Facilitate Islamic retreats
In our work to support new Muslims, we’ve found that there is a great need to bring people together.
Your help could contribute to retreat expenses
Your help could help towards one person’s attendance fees
Your help could help pay for venue hire and more
We organise retreats where new Muslims can learn about Islam, connect with other Muslims and acclimatise to their faith in an Islamic environment they feel safe and comfortable in.
Companionship helps new Muslims tackle the overwhelming changes that they face on entering Islam. People gain strength, confidence and clarity even when eating, studying and praying together.
The Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, used to retreat to the Cave of Hira outside Mecca, where he would contemplate and meditate. Retreating and meditating is a sunnah we seldom observe but have great need of today. Stepping away from our busy lives to recharge and reorientate ourselves in the company of like-minded companions is vital to our spiritual growth.
With the rapidly growing interest in Islam, these retreats have become even more necessary. And yet financial constraints make it difficult for us to facilitate them. Your Sadaqah could help fund our upcoming retreat for new Muslims in January 2025. It could also sponsor the participation of a person who cannot afford the cost of attending.
The Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “Among the actions and good deeds for which the faithful will continue to receive reward after his death are: knowledge which he taught and spread; a good offspring whom he left behind; or a copy of the Qur’an which he left as a legacy; or a mosque which he built; or a house which he built for the traveller; or a stream which he caused to flow; or a charity which he gave from his property when he was alive and a well which continues after he is dead.” - Ibn Majah
In previous years, we were able to take groups to Konya, Turkiye, where new Muslims experienced Islam in a Muslim country: hearing the Adhan, praying in large congregations in mosques, and seeing their faith in wider practice within the daily lives of a majority Muslim society. Our UK retreats, organised with Abdal Hakim Murad and Ali Keeler, explored themes of being a British Muslim in 21st century Britain.
The services we provide for new Muslims are Zakat compliant. As Allah guides us to whom to give, as illustrated in the verse below, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, was also known to give and reconcile hearts.
'The charitable offerings are only for the poor, and the destitute and those who collect (the zakat) and those whose hearts are (to be) reconciled and for (ransoming) slaves and debtors and in God’s path, and the wayfarer, as an obligation from God and God is Knowing , Wise.’ — Holy Qur’an 9: 60
