Overview

The Muslim Institute exists to promote and support the growth of thought, knowledge, research, creativity and open debate within the Muslim community and wider society. Through its conferences, meetings, publications and energetic website it seeks to provide a forum for the sharing of ideas, expertise and interests among its Fellows and members.

History

The Muslim Institute came into existence following a consultative Planning Conference held in December 2009 where it determined that it would be a network dedicated to pluralistic thought, creativity, excellence and high achievement; and a consultative community of ideas and debate that places pluralistic, argued and considered positions in the public space.

The Institute is funded by donations from a charitable trust, the fees paid by our Fellows and such endowments as we raise. The newly registered Muslim Institute Trust administers the assets accumulated since the initial establishment of Muslim Institute as a think tank in 1974. These assets have now been handed over to the new charity, registered in 2010, with a new board of Trustees. The original Institute has ceased to exist.

Aims & Objectives

• To explore, debate and discuss the pressing intellectual problems and issues facing British Muslim communities and wider society; encourage and support the pursuit of excellence in knowledge and thought as an agent of positive change;
• To provide an intellectual space where problems and issues can be discussed from multiple perspectives, with the freedom to raise even the most sensitive questions, frankly and openly in the spirit of mutual respect and tolerance;
• To raise awareness of the great intellectual and cultural heritage of Islam, and bring the considerable storehouse of knowledge developed by Muslim civilizations to the attention of current generations and the wider public in a spirit of critical inquiry;
• To mobilise the academic, cultural, and intellectual resources, the scientific and technological expertise of British Muslims to facilitate the creation of a thriving, dynamic and forward-looking Muslim community;
• To promote the civilization and humanistic dimensions of Islam to create a contemporary culture of intellectual and critical thought within the Muslim community;
• To search for a contemporary Muslim ethos that enables critical engagement with policy issues bearing directly on the British Muslim community and make a distinctive contribution to the debates of British society;
  To support academic workers, public intellectuals, policy practitioners, professionals, creative thinkers and researchers of today and of tomorrow