November
08 Friday

No Easy Road: Stories of Muslim Activism – 2024 Launch of Islamophobia Awareness Month

Fri, November 8, 2024 (6:00 pm - 8:30 pm)
Mabledon Place
Mabledon Pl, London, UK

Description

Join for the launch of Islamophobia Awareness Month, sharing stories of resilience, courage, and triumph from inspiring Muslim voices

About this event

No Easy Road: Stories of Muslim Activism marks the official launch of Islamophobia Awareness Month 2024, a significant occasion to reflect on the challenges, transformations, and resilience of Muslim activism in the UK. Over the decades, British Muslim political activism has evolved from its early beginnings of reactionary protest into a sophisticated movement rooted in Islamic principles, civic engagement, identity politics, and broad alliances, with a firm commitment to both domestic and global causes.

This event will explore how Muslim communities have navigated political marginalisation, the rise of Islamophobia, and state repression, all while building stronger coalitions with other marginalised groups. Our distinguished speakers will share their stories of resilience and strategic achievements in the face of ongoing challenges, including the increasingly securitised political landscape, state-imposed restrictions, and the struggle for dignity, recognition, and genuine systemic change.

Join to hear powerful narratives of perseverance, gain insights into effective strategies for sustained activism, and be inspired by the unwavering resolve of Muslim communities as they continue to confront complex injustices in an era of global political volatility.

Event Highlights

  • Resilience and Adaptation in Muslim ActivismExplore the evolution of British Muslim political activism, from self-defence movements to the creation of coalitions with other minority groups, all while remaining rooted in Islamic principles and advocating for dignity, recognition, and systemic change within both local and global contexts.
  • Controlling Islamic Identity and State PowerDelve into how states and political elites, both in the West and the Muslim world, attempt to shape and control muslim identity. This control is aimed at defining “acceptable” forms of Islam to maintain political authority, repress muslim activism and organising, and preserve the existing power structures, rooted in racism and white supremacy.
  • Community, Solidarity, and Resistance: Understand how Muslim communities, particularly those in the UK, have built grassroots movements and coalitions that resist both state repression and Islamophobic narratives. The focus will be on how these communities challenge authoritarian tendencies that seek to delegitimise their political and religious expression.
  • Challenging the Legitimacy of “Islamism”: Examine the strategic delegitimisation of Muslim political organising, as they are increasingly framed as radical threats, not for extremism, but because they challenge autocratic power in both Muslim-majority and Western states. Learn how this dynamic influences the broader struggle for political freedom.

Speakers Profiles

Dr. Usaama al-Azami is an Assistant Professor in Arabic and Islamic Studies at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. He pursued formal Islamic studies from 2002 and completed his BA in Arabic and Islamic Studies at Oxford in 2008. He has studied with numerous renowned scholars, including Shaykh Mohammad Akram Nadwi and Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi. With a PhD from Princeton University, his expertise lies in contemporary Islamic political thought. He’s also the author of Islam and the Arab Revolutions, exploring the role of the ulama in the 2011 Arab Revolutions.

Moazzam Begg is a British-born Muslim and one of the most prominent advocates for justice and political prisoners worldwide. After being wrongfully detained in Guantanamo Bay, he has dedicated his life to exposing injustice. He is the author of the best-seller Enemy Combatant, which recounts his experiences of wrongful imprisonment and torture in Guantanamo, Bagram, and Kandahar. Recognised in The Muslim 500 as one of the world’s most influential Muslims and by The New Statesman as one of the top 50 “Heroes of our Time,” Moazzam has travelled extensively, investigating state abuses and Western complicity in torture. His life and work have been documented in the BBC Storyville documentary The Confession and preserved by Columbia University’s Oral History Project.

Sufyan Gulam Ismail is an award-winning serial entrepreneur and philanthropist and has been ranked amongst the 500 most influential Muslims in the world on five separate occasions. Sufyan has built numerous businesses over the years, specialising in financial services, private equity, and real estate.

In 2014, Sufyan formally retired from full-time business activity to focus on philanthropic ventures, with a key focus on tackling Islamophobia. To this end, he was the founder of MEND, which specialises in tackling Islamophobia through a dual approach of advocacy in Westminster and media engagement, as well as improving media and political literacy of grassroots British Muslims across the UK. MEND’s work has been recognised by the World Economic Forum and various other global bodies.

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Friday, November 8, 2024

6:00 pm - 8:30 pm  
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