The Muslim Tech Fest Gave Me Hope for the Future of the Ummah – IlmFeed
There is a story they tell about Steve Jobs. He had pushed his engineers to make the iPhone smaller, and they came back to tell him they had reached the limit. There was simply no more space inside the casing. Jobs took the phone, dropped it into a jug of water, and pointed at the bubbles rising to the surface. “See that?” he said. “That’s air. That means there’s space. Make it smaller.”
It captures exactly the spirit of Muslim Tech Fest. Not the comfortable belief that we have done enough, but the restless conviction that there is always more space -more to build, more to imagine, more to become.
From building within to reaching for the stars
Ustadh Hisham Abu Yusuf's The Builder’s Mandate set the tone for the entire festival. Building inwards, not relying on the tools and building with excellence were connected seamlessly with Quranic principles in a template that is unique to this event – faith and technology in concert, not conflict.
Humna Khan’s Stars was the perfect counterweight. Where the mandate was about obligation, hers was about aspiration and challenging us to lift our sights and refuse the small, safe ambitions we have so often settled for. A reminder that the goal is never to shine alone but to give those who come after us something to navigate by.
Along with the workshops such as “Halal Investing Masterclass” and “Can AI help solve the global education crisis?” – the content available was as inspirational as it was unique for Muslim conferences.
From finding answers to discovering new questions
The event did not shy away from difficult discussions about the role that technology will play in the future of our communities. In the Town Hall called Architects of Amanahthe audience was challenged on a variety of existential choices that we must face or else find ourselves squandering the latent potential that is clearly on show.
Questions such as whether the community should prioritise technological leaps or building excellently on the rails that already exist, who should regulate our technology and what grassroots changes need to be embedded to foster the next generation of technologists, drew sharply varying responses and a realisation that whilst we have come far, we still have a long way to go.
The greatest innovation on show
We had spent the day surrounded by remarkable technology, individuals and organisations. There were demos and prototypes and ideas that genuinely deserve to be known. And yet the single greatest innovation at Muslim Tech Fest 2026 was not running on any screen, sitting in any booth, or loaded onto any device.
It was the room itself.
I saw up-and-coming young professionals who not only had the skills to compete with the world’s most talented tech builders, but also a deep love for the deen and a sincere desire to help build a better Ummah.
A gathering of the ummah’s builders, convened in one place, taking up the trust together -that is the breakthrough none of us could have engineered alone. Every great civilisation begins not with a machine but with a meeting; not with a product but with a people who decide that the future is theirs to shape.
Steve Jobs was right. There is always more space.
We just found ours.
By Dr Wajid Akhter (Secretary General, Muslim Council of Britain)
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