The MCB launched its 2019 General Election campaign, which included 10 key pledges for political parties, analysis of constituencies where Muslims could have the most impact, an election policy platform detailing the ways in which policies have disadvantaged Muslims, and a nationwide voter registration campaign. The election policy platform, which was developed through a holistic analysis of the priorities of affiliates following the surveying of over 500 British Muslims, identifies key areas of public policy in which Muslims are disproportionately disadvantaged. The National Muslim Voter Registration Day is UK's first ever facilitated by MCB, in which a number of mosques such as East London Mosque, London, Al-Hikmah Masjid, Aberdeen and Birmingham Central Mosque, West Midlands, held voter registration drives after Jumu'ah on 22nd November and the day saw over 300,000 people registered to vote.
The MCB has produced a range of resources for communities this General Election, including a guide on how to host a hustings event, and advice for charities wishing to campaign. To view all of our General Election material, please visit https://mcb.org.uk/project/muslimsvote/ or contact [email protected]
As part of Living Wage week from 11 - 17 November 2019, the MCB urged Muslim institutions across the UK to tackle in-work poverty by becoming accredited Living Wage employers. The MCB has become an accredited Living Wage Employer and a roundtable session was held on 27 November with MCB affiliates to learn more about the Living Wage.
Zara Mohammed, MCB Assistant Secretary General, at the London Living Wage Rate Launch
Media coverage from Citizens UK: https://www.citizensuk.org/livingwage-mcb
Muslims and Elderly Care – Meeting in Bradford, Hosted By Manningham Housing Association
MCB's Research & Development Committee, Ehtasham Haqq, Professor Iqbal Asaria and Jamil Sherie, participated in a summit in Bradford on 14th November 2019 entitled 'Ageing Well in BME Communities'. The meeting was co-organised by the Vice-Chairman of MHA and the Head of Development & Relationships of Abbeyfield Society, Abdul A Ravat, to raise awareness on faith perspectives of the service provision within leading housing associations and to also inform MCB of the housing provision policy. The day’s programme also included group discussions on the themes of traditional values, service provision and responses of government, statutory bodies and housing providers.
Khurshida Mirza, from Race Equality Foundation, presented some recent data sets which demonstrated the disadvantages experienced by ethnic groups in housing deprivation, fuel poverty, health and life expectancy. She highlighted a need for service providers to begin discussions with ‘users’ during planning stages to prevent poor take-up of their housing provision within BME and faith communities.
A new cohort of female leaders in Muslim communities have graduated from a second 2-day residential training session of MCB Women in Mosques Development Programme 2019 held in Al-Mahdi Institute, Birmingham. The programme started its pilot in 2018 and has now completed its second year on 17 November 2019. It is designed to accelerate the developing of upcoming talented female leaders of all ages to become the mosque trustees, committee members, volunteers and project leaders of the future.
This is BIMA's second National Conference, exploring a wide range of topics, including responsible financial planning, the fundamentals of Islamic parenthood, fasting, humanitarian relief and more
Where: National Conference Centre, Birmingham, B92 0EJ
A ground breaking report highlighting the importance of training and support for non-Muslim foster carers looking after Muslim children, with recommendations for fostering services and Muslim civil society. Download and read the full report here (http://thefosteringnetwork.org.uk/MFP)
27th November
Talat Ahmed, HR Consultant, Lamees Hafeez, Operations Manager and Sakinah Abdul Aziz, Project Coordinator, represented MCB for the Living Wage roundtable session hosted in Citizens UK alongside MCB affilitates.
Samayya Afzal, Community Engagement Manager,attended the Bradford Muslim Women's Council 10-year Anniversary Dinner.
26th November
Miqdaad Versi, Head of Public Affairs, spoke on BBC News Politics on the issue of structural and institutional Islamophobia within the Conservative Party
Zainab Gulamali, Public Affairs Manager, spoke on BBC the urgent need to look at Islamophobia and prejudice in Conservative Party.
Rizwana Hamid, Manager for Centre for Media Monitoring, attended the Westminster Forum’s conference on the “Future of UK Broadcasting”.
25th November Harun Khan, Secretary General,joined Mark Dowie, CEO of Royal National Lifeboat Institution with their supporters and volunteers to mark his 6 months in office with a look ahead at their plans for #SavingLivesAtSea.
Maswood Ahmed, Assistant Secretary General, joined Citizens UK and Darul Ummah to encourage community members to register to vote.
Ifath Nawaz, Chair of Legal Affairs Committee,spoke at the Muslim Fostering Project Report Launch.
22nd November
Harun Khan, Ifath Nawaz, Rizwana Hamid, Lamees Hafeez and Zainab Gulamali attended the Khurshid Drabu memorial event titled - Citizenship What's Next.
Zainab Gulamali joined the voter registration drive at East London Mosque after jum'ah prayers to increase the #MuslimVote.
Samayya Afzal attended the #MuslimVote Registration Day at Doha Mosque.
21st November Maswood Ahmedspoke at St Albans Cathedral to take part in debate on topical/political issues along the lines of BBC TVs Question Time.
20th November
Samayya Afzal visited the Quaker community at Friends House London.
17th November
Hassan Joudi, Deputy Secretary General,visited Masjid Al Farouq and had an overview of the mosque's activities and the mosque's efforts to improve access for women and youth.
16th November - 17th November
Hassan Joudi and Lamees Hafeez attended the second Women in Mosques Development Programme residential weekend at Al-Mahdi Institute.
14th November
Rizwana Hamidmet with the editor of the Express Gary Jones who agreed to write a forward (along with Rohit Kachroo from ITV News) to CfMM’s upcoming report on “Terrorism & How The British Media Cover It”.
12th November
Hassan Joudi delivered #VisitMyMosque training workshops in Dewsbury and Huddersfield.
Rizwana Hamid attended a conference in Whitehall about the “Future of News - Post the Cairncross Review” which was organised by the Westminster Media Forum.
11th November
Hassan Joudi explained the importance of our affiliates to be accredited Living Wage employers during #LivingWageWeek.
Zara Mohammed, Assistant Secretary General, received the Living Wage accreditation for Muslim Council of Britain and Somerset House during #LivingWageWeek
Maswood Ahmed, spoke at Department for Education's Interfaith Network event as part of #InterFaithWeek.
8th November MCB office received Indonesian scholars visiting the UK as part of #EnglishForUlama programme.
Harun Khan, presented The Hajj Awards 2019 to Tour de Hajj for winning the '3rd Sector Award'.
Zara Mohammed spoke at the launch of International Conference of Innovation and Management 2019 (#IAM2019).
7th November Harun Khan attended the official launch of National Emergencies Trust inaugurated by HRH The Duke of Cambridge.
Samayya Afzal spoke at the University of Bradford Alumni event on career opportunities in the third sector and advised on building skill sets for graduates.
6th November Rizwana Hamidmet with the BBC’s Specialist Factual Commissioning Editors - Abigail Priddle & Daisy Scalchi - regarding the media’s coverage of Muslims & Islam and how they can improve their programming to better reflect and “normalise” Muslims as British citizens.
5th November Rizwana Hamid & Zainab Gulamali met with Afzal Khan MP in parliament regarding CfMM’s work & MCB’s general election’s manifesto & voter registration campaign
3rd November Hassan Joudi joined an afternoon with Turkish Muslim communities in Luton exploring #GE2019 to strengthen the voice of British Muslim communities.
2nd November
Samayya Afzal spoke at Bradford MEND Islamophobia Awareness Month event on Muslim Women.
MCB in the Media
Islamophobia in the Conservative Party
The MCB has continued to call out Islamophobia in the Conservative Party, particularly as the party announced its selection of candidates, some of whom have been found to be engaging in Islamophobia. In May 2019, the MCB called on the Equality and Human Rights Commission to investigate Islamophobia in the party, submitting extensive evidence of the problem. Miqdaad Versi, Media Spokesperson, and Zainab Gulamali, Public Affairs Manager, were featured on the BBC highlighting this.
Muslim Council of Britain’s Miqdaad Versi says, “Unfortunately Islamophobia is a serious problem, it’s endemic, it’s institutional within the Conservative Party”.
Zainab Gulamali, Public Affairs Manager, spoke on BBC the urgent need to look at Islamophobia and prejudice in Conservative Party.
More press releases pertaining to the condemnation of Islamophobia in the Conservative Party:
The Prophet Muhammad serves as an exemplary for mankind, and his teachings and advice entail leadership lessons as well. Inspired by the late Nabeel Al-Azami's recently published book: Muhammad (s): 11 Leadership Qualities that Changed the World, MCB's Deputy Secretary Generation Hassan Joudi, highlighted in article five leadership lessons from the life of the Prophet relevant for those involved in running a voluntary group or association today.
1) Responsibility
2) Clarity in Decision-Making
3) Empowering Youth
4) Diplomacy and Political Awareness
5) Forgiveness
