Islamic Council
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Privacy Policy

How we collect, use and protect your personal information.

Last updated: October 2026

This policy explains how the Islamic Council (“the Council”, “we”, “us”) collects, uses and looks after your personal information when you visit this website, bring a case to us, get in touch or support our work. We handle your information in line with UK data protection law.

Confidentiality of your case

The matters people bring to the Council are deeply personal. What you share about your circumstances is treated as confidential and is seen only by the scholar or adviser assigned to your case and the staff supporting it. We do not discuss your case with family members, your spouse, or anyone else without your instruction, except where we are required to act by law or where there is a serious risk to someone’s safety.

Who we are

The Islamic Council is run by Islamic Council of Europe Limited, a company registered in England and Wales (no. 10408363). Registered office: 2 Frederick Street, Kings Cross, London WC1X 0ND. Islamic Council of Europe Limited is the controller of your personal information. It is registered with the Information Commission (registration ZB578205).

You can reach us at Floor 3, London Muslim Centre, 92 Whitechapel Road, London E1 1JQ, by email at info@islamiccouncil.com, or on 020 8610 9870. Our Data Protection Officer can be reached at dpo@islamiccouncil.com.

Information we collect

  • When you bring a case. Cases are booked through our booking portal (my.islamiccouncil.com), which a developer runs for us. You create an account there and give us your name, contact details and the details of your situation. As your case goes on we may gather more, through forms, calls, meetings and online consultations. Because you are asking for Islamic guidance, what you tell us can reveal your religious beliefs, and sometimes your health, family, financial or legal circumstances. The law treats some of this as special category information and we take particular care with it.
  • Calls, meetings and consultations. We keep notes of calls and meetings about your case. Meetings and consultations, online and in person, are recorded (video and audio) for compliance, legal and quality purposes. Online consultations take place on Zoom, as our Terms & Conditions explain.
  • When you get in touch. If you email, call or write to us, we keep what you send us and our replies so we can deal with your question.
  • Donations. If you give to the Council, we keep a record of your donation and the details your bank shares with us.
  • Visiting our office. Appointments at our office are covered by CCTV (video and audio) for health, safety and training purposes.
  • Using this website. We count visits to understand how the site is used, and, only if you agree, use Google Analytics. See What is stored on your device. The website has no forms and does not ask you for personal information.

How we use your information

  • To answer your enquiry and provide the service you ask for.
  • To assess and hear your case, arrange appointments and contact you about it.
  • To keep proper records of the Council’s decisions and rulings, so certificates can be verified.
  • To process donations and keep financial records.
  • To keep you informed about our work, only where you have agreed to hear from us.
  • To keep the website secure and understand how it is used.
  • To meet our legal obligations.

Our lawful basis

UK data protection law requires a reason for each use of your information. Ours are:

  • Providing a service you have asked for (a contract): handling your case.
  • Your explicit consent for the special category information in your case.
  • Your consent for updates about our work and for Google Analytics cookies.
  • Our legitimate interests in answering enquiries, keeping our office and website safe and secure, and counting visits to the site without cookies. You can object to any of these at any time.
  • Legal obligations, such as keeping financial records and responding to a valid legal instruction.
  • Vital interests, where someone’s life or safety is at serious risk.

Where we rely on your consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

You don’t have to give us personal information, but we need your contact details and the details of your situation to take on your case. We don’t make decisions about you by automated means or use your information for profiling.

Who we share it with

We do not sell your information, and we do not share it with other organisations for their marketing. We share it only with the scholars and staff handling your case, and with the providers who help us run our services, only as far as they need it:

  • Vercel, which hosts this website and provides its visitor statistics.
  • Google, for Google Analytics if you accept it, and YouTube if you choose to play a video.
  • Microsoft, which provides our email.
  • Zoom, for online consultations.
  • The developer who runs our booking portal for us.

Where a case involves another party, for example a spouse in a khula’ application, that party will necessarily be contacted and made aware of the application. We will explain what this means before your case proceeds. We may also disclose information where the law requires us to, such as to law enforcement agencies with a valid legal instruction or to HMRC.

Information that leaves the UK

Some of these providers, including Vercel, Google, Microsoft and Zoom, are based in or operate from the United States. When your information goes outside the UK, it is protected by the safeguards UK law requires, such as the UK–US data bridge or contract terms approved for the purpose.

What is stored on your device

We don’t use cookies for advertising, remarketing or social media tracking. Here is everything the site does:

Google Analytics, only if you accept

When you first visit, we ask whether you’re happy for us to use cookies to understand how the site is used. Nothing from Google loads unless you choose Accept. If you do, Google Analytics sets cookies (named _ga) that tell one visit from another, kept for up to two years, and records the pages you visit, the page you came from, your general location and your type of device. Google receives your IP address to do this but Google Analytics does not store it, and its advertising features are switched off. Reports are kept for up to 14 months. You can change your choice at any time with Cookie settings at the bottom of every page.

Visitor statistics without cookies

We also use Vercel Web Analytics, which sets no cookies and stores nothing on your device. For each page you visit it records the page, the page you came from, your country (worked out from your IP address, which isn’t kept), and your type of device and browser. Visits are linked only by a code that changes every day and is discarded after 24 hours, so you can’t be followed from one day to the next.

Choices the site remembers

Your browser keeps a small note of your cookie choice so we don’t ask again, and on our podcast page, which of its titles you last chose. These contain nothing about you, and you can clear them by clearing your browser’s data for this site.

Videos

Videos on our site come from YouTube. Nothing from YouTube loads until you press play. When you do, the video plays in YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode, and YouTube (Google) may receive information such as your IP address and viewing activity and may store information on your device, in line with Google’s Privacy Policy. Video cards that open YouTube in a new tab show our own copy of the thumbnail, so they don’t load anything from Google either.

How long we keep your information

  • Enquiries that don’t become a case: anonymised after 12 months.
  • Case records: anonymised three years after your case closes. Certificates and rulings are kept so they can be verified later.
  • Payment records: deleted after six years.
  • CCTV footage: up to two years.
  • Website statistics: Google Analytics reports for up to 14 months; Vercel keeps only totals, and its daily visitor code is discarded after 24 hours.

Anonymised information may be kept for historical research and statistics.

Keeping your information secure

We take appropriate technical and organisational measures to protect your information against loss, misuse and unauthorised access. This website is served only over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection and collects no personal information through forms.

Your rights

Under UK data protection law, you have the right to:

  • Ask for a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
  • Ask us to correct information that is inaccurate or incomplete.
  • Ask us to delete your information in certain circumstances.
  • Ask us to restrict how we use your information.
  • Object to how we use your information, and in particular tell us to stop sending you updates at any time, which we will always do.
  • Ask for the information you gave us in a form you can take elsewhere.
  • Withdraw your consent where we rely on it.

To use any of these rights, contact us using the details below. We will reply within one month, or tell you within that month if a complex request needs up to two months more.

Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, please tell us first, at dpo@islamiccouncil.com or by any of the routes below. We will acknowledge your complaint within 30 days and respond as quickly as we can.

You also have the right to complain to the Information Commission (formerly the Information Commissioner’s Office), the UK regulator for data protection, at ico.org.uk.

Links to other sites

This site links to our booking portal, our workshop platform and Islamic Finance Advisory. Those services have their own privacy policies, and this policy does not cover what happens there.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy from time to time. Any changes will be posted on this page with a revised “last updated” date.

Contact us

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