Ali Banat (16 February 1982 – 29 May 2018) was an Australian businessman, later a humanitarian philanthropist, from the

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

suburb of

Greenacre Greenacre is a suburb in Sydney, located 20 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Most of Greenacre is in the local government area of the City of Canterbury-Bankstown, while a part ...

and of Palestinian descent. He was running two lucrative businesses, a security company and an electrical company, when he was diagnosed with cancer in October 2015. After the

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

diagnosis, he donated everything he had for charitable causes.

Muslims Around the World

After the diagnosis, he founded the charity ‘Muslims Around the World’, also known as MATW. An interview with

Mohamed Hoblos Muhammad (8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious and political leader and the founder of Islam. Muhammad in Islam, According to Islam, he was a prophet who was divinely inspired to preach and confirm the tawhid, monotheistic teachings of A ...

titled "Gifted with Cancer" brought further acclaim to his organization. The charity initially concentrated on

Togo Togo, officially the Togolese Republic, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to Ghana–Togo border, the west, Benin to Benin–Togo border, the east and Burkina Faso to Burkina Faso–Togo border, the north. It is one of the le ...

but soon expanded to other African nations including

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

Ghana Ghana, officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It is situated along the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, and shares borders with Côte d’Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, and Togo to t ...

and

Benin Benin, officially the Republic of Benin, is a country in West Africa. It was formerly known as Dahomey. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north-west, and Niger to the north-east. The majority of its po ...

. He came to the aid of people living in destitute communities by constructing clean water infrastructure, educational facilities, community health and safety facilities, orphanages, battered women shelters, and other institutions essential for the prosperity of those communities. Importantly, Banat dedicated his efforts to uplifting Muslim life in these areas, renovating mosques and encouraging the Muslim people therein to come together in solidarity.

Death

He was diagnosed with cancer in 2015 and died on 29 May 2018. He left a farewell video message.Archived a
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine

References

External links

MATW-Project official websiteMATW Facebook pageMATW YouTube channel
21st-century Australian philanthropists Australian people of Palestinian descent Australian people of Lebanese descent Australian Muslims 1985 births 2018 deaths 20th-century Australian philanthropists Deaths from cancer in New South Wales {{Australia-business-bio-stub