Jehangir Malik, UK director of Islamic Relief, will be leaving the charity at the end of the month after 23 years at the organisation and eight years at its helm.

Malik is leaving the international development charity to join International Inspiration, a charity that forms part of the Olympic Legacy which uses sport to promote education, human rights and gender equality in the developing world.

Malik, who started as an Islamic Relief volunteer in 1992 and became national fundraising director in 2003, before being promoted to UK director in 2006, remains a board member of the Muslim Charities Forum, and of Acevo.

He said he is departing now after a “wonderfully long and lengthy career” at the charity, feeling he is leaving the organisation in good hands, and said he is ready to go on and try something new.

He told Civil Society News that in his 23 years at the charity he has seen its growth from a grassroots organisation to one that is a huge player in the UK charitable sector. Throughout his time at the charity he has helped set up its US branch and been involved with the charity’s membership of the Disasters Emergency Committee, of which it is the only Islamic charity to be a member.

He said that when it comes to political crises, however much aid is sent out to places like Syria “without a political breakthrough there can be no humanitarian solution”.

He said: “Islamic Relief is the oldest Islamic development organisation in the UK but there has been a number of different organisations that have come in to play so the Muslim charitable scene is very different to what it was 20 years ago.

“There are a number of challenges, especially across security, terrorism threat and scepticism, so there is a huge role to ensure that the Muslim humanitarian sector is understood as playing an active role in helping to ensure that it is fulfilling its duty within the humanitarian development space in the UK”.

The role of interim UK director at Islamic Relief UK is being taken up by Imran Madden, who is currently head of the humanitarian department at Islamic Relief Worldwide.

Madden said on this appointment: “I’m very excited about this role. Jehangir has left a big legacy from his time at Islamic Relief, and I’m looking forward to building on the great work of Jehangir and his team. I wish Jehangir all the best in his new job, and look forward to getting to grips with the challenges of running a large aid agency working on some of the most pressing emergencies in the world today.”