Winter Gathering 2025: Write Up + Photos

View this email in your browser DECEMBER 2025   Muslim Institute Winter Gathering 2025   The Muslim Institute 2025 Winter Gathering took place at Sarum College, Salisbury between 28th-30th November.  The theme of this Winter Gathering was: 'By Any Means Necessary': Muslims, Politics and Power in the 21st Century'. CLICK HERE TO SEE PHOTOS One hundred fellows and guests gathered to listen to an array of speakers: Professor of Islamic History Fozia Bora, Mayor of Newham Rokhsana Fiaz OBE, Leeds Green Party Co-Ordinator Shahab Adris, Professor of Black Studies Kehinde Andrews, filmmaker & podcaster Dr Myriam François, Director of Centre for Media Monitoring Rizwana Hamid, researchers Musab Bora and Humera Khan, analyst Dr Mohammed Sinan Siyech, CEO National Zakat Foundation Dr Sohail Hanif and author Tharik Hussain. The opening address was delivered by deputy chair of trustees Asim Siddiqui: 'Assalamu alaikum. Welcome to the Muslim Institute's 2025 Winter Gathering. Our very first Winter Gathering was held in this very room back in 2009 — sixteen years ago. And every time since, we've returned to Sarum College. Some of you have asked us whether we own the building! We don't; except on these weekends when it becomes our home. For many of our long-standing Fellows, the Winter Gathering has become a highlight in the Calendar — a time to reconnect, reflect, and recharge. It is also a pleasure to welcome so many new Fellows who have joined us. This year's theme, marking sixty years since the martyrdom of Malcolm X, is: "By Any Means Necessary: Muslims, Politics and Power in the 21st Century." Over the next few days, we'll be asking some big questions – questions about how we build strength, protect our freedoms and shape the future we want. We often describe the Muslim Institute as a space for critical thought and open debate, inspired by the tradition of fellowship or futuwwah. Now, futuwwah is sometimes translated as "knowledgeable clubs" — but they were so much more than that. In the classical age of Muslim civilisation, these were communities that combined knowledge, ethics, and service. They were self-organising spaces where artisans, scholars, and seekers of truth gathered — not to echo the power of rulers, but to hold power to account; not to follow, but to lead through conscience and conviction. We will shortly hear from our keynote speaker more about this history. The futuwwah built communities around learning, humility, and service — people coming together to exchange ideas, support one another, serve their neighbours, and speak up when the Caliph of the day or the State strayed from justice. That's the spirit we wish to carry forward here. The Muslim Institute is an independent platform — a space where we, as a community, can think, debate, and decide our own priorities. We don't take our cues from politicians or from funders. We shape our own agenda — because a confident, self-reliant community must also be a community that thinks for itself. But independence doesn't mean isolation. The futuwwah were never inward-looking. They stood for what was right — not only for themselves, but for everyone around them. So yes, we want to nurture strength and self-reliance among British Muslims — but we also want to champion what's best for all communities in the UK. If our values are truly rooted in Islam, then they must be of benefit to all, Muslim and non-Muslim. We must also do more than simply diagnose our problems; we must also implement and support practical solutions that benefit all in our local communities. Those who attended our anniversary event here in 2023 know that the Muslim Institute has a rich tradition of activism that goes back 50 years. This is the organisation that created the Muslim Parliament of Great Britain, the Bait al Mal al Islami, the Muslim Women's Institute, the Halal Food Authority. Now some of those organisations don't exist today. But that's okay. Much of this work is being done by other organisations and other people. And that's a good thing. The baton moves on. Some of these organisations are with us this weekend. Two years ago we launched the Community Empowerment Fund to re-engage our thought back into activism. We have since invested over £20,000 in projects championed by our fellows and friends that help our young men and women stand on their own two feet with confidence. Our empowerment fund is now investing in research into our communities to determine what their needs and priorities are. We will hear from this shortly and we will help fund the recommendations that come out of this research. We want to partner with others. I am very pleased that representatives from the Halal Food Authority are with us this weekend. We will continue to work together to allocate resources that are at the service of our communities. So I hope you'll see this weekend not just as a gathering, but as a conversation — a space where we think together, challenge together and begin to build together. Thank you again for joining us and we look forward to your engagement over the next few days and beyond'. The speakers at the Winter Gathering included Dr Wajid Akhter, the Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain, who sent a video address laying out his vision for the MCB. You can watch the video here:    Click here to become a Fellow of the Muslim Institute and join future events. ******************************************* Previous Events: Watch: Video summary of the Muslim Institute Community Empowerment Fund 2025: 'The Wholesome Retreat'. Watch the 10th Annual Ibn Rushd Lecture: 'On the Margins: The Life and Contribution of Muhamad Asad' held on 30 July 2025 Watch the Second Ibn Sina Lecture: Modern Medicine and the Legacy of Ibn Sina held in Bradford City Hall on 31 May 2025 and view the photos here. Watch the 9th Annual Ibn Rushd Lecture: The History of Muslim Women in Britain held in July 2024, the Inaugural Annual Ibn Sina Lecture held in April 2024 at Leeds Civic Hall, and the book launch held in March 2024 of the new ground-breaking The Qur'an: A Verse Translation. ******************************************* Rethinking Ourselves by Anwar Ibrahim Themes: Rethinking Ourselves: Justice, Reform and Ignorance in Postnormal Times. A groundbreaking exploration of justice, democracy and Islamophobia, inviting us to reconsider our assumptions and build a more equitable future. Change has run amok! Technology advances by the minute, and much of what we think we know about the world fades in front of our eyes. How we are, how we know, how we live our daily lives—all shifting quicker than we can cope with Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia's tenth Prime Minister, asks how we might rethink ourselves for these confusing, uncertain and volatile times, and shape fairer, more sustainable futures. Anwar's passion is rooted in experience: he spent, in total, over a decade behind bars after three separate miscarriages of justice, from his days as a student activist to his time as Leader of the Opposition. Alongside reflections on his time in prison are critical investigations into truth, justice, post-colonialism, Islamophobia, democracy and global order. Anwar assembles ideas from East and West, North and South, to explore how we can create a new inclusive synthesis for a good society and world. Vividly expressed, expertly dissected, this is a timely book for our turbulent age.   Praise for Rethinking Ourselves 'A compelling account by a courageous leader who has triumphed over prosecution, harsh prison life and attempts to ban him from public office. This book sets out the values that shape his life and work and how he proposes to lead Malaysia into the future.' — GORDON BROWN 'The brilliant insights of Anwar Ibrahim radiate here in eloquent prose, now more accessible and necessary than ever. For truth and justice to prevail, we must look to the core human values etched in this enthralling, impassioned manifesto from the foremost Muslim statesman of our time.' — PROFESSOR BRUCE B. LAWRENCE 'This book is evidence that Anwar Ibrahim, in the darkest days of his life, still kept his heart toward light. Ibrahim offers far-sighted designs for the global order, syncretising Eastern and Western wisdom to chart a course forward through tempestuous epochs.' — LIJIN YAN, PRESIDENT, SILK ROAD INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION Hardback £19.99. Also available as an eBook. Rethinking Ourselves is published by HURST, who are also publish the Muslim Institute's house journal Critical Muslim.  CM 55: FASCISM - OUT NOW Only about a century old, fascism—bogeyman of ideologies—has been both over- and under-attributed to various political phenomena. While the baseline cases of Hitler's Germany and Mussolini's Italy are generally agreed upon, once these two forces were defeated, it was nigh impossible to believe that such a compulsion would ever return in a more enlightened future—let alone be ushered in by the children of those who defeated the fascist regimes. Today, card-carrying fascist forces grab ever more political power across the US and Europe, even in the European Parliament itself, and around the globe. Yet, while there's a reason for Godwin's Law—the longer an online conversation continues, the more likely someone is to invoke Hitler and the Nazis—we must find ways to discern the fascist wheat from the garden-variety nationalist chaff. This issue looks at today's tidal wave, and asks how to ensure that such forces are not allowed to tear the world asunder once more. About Critical Muslim: A quarterly publication of ideas and issues showcasing groundbreaking thinking on Islam and what it means to be a Muslim in a rapidly changing, interconnected world. Each edition centres on a discrete theme, and contributions include reportage, academic analysis, cultural commentary, photography, poetry, and book reviews.   Free to Muslim Institute fellows. About Critical Muslim: A quarterly publication of ideas and issues showcasing groundbreaking thinking on Islam and what it means to be a Muslim in a rapidly changing, interconnected world. Each edition centers on a discrete theme, and contributions include reportage, academic analysis, cultural commentary, photography, poetry, and book reviews. Critical Muslim is edited by Ziauddin Sardar. To order this issue and subscriptions click here info@musliminstitute.org  |  www.musliminstitute.org Muslim Institute, 82 Tanner Street, London, SE1 3GN Copyright © 2025 Muslim Institute, All rights reserved. You are on our list because you have volunteered your email to us.

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