Charity in the Islamic faith is much more than giving money

In 2020, Kashif Shabir set Muslim Aid UK on an ambitious transformation journey. The interim chief executive talks to Emily Burt about reimagining the charity’s purpose. 

When Kashif Shabir began consulting on a major transformation programme at Muslim Aid UK, it was “in absence of understanding the depths of its problems” – and with no idea he would soon become a director of the charity, and within a year take the helm as its interim chief executive. Despite harbouring some reservations about the organisation at the time, he felt a sense of responsibility that compelled him to take on the challenge. “There is no doubt the charity was an institution of our community,” he says. This is far more than a figure of speech for Shabir, who was born and raised in London’s East End. His father and uncle ran a family business just off Brick Lane – and Muslim Aid’s headquarters were built right across the street. “We used to walk down to the factory every day,” he remembers. “My mum would go down there, after picking us up from school, to help my dad out – on foot between Brick Lane and Whitechapel, past the East London Mosque, we walked past that office space.” Yet it would be many years, and a very roundabout career path, before Shabir stepped through the doors of the charity....

Read full Third Sector Winter 2020/21 downloadable article below.