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Privacy Policy

How we collect, use, and protect your personal information.

Last updated: October 2026

This Privacy Policy explains how Islamic Finance Advisory (“IFA”, “we”, “us”) collects, uses, and looks after your personal information when you visit this website, book a case, get in touch with us, or register for one of our events. We handle your information in line with UK data protection law.

Who we are

Islamic Finance Advisory (IFA) is part of the Islamic Council and 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.

You can reach IFA at 3rd Floor, London Muslim Centre, 92 Whitechapel Road, London E1 1JQ, by email at info@ifadvisory.org, or on 020 8610 9870. Our data protection officer can be reached at privacy@islamiccouncil.com, or by post at Data Protection Officer, Islamic Council, Floor 3, London Muslim Centre, 92 Whitechapel Road, London E1 1JQ.

Information we collect

  • When you book a case. Cases and certification enquiries are booked through the Islamic Council’s booking portal (my.islamiccouncil.com), which Islamic Council of Europe Limited also runs. You create an account there and give us your name, contact details and the details of your situation. Because you are asking for Islamic guidance, what you tell us can reveal your religious beliefs, and sometimes your health, family or financial circumstances. The law treats some of this as special category information and we take particular care with it. This policy covers the information you give us through the portal.
  • 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.
  • When you get in touch. If you email or call us, we keep what you send us and our replies so we can deal with your question.
  • Event registrations. When you register for one of our events, we collect your name, contact details, the organisation you represent and your role, anything you tell us about access needs, and whether you are happy to be filmed. See Events, photography and filming below.
  • Mailing list. If you choose to subscribe, we store the email address you provide so we can send you updates.
  • Website statistics. We count visits to the site to understand how it is used. See What is stored on your device for exactly what this involves and how to turn it off.

How we use your information

  • To respond to your enquiries and provide the services you ask for.
  • To manage your case: the scholar handling it and the Panel of Scholars, who review every case, see the details you give us.
  • To run our events: confirming your place, sending reminders and practical details, checking you in on the day, and asking for your feedback afterwards.
  • To send you updates, where you have asked to receive them.
  • To keep the website secure and understand how it is used.
  • To meet our legal obligations, such as keeping financial and tax records.

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 or booking.
  • Your explicit consent for the special category information in your case, and for any access needs you tell us about for an event.
  • Your consent for our mailing list, and for Google Analytics cookies.
  • Our legitimate interests in answering enquiries, recording consultations for compliance, legal and quality purposes, running our events and sharing them through photographs and video, following up with organisations that attended, and keeping the website secure and useful. You can object to any of these at any time.
  • Legal obligations, such as keeping financial records.

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 personal information. We share it only with the providers who help us run our services, and only as far as they need it:

  • Vercel, which hosts this website and provides its visitor statistics.
  • Microsoft, which provides our email and the registration forms for our events.
  • The developer who runs our booking portal for us.
  • Zoom, which we use for online consultations.
  • YouTube (Google), only if you choose to play a video on our site.
  • Google, for Google Analytics, only if you accept cookies.

We may also disclose information where the law requires us to.

Information that leaves the UK

Some of these providers, including Vercel, Microsoft, Google 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 use Vercel Web Analytics and Speed Insights. They set no cookies and store nothing on your device. For each page you visit they record the page, the page you came from, your country (worked out from your IP address, which isn’t kept), your type of device and browser, and how quickly the page loaded. 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. You can turn this off for the device you’re using:

Statistics on this device: on

Choices the site remembers

If you close the announcement banner at the top of the site, make a cookie choice, or turn the statistics off, your browser keeps a small note of that so your choice sticks. It contains nothing about you, and you can clear it 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.

Event registration

Registration forms for our events are provided by Microsoft Forms and shown inside our page. When the form loads, Microsoft sets a security cookie that stops fake submissions. It is not used for advertising. See the Microsoft Privacy Statement.

Events, photography and filming

When you register for one of our events, your details come to us through a Microsoft Form. We use them to manage your place: getting in touch to confirm it, sending reminders and practical information, checking you in on the day, and asking for your feedback afterwards. We may also contact your organisation after an event about how our services could help; tell us if you’d rather we didn’t, and we won’t.

If you tell us about an access need, we use it only to look after you on the day, share it only with those who need it (such as the venue), and delete it after the event.

Some of our events are photographed and filmed, and we may use the photos and video to share the event, for example on our website and social media. When we confirm your place, we ask whether each attendee is happy to appear. If you would rather not, tell the team at registration on the day and we will make sure you are not featured. You can also contact us at any time and we will stop using images of you in anything we publish from then on.

How long we keep your information

  • Enquiries that don’t become a case: anonymised after 12 months.
  • Case records, including recordings of consultations: anonymised three years after your case closes. Certificates and rulings are kept so they can be verified later.
  • Payment records: deleted after six years.
  • Event registrations: until the event and its follow-up are complete, and no more than twelve months after the event. Access needs are deleted after the event.
  • Photographs and video: for as long as we use them to share the event.
  • Mailing list: until you unsubscribe.
  • Website statistics: Google Analytics reports for up to 14 months; Vercel keeps only totals, and its daily visitor code is discarded after 24 hours.

When we no longer need information, we delete it or make it anonymous. 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. The website is served securely over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection.

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 marketing 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.

Complaints

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, please tell us first, at privacy@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.

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

  • Email: info@ifadvisory.org
  • Data protection officer: privacy@islamiccouncil.com, or by post to Data Protection Officer, Islamic Council, Floor 3, London Muslim Centre, 92 Whitechapel Road, London E1 1JQ
  • Phone: 020 8610 9870
  • Post: 3rd Floor, London Muslim Centre, 92 Whitechapel Road, London E1 1JQ

Get in touch if you have any questions.