The Next Ghazali?

I pray you are well and Ramadan is going blessed for you!

I have written an email below about a project that is dear to my heart and a great opportunity for you! Ive also made a video in case the text is too long to read 🙂 Let me know your thoughts!

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“If I have seen further, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants”

Many of us will know of and have benefited from the work of our great scholars of the past. From Imam Ghazali to Ibn Sina, West and East have benefited from the knowledge and contribution they put forward in the fields of Islam, medicine, philosophy and countless other subjects! Imagine the reward they receive with Allah masha’allah.

But here’s a question: Who funded them?

Just imagine you were that person. Every drop of ink these scholars shed in writing and educating us will go back to them. Imam Ghazali wrote in his own biography “Munkidh min al-Dalal (Deliverance from Error)” how he was brought in from poverty to study Islam. Imagine there were no institutions to do that, his brilliance may never have been harnessed. What a brilliant ROI (Return on Investment)!

(The collection of Ihyaa Uloom Al-Deen by Imam Ghazali in Arabic and English)

In light of this, one of the things I often think about is how the earlier generations were fortunate to be in that position of being the “first ever” to start something up and hence they receive all the subsequent reward. This is unfortunately something we can never precede them in, but what is interesting is that when you look at the estimates of the total number of people who have ever lived in the world, 30% of them are expected to live from 2014-2100.

i.e. if you count every single person that has ever live and will ever live, 30% of them will be after our lifetime and can hence potentially benefit from our work!

The following graph may make more sense!

Of course, reward is known only by Allah and their value is in their sincerity, but its still interesting nontheless!

The CIM

Myself and some fellow brothers & sisters recently launch the Centre for Islam and Medicine (CIM) back on March 1st. The key focus of the organisation is three fold:

To develop an academic platform which scholars and doctors can engage on both within the Muslim community and the wider British community.
Develop high quality research material on issues of Islam and Medicine
To create a central hub which the wider community can access for information on issues of Islam and Medicine, as well as actively educating the public on issues which affect them

If the CIM model succeeds, we hope to replicate it across a number of other fields such as Economics, Social Policy, Politics etc. Our choice to begin with medicine is primarily because the field is quite clearly defined with the scholarship and expertise widely recognised within the field.

Since then, we have made significant strides towards these goals, for example our new official partnership with the Cambridge Muslim College (CMC), providing the organisation a home for its work alhamdulillah.

Alongside this, we have a number of other projects we are running including our workshops and stalls at this years Living Islam Festival! If you haven’t already, book your tickets and hopefully we will see you there!

On top of this, the organisation now has its first full time employee – ME! I believe in this project so much that I have sacrificed a comfortable job to do this alhamdulillah. We haven’t announced it publicly yet so keep it to yourself, but since I’m emailing you this personally I thought I would let you know.

So – whats my point?

Ramadan is the season of multiplication. Everything we do now is multiplied many times over. As such, I wanted to offer you the opportunity to be part of something special.

Our aim over the coming months is to get the organisation set up and sustainable so that we can focus on the work at hand. To do this, we need funding that gives us the independence to do what we feel is right as our income is independent. It will be the backbone of our work alongside the grants and other income we receive from our business pursuits.

… and its not even that much. Just look at the calculations below. £1/month is like giving 3p a day!

How to donate

Before anything, we ask you to first and foremost make dua for us, especially in this blessed month of Ramadan.

After that, we advise people to set up regular donations (or give the equivalent amount now) as they support the long term aspirations of our organisation. The prophet ﷺ said

“The best actions are those which are small and consistent”

[Bukhari and Muslim]

All we want from you is to set up just:

1000 people giving

+ the giftaid is enough for us to be financially independent for our research.

1000 people giving

+ gift aid will allow us to hire 2 full time researchers to systematically work through all the issues within Islamic medical ethics and develop the material we so desperately need!

And the best thing is, setting up a standing order couldn’t be easier

These option cost us nothing and gives us 25% giftaid!!

Directly through your bank:

Account name: C FOR I & M

Bank: HSBC

Sort Code: 40-07-13

Account Number: 92089424

Remember, if you set it up this way, make sure you email with permission to collect giftaid on your behalf!

Donation Form:

Fill in and send us back the following form (available by clicking below or here)