Muslim Impact Forum: New group launches with high-profile backing

A new organisation aimed at helping British Muslims get into politics launched on Thursday with the high-profile backing of Former Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf.

The Muslim Impact Forum (MIF) launched at Palestine House in central London and said it aims to "connect Muslim leadership, expertise, and resources across philanthropy, business, academia, and geopolitics".

Its aim is to "co-develop solutions to global challenges" so that "Muslim leaders can play a central role in shaping global strategies for social change."

The organisation's ambition is global in scope, and the MIF held a gathering in April in Istanbul which was attended by Turkey's first lady, Emine Erdogan.

Yousaf gave the keynote address at the MIF's launch, in which discussion centred around Muslims in Britain.

Talented Muslims "must enter politics", Yousaf said. "Politics is the arena in which you can make the biggest difference".

He called for the Muslim community to "invest in" Muslim talent. "It's not about a Muslim agenda. It's about pushing good people into positions of power."

The Scottish National Party politician, who was Scotland's first minister between March 2023 and May 2024, recently announced he will not stand for re-election as a member of the Scottish parliament.

He said that even though he is leaving frontline politics, he wishes to work with "international governments" on issues including "conflict resolution", citing Israel's genocide in Gaza as an example of a pressing global crisis.

"I would love to be able to use my vast experience... to serve the public."

Responding to the far right

Yousaf told Middle East Eye he fears for his children and their safety in the future due to the rise of the far right in Britain and across Europe. 

He warned of the growing popularity of Nigel Farage's anti-immigrant Reform UK, calling its policies "abhorrent", and criticised the Labour government, saying it has "legitimised" anti-migrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric.

"We can either bury our head in the sands and hope that it will boil over… or we can do what I think the MIF is trying to do, which is saying we’re not going to be passive."

Yousaf added that "there are plenty of people who’re not Muslim who are terrified of the far right.

"There should be four years until the next election and that should give us plenty of time to organise."

Yousaf also told MEE that the government must improve its engagement with Muslim civil society.

Successive governments have refused to engage with the Muslim Council of Britain, the largest umbrella body claiming to represent British Muslims, over a controversy under previous leadership in 2009.

"The Labour government should be engaging with the MCB [Muslim Council of Britain]," Yousaf said. "The MCB has its challenges - even its faults.

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"But given that they have been an institution within the Muslim community for so long, they should be at least engaged with... well as the plethora of other Muslim organisations."

Professor Javed Khan, the director of the recently established think tank Equi, also spoke at the event.

"The Muslim contribution to the British economy is over £70bn a year," he said. "That's more than the west of England."

He described British Muslims as a "very, very young community".

"These young British Muslims, what kind of future are they facing?"

He said the MIF will work for a "future for them that they can be proud they’re British, they’re European."

"Influencing public policy has got to be an ambition of this work," he added.