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About us

Built by a community, accountable to it.

1Ummah is a Nigerian Islamic organisation working in education, welfare and da'wah. We are run largely by volunteers who give their time alongside their own work and families.

Our story

It began with a gathering.

In 2015 a small group of families in Abuja organised a two-day convention. The idea was simple: bring scholars from across the world onto one platform, and talk plainly about peace, tolerance, family and coexistence within an Islamic frame.

People came. They kept coming. What became clear over those first years was that a lecture, however good, does not pay a child’s school fees or put food on a table in Ramadan. So the work widened.

Today the convention is still our largest gathering, but it sits alongside a scholarship programme, seasonal food relief, marriage counselling and two waqf endowments built to outlast all of us.

  1. 2015

    The first convention

    The inaugural Peace & Unity Convention in Abuja, on peace and unity in the country.

  2. 2017

    Turning to the family

    “Rejuvenating the Contemporary Muslim Family” — the theme that shaped our counselling work.

  3. 2018

    Lagos joins

    The convention extends to Lagos, doubling the number of people we reach each year.

  4. 2020

    Online, out of necessity

    The convention moves online. Strengthening iman in a changing world.

  5. 2022

    Rising against the tides

    Back in person, across both Lagos and Abuja.

  6. Today

    Beyond the convention

    Scholarships, food support and two waqf endowments running year-round alongside the gatherings.

To unite hearts across cultures and communities, empower lives, and build a better future for all.

That is the whole of it. Everything we run is measured against whether it actually does this — not against how it looks.

20

Lives supported

₦588k

Given directly

6

Programmes

0+

Conventions held

What governs us

Four things we will not trade.

These are not slogans. They decide how requests are approved, how beneficiaries are treated, and what we publish.

Sincerity

We do this seeking the pleasure of Allah first. Recognition is not the point, and never has been.

Accountability

Every naira is requested, approved, spent and retired against receipts. Our reports are published, not filed away.

Unity

We work across ethnicity, school of thought and social standing. The Ummah is not served by division.

Dignity

Those we serve are not cases. Support is given quietly, and nobody is asked to perform their need for a camera.

How we are organised

Six directorates, fifteen units.

Authority is deliberately distributed. No single person can request, approve and spend the same money.

01

Academic & Event

Content, conventions and the delivery of every gathering — strategy, venue, security, welfare and logistics.

02

Operations

Finance, ticketing and stalls. Reviews every request that reaches the finance stage.

03

Media & Communications

Marketing and publicity — how the work is told, and to whom.

04

Human Resources

Staff, volunteers, secretariat and records.

05

Project Support

Monitoring & Evaluation and the ICT systems that hold it all together.

06

Da'wah & Charity

The Marayas, SILP, Ramadan feeding and the Waqf funds.

How a naira is spent

A unit raises a request. Their directorate head approves it. Finance approves it, with the Director of Operations reviewing at that stage. The Amir gives final approval. Only then is money released — and the unit must return receipts afterwards.

Every step is recorded with a name and a timestamp, and cannot be edited afterwards.