Anyone who has spent time around kids knows the exact moment curiosity turns into confidence. A quiet hush falls over the room, everyone leans in, and then the whole place erupts into cheers. That happened recently at Australian Islamic Centre College when tiny drones lifted off the floor, hovered in mid-air, and smoothly flew a route that a team of Year 7s had just coded themselves.

That spark is what the partnership between Cofuture and Muslims in Tech is all about.

Over the past year, we have been deeply invested in grassroots work across schools and community spaces. Whether introducing primary schoolers to the fundamentals of engineering or challenging senior secondary students with advanced problem-solving, we have crafted our programs across different age groups to make emerging tech accessible to everyone. The goal has always been simple: meet learners wherever they are and make it fun for them to learn the tools shaping tomorrow. We want to strip away the intimidation and show them what is possible

We talk a lot about how quickly the world is changing. We hear about autonomous cars and breakthroughs in AI. If we want our kids to be the ones designing tomorrow rather than just consuming whatever gets handed to them, they need to understand the inner workings of the tools we take for granted today.

It was amazing watching them test out their ideas and watch their instructions come to life in the air. A few even started digging into how Python powers things.

Meanwhile, students across Years 6 and 7 jumped into the Satellite workshop, connecting what they see in the night sky to the GPS directions their parents rely on every day.

Watching these kids realize they can tell machines what to do is something special. We want every child in our community to grow up knowing they have a place at the table as creators, thinkers, and builders.

We are constantly expanding these incursions across different year levels, schools, and community spaces. If you would like to bring a hands-on drone or satellite session to your students or community, get in touch with Rashid at rashid@cofuture.au. Let’s make it happen.

Announcements

📢 Sydney Startup Spotlight’s date & venue are locked in!

Join us for the Muslims in Tech Startup Spotlight, where three standout emerging startups take the stage to pitch live for a $1,200 equity-free grant, made possible thanks to our incredible partners at Wholesum and the dedication of Dr Tanvir Uddin.

This is not a passive night. You, the audience, will be in the driver’s seat. Ask the founders questions directly, stress-test their vision, and vote to decide the winner on the night. Iron sharpens iron.

Whether you are looking for your next co-founder, an investor, a mentor, or simply your tribe in tech, the connections made here can unlock doors you did not even know existed. Swap ideas, and celebrate the incredible talent in our community and build lasting connections beyond the pitches.

• 🗓 Date: Thursday, 15th October 2026

• ⏰ Time: 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM (doors open at 6:00 PM)

• 📍 Venue: Level 6, 341 George Street, Sydney NSW 2000

👉 [Reserve your spot here]

📢Sydney & Melbourne Monthly Meetups (Resume Review Edition)

Your network is your biggest asset. Muslims in Tech upcoming Sydney & Melbourne monthly meetups brings our community together in Sydney and Melbourne for an evening of fresh connections, game-changing ideas, and career growth!

Connect with fellow Muslim tech founders, engineers, and creatives ready to collaborate and open doors. Plus, get actionable career feedback with live, on-the-spot resume reviews from our featured guest speakers.

📍 Sydney Meetup (Sponsored by Gridware)

• Date & Time: Thursday, 1 October at 6:00 PM

• Location: Level 7, Australia Square, 264 George Street, Sydney

• Guest Speaker & Reviewer: Nadid Linchestein

🎟 [Grab Sydney Tickets Here]

📍 Melbourne Meetup (Sponsored by MCCA)

• Date & Time: Thursday, 8 October at 6:00 PM

• Location: Ross House Association (Hayden Raysmith Room), 247-251 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

• Guest Speaker & Reviewer: Shifat Rahman

• Perks: High-impact community networking

🎟 [Grab Melbourne Tickets Here]

Tech Talk Corner

• OpenAI Introduces Cost-Efficient AI with GPT-6 Sol and Luna

OpenAI has expanded its GPT-6 lineup with Sol and Luna, two high-speed, budget-conscious alternatives to the flagship GPT-6 Astra. These models bring Astra-level improvements in coding, factual accuracy, computer interaction, and professional workflows to significantly lower price points, making advanced reasoning scalable for high-volume enterprise and developer applications.

• xAI Launches a more Smarter, Safer, and Affordable Grok 4.7

Grok 4.7 leverages a larger foundational architecture to elevate performance across coding and professional knowledge work, backed by enhanced self-verification mechanisms. Priced competitively at $2 per million input tokens and $6 per million output tokens, it posts benchmark-leading results while introducing strict cybersecurity controls designed to intercept and prevent hazardous command execution.

• Anthropic debutes Claude Opus 5.5 with Frontier Intelligence and Lower Costs

Anthropic has officially debuted Claude Opus 5.5, delivering performance on par with Claude Fable 5.1 across most tasks while cutting operating costs by 40% compared to Opus 5. Alongside independent external evaluations, the model achieved Anthropic's highest-ever marks on its automated behavioral audit, demonstrating significant improvements in boundary adherence and alignment safety.

What Are We Slacking About?

• AI Solving One of Math’s $1 Million Millennium Prize Problems?

• Hearing from One of Our 2025 Start Up Spotlight Sydney Finalists

• Australian LLM Matilda

Not part of our private Slack group? Register here and you’ll receive an email to join us! 🚀💻

Meme of The Month

Help Us Grow

We now need your help to continue growing and do the following:

- Expand our Careers of the Future program to 5 schools
- Launch a startup accelerator

Help us continue to celebrate, connect and empower Muslims around the globe by contributing today: Monthly membership

You can be the reason this blessed community continues to grow.

Share

If you know someone interested in joining or who can benefit the community, send them our trusty registration form. We now have members in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Toronto, NY/NJ and other cities across North America! Let’s introduce you to our Chapter Leads:

• Melbourne: Khadra Elhawli

• Sydney: Harris Ahmed

• Brisbane: Revsan Ahmetoglu

• Toronto: Ehab Mustapha

• NY/NJ: Ben Yamin Schmidt

Thanks for reading the MiT Newsletter! Subscribe to stay up-to-date with the latest in the Muslims in Tech community and support our work.

Best Regards,

Team Muslims in Tech

Great ideas deserve more than just private pitch decks and quiet builds. They deserve a real room, genuine feedback, and direct access to people who can help accelerate the vision.

Startup Spotlight is back for 2026, and we are scaling up. This year, we are taking the showcase across three major tech hubs: Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane.

In each city, three selected startups will earn the stage for an impactful pitch in front of an audience of seasoned founders, active investors, sharp engineers, and ecosystem operators with constructive critique, strategic connections, and community backing.

Built for Every Stage of the Journey

Whether you are demoing a brand-new working prototype or scaling an established national network, this stage is designed to meet you where you are.

Take a look at where our alumni stood last year:

• Sydney (Hosted at Atlassian): AnyDev, BrailleGPT, and Exam.Prep brought deep tech, accessibility, and education solutions to the spotlight.

• Melbourne (Hosted at Stone & Chalk): Connectology, SmartSplit, and ChargeNextDoor proved how grassroots platforms and sustainability models capture investor attention.

Who We Are Looking For

We want ambitious, Muslim-led ventures solving meaningful problems across any sector. If you are based in Melbourne, Sydney, or Brisbane and actively building, this is your platform.

• Eligibility: Muslim-led startups located in Melbourne, Sydney, or Brisbane

• Application Deadline: 20 September 2026, 11:59 PM

• Apply Now: Submit your startup application

Spread the Word

Know a brilliant founder grinding behind the scenes who needs to be heard? Forward this newsletter to them and give them the push to put their name forward.

We cannot wait to see what you are building.

For advertisement inquiries, contact rashid@muslimsintech.org/marjan@muslimsintech.org

Announcements

📢Melbourne Monthly Meetup | Space Tech & Founder Insights

Join us this month with Shoaib Iqbal, Founder of Esper Satellite Imagery, as he shares behind-the-scenes insights on building a space hardware startup from the ground up. Enjoy pizza, refreshments, and networking, proudly supported by MCCA Islamic Finance & Investments.

• Date: Thursday, 3 September

• Time: 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

• Location: Hayden Raysmith Room, Ross House Association, 247-251 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

• Grab Your Tickets Here

📢Sydney Monthly Meetup | Networking & Community

Connect with fellow community members for an evening of networking, shared stories, and collaboration over pizza and refreshments at our upcoming Sydney’s monthly meetup proudly supported by Gridware at their venue.

• Date: Thursday, 3 September

• Time: 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

• Location: Level 7, Australia Square, 264 George Street, Sydney

• Grab Your Tickets Here

Tech Talk Corner

• OpenAI Slows Frontier AI Training Over Security Concerns

OpenAI has temporarily slowed the pace of frontier model scaling and suspended key reinforcement learning training runs. The decision follows a recent security incident alongside early evaluation signals that upcoming models possess advanced, critical-level cybersecurity capabilities, prompting the company to pause and upgrade its internal safety safeguards and monitoring controls.

• Cursor Launches Origin Code Hosting

Cursor has begun rolling out Origin, its dedicated code hosting platform, to paid subscribers, a release that aligned with an extended GitHub outage spanning more than six hours. Origin integrates directly with existing GitHub repositories, allowing GitHub to remain the primary source of truth. This hybrid setup eliminates migration barriers, enabling engineering teams to test the platform without switching costs or disruption to their existing workflows.

• Claude Cowork in Chrome

Anthropic has expanded the Claude in Chrome extension by turning the side panel into a complete Claude Cowork workspace. All browser sessions automatically sync with your Claude account for continuous access across desktop, web, and mobile apps. Existing skills and custom tool connectors carry over instantly into the browser environment with zero additional configuration required.

What Are We Slacking About?

• Technology & CTO Wisdom

• EtA Forum

• World Class Web Scraper?

• AI App Usage

Not part of our private Slack group? Register here and you’ll receive an email to join us! 🚀💻

Job Opportunities

• Kantoko

  Senior Mobile Engineer

Meme of The Month

Help Us Grow

We now need your help to continue growing and do the following:

- Expand our Careers of the Future program to 5 schools
- Launch a startup accelerator

Help us continue to celebrate, connect and empower Muslims around the globe by contributing today: Monthly membership

You can be the reason this blessed community continues to grow.

Share

If you know someone interested in joining or who can benefit the community, send them our trusty registration form. We now have members in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and even Toronto, Canada! Let’s introduce you to our Chapter Leads:

• Melbourne: Marjan Rahman

• Sydney: Umair Shakoor

• Brisbane: Revsan Ahmetoglu

• Toronto: Hamza Ali

• NY/NJ: Ben Yamin Schmidt

Thanks for reading the MiT Newsletter! Subscribe to stay up-to-date with the latest in the Muslims in Tech community and support our work.

Best Regards,

Team Muslims in Tech

2026 promised us incredible technological leaps, but it didn’t prepare us for the rapid rise of deepfakes, LLM-generated custom spam, and the death of traditional passwords.

The harsh reality? The internet wasn’t built with your security in mind.

To help us navigate this increasingly complex threat landscape, fellow Muslims in Tech member Yaseen Ahmed (from Gridware) has put together a highly practical guide to protecting yourself, your family, and your workplace in this era of uncertainty.

In this exclusive write-up, Yaseen breaks down:

• The Death of the Password: Why 15-character passphrases aren’t enough anymore, and the exact steps you need to lock down your accounts.

• Deepfakes & Voice Cloning: Why your family urgently needs a shared “safe word” to counter hyper-realistic AI kidnapping and emergency scams.

• AI Hygiene: The unspoken rules of what you and your kids should never feed into a Large Language Model.

• Workplace Defense: How to prevent your professional footprint from becoming the entry point for a devastating breach.

🔗 Click here to read Yaseen’s full guide and update your security playbook for 2026

Startup Spotlight: Its Cheaper There

Ever had that sinking feeling that you just overpaid for a new laptop or phone? Arham Asif Syed is out to fix that with his new platform, Its Cheaper There. Whether you are hunting for the latest tech or replacing a broken device, its cheaper there acts as your personal shopping assistant to ensure you never pay more than you have to.

What It Does

it’s cheaper there empowers consumers to make data-backed purchasing decisions for electronic goods. It provides a transparent view of the market through three core features:

• Price History Tracking: See how the price of an electronic product has fluctuated over time across major retailers to understand the broader market trends.

• AI/ML Price Drop Predictions: Don’t know if you should wait to buy? The platform’s proprietary AI/ML model predicts upcoming price drops for your desired items so you can time your purchase perfectly.

• Real-Time Retailer Comparison: If you need the item immediately and can’t wait for a price drop, the tool compares current prices across top retailers to show you exactly who is selling it for the cheapest right now.

Traction & Milestones

The platform is already gaining serious momentum and proving its value in the market:

• Award Winner: Won the Sponsor WiseTech Global Best Project Award at UTS TechFest 2026.

• Explosive Start: Acquired the first 200 users in a single day during the TechFest competition.

• Steady Growth: Following a soft launch on LinkedIn, the platform has grown to 600 total users, with 70 weekly active users relying on the tool.

How the Muslims in Tech Community Can Help

Use it and share it! Next time you are in the market for electronics, use it’s cheaper there to save yourself some money. If the platform successfully saves you a few dollars, please give the website a shoutout on your socials or within your network so that others can benefit from it too!

Community Highlights

What an incredible month across Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane! Since making a few key tweaks, the energy at our meetups has been off the charts, and our growing community proves it.

From deep dives into workplace AI and hardware startups to practical tips on landing tech internships, our meetups are packed with brilliant conversations, connections, and unmatched vibes.

Missed out this time? Don’t let the next one pass you by! Sydney is up next again, with more cities dropping soon.

🔗Keep an eye and lock in your spot for upcoming events & meetups here!

Tech Talk Corner

• High Performance, Half the Cost with Anthropic’s Claude Opus 5

Claude Opus 5 is Anthropic’s newest model designed to deliver near-top-tier performance matching Claude Fable 5, but at half the price. It currently tops benchmark leaderboards across coding and complex knowledge tasks, making it the primary default engine powering Claude Max.

• Controlled Enterprise Agent Deployment with OpenAI Presence

OpenAI Presence is a specialized enterprise tool designed to roll out managed AI agents for customer service and internal workflows. By combining model reasoning with robust permission controls, safety policies, evaluation suites, escalation paths, and post-deployment refinement tools, it ensures AI operations remain secure, compliant, and continuously improving.

• Google DeepMind Introduces Gemini Robotics ER 2

Gemini Robotics ER 2 acts as an advanced "embodied reasoning" brain for physical systems, integrating large language models with real-time video, spatial, and audio processing. By enabling robots to plan multi-step workflows, self-correct errors, and coordinate with other machines, it brings high-precision automation and fluid execution to complex industrial settings.

What Are We Slacking About?

• How Replit Adapts so Quickly to New Model Changes

• Steps of AI Adoption

• Muslim Startup Academy

• Cubesat Program

Not part of our private Slack group? Register here and you’ll receive an email to join us! 🚀💻

Job Opportunities

• MAA International
  → Digital Producer
  → Campaigns Manager

Meme of The Month

Help Us Grow

We now need your help to continue growing and do the following:

- Expand our Careers of the Future program to 5 schools
- Launch a startup accelerator

Help us continue to celebrate, connect and empower Muslims around the globe by contributing today: Monthly membership

You can be the reason this blessed community continues to grow.

Share

If you know someone interested in joining or who can benefit the community, send them our trusty registration form. We now have members in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and even Toronto, Canada! Let’s introduce you to our Chapter Leads:

• Melbourne: Marjan Rahman

• Sydney: Umair Shakoor

• Brisbane: Revsan Ahmetoglu

• Toronto: Hamza Ali

• NY/NJ: Ben Yamin Schmidt

Thanks for reading the MiT Newsletter! Subscribe to stay up-to-date with the latest in the Muslims in Tech community and support our work.

Best Regards,

Team Muslims in Tech

Muharram, the Islamic New Year reminds us of Prophet Muhammad’s (ﷺ) strength and his choice to make the Hijrah (migration) for the sake of Allah (SWT). At its heart, this blessed observance is about moving from stagnation toward a Divine purpose, trusting in a greater plan over our own comfort and familiarity.

Working in tech, we often look for stability even when everything around us is changing. We spend our days keeping old systems running, fixing bugs, and sticking to the tools we already know. Because the tech industry is always pushing us to move fast, it’s really easy to get stuck in our daily routines and hold on tightly to what we are used to.

The story of the Hijrah challenges us to think differently. As Muslims in tech, taking inspiration from this migration means asking ourselves what we need to leave behind, whether it’s old habits, outdated ways of working, or environments that hold us back, for a greater purpose. Muharram gives us a chance to pause and think about our own career and spiritual journeys. As we start this new year, let’s try to make the work we do a true form of worship that helps humanity.

Happy Islamic New Year from Muslims in Tech! May Allah bless your new beginnings, guide your work, and bring barakah to you and your loved ones.

Announcements

The incredible success of our monthly interstate meetups has been truly momentous, allowing us to expand into dedicated venues across the country. These gatherings have become powerful launchpads, where attendees have pitched startups, landed their next big roles, and forged lifelong friendships and connections.

Whatever your goals might be, we invite you to come along. You never know who you might meet over a slice of pizza and refreshments. Ultimately, these events are designed to unite tech professionals, students, and enthusiasts in a casual, welcoming space to share ideas, build meaningful relationships, and strengthen the local MiT ecosystem.

📢MiT Melbourne Meetup

• When: Thursday, 9 July 2026 | 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

• Where: Hayden Raysmith Room, Ross House Association, 247-251 Flinders Lane, Melbourne

• RSVP: [Secure your spot here]

📢MiT Sydney Meetup

• When: Thursday, 9 July 2026 | 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

• Where: Level 7, Australia Square, 264 George Street, Sydney

• RSVP: [Secure your spot here]

📢MiT Brisbane Meetup

• When: Thursday, 16 July 2026 | 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

• Where: 123 Eagle Street, Brisbane

• RSVP: [Secure your spot here]

Tech Talk Corner

• OpenAI Previews the GPT-5.6 Family

OpenAI has introduced a new tier of models under the GPT-5.6 generation, consisting of Luna, Terra, and the premium flagship option, Sol. According to the released system card, this rollout includes enhanced cyber and biological defense testing alongside stricter real-time misuse safeguards. To ensure thorough evaluation and platform stability before general availability, OpenAI is limiting immediate access to a restricted preview group.

• Anthropic Launches Claude Science Workbench

Anthropic has introduced Claude Science, an all-in-one AI research workbench app now available in beta for Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise users across macOS and Linux platforms. The application aims to solve a major pain point for researchers by unifying traditionally fragmented scientific tools into a single, cohesive digital environment. Built specifically for complex data visualization, the workspace natively renders immersive 3D protein structures, dynamic genome browser tracks, and interactive chemical molecular models, streamlining the workflow for advanced scientific analysis.

• Cognition Debuts Devin Fusion

Cognition has unveiled Devin Fusion, an innovative multi-model harness that blends high-performance models with economical ones to slash development expenses. By deploying a dual-agent framework consisting of a primary agent and a routing sidekick, the system dynamically assigns coding tasks to optimize performance and prevent costly cache misses. This strategic routing allowed Devin Fusion to cut operational costs by 35% on the FrontierCode benchmark without sacrificing quality. Furthermore, integration with Fable 5 models pushed these savings to a 41% cost reduction, showcasing an efficient blueprint for scalable AI engineering as foundational models continue to advance.

What Are We Slacking About?

• Find Muslim VCs and Investors

• Dynamic Workflows in Claude Code

• From Masjid To Machine Learning

• Seeking Protection from Laziness

• Builderbot

• DataPulse

Not part of our private Slack group? Register here and you’ll receive an email to join us! 🚀💻

Job Opportunities

• Cofuture

  Hiring Satellite Program Lead - Sydney in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia

Meme of The Month

Help Us Grow

We now need your help to continue growing and do the following:

- Expand our Careers of the Future program to 5 schools
- Launch a startup accelerator

Help us continue to celebrate, connect and empower Muslims around the globe by contributing today: Monthly membership

You can be the reason this blessed community continues to grow.

Share

If you know someone interested in joining or who can benefit the community, send them our trusty registration form. We now have members in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and even Toronto, Canada! Let’s introduce you to our Chapter Leads:

• Melbourne: Marjan Rahman

• Sydney: Umair Shakoor

• Brisbane: Revsan Ahmetoglu

• Toronto: Hamza Ali

• NY/NJ: Ben Yamin Schmidt

Thanks for reading the MiT Newsletter! Subscribe to stay up-to-date with the latest in the Muslims in Tech community and support our work.

Best Regards,

Team Muslims in Tech

Eid al-Adha is a reminder of Prophet Ibrahim’s (AS) ultimate submission and his willingness to sacrifice what he loved most for the sake of Allah (SWT). At its core, this blessed observance is about Tawakkul (unwavering trust) in the Divine plan over our own desires and attachments.

Working in technology, we are naturally conditioned to seek control. We spend our days optimizing systems, debugging code, and relying on predictable logic to shape our outcomes. In an industry defined by relentless innovation and the pressure to constantly ship, it is easy to become deeply attached to our careers, our projects, and the digital tools we build.

The story of Ibrahim (AS) challenges this mindset. It asks us to evaluate where we place our ultimate reliance and what we are willing to sacrifice for a higher purpose. Eid provides us an opportunity to pause and reflect on our spiritual attachments within the tech world. As we celebrate the Festival of Sacrifice, let us strive to make our work a true form of worship that benefits humanity.

Eid Mubarak from Muslims in Tech! May Allah accept your sacrifices, guide your endeavors, and bring boundless peace to you and your loved ones.

Announcement

📢 Upcoming Meetups & Events

We are thrilled to announce that our next series of in-person meetups is just around the corner. Whether you are based in Melbourne, Sydney, or Brisbane, we are actively curating spaces for our community to connect, collaborate, and grow together. Stay informed on upcoming dates and registration details by keeping a close eye on our events page: muslimsintech.org/events. We look forward to seeing you there!

Tech Talk Corner

• Streamlining Massive AI Deployments with Google’s Agent Executor

Google Agent Executor is an open-source runtime designed to make long-running AI workflows highly reliable and efficient. It prevents disruptions using secure isolation, durable execution, and automatic connection recovery, while supporting distributed setups through session consistency and trajectory branching. By integrating with Kubernetes Engine via Agent Substrate, it drastically optimizes compute efficiency for massive, large-scale agent fleets.

• Smarter AI Coding with Cursor’s Composer 2.5

Cursor has unveiled Composer 2.5, a next-generation programming assistant engineered to handle more complex development tasks. The upgraded model benefits from highly specialized training methods, combining targeted reinforcement learning and custom-built synthetic datasets to sharpen its reasoning and code-generation abilities. Additionally, by leveraging cutting-edge distributed training infrastructure, this release significantly boosts processing efficiency, delivering a faster and more intuitive collaborative coding experience for developers.

• Personalized Finance Management with OpenAI’s ChatGPT

OpenAI has launched an exclusive, early-access personal finance toolkit for ChatGPT Pro subscribers based in the United States. This new integration allows users to safely link their bank and credit accounts directly to the AI, generating intuitive visual spending dashboards. By combining real-time financial tracking with conversational AI, the feature enables users to receive tailored, data-driven budgeting advice, expense analyses, and strategic planning based entirely on their unique financial situation and long-term goals.

What Are We Slacking About?

• How to Run OpenClaw with Open-Source Models

• Revenue in a Box

• Halali

• Find Muslim VCs & Investors

• HTML is the New Markdown

Not part of our private Slack group? Register here and you’ll receive an email to join us! 🚀💻

Meme of The Month

Help Us Grow

We now need your help to continue growing and do the following:

- Expand our Careers of the Future program to 5 schools
- Launch a startup accelerator

Help us continue to celebrate, connect and empower Muslims around the globe by contributing today: Monthly membership

You can be the reason this blessed community continues to grow.

Share

If you know someone interested in joining or who can benefit the community, send them our trusty registration form. We now have members in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and even Toronto, Canada! Let’s introduce you to our Chapter Leads:

• Melbourne: Marjan Rahman

• Sydney: Umair Shakoor

• Brisbane: Revsan Ahmetoglu

• Toronto: Hamza Ali

• NY/NJ: Ben Yamin Schmidt

Thanks for reading the MiT Newsletter! Subscribe to stay up-to-date with the latest in the Muslims in Tech community and support our work.

Best Regards,

Team Muslims in Tech

From the earliest days of Islam, the concept of gathering, whether for counsel (Shura), learning, or simply strengthening the bonds of brotherhood and sisterhood, has been central to our faith. The Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) frequently sat with his companions in a Majlis (gathering) to share ideas, seek advice, and build a resilient community. He beautifully illustrated this interconnectedness when he said,

“The believers in their mutual kindness, compassion, and sympathy are just like one body. When one of the limbs suffers, the whole body responds to it with wakefulness and fever” (Sahih al-Bukhari).

In today’s fast-paced digital world, this prophetic tradition is just as vital. When we come together at meetups, we are continuing the tradition of sharing knowledge, uplifting one another, and collaborating to solve modern problems. Whether it’s discussing the latest developments in AI, startups, seeking career advice, or simply finding a sense of belonging in the tech industry, these gatherings help us grow both professionally and spiritually.

We saw this spirit in full effect at our recent meetup in New York on Thursday, April 23rd. It was an incredible day of connection, and a reminder of how much talent, passion, and mutual support exists within our community.

We are thrilled to bring that same energy to Australia this May! Join us for a relaxed evening of networking and connection in the heart of your city. It’s a perfect opportunity to meet fellow Muslims in tech, share ideas, and grow together.

• Melbourne Meetup Date & Time: Thursday, 7 May @ 6:00 PM Location: Brunetti, Flinders Lane

  

• Sydney Meetup Date & Time: Thursday, 7 May @ 6:00 PM Location: Edition Roasters, 60 Darling Dr, Haymarket NSW 2000

  

• Brisbane Meetup Date & Time: Tuesday, 5 May @ 6:00 PM Location: 123 Eagle Street Brisbane, QLD 4000

  

🔗 Register for your local meetup and keep an eye out for upcoming meetups and events here: https://www.muslimsintech.org/events/

We can’t wait to see you there!

Tech Talk Corner

• OpenAI’s GPT-5.5

OpenAI has released GPT-5.5, introducing notable improvements in how the model reasons and operates autonomously. It is better equipped to handle agentic tasks, meaning it can plan, make decisions, and interact with tools more effectively. Despite these upgrades, the model maintains similar response times to earlier versions, ensuring efficiency is not compromised. Additionally, GPT-5.5 shows stronger performance in areas such as coding and general knowledge, making it a more capable and reliable system overall.

• Google’s Workspace Intelligence

Google has introduced Workspace Intelligence, a major enhancement to its Google Workspace suite that adds a semantic layer to connect emails, chats, documents, and projects into a unified system. This integration enables Gemini-powered agents to better understand context and operate across tools more seamlessly. The update also brings significant feature upgrades, including the ability to create spreadsheets in Google Sheets using natural language, along with expanded AI capabilities in Google Docs, Google Slides, Gmail, and Google Drive. Overall, Workspace Intelligence is designed to transform Workspace into a central operational hub for businesses, with a strong focus on security, contextual awareness, and smooth interaction across applications.

• Anthropic’s Claude Opus 4.7

Anthropic has introduced Claude Opus 4.7, a more advanced model designed to tackle complex and technically demanding tasks. It delivers improved results in challenging engineering scenarios and includes enhanced vision capabilities for better understanding of visual inputs. Another key improvement is its ability to sustain long-running tasks with greater consistency and reliability, making it more dependable than previous versions for extended and intricate workflows.

What Are We Slacking About?

• Big Move Forward for Australia's AI Ecosystem

• Mu’assis’s Melbourne Build Sprint

• The Sync Tearoom

• Go Halal

Not part of our private Slack group? Register here and you’ll receive an email to join us! 🚀💻

Meme of The Month

Help Us Grow

We now need your help to continue growing and do the following:

- Expand our Careers of the Future program to 5 schools
- Launch a startup accelerator

Help us continue to celebrate, connect and empower Muslims around the globe by contributing today: Monthly membership

You can be the reason this blessed community continues to grow.

Share

If you know someone interested in joining or who can benefit the community, send them our trusty registration form. We now have members in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and even Toronto, Canada! Let’s introduce you to our Chapter Leads:

• Melbourne: Marjan Rahman

• Sydney: Umair Shakoor

• Brisbane: Revsan Ahmetoglu

• Toronto: Hamza Ali

• NY/NJ: Ben Yamin Schmidt

Thanks for reading the MiT Newsletter! Subscribe to stay up-to-date with the latest in the Muslims in Tech community and support our work.

Best Regards,

Team Muslims in Tech

Eid Mubarak! With the festivities of Eid al-Fitr bringing us all together, we wanted to take a moment to look back at what has been our most ambitious and heart-filling month yet. Ramadan remains our absolute favorite time of the year; it is a season defined by connection, and while we have always loved bringing the tech community together across Australia, 2026 was the year Muslims in Tech went truly global.

We are so proud to say that this year, the Muslims in Tech table grew longer than ever before. We broke our fasts across borders, moving from a local Australian tradition to hosting iftars in major hubs around the world. Our community now spans one massive global family, five incredible cities, and two continents, with our gatherings reaching from Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane to our new international chapters in New York and Toronto. This growth proves that our shared values and passion for innovation know no boundaries.

Subscribe now

Tech Talk Corner

• TurboQuant: Google’s High-Speed AI Compression

TurboQuant is Google’s new algorithm that optimizes large language models by compressing the key-value cache, preventing redundant recomputation. This breakthrough delivers an 8x speed boost and a 6x reduction in memory usage without sacrificing accuracy. By enabling high-quality performance on edge devices, TurboQuant allows powerful AI to run locally and securely without relying on the cloud.

• Anthropic’s Claude Auto Mode

Anthropic has introduced Auto Mode in research preview, granting Claude the ability to perform tasks independently. This feature includes integrated security layers designed to block harmful actions and neutralize prompt injection attempts, ensuring autonomous operations remain safe and reliable.

• Cursor Debuts Composer 2

Composer 2 is the latest coding model from Cursor, delivering elite, "frontier-level" programming capabilities. This update pairs high-tier performance with a significant reduction in token costs, making advanced AI-assisted development more accessible and affordable.

What Are We Slacking About?

• Good News for Software Engineers

• Advice for Founders

• Anthropic’s Research Paper on Using AI to Learn Programming

Not part of our private Slack group? Register here and you’ll receive an email to join us! 🚀💻

Meme of The Month

Help Us Grow

We now need your help to continue growing and do the following:

- Expand our Careers of the Future program to 5 schools
- Launch a startup accelerator

Help us continue to celebrate, connect and empower Muslims around the globe by contributing today: Monthly membership

You can be the reason this blessed community continues to grow.

Share

If you know someone interested in joining or who can benefit the community, send them our trusty registration form. We now have members in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and even Toronto, Canada! Let’s introduce you to our Chapter Leads:

• Melbourne: Marjan Rahman

• Sydney: Umair Shakoor

• Brisbane: Revsan Ahmetoglu

• Toronto: Hamza Ali

• NY/NJ: Ben Yamin Schmidt

Subscribe now

Thanks for reading the MiT Newsletter! Subscribe to stay up-to-date with the latest in the Muslims in Tech community and support our work.

Best Regards,

Team Muslims in Tech

Ramadan has a beautiful way of slowing everything down. The early suhoors, the quiet moments before iftar, the long nights of reflection. It is a month that invites us to reset with intention.

From all of us at Muslims in Tech, Ramadan Mubarak to you and your loved ones. As we balance work, study, and ibadah, may this Ramadan strengthen both our faith and our purpose. May it be a month of growth, reflection, and meaningful connection. We pray to Allah (S.W.T) that this month brings barakah into your time, focus into your goals, and ease into your journey.

As always, this Ramadan, we are bringing the community together across multiple cities for evenings that go beyond just breaking fast. Expect meaningful conversations, connections, and a room full of ambitious Muslims building in tech and beyond.

🎟 Grab Your Melbourne Tickets

🎟 Grab Your Sydney Tickets

🎟 Grab Your Brisbane Tickets

🎟 Grab Your New York Tickets

🎟 Grab Your Toronto Tickets

We would love to break fast together, In Sha Allah!

Subscribe now

Startup Spotlight

ChargeNextDoor, founded by Saad Taslaq, Eltayeb Elsunni, Omar K., and Kyle Steele, is building a community powered solution to one of the biggest barriers in EV adoption.

The platform helps electric vehicle drivers find nearby home and public chargers right when they need them. It is especially valuable for apartment residents and renters who cannot install their own charger. ChargeNextDoor connects drivers with trusted local hosts who are willing to share their private chargers, making EV ownership far more practical and accessible.

Since launching its MVP in June 2025, the team has built strong early momentum. More than 400 users have signed up across Australia, with a growing network of active hosts and drivers and multiple real world charging sessions already completed. The platform is also beginning to form partnerships with EV businesses, community groups, and local councils while continuing to refine the user experience and expand coverage in high demand neighbourhoods.

At its core, ChargeNextDoor is about community impact. By unlocking underused private chargers, the platform helps reduce range anxiety, supports the shift to cleaner transport, and creates a simple way for households to earn passive income, all while strengthening local connections.

How the community can support

• Spread the word within your networks
• Sign up as a host or EV driver
• Share product feedback
• Explore partnership opportunities

Tech Talk Corner

• Meet Perplexity Computer

Perplexity Computer is a versatile digital worker that brings together today’s AI capabilities within one unified system. It interacts with the same interfaces humans use, allowing it to design and carry out complete workflows from start to finish. The system can operate continuously for extended periods, ranging from hours to months. It is currently accessible to Perplexity Max subscribers, with availability for Enterprise Max users coming soon.

• Gemini 3.1 Pro Powers the Next Wave

Google has introduced Gemini 3.1 Pro as the enhanced core model driving the latest Gemini 3 Deep Think advancements. The upgrade is now being rolled out across the Gemini API and AI Studio, Vertex AI, Android Studio, the Gemini app, and NotebookLM. The announcement also reported a verified 77.1 percent score on ARC-AGI-2, more than doubling the performance achieved by Gemini 3 Pro.

• Claude Sonnet 4.6 Raises the Bar

Anthropic has launched Claude Sonnet 4.6, delivering improvements across coding, computer use, planning, long context reasoning, and general knowledge work, all while keeping Sonnet pricing the same. The update also brings a beta 1 million token context window and makes Sonnet 4.6 the default model for both Free and Pro users within Claude’s apps.

What Are We Slacking About?

• Helpful Additions for Your CLAUDE.md

• Would You Build on Upscrolled with a Developer API?

• Our Member Built a Natural Voice Chatbot

Not part of our private Slack group? Register here and you’ll receive an email to join us! 🚀💻

Meme of The Month

Help Us Grow

We now need your help to continue growing and do the following:

- Expand our Careers of the Future program to 5 schools
- Launch a startup accelerator

Help us continue to celebrate, connect and empower Muslims around the globe by contributing today: Monthly membership

You can be the reason this blessed community continues to grow.

Share

If you know someone interested in joining or who can benefit the community, send them our trusty registration form. We now have members in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and even Toronto, Canada! Let’s introduce you to our Chapter Leads:

• Melbourne: Marjan Rahman

• Sydney: Umair Shakoor

• Brisbane: Revsan Ahmetoglu

• Toronto: Hamza Ali

• NY/NJ: Ben Yamin Schmidt

Subscribe now

Thanks for reading the MiT Newsletter! Subscribe to stay up-to-date with the latest in the Muslims in Tech community and support our work.

Best Regards,

Team Muslims in Tech

Alhamdulillah for every milestone in 2025! 🤲✨

As we look back on the year, we do so with a deep sense of gratitude for the growth we witnessed, the lessons we learned, and the people who made the journey meaningful. Every milestone reached in 2025 tells a story of intention, persistence, and collective effort. What started as ideas and conversations turned into real impact, shaped by a community that believes in building with purpose and serving with sincerity.

As we enter 2026, we carry forward not just momentum, but reflection. We ask Allah to place barakah in our efforts, to keep our intentions pure, and to allow our work to continue benefiting the Ummah in ways that truly matter. In a rapidly changing world of technology, may we remain grounded, using our skills responsibly, ethically, and in service of the Ummah.

Our vision for the future extends beyond innovation. It is rooted in faith lived through action, growth grounded in humility, and ambition directed toward service. Placing our trust in Allah, we move ahead as a community, carrying gratitude for the past and intention for the future.

Startup Spotlight

“Tell the believing men to lower their gaze and guard their modesty: that will make for greater purity for them.”- Surah An-Nur, Verse 30

HaramBlur is an AI-powered browser extension and mobile app designed to help Muslims navigate the internet with greater peace of mind. It automatically blurs harmful visual content as you browse, blocks inappropriate sites, and works seamlessly across images and videos. With built-in parental controls and family-focused settings, HaramBlur empowers Muslim households to take control of their digital environments without constant monitoring.

HaramBlur is built by WeqayaTech. “Weqaya” means safeguarding in Arabic, and that mission is at the heart of everything they build. Their focus is on faith-first digital wellbeing tools that align technology with Islamic values.

The platform is already gaining strong traction, with over 70,000 browser extension users and more than 200,000 Android downloads. iOS and desktop versions are currently in development. If this resonates with you, consider sharing it with someone who could benefit. The team also welcomes feedback, collaborations, and partnerships from those building within the Muslim tech ecosystem.

Subscribe now

Tick Tock, Tech Talk

• OpenAI’s Unified Platform for Scientific Writing

Prism is OpenAI’s free, collaborative environment for scientific writing, powered by GPT-5.2. It unifies LaTeX-based drafting, iterative revision, and publishing processes into one seamless workspace, with the goal of reducing friction in academic workflows and significantly speeding up the research writing lifecycle.

• Google Expands Personal Intelligence in Search with Private Context Integration

Google is broadening its concept of “Personal Intelligence” within Search by allowing AI Mode to draw on a user’s private context, including data from Gmail and Google Photos. This expansion is designed to deliver more tailored and context-aware search results, helping users receive responses that better reflect their personal history, preferences, and needs.

• Anthropic Releases an Updated Constitution for Claude

Anthropic has introduced a new constitution for Claude that outlines the model’s core values, intended behavior, and operating context. This document plays a central role in training Claude and directly influences how the model responds and acts.

What Are We Slacking About?

• A Channel Dedicated to Professionals

• Claude’s System Prompt Leak

• Microsoft’s AI Credentials Challenge

• UpScrolled | Mu’assis Launchpad | ImanLinkPRO beta

Not part of our private Slack group? Register here and you’ll receive an email to join us! 🚀💻

Meme of The Month

Help Us Grow

We now need your help to continue growing and do the following:

- Expand our Careers of the Future program to 5 schools
- Launch a startup accelerator

Help us continue to celebrate, connect and empower Muslims around the globe by contributing today: Monthly membership

You can be the reason this blessed community continues to grow.

Share

If you know someone interested in joining or who can benefit the community, send them our trusty registration form. We now have members in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and even Toronto, Canada! Let’s introduce you to our Chapter Leads:

• Melbourne: Marjan Rahman

• Sydney: Umair Shakoor

• Brisbane: Revsan Ahmetoglu

• Toronto: Hamza Ali

• NY/NJ: Ben Yamin Schmidt

Thanks for reading the MiT Newsletter! Subscribe to stay up-to-date with the latest in the Muslims in Tech community and support our work.

Best Regards,

Team Muslims in Tech

As the year comes to a close, it’s a moment to pause and reflect on the collective progress of the Muslims in Tech community. This year has been defined by growth, connection, and a shared commitment to lifting one another across the global tech ecosystem.

🌍 A Growing Global Movement

We crossed a significant milestone this year, with the global Muslims in Tech community surpassing 1,000 members. This growth reflects not just numbers, but a strong sense of belonging among professionals, students, founders, and community builders across different regions.

🤝 Consistent Community Connection

Our fortnightly Melbourne meetups continued strongly throughout the year, creating a regular space for connection, learning, and collaboration. These gatherings have shown the value of consistency, and we look forward to extending this model to other parts of our global community.

🌆 Connecting Professionals Across Cities

We hosted Muslims in Tech Professionals Networking Events in Melbourne and Sydney, bringing together industry professionals at different stages of their journeys. These events created opportunities for genuine conversations, mentorship, and long-term connections. A special shout-out to MCCA Islamic Finance & Investments for sponsoring both the Sydney and Melbourne Professionals Networking Events and making these meaningful gatherings possible.

🚀 Spotlighting Startup Talent

Our Startup Spotlight events in Melbourne and Sydney gave early-stage founders a platform to present their ideas. Finalists from both cities pitched to live audiences and received honest, constructive feedback, along with practical suggestions to help refine and move their startups forward. These sessions reinforced the importance of community-driven support for entrepreneurship.

📱 Growing Our Social Media Community

Our social media presence continued to grow this year, with 1,000+ followers on Instagram, reflecting increasing engagement and interest in Muslims in Tech.

🎤 Collaboration at the Muslim Wealth Summit

We were proud to host the Muslims in Tech panel at the Muslim Wealth Summit, joined by a range of industry leaders, community organizations, and powerhouses from across sectors. The discussion centered on collaboration, shared responsibility, and the importance of working together to advance our community’s collective goals.

🌙 Community Through Faith

Our annual Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane iftars once again brought the community together in a space of reflection, connection, and shared values, reminding us that relationships sit at the heart of everything we build.

🎓 Shaping the Future Generation

We delivered our flagship Careers of the Future program across three schools, introducing students to technology pathways and emerging opportunities. This program is now expanding, allowing us to reach even more young people in the year ahead.

🤖 Learning Through Action

Throughout the year, we also delivered bootcamps on AI and emerging technologies, giving community members hands-on exposure to tools, concepts, and real-world applications that are shaping the future of work.

📬 Strong Engagement and Reach

Our newsletter continues to outperform industry benchmarks, with an average open rate of 45%, compared to the IT and tech industry average of 22.7%. With over 2500 subscribers, this strong engagement reflects a community that values thoughtful, relevant, and purposeful content.

As we look ahead, this year has laid strong foundations for deeper impact, wider reach, and stronger collaboration. None of this would be possible without the people who show up, contribute, and believe in the vision of Muslims in Tech. We’re excited for what’s next, In Sha Allah!

Startup Spotlight

What if AI could be accessed through touch, not sight or sound?

BrailleGPT founded by Dunya Hassan is building a portable, AI-powered Braille device that enables blind, visually impaired, and DeafBlind users to interact with information through real-time tactile Braille. By combining speech input with tactile output, the device offers private, independent access to AI and digital content without relying on screens or audio.

Why It Matters

Over 2.2 billion people globally live with vision impairment, and around 70 million people are DeafBlind, yet most AI tools remain visual or auditory. BrailleGPT addresses this gap by translating intelligence directly into touch, creating a tactile-first interface for accessing information.

Traction & Momentum

BrailleGPT has gained early international traction across Australia, Europe, and the United States, including features on European accessibility and technology podcasts. The project has engaged with global accessibility leaders and collaborators.

The startup has also secured early crowdfunding investment, validating strong community demand. The current crowdfunding round is open and closes on 20 January 2026.

Technology & Design

Designed as a tactile-first EdgeAI system, BrailleGPT prioritises accessibility, privacy, and efficiency. Rising global RAM costs driven by AI demand have shaped the device’s engineering, pushing the team to build memory-efficient, optimised software that remains scalable and practical.

Community-Led Design

BrailleGPT is being built with the community it serves, welcoming collaboration from accessibility organisations, researchers, engineers, educators, and early adopters.

🔗 Join the waitlist: braillegpt.com.au

🎥 Inside look:

Tick Tock, Tech Talk

• A Look Back at Your Year with ChatGPT

OpenAI has launched a personalised year-in-review experience called Your Year with ChatGPT. Rolled out to eligible users in selected regions, the feature reflects on how individuals used ChatGPT over the past year, drawing inspiration from Spotify Wrapped to showcase personal usage insights and trends.

• Bloom and the Future of AI Behavior Assessment

Anthropic developed Bloom, an open-source framework designed to automatically evaluate AI model behaviour. Bloom generates targeted scenarios to test behaviours such as self-preferential bias and sabotage, then measures how frequently these behaviours appear across different models. The tool effectively distinguishes between well-aligned and misaligned systems and shows strong agreement with human evaluations, making it a reliable and scalable approach to behavioural assessment in AI.

• Gemini 3 Flash Brings Low-Latency AI to Everyday Workflows

Google has launched Gemini 3 Flash, a lightweight and high-speed AI model designed to offer frontier-level intelligence with reduced latency. The model is optimised to support quick learning, planning, and building, making it well suited for a wide range of everyday tasks and practical applications where speed and efficiency matter.

Meme of The Month

Help Us Grow

We now need your help to continue growing and do the following:

- Expand our Careers of the Future program to 5 schools

- Launch a startup accelerator

- Maintain and grow community events to reach more people and cities

You can be the reason this blessed community continues to grow. Support us today

Invite a friend to be part of the journey and join the community: muslimsintech.org/join

If you know someone interested in joining or who can benefit the community, send them our trusty registration form. We now have members in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Toronto, New York, New Jersey, California and Texas! Let’s introduce you to our Chapter Leads:

• Melbourne: Marjan Rahman

• Sydney: Umair Shakoor

• Brisbane: Revsan Ahmetoglu

• Toronto: Hamza Ali

Thanks for reading MiT Newsletter! Subscribe to stay up-to-date with the latest in the Muslims in Tech community and support our work.

Best Regards,

Team Muslims in Tech

Share

We’re excited to launch Startup Spotlight, a new section dedicated to showcasing the brilliant startups emerging from our community. Each edition will highlight a venture driven by innovation, purpose, and impact.

To kick things off, we’re proud to feature Thaura, an ethical AI alternative to ChatGPT and other mainstream platforms.

Thaura is built on three key pillars: Data Privacy, Sustainability, and a Truthful Stance. Using the GLM-4.5 Air model, which activates only 12 billion of its 100 billion parameters at a time, Thaura significantly reduces energy consumption while maintaining top-tier performance. It is an AI platform guided by Islamic ethics, prioritizing user privacy through a strict no-log policy and a commitment to truth.

Currently part of the T4P Incubator Program, Thaura has already grown organically to over 1,200 users in just four weeks. Their mission is simple and powerful: to provide the Muslim and ethical-tech communities with a halal-aligned AI platform that upholds transparency, truth, and responsibility in every interaction.

If you’d like to support Thaura, you can:

• Migrate from Big Tech AI tools to Thaura’s ethical alternative.

• Spread the word within your circles about this community-driven initiative.

👉 Join the movement towards ethical, privacy-first AI with Thaura.

Announcements

🎤 Co-Work! Connect! Create!

Join Muslims in Tech for our inaugural Coworking Day at the startup hub Stone and Chalk!

Why come?

• Get real work done in a vibe that actually motivates you.

• Meet Muslim founders and builders shaping cool things.

• Free, unlimited coffee all day from Stone and Chalk coffee.

  Subscribe now

🎟️ Grab your spot here: Get tickets

🎤 Instagram Milestone

Muslims in Tech Instagram family has reached 1000 followers!

Tick Tock, Tech Talk

• Codex Gets Leaner and Stronger

GPT-5.1-Codex-Max uses compaction to handle massive developer tasks across multiple context windows. It scored 77.9% on SWE-bench Verified, while using 30% fewer thinking tokens than before, making it faster and more efficient for long coding workflows.

• Gemini 3 Hits New Benchmark Highs

Gemini 3 delivers leading performance on major tests, scoring 1501 Elo on LMArena, 91.9% on GPQA Diamond, and 81% on MMMU-Pro. It includes a Deep Think mode for stronger reasoning, and arrives alongside the launch of Antigravity.

• Perplexity Adds Smarter Memory for Personalized AI Interaction

Perplexity has launched new personalization features that enable its AI assistant to remember user preferences, interests, and past context across conversations. This upgraded memory system enhances response accuracy and consistency by automatically recalling relevant details, reducing the need for repeated context setup.

• Claude Sets a New Opus Standard

Claude Opus 4.5 is the first model to cross 80% on SWE-bench Verified. It now includes an effort setting so developers can choose between fast or extra-capable responses, plus automatic context compression that supports very long conversations. Pricing has been lowered to $5 and $25 per million tokens, making it more accessible than earlier releases. It’s also available in Claude for Chrome and Claude for Excel.

What Are We Slacking About?

• Gemini 3 vs GPT 5.1 for RAG

• A Fun Way to Learn SQL

• Friday Ventures

• Founder’s Guide to Investor Outreach

Not part of our private Slack group? Register here and you’ll receive an email to join us! 🚀💻

Meme of The Month

Help Us Grow

We now need your help to continue growing and do the following:

- Reach 1000 members (only 10 members away!!)
- Expand our Careers of the Future program to 5 schools
- Launch a startup accelerator

You can be the reason this blessed community continues to grow.

Invite a friend to be part of the journey and join the community: muslimsintech.org/join

Share

If you know someone interested in joining or who can benefit the community, send them our trusty registration form. We now have members in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and even Toronto, Canada! Let’s introduce you to our Chapter Leads:

• Melbourne: Marjan Rahman

• Sydney: Umair Shakoor

• Brisbane: Revsan Ahmetoglu

• Toronto: Hamza Ali

Thanks for reading MiT Newsletter! Subscribe to stay up-to-date with the latest in the Muslims in Tech community and support our work.

Subscribe now

Best Regards,

Team Muslims in Tech

What a night. Our first ever Muslims in Tech Professionals Networking Event in Melbourne set an exciting tone for what this community is building.

Collingwood Canopy on October 8 became a space for real conversations and real ambition, bringing together talented Muslims across software engineering, AI, cyber, product, design and beyond. A room full of people who are contributing to the future of tech in Australia.

We opened with a thoughtful fireside chat with Wasim El-Omari from Snowflake, diving into leadership, career growth and staying grounded in values while navigating the tech world. His experience and clarity set the stage for an evening focused on purposeful progress.

The networking that followed was genuine, focused and energising. People connected, exchanged insights and explored ways to support one another’s journeys. It was the kind of environment where professional growth and community naturally align.

And this is only the beginning. We are committed to creating more spaces, opportunities and conversations for Muslims in tech to learn, connect and thrive.

Thank you to everyone who joined us and contributed to the momentum. We look forward to seeing you again soon, In Sha Allah!

Announcement

🎤 Our Intro to Programming/Python Bootcamp is Officially Live!

Ready to start coding?
Python Bootcamp is here for a smooth launch into programming and future AI work.

Event Info
📅 Saturday 22 November
🕙 10 AM to 4 PM
📍 University of Melbourne (Arts West)
🍽️ Lunch included

🔗 Grab your tickets here

Subscribe now

Tick Tock, Tech Talk

• Canva Expands AI Capabilities With New Design Model and Tools

Canva has introduced a new AI model built on its own design library, capable of producing fully editable, multi-layered designs. It works across a range of formats, including social posts, presentations, whiteboards, and websites. Alongside this, Canva rolled out several product upgrades, enhanced its AI assistant, and added the ability to combine spreadsheet data with app-building tools to create interactive data-visualization widgets.

• Anthropic Brings Claude to Excel

Anthropic is expanding further into the finance space with a new tool called Claude for Excel. The feature allows users to interact with their spreadsheets through a chat sidebar, making it possible to review, edit, and analyze data conversationally.

• OpenAI Introduces Company-Aware ChatGPT for Organizations

OpenAI has launched a new company knowledge capability for ChatGPT Business, Enterprise, and Education plans. The feature pulls context from connected workplace tools, allowing employees to get answers tailored to their organisation’s information. It runs on a specialised GPT-5 model designed to search across multiple internal sources and return accurate, fully-cited responses. Importantly, the system follows existing company access controls, meaning it only surfaces information the user already has permission to see.

What Are We Slacking About?

• NSW MVP Ventures Program | NoorNavigator App

• Agentic AI Workshop | Ihsan Venture Studio | nudgy.dev

• Fundraising with Wahed Ventures | Quran app experience

• Qariyb x BrainsMingle Virtual Speed Networking

Not part of our private Slack group? Register here and you’ll receive an email to join us! 🚀💻

Meme of The Month

Help Us Grow

We now need your help to continue growing and do the following:

- Reach 1000 members
- Expand our Careers of the Future program to 5 schools
- Launch a startup accelerator

You can be the reason this blessed community continues to grow.

Invite a friend to be part of the journey and join the community: muslimsintech.org/join

Share

If you know someone interested in joining or who can benefit the community, send them our trusty registration form. We now have members in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and even Toronto, Canada! Let’s introduce you to our Chapter Leads:

• Melbourne: Marjan Rahman

• Sydney: Umair Shakoor

• Brisbane: Revsan Ahmetoglu

• Toronto: Hamza Ali

Best Regards,

Team Muslims in Tech

Thanks for reading MiT Newsletter! Subscribe to stay up-to-date with the latest in the Muslims in Tech community and support our work.

Subscribe now

On Tuesday, 2 September, Muslims in Tech and Cofuture had the great pleasure of introducing students at Al-Taqwa College to the exciting world of satellites and real-time data analysis.

Students built their own satellites, connected them to laptops, streamed live data, and wrote Python scripts to analyze the information. This was a true example of innovation in action, where learners experienced how future technologies can be applied in practical ways.

The exciting part was that all the satellite kits were designed and built right here in Melbourne by Cofuture and Muslims in Tech.

Our experienced tutors guided students throughout the session, ensuring they had clear instructions and support as they explored new concepts. By working with real hardware and code, students gained valuable skills that extend far beyond the textbook and prepare them for future opportunities.

If you would like to bring our satellite bootcamps to your education space reach out to Rashid Elhawli @ rashid@cofuture.au

Let’s help make more students #FutureReady 🚀

Announcement

🎤 Muslims in Tech Professionals Networking Event

Join us for the Muslims in Tech Professionals Networking Event, proudly presented by MCCA Islamic Finance & Investments.

The evening kicks off with an inspiring fireside chat with Wasim El-Omari, followed by a night of networking, finger food, billiards, table tennis, and great vibes.

📅 Wednesday, 8 October 2025
🕕 6:00 PM – 8:30 PM
📍Canopy Collingwood
🎟️ Tickets: Get Your Ticket

We can’t wait to see you there!

Community Highlights

✨We’re proud to be a community partner for the Muslim Wealth Summit Melbourne 2025, an event built on access, equity, and opportunity.

With 25+ speakers, 150+ attendees, and a powerful lineup, this summit is for students, entrepreneurs, investors, and professionals alike.

Connect. Learn. Take action.
🎟 Book your spot now

Tick Tock, Tech Talk

• Creative Concepting with AI through Mixboard by Google Labs

  Google Labs’ Mixboard is an AI-driven concept board designed to help users brainstorm and shape visual ideas. It combines text prompts, image editing, and contextual generation tools to create and refine concepts with ease.

• Smart Updates on the Go with OpenAI’s ChatGPT Pulse

  ChatGPT Pulse is a new mobile feature for Pro users that provides proactive, personalized research and updates. Using visual cards, it tailors information to a user’s chats, preferences, and connected apps.

• Smarter Inbox Management with Perplexity’s Email Assistant

  Perplexity has introduced a new Email Assistant for Max subscribers that connects directly with their inboxes. It helps draft replies, organize emails, and even schedule meetings seamlessly.

What Are We Slacking About?

• An Opportunity for Food Science/Biochemistry Students

• Nasheedio

• Synechron

Not part of our private Slack group? Register here to join us and you’ll receive an email to join us! 🚀💻

Meme of The Month

Help Us Grow

We now need your help to continue growing and do the following:

- Reach 1000 members
- Expand our Careers of the Future program to 5 schools
- Launch a startup accelerator

You can be the reason this blessed community continues to grow.

Invite a friend to be part of the journey and join the community: muslimsintech.org/join

Our Esteemed Partners

Share

If you know someone interested in joining or who can benefit the community, send them our trusty registration form. We now have members in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and even Toronto, Canada! Let’s introduce you to our Chapter Leads:

• Melbourne: Marjan Rahman

• Sydney: Umair Shakoor

• Brisbane: Revsan Ahmetoglu

• Toronto: Hamza Ali

Best Regards,

Team Muslims in Tech

Thanks for reading MiT Newsletter! Subscribe to stay up-to-date with the latest in the Muslims in Tech community and support our work.

What an incredible night we had at Startup Spotlight Melbourne on Wednesday, 30 July 2025! Hosted at Stone and Chalk, the evening brought together founders, innovators, and tech enthusiasts to celebrate Muslim-led startups and the amazing ideas shaping our tech community. The energy in the room was contagious as everyone connected, shared stories, and built new relationships.

Three inspiring startups took the spotlight and wowed us with their vision:

🔹 Connectology – Dr. Mueed Mian

Connectology is creating a safe and supportive space for arthritis patients to connect, share knowledge, and find comfort in each other’s experiences. With reliable, moderated information and peer support, the app is helping reduce isolation and improve overall wellbeing for people living with chronic conditions.

🔹 SmartSplit – Ali El-Hassan

Managing cash flow is one of the toughest challenges for small businesses, and SmartSplit is stepping in to make it easier. By providing smarter and more flexible payment solutions, SmartSplit helps business owners manage invoices, maintain healthy relationships with suppliers, and keep their businesses growing confidently.

🔹 ChargeNextDoor – Saad Taslaq, Eltayeb Elsunni, Omar K., and Kyle Steele

ChargeNextDoor is Australia’s first peer-to-peer EV charging network. It connects EV drivers with nearby hosts offering chargers, making it simple to find, book, and pay for charging spots. Homeowners with chargers can also earn passive income, creating a win-win solution for a sustainable future.

After the pitches, our finalists received insightful feedback, helpful recommendations, and fresh ideas to guide their next steps. The night didn’t end there. The conversations continued over delicious pizzas, meaningful discussions, and vibrant networking as tech enthusiasts came together to inspire and support one another.

A huge thank you to our sponsors, Efficiency Plus Group, for helping make this event possible. And to everyone who joined us and contributed to the energy in the room, we truly appreciate your support.

Tick Tock, Tech Talk

• Claude Opus 4 and 4.1 Gain Ability to End Certain Conversations

Anthropic has given its most advanced models the ability to end conversations as a last resort in cases of persistent harmful or abusive interactions, a feature also aimed at exploring AI welfare and moral considerations.

• Excel Copilot Now Lets Users Perform Tasks with Natural Language Prompts

The Copilot feature in Excel for Windows and Mac now allows users to enter natural language prompts directly in cells to handle tasks like summarizing, categorizing, and generating data.

Meme of The Month

Help Us Grow

We now need your help to continue growing and do the following:
- Reach 1000 members
- Expand our Careers of the Future program to 5 schools
- Launch a startup accelerator

You can be the reason this blessed community continues to grow.

If you know someone interested in joining or who can benefit the community, send them our trusty registration form. We now have members in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and even Toronto, Canada! Let’s introduce you to our Chapter Leads:

• Melbourne: Marjan Rahman

• Sydney: Umair Shakoor

• Brisbane: Revsan Ahmetoglu

• Toronto: Hamza Ali

Subscribe and stay up-to-date with the latest in the Muslims in Tech community.

Our Esteemed Partners

On Wednesday, July 9, we hosted our very first Startup Spotlight in Sydney, and what a debut it was. Held at Atlassian’s stunning George Street office, the room was filled with energy, bold ideas, and a genuine hunger to connect, learn, and support innovation within our community.

Three outstanding Muslim-led startups took the spotlight:

🔹 AnyDev – Muhammad Amasha

AnyDev is rethinking how industries scale their software capabilities. With a sharp focus on high-compliance sectors like automotive, aerospace, robotics, and medical devices, AnyDev provides hassle-free solutions that help organisations grow without the typical DevOps headaches. From real-time performance visibility to streamlined CI/CD pipelines, his approach is enabling teams to ship faster and smarter.

🔹 BrailleGPT – Dunya Hassan

What happens when you combine AI and inclusion? You get BrailleGPT, the world’s first handheld, real-time speech-to-Braille device for people who are deafblind. Dunya reminded us that in the rush toward AI adoption, many are being left behind. BrailleGPT aims to close that gap by making tools accessible to those who need them most. A powerful vision turned into an impactful prototype.

🔹 Exam.Prep – Said Mouhaiche & Adnan Kureshi

Marking exams is one of the most painful parts of teaching, and Exam.Prep is tackling that head-on. Said and Adnan are building a platform that not only auto-marks assessments with high accuracy but also delivers engaging digital preparation content for students.

To top it all off, we had a surprise live product launch from the team at halalstocks.co, offering exclusive early access to their platform that makes Sharia-compliant investing more transparent and approachable.

The energy kept going with hot pizzas and lively networking, and it was beautiful to see so many conversations sparked between founders, builders, and curious minds.

Massive thanks to Houda Chehab and the team at Atlassian for hosting us in such an inspiring space, and to everyone who showed up and made this night one to remember. Sydney, you really showed up and showed out.

Melbourne’s up next, and the momentum is real.

📅 Date: Wednesday, 30th July
🕕 Time: 6:00 PM onwards
📍 Location: Stone & Chalk, 121 King Street (Corner of Little Collins), Melbourne VIC 3000
🎟️ Secure your spot now: Click here

Don’t miss your chance to witness the next wave of Muslim-led innovation, connect with bold founders, and be part of something bigger.

For advertisement inquiries, contact rashid@muslimsintech.org/marjan@muslimsintech.org

Tick Tock, Tech Talk

• Open AI’s New Kind of ChatGPT Agent

The ChatGPT Agent blends Operator’s web browsing tools with Deep Research’s analytical power, operating through a virtual computer to complete complex tasks such as managing calendars, conducting competitor research, and creating presentations, all on its own.

• Smarter Search with Google’s Web Guide

Web Guide, a feature from Google’s Search Labs, leverages Gemini AI to intelligently organize search results into clear, relevant categories for easier exploration.

Meme of The Month

Help Us Grow

We now need your help to continue growing and do the following:

- Reach 1000 members
- Expand our Careers of the Future program to 5 schools
- Launch a startup accelerator

You can be the reason this blessed community continues to grow.

Invite a friend to be part of the journey and join the community: muslimsintech.org/join

Our Esteemed Partners

If you know someone interested in joining or who can benefit the community, send them our trusty registration form. We now have members in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and even Toronto, Canada! Let’s introduce you to our Chapter Leads:

• Melbourne: Marjan Rahman

• Sydney: Umair Shakoor

• Brisbane: Revsan Ahmetoglu

• Toronto: Hamza Ali

Subscribe and stay up-to-date with the latest in the Muslims in Tech community.

You already knew it was happening in Melbourne and Sydney…
Now it’s time to mark your calendars and get ready for two unforgettable evenings of innovation, inspiration, and connection.

🏙️ SYDNEY
📍 Atlassian Office, Level 6, 341 George St
📅 Wednesday, 9th July | 🕕 From 6:00 PM
🎟️ Members/Students: $5 | Non-members: $10
🔗Get Your Sydeny Tickets

🌆 MELBOURNE
📍 Stone & Chalk, 121 King St
📅 Wednesday, 30th July | 🕕 From 6:00 PM
🎟️ Members/Students: $5 | Non-members: $10
🔗Get Your Melbourne Tickets

🍕 Yes, there’s free pizza too!

Each city will spotlight 3 emerging Muslim-led startups, bold founders solving real problems, and sharing the story behind the journey. Whether you’re in tech, business, investment, design, or just curious about the startup world, this is your chance to see what’s growing in our community.

What to expect:

• Startup showcases – hear directly from founders building in Australia

• Meaningful networking – meet like-minded professionals, creatives, and builders

• Fresh inspiration – take home new ideas and perspectives

• Community energy – be part of something bigger than just a tech event

At Muslims in Tech, we believe in amplifying Muslim innovation and creating spaces where talent, identity, and entrepreneurship intersect. This event is a step into that vision.

💡 Save the date. Tell a friend. Bring your energy.
We can’t wait to welcome you.

For advertisement inquiries, contact rashid@muslimsintech.org/marjan@muslimsintech.org

Tick Tock, Tech Talk

• Claude by Anthropic Now Lets You Build AI Apps

Anthropic has introduced a new beta feature for Claude that enables users to create, host, and share AI-driven applications directly within the Claude interface, no separate API charges required. Claude can generate real code and manage technical functions, though the feature comes with some constraints, such as limited access to external APIs and no support for saving data long-term.

• Google Launches Gemma 3n: A Powerful Multimodal Model for On-Device Use

Google has released Gemma 3n, a multimodal open-weight model optimized for on-device use, accepting text, images, and audio. Launched with partners like NVIDIA, AMD, Hugging Face, and Docker, it’s accessible across many platforms.

• ElevenLabs Unveils 11.ai: A Fast, Workflow-Savvy AI Voice Assistant

ElevenLabs has launched 11.ai, a low-latency AI voice assistant built for real-time, natural interactions. What sets it apart is its ability to handle multi-step workflows using deep MCP integrations with tools like Perplexity, Linear, Slack, and Notion. From task management to research and communication, 11.ai brings hands-free productivity to everyday workflows across popular platforms.

What Are We Slacking About?

• Islamic Council of Victoria’s (ICV) Unique Mobile App

• GoHalal: A Simple, Community-Powered App for Muslims

• Reverse Engineering a Section of a 6-Axis Robotic Arm

• What’s Really Going On with Your Company’s Data?

Not part of our private Slack group? Register here to join us and you’ll receive an email to join us! 🚀💻

Meme of The Month

Help Us Grow

We now need your help to continue growing and do the following:

- Reach 1000 members
- Expand our Careers of the Future program to 5 schools
- Launch a startup accelerator

You can be the reason this blessed community continues to grow.

Invite a friend to be part of the journey and join the community: muslimsintech.org/join

Our Esteemed Partners

Share

If you know someone interested in joining or who can benefit the community, send them our trusty registration form. We now have members in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and even Toronto, Canada! Let’s introduce you to our Chapter Leads:

• Melbourne: Marjan Rahman

• Sydney: Umair Shakoor

• Brisbane: Revsan Ahmetoglu

• Toronto: Hamza Ali

Best Regards,

Team Muslims in Tech

Subscribe and stay up-to-date with the latest in the Muslims in Tech community.

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Muslims in Tech and Cofuture had the great pleasure of launching and expanding our hands-on tech sessions across multiple year levels at both Australian Islamic Centre College and Islamic College of Melbourne.

From coding fundamentals to robotics, our tailored programs are designed to make students future ready by equipping them with skills not typically available in most classrooms, like programming, debugging, and tinkering with real hardware!

In our sessions, Year 5/6 students explored Programming through fun, bite-sized activities, while younger students amazed us with their enthusiasm and curiosity during an 80-minute journey into creative coding.

At ICOM, students even built and tested their own Freenove 4WD robot cars — learning how to assemble, wire, and code the robots to move. A snapshot of real STEM in action!

Our experienced tutors made sure students had clear guidance throughout, and we’re excited to continue these sessions in the weeks ahead. We believe the ability to build, tinker, and understand both software and hardware is essential for thriving in the careers of the future.

If you'd like to bring a similar initiative to your school or community, reach out to Rashid Elhawli.

Let’s help make more students #FutureReady

For advertisement inquiries, contact rashid@muslimsintech.org/marjan@muslimsintech.org

Announcements

📢 Startup Spotlight Reminder - Final Call for Muslim Founders in Melbourne & Sydney!

Been meaning to apply? This is your nudge. Applications for Startup Spotlight are closing June 8, and we don’t want you to miss the chance to take the stage!

We’re on the lookout for 3 standout startups from Melbourne and 3 from Sydney to pitch live in front of investors, operators, and our buzzing community of entrepreneurs.

If you're building something amazing, this is your moment to get seen, heard, and supported.

🔗 Apply now: Startup Spotlight Application Form

Let’s spotlight your story and your startup, we’re excited to see what you’re building, In Sha Allah!

Tick Tock, Tech Talk

• OpenAI Introduces Codex: A Game-Changer in Automated Software Development

OpenAI’s Codex, a powerful autonomous coding agent capable of writing new features, fixing bugs, and submitting pull requests within secure, isolated cloud environments. Companies such as Cisco and Temporal have already adopted Codex to manage entire codebases, allowing their engineers to concentrate on more strategic tasks. The agent can handle multiple assignments at once, perform tests, and document every modification it makes with precise citations.

• Google Launches Jules: A Fully Autonomous AI for Software Development

Following a private beta in December, Google has publicly released Jules, its AI coding agent powered by Gemini 2.5. Jules can clone full repositories and independently handle tasks such as writing tests, fixing bugs, and developing new features, freeing developers to focus on other priorities. This marks a shift in the agentic coding space, where tools now range from real-time pair-programming assistants to fully autonomous agents.

• Anthropic Raises the Bar with Claude Opus 4 and Sonnet 4

Anthropic has released its latest AI models, Claude Opus 4 and Claude Sonnet 4, which set new benchmarks in coding performance, advanced reasoning, and autonomous AI agents. Built to handle intricate, long-duration tasks lasting several hours, these models are touted by Anthropic as their most powerful coding tools to date.

What are we slacking about?

• MCP Protocol

• Halal Foooooood!

• Data Scientist Role at Sky Ledge

Not part of our private Slack group? Register here to join us and you’ll receive an email to join us! 🚀💻

Meme of The Month

Help Us Grow

We now need your help to continue growing and do the following:

- Reach 1000 members
- Expand our Careers of the Future program to 5 schools
- Launch a startup accelerator

You can be the reason this blessed community continues to grow.

Invite a friend to be part of the journey and join the community: muslimsintech.org/join

Our Esteemed Partners

Share

If you know someone interested in joining or who can benefit the community, send them our trusty registration form. We now have members in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and even Toronto, Canada! Let’s introduce you to our Chapter Leads:

• Melbourne: Marjan Rahman

• Sydney: Umair Shakoor

• Brisbane: Revsan Ahmetoglu

• Toronto: Hamza Ali

Best Regards,

Team Muslims in Tech

Subscribe and stay up-to-date with the latest in the Muslims in Tech community.

In a world driven by endless updates, viral trends, and ever-evolving tech stacks, ‘Spiritual Cybersecurity’ has become just as vital as securing our passwords, especially for Muslims in Tech. We live in a digital age where one notification can derail our focus, and one line of code can impact millions. Between Slack messages, sprint deadlines, and dopamine loops of scrolling, it's easy to forget our greater purpose. But the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ reminded us: “Every one of you is a shepherd, and every one of you is responsible for his flock” (Sahih al-Bukhari). In today's context, that flock could be our online audience, our team, our users , or even our own nafs (ego).

We are responsible for what we design, what we amplify, and what we normalize in the tech we build and use. So whether you're debugging a script, mentoring junior devs, or designing the next big app, remember your niyyah (intention), lead with integrity, and infuse your work with ihsaan (excellence).

Success is about guarding our souls amidst the noise, and using tech as a tool to serve, uplift, inspire, instead of just being about clean UIs, high-performing APIs, or trending products. Let’s be shepherds of impact, Muslims in Tech who leave behind both functional systems and spiritual legacy.

For advertisement inquiries, contact rashid@muslimsintech.org/marjan@muslimsintech.org

Announcements

📢Startup Spotlight Is Back, Muslim Founders of Melbourne & Sydney, It’s YOUR Time to Shine!

Startup Spotlight is back, and this time, we’re taking it bigger and bolder across both Melbourne and Sydney!

After a resounding success last year, where 3 amazing local startups took the stage and sparked real-time feedback from investors, founders, and our community, we're ready to shine the spotlight even brighter. This year, we're casting a wider net and opening the stage to Muslim founders from across both cities!

We’re looking for the top 3 startups from Melbourne and the top 3 from Sydney to present live in front of our vibrant community of investors, operators, and fellow entrepreneurs.

If you’ve got a brilliant startup ready to inspire, now’s your moment to be one of our spotlight startups. Applications are open, don't miss out on the chance to elevate your vision.

🔗Application link : Startup Spotlight Application Form

We can’t wait to see the groundbreaking ideas and inspiring journeys you’ll bring to the stage, In Sha Allah!

Subscribe now

Tick Tock, Tech Talk

• OpenAI Tests ChatGPT-Integrated Social Feed, Eyes Potential Network Expansion

OpenAI is currently trialing an internal prototype that combines ChatGPT with a social feed focused on image generation. The project, still in its early stages, could pave the way for the development of a standalone social network, signaling a possible expansion of OpenAI’s platform offerings.

• Claude Expands Capabilities with Web Search and Google Workspace Integration

Anthropic has rolled out new features for Claude, enabling the AI to search both internal data and the broader web. The update also includes integration with Google Workspace apps, marking a significant step toward making Claude a more versatile tool for research and productivity.

• Google Releases Gemini Flash 2.5 with Significant Upgrades and STEM Benchmark Gains

Gemini has unveiled Flash 2.5, the latest version of its lightweight model. The update brings major improvements over previous iterations, with performance now matching Claude across several key STEM benchmarks. The release marks a notable advancement in Gemini’s model lineup.

What are we slacking about?

• Suggestions for Muslims in Tech’s AI Events & Activities

• Halal Eats

• Graduate Research & Industry Networking Event

• Venture Makers Innovation Challenge

Not part of our private Slack group? Register here to join us and you’ll receive an email to join us! 🚀💻

Meme of The Month

Help Us Grow

We now need your help to continue growing and do the following:

- Reach 1000 members
- Expand our Careers of the Future program to 5 schools
- Launch a startup accelerator

You can be the reason this blessed community continues to grow.

Invite a friend to be part of the journey and join the community: muslimsintech.org/join

Our Esteemed Partners

Share

If you know someone interested in joining or who can benefit the community, send them our trusty registration form. We now have members in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and even Toronto, Canada! Let’s introduce you to our Chapter Leads:

• Melbourne: Marjan Rahman

• Sydney: Umair Shakoor

• Brisbane: Revsan Ahmetoglu

• Toronto: Hamza Ali

Best Regards,

Team Muslims in Tech

Subscribe and stay up-to-date with the latest in the Muslims in Tech community.

As the blessed month of Ramadan draws to a close, we at Muslims in Tech would like to extend our heartfelt wishes to our vibrant community. Eid-Al Fitr is a joyous celebration marking the culmination of a month of fasting, reflection, and spiritual growth.

This Eid, we celebrate not only the end of Ramadan but also the connections, innovation, and achievements within our tech community. Your commitment, passion, and creativity continue to inspire and drive positive change within the industry.

May this Eid bring happiness, peace, and prosperity to you and your loved ones. Let's continue to build, grow, and support each other in making impactful contributions to technology and beyond.

Eid Mubarak from Muslims in Tech!

For advertisement inquiries, contact rashid@muslimsintech.org/marjan@muslimsintech.org

Community Highlights

✨ Tech, Talks & Togetherness – Annual Iftar Highlights from Sydney, Melbourne & Brisbane

This Ramadan, we had the pleasure of hosting not one, not two, but three incredible Annual Iftars! In Sydney (12th March) in collaboration with UTSMS, Melbourne (14th March) at Docklands, and Brisbane (21st March) at Mi Casa Café.

What a blessing it was to gather with our growing Muslims in Tech community across three cities, united by faith and our shared passion for tech.

In Sydney, our keynote speaker Houda Chehab delivered an inspiring talk on navigating your tech career, whether you’re aiming for promotions, a great team, higher salaries, or meaningful work.

In Melbourne, we reflected on some of Muslims in Tech's biggest milestones so far and shared our vision for the future. It was heartwarming to see familiar faces and to welcome many new ones into our community.

In Brisbane, the night brought together a vibrant local community for an intimate evening of connection, reflection, and inspiration.

Across all three cities, the iftars were filled with smiles, meaningful conversations, delicious food, and plenty of networking (and hopefully new friendships too!).

None of this would have been possible without the generous support of our sponsor, Human Appeal. As a gesture of gratitude and solidarity, we're also supporting their emergency relief campaign for Gaza. You can contribute here: Donation link

JazakAllah Khayr to everyone who joined us and made both nights truly special. Inshallah, we’ll see you at the next event!

Tick Tock, Tech Talk

• A Major Advance in AI Reasoning with Gemini 2.5 Pro

Google DeepMind’s Gemini 2.5 Pro marks a major leap in AI by reasoning through problems before responding. It leads benchmarks in math, science, and coding without costly test-time methods, while maintaining strong multimodal abilities and expanding its context window to 2 million tokens.

• DeepSeek V3-0324 Sets New Standard in AI Performance

DeepSeek has launched its latest model, V3-0324, under the MIT License. This new version delivers significant performance enhancements and surpasses GPT-4.5 across most benchmark tests.

• Anthropic Adds Web Browsing Capability to Claude

Anthropic has added web browsing to Claude, enabling it to search the internet in real time. This new feature allows Claude to provide more current and accurate answers by pulling in up-to-date information during chats.

What are we slacking about?

• Cooler - Podcasting with a Fun, Social, and Interactive Experience

• App Building

Not part of our private Slack group? Register here to join us and you’ll receive an email to join us! 🚀💻

Subscribed

Meme of The Month

Help Us Grow

We now need your help to continue growing and do the following:

- Reach 1000 members
- Expand our Careers of the Future program to 5 schools
- Launch a startup accelerator

You can be the reason this blessed community continues to grow.

Invite a friend to be part of the journey and join the community: muslimsintech.org/join

Our Esteemed Partners

Share

If you know someone interested in joining or who can benefit the community, send them our trusty registration form. We now have members in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and even Toronto, Canada! Let’s introduce you to our Chapter Leads:

• Melbourne: Marjan Rahman

• Sydney: Umair Shakoor

• Brisbane: Revsan Ahmetoglu

• Toronto: Hamza Ali

Best Regards,

Team Muslims in Tech

Subscribe and stay up-to-date with the latest in the Muslims in Tech community.

Ramadan Mubarak, everyone! As we welcome this sacred month, Let’s remind ourselves that it's a beautiful opportunity to hit pause on our busy lives, nurture our souls, and reconnect with Allah (SWT). The holy words from Surah Al-Baqarah (2:183) remind us:

“O you who have believed, decreed upon you is fasting as it was decreed upon those before you, that you may become righteous.”

For many of us, especially those juggling the demands of a tech-driven world, Ramadan offers a gentle nudge to find balance between our worldly tasks and our spiritual needs. Here are a few reflections and tips to help you make the most of this blessed time:

1. 🌟 Start and End with Gratitude
Each day is a precious gift. Take a moment at sunrise and sunset to appreciate the blessing of another Ramadan. Let gratitude fill your heart as you make personal duas for yourself, your loved ones, and the entire ummah.

2. 📿 Focus on Nourishing Your Spirit
Ramadan is less about ticking off productivity goals and more about deep spiritual connection. Prioritize your prayers, thoughtful Qur’an recitation, and moments of dhikr. It’s about feeding the soul, not just managing your schedule.

3. 📖 Set Personal Qur’an Goals
Instead of rushing to complete the Qur’an, choose a few verses or surahs to really understand and reflect upon. Sometimes, diving deep into a single verse can be far more transformative than simply reading through pages.

4. 🕋 Embrace the Sunnah in Your Daily Life
Incorporate small acts inspired by the Sunnah into your routine, like using a miswak, enjoying dates at Iftar, or offering extra rak’ahs. These little practices bring a sense of closeness and barakah to your day.

5. 🤲 Let Dua Be Your Constant Companion
Keep a list of your heartfelt prayers and never hesitate to ask for what you need, be it spiritual growth, success in your career, or healing for those in need. Your duas are your direct line to Allah, a reminder of your trust and hope.

6. 🍽️ Simplify Iftar and Suhoor
Rather than preparing elaborate meals, opt for wholesome, simple dishes that rejuvenate both body and soul. Less time in the kitchen means more time for reflection, prayer, and connecting with family.

7. 📵 Take a Digital Detox
Give yourself permission to disconnect from the constant buzz of notifications and social media. Use that extra time to immerse yourself in prayer, reading, or quiet reflection. Your mind and spirit will thank you.

8. 🕌 Participate in Taraweeh, In-Person or Online
If you can, join Taraweeh at your local mosque. If not, following along online or performing extra rak’ahs at home can also help keep your spiritual momentum alive during this blessed month.

9. 🕊️ Practice Patience and Forgiveness
Ramadan is the perfect time to let go of past hurts and embrace forgiveness. Cultivating patience in challenging moments can transform not only your fast but your overall outlook on life.

10. 💡 Carry Ramadan’s Lessons Beyond the Month
Think about how the insights and habits you build during Ramadan can shape your daily life long after the month ends. Whether it’s establishing a consistent prayer routine, improving your focus at work, or opening your heart to others, let Ramadan be the spark for lasting, positive change.

May this month bring you peace, balance, and a renewed connection to your inner self and to Allah (SWT). Enjoy this time of reflection and growth, and Ramadan Mubarak from Muslims in Tech!

For advertisement inquiries, contact rashid@muslimsintech.org/marjan@muslimsintech.org

Community Highlights

✨Muslims in Tech AI Bootcamp 2025 Recap

On Saturday, 22nd February 2025, our community gathered at Room 356, Level 3, Mahmoud's Hall, University of Melbourne for an intensive day of AI exploration. Participants dove into building an AI assistant using Python and OpenAI APIs, covering everything from the basics of generative AI to deploying a fully functional chatbot with voice and image capabilities.

Highlights:

• Interactive Workshops: Step-by-step guidance on building and deploying an AI assistant.

• Expert Guidance: Instructors broke down complex concepts into practical, easy-to-follow modules.

• Networking & Certification: Great opportunities to connect with fellow tech enthusiasts and earn a certificate.

• Delicious Food: A satisfying lunch and refreshments kept everyone energized throughout the day.

JazakAllah Khayr to everyone who joined us, your passion for technology made this event a resounding success. We look forward to seeing you at future events!

Tick Tock, Tech Talk

• Accelerating Discovery with a Gemini 2.0-Powered AI Co-Scientist

Introducing a cutting-edge, multi-agent AI system built on Gemini 2.0 that serves as a virtual collaborator. This AI co-scientist aids researchers by proposing innovative hypotheses and crafting research proposals, thereby expediting breakthroughs in scientific and biomedical fields.

• Mistral’s le Chat, A Cutting-Edge Chat Assistant

Mistral’s le Chat is an incredibly fast chat assistant that processes up to 1,000 words per second. It leverages Mistral's advanced coding models and features an intuitive canvas interface to support a wide range of tasks.

• New AI Venture Launched by Ex-OpenAI Leader and Elite Talent

A former OpenAI CTO, along with a group of highly skilled scientists and engineers, has come together to launch a new AI company. Although the specific objectives remain a bit unclear, the venture appears to be focused on developing both innovative products and foundational models, with a strong emphasis on building the underlying infrastructure.

What are we slacking about?

• Australian Muslims Jobs Portal

• Multi-Agent Future

• Pitchapalooza

Not part of our private Slack group? Register here to join us and you’ll receive an email to join us! 🚀💻

Subscribe now

Meme of The Month

Help Us Grow

We now need your help to continue growing and do the following:

- Reach 1000 members
- Expand our Careers of the Future program to 5 schools
- Launch a startup accelerator

You can be the reason this blessed community continues to grow.

Invite a friend to be part of the journey and join the community: muslimsintech.org/join

Our Esteemed Partners

Share

If you know someone interested in joining or who can benefit the community, send them our trusty registration form. We now have members in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and even Toronto, Canada! Let’s introduce you to our Chapter Leads:

• Melbourne: Marjan Rahman

• Sydney: Umair Shakoor

• Brisbane: Muhammad Khatree

• Toronto: Hamza Ali

Best Regards,

Team Muslims in Tech

Subscribe and stay up-to-date with the latest in the Muslims in Tech community.