On the eve of Ramadan last week leading British Muslim Charities and philanthropists from across the country were invited to Downing Street to celebrate the hundreds of millions of pounds donated by British Muslims to support some of the most vulnerable communities in the UK and abroad.
The round table was chaired by the newly appointed Faith Minister, Baroness Scott. The Minister was keen to hear about the work the Muslim charities were doing across the country and the challenges they faced.
The Muslim Charities Forum, an umbrella organisation which represents all the largest Muslim charities in the UK, who attended the roundtable, highlighted that the British Muslim community in the UK donates over five hundred million each year to charity, of which one hundred and fifty million is donated just in the month of Ramadan.
Baroness Scott
Many of the guests highlighted the importance that over sixty percentage of the attendees of the roundtable were women including Muslims from different ethnic and theological backgrounds. The strength in depth of Muslim women in leadership positions was also highlighted at the round table by the attendance of the first Muslim women chief executives of both a national and international Muslim charity.
At the historic event, the Faith Minister thanked both British Muslims and the Charities for all their hard work in the UK and abroad. The minister reiterated that the Government has already started to look into ways it can support a number of challenges they are facing from providing more support for faith-based mental health services to how the Government can work with faith-based charities and philanthropists to support their levelling up plans.