Islamia Students at Muslim Aid 40 Years Anniversary event
Islamia Girls School and Brondesbury College students opened Muslim Aid’s 40th anniversary evening with Qur’an recitations, followed by a reflective address from founder Yusuf Islam on the charity’s origins and enduring mission.
On November 30th, Muslim Aid celebrated 40 years of humanitarian service. The evening in London brought together supporters, staff, founders, and friends. We were honoured to attend as trustees and senior leadership staff from the Yusuf Islam Foundation and Islamia Schools.
Yusuf Islam was a founder of Muslim Aid and served as its first CEO when the charity was established in 1985, in response to the famine in Ethiopia. It was especially fitting, then, that the evening opened with beautiful Qur’an recitations by two of our students from Islamia Girls School and Brondesbury College.
Powerful insights followed from key speakers, including Muslim Aid Chair Mustafa Faruqi, CEO Khalid Javid, and Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad of Cambridge Muslim College.
Regretfully, Yusuf Islam was unable to attend in person but joined the evening via video message. He shared memories of his personal efforts for the Muslim community during the 1980s, as well as his visit to Sudan when the catastrophic famine struck. He also spoke about how Muslim Aid came about, and its purpose in addressing the Islamic imperative to serve.
As a light-hearted note on Muslim Aid’s origins, Yusuf Islam shared that the name Muslim Aid emerged after he was invited to Live Aid but was not permitted to perform because he wished to sing a cappella. Muslim Aid noted that the anecdote still resonates with their ethos of principled action —as it does with our own at Islamia Schools and the Yusuf Islam Foundation.
The Yusuf Islam Foundation Schools are honoured to be part of the legacy that gave rise to so many organisations and charities in the 1980s, including Muslim Aid, through the vision and efforts of our founder, Yusuf Islam.
You can find out more about the Muslim Aid 40 Years Anniversary event here.
