beneficiaries of the Community Empowerment Fund were a new Oldham-based voluntary organisation Be whose mission is to empower young people and foster their self-confidence to help them believe in and achieve their goals. Their programme culminated in a three-day outdoor residential in Birmingham.
Residential Birmingham 2024
The second beneficiaries were West London based community activist Tahseen Mehar in partnership with the An-Nisa Society. They planned and delivered a residential weekend in rural Sussex in Spring 2025 for a group of young Muslim women aged 18-23. ‘The Wholesome Retreat’ offered a weekend of carefully crafted workshops and activities designed to inspire, nurture and enrich the character development of the participants as they step into womanhood.
The Wholesome Retreat
The retreat provided a holistic approach to exploring what this phase of life means to each individual, guided by female Muslim Leaders and practitioners with relevant experience in this field. Each interactive and educational session was crafted to empower participants with tools for building confidence, resilience and self-expression, all rooted within Islamic paradigms.
Read a report of ‘The Wholesome Retreat’ by clicking below.
The Muslim Institute is working to establish a network of thinkers, scholars, professionals and activist devoted to exploring futures of Muslim communities. The idea is not just to promote futures literacy but also to develop ways and means to overcome emerging hurdles as well as benefit from potential opportunities that may arise. The Institute organises two workshops per year in collaboration with the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) and the Centre for Postnormal Policy and Futures Studies (CPPFS). These workshops provide basic training in futures and foresight methods, and engage the participants in envisioning scenarios for British Muslim futures and planning for preferred trajectories. Eventually, the BMFN will work to promote future consciousness and literacy throughout the Muslim communities of Britain.
Read more here
Saliha Sardar
A sister organisation to the Muslim Institute, Saliha Sardar Trust provides support for young people with special needs, mental or physical, largely in the London Boroughs of Barnet and Brent. The Trust provides small grants and financial assistance for the purchase of equipment, support and other resources, such as hearing and vision aids, hoists and slings, anxiety therapy and multisensory resources to improve the lives of special needs children and their families.
Read more about Saliha Sardar
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