Fiyaz Mughal was named an OBE in 2009 in recognition of his many years of work in the non-profit, voluntary and charitable sectors. Mughal was presented with the award in the Queen’s birthday honours list, commending his achievements to date and his tireless voluntary work, which up to 2009 spanned 14 years. In the PDF attachment you can read more about what the Order of the British Empire is and the different classes of order.
Fiyaz Mughal
Fiyaz Mughal has held a number of leading roles within the voluntary sector and has established several organisations, many of which he also actively directs and manages. In the short video attachment you will find a brief overview of some of his community projects.
One of his most prominent current roles is as the director and founder of the non-profit organisation Faith Matters. He also founded Tell MAMA, which acts as a reporting service in the UK to monitor hate crime perpetrated against the Muslim community. Mughal served as a Councillor for several years, first in Oxford and later in Haringey, and was once the Deputy President of one of the UK’s mainstream political parties.
He has worked as an advisor to the Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg on the prevention of extremism and radicalisation, and interfaith issues. He also worked under the Right Honourable Hazel Blears MP, appointed as a member of an advisory group working on the prevention of violent extremism.
Faith Matters
Faith Matters was launched more than a decade ago, in 2006, as a vehicle for promoting integration and conflict reduction within interfaith communities. Faith Matters uses tried and tested tools for conflict resolution, which include identifying commonalities in shared values and in religious and historical contexts to bring people together. Some of the projects initiated by Faith Matters have been referred to by government ministers.
Countering extremism and hate crime is another large part of what Faith Matters does, campaigning in various ways. There have been online campaigns looking at safeguarding young and vulnerable people and empowering women and mothers within communities to take on key safeguarding roles, along with projects tackling issues relating to hate crime. While the majority of the work of Faith Matters is focused on communities within the UK, the organisation has also been highly instrumental in countering global extremism in areas such as Egypt, Pakistan, Syria and Lebanon.
Tell MAMA
The ‘MAMA’ part of Tell MAMA stands for Monitoring Anti-Muslim Attacks, with the organisation working as a monitoring service that is reliable and secure, facilitating the reporting of anti-Islam incidents across the whole of the UK. These may be attacks against members of the Muslim community, or attacks against individuals perceived to be a part of that community.
Tell MAMA offers several confidential ways in which individuals can report an attack, including via email, SMS, telephone or social media. A trained case worker then contacts the reporting individual to further discuss the incident and ensure all details reported are accurate. If required, Tell MAMA case workers are able to put affected individuals in touch with partner organisations who are then able to offer ongoing support. Through having a detailed and accurate reporting system, Tell MAMA is able to advise policy and enables local authorities to target resources in the areas they are most needed.
Faith Matters and Tell MAMA are just two of Fiyaz Mughal’s many projects that led to him being named an OBE. In the infographic attachment you can see a list of celebrities who have also been named an OBE.