# Al Rayan Bank & Islamic Relief partner to support Sharia-compliant microfinance

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2017/02/20/al-rayan-bank-islamic-relief-partner-support-sharia-compliant-microfinance/
- Published: 2017-02-20T08:04:09+00:00
- Author: Melanie May

**Al Rayan Bank has appointed Islamic Relief as its exclusive charity partner for
2017.**

[Al Rayan Bank](https://www.alrayanbank.co.uk/) will work with [Islamic Relief ](http://www.islamic-relief.org.uk/)
by supporting Sharia-compliant microfinance projects through fundraising activities.
The projects will help people living in poverty to establish social enterprise businesses
in their home countries and become financially independent.

One of the microfinance projects Al Rayan Bank will be supporting is in Mali, West
Africa. The project helps local women by making money available using the Islamic
finance principle of Qard Hasan (loan without benefit). The women are then able 
to use the money to commercially harvest the nut of the African Shea tree and create
Shea Butter, which they can then use to make various products.

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Seema Khan, head of major gifts at Islamic Relief UK, said:

> “Our microfinance partnership with Al Rayan Bank is an intelligent solution to
> helping people around the world out of poverty. The principles behind Islamic 
> finance, such as the right for all people to enjoy a minimum standard of living
> and ethical limitations to what is in the public interest, have the potential 
> to address many of the underlying causes of global inequality.”

The partnership was announced at Islamic Relief’s headquarters in Waterloo, London
earlier this month and is focused on the charity’s [Sustainable Livelihoods](http://www.islamic-relief.org.uk/about-us/what-we-do/livelihoods/)
programme.

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