Isa Khan: An EQ+ Celebration Series Winner Story

Posted on: 15 July 2026 in Student experiences

At 18, Isa is balancing his first year in Business Economics with running The Quran Group, a registered Community Interest Company he started at 17. What began as a few free classes now reaches more than 500 students across six continents. The group offers daily lessons in Quran, Arabic and tafseer, with one principle at its heart: no one is turned away because they cannot afford to learn.

The Quran Group has grown quickly. What was the idea behind starting it?

I started The Quran Group after memorising the Quran myself. It began as a few free classes, and then more people found the work and wanted to be part of it. Scholars, teachers and developers gave their time voluntarily, some for years. I did not recruit the people who built it; they saw what it was for and chose to stay. That community is probably the part I am proudest of.

You have spoken about teaching a blind student one-to-one every day. Why has that stayed with you?

For the past year, I have been working out how to teach the Quran to someone who cannot see the page. It makes access very real. It is not just an idea; it is about adapting until someone can genuinely take part. He is one of more than 500 students we teach across six continents, but I still teach 25 students myself every day because the rest of it only matters because of the people we are trying to serve.

What do you want to take forward from this work?

Everything I am doing points towards one long-term goal: working on economic development in Muslim-majority countries. The Quran Group has taught me how to build something from nothing, manage people and money responsibly, and run something without needing to be the centre of it. I am also studying Mandarin because I want to work between the places where Chinese investment is concentrated and the communities I hope to support. I want to prove that you can build something serious without giving up what it stands for.