1997

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) holds its inaugural meeting at Brent Town Hall in November, a culmination of three years of consultation, surveys and preparatory work.

1997-2007  A Decade of Community Development

The MCB is pledged to work for the common good of society as a whole, the last ten years has been a testament to that.  Below we list some successes.

1998

The MCB initiates and pioneers the campaign for equality legislation to be extended to cover Muslims and other religious groups.

1999

The MCB hosts Prime Minister Tony Blair at the Royal Commonwealth Institute in May – the first time a British PM attending a Muslim community reception is a guest of honour.

2000

MCB launches Caring for Muslim Patients which explains the religious and cultural beliefs of Muslim patients and their families in relation to health and disease and the growing ethical issues that face society. This launches MCB’s initiative to address spiritual and cultural provisions in the NHS.

2001

Count me in! Census Day on 29th April includes a question on religion – a culmination of a long and dogged campaign by an alliance of all faith communities. For the MCB the inclusion of this question was a milestone for recognition and better targeted delivery of public services.

9/11 AND ITS AFTERMATH: Muslims are swift to condemn and repudiate the atrocities. Within hours of the Twin Towers attack, Muslim organisations in Britain were receiving hate mail. British Muslims found themselves catapulted to a front line that was not of their making. MCB spearheads and articulates the position of the majority clearly and effectively: utter condemnation of the atrocity. On 29th September, the MCB convened a national conference of imams and religious scholars who also issued a statement that such loss of innocent life was “absolutely condemned”.

2002

The MCB launches its first Leadership Development Programme for the Muslim community.

2003

The Chancellor announces changes to the Finance Bill in his April budget speech, removing the need for duty to be paid twice on Islamic mortgages. This opens the way for financial products offering shariah-compliant home purchase. The MCB was

instrumental in lobbying and advising on this positive, wealth-creating and ethical government initiative. After MCB lobbies for new employment regulations come into force in December, providing direct protection against religious discrimination in employment and vocational training.

2005

The MCB pursues a wide-ranging initiative in the May General Election's to encourage the Muslim community to engage fully with the democratic process.

ARMED FORCES CHAPLIANCY: as direct consequence of the MCB’s work with the Armed forces, the Ministry of Defence in 2005 officially works with the MCB for the recruitment and retention of the first ever Imam (Civilian Chaplain) for the Tri Service.

7/7 AND ITS AFTERMATH: Like 9/11, the July bombings included Muslim victims. Coming a day after London’s successful bid for the 2012 Olympics – a campaign which included support from the MCB in lobbying Muslim members of the IOC – Sir Iqbal Sacranie noted, “We were together in our celebration, we must remain together in our time of crisis.”

2007

MCB presents expert opinion for brief British schools by publishing Towards Greater Understanding – meeting the needs of Muslim pupils in state schools. MCB also launches several community capacity building projects. Including, Footsteps – providing role models for young Muslims, Mosques 100 - building good practise for British mosques and the Negotiation Skills Training Programme for Muslim professionals.

2004

Launch of MCB’s Books for Schools project in Manchester in March. The objective was to provide resource packs with books, artifacts and multimedia items to facilitate the teaching of Islam within the schools curriculum. More than 900 such packs have been distributed so far.

2006

MCB engages with the TUC and Congress's motion on Islamophobia and Racism is carried, drawing wider attention to verbal and physical attacks facing Muslims in Britain.

Following the TUC General Secretary address to the MCB 10th Annual General Meeting a year later, links were being established between unions and Muslim organisations.

Eid in Trafalgar Square! London Mayor Ken Livingstone welcomes 20,000 Muslims celebrating the end of Ramadan and joins them in listening to Rap Music and Nasheed groups.