It started with a tweet

How it started

Back in 2016, Murtaza Abidi and Arfah Farooq connected over Twitter, sharing concerns about the lack of Muslim representation in the technology scene. Their ideas about a Muslim tech meetup coincided, and together they founded Muslamic Makers.

The first event drew 50 people into a room in London. That became a monthly meetup: a safe space for Muslims to share ideas, network and collaborate without the barriers and stigma that came with traditional networking. People kept coming back. Then they started bringing friends.

Early on, we realised the community didn't just need a room. It needed role models, and it needed routes in. Talking to Muslims who felt excluded at work, or who couldn't see anyone like them in the industry, shaped our mission: break down the barriers of upbringing, opportunity, education and resources, and help like-minded Muslims build their creative confidence together.

So the meetup grew into something bigger: career programmes, fully funded scholarships, mentoring, a startup school, chapters in four cities across three countries, and a Slack community that at its peak passed 3,300 members.

Powered by the people

Muslamic Makers was always for the community, by the community. Nobody was paid for most of its life. Chapter leads, event organisers, mentors, trainers, designers and content creators gave their time around day jobs, and the whole thing ran on that generosity for a decade.

At the heart of it was co-founder and CEO Arfah Farooq, the longest-standing team member from the day Muslamic Makers was born. Arfah is a lifelong community builder, an angel investor, and now works on Muslim Tech Fest full time. You can read her story at arfahfarooq.com.

Arfah Farooq

Co-founder & CEO

To every volunteer who ran a chapter, hosted an event, mentored a stranger or answered a question on Slack at midnight: you were Muslamic Makers. Thank you.