#MuslimPhilanthropy Podcast · American Muslim Community Foundation

#MuslimPhilanthropy Podcast with Shariq Siddiqui

·50 min·3 clips

Shariq says Muslim nonprofits need a "Marshall Plan" for professional development.

1. #MuslimPhilanthropy Podcast with Shariq Siddiqui centers on Muslim philanthropy, nonprofit training, and research at Indiana University. 2. Muhi Khwaja interviews Dr. Shariq Siddiqui, the Assistant Professor of Philanthropic Studies and Director of the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. 3. The episode asks what Muslim philanthropy needs from universities, data, and professional development to strengthen nonprofit institutions. 4. Siddiqui describes being born in England, moving through Zambia, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and England, then coming to the United States in 1993. 5. He says he started at the University of Indianapolis as a pre-med biology major and later switched to history and theater. 6. He explains that a study-abroad program at Oxford University around Christian spirituality became part of his faith search. 7. He says professors at Oxford asked why he was not looking at Islam, which pushed him back into reading and reflection. 8. He says he became a Muslim after that period and later volunteered on Franco Bannon's campaign before working for the Indiana Civil Rights Commission. 9. He founded the Jefferson Institute to help inner-city at-risk youth graduate from high school and go to college. 10. He says the need for money led him to the Center on Philanthropy and the fundraising school at Indiana University. 11. He says the master's program showed him that Andrew Carnegie and Jane Addams dominated philanthropy history while Muslim and Global South figures were missing. 12. He says the Muslim community was strong at event planning, but event planning was not the same as raising money well. 13. He says 9/11 increased scrutiny on Muslim charities and pushed organizations to rethink operations and legal expertise. 14. He says he went to law school because Muslim nonprofits needed nonprofit lawyers, not only civil-rights lawyers. 15. He says the Lilly School's Muslim Philanthropy Initiative was built around four functions: training leaders, producing knowledge, offering thought leadership, and creating future scholars. 16. He says Islamic Relief funded annual Muslim American giving surveys that challenged myths about Muslim generosity, domestic giving, and overseas transfers. 17. He says Zakat Foundation Institute scholarships now support many master's students, including students from Bangladesh, India, and Nigeria. 18. He says MPI runs courses, a journal for Muslim philanthropy and civil society, a new Muslim humanitarianism review, and country-level research in Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria, Kuwait, and Jordan. 19. The tone is reflective and analytical, with long-form interview pacing and repeated examples from Siddiqui's career. 20. Listeners who care about Muslim nonprofits, fundraising, and philanthropic research will get the most from it, while people seeking a short general-interest chat may skip it.

As heard by us

A clear look at Muslim giving as scholarship, service, and institution-building.

This episode presents Muslim philanthropy as both a field of study and a practical institution-building effort. Muhi Khwaja speaks with Dr. Shariq Siddiqui, Assistant Professor of Philanthropic Studies and Director of the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative at the Lilly Family School…

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If you care about Muslim philanthropy as lived infrastructure, start here.

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