mbrn.org

Poverty and British Muslims: Identifying Problems and Proposing Solutions
2015-09-16
MBRN event with the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies

Introduction

The Muslims in Britain Research Network, together with the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, held a joint event in Oxford on Wednesday 16th, September. The thematic focus of the day was ‘Poverty and British Muslims’, and featured a keynote presentation by Professor Anthony Heath, academic responses, and a practitioner panel. The event also included the MBRN AGM, a networking session, and a tour of the OCIS new building. The MBRN Committee were delighted with the event, which had 60 attendees, and very grateful to OCIS and in particular, Dr Asma Mustafa, for hosting.
Post-Event Resources
A blogpost about Professor Heath’s presentation at the MBRN/OCIS Poverty & British Muslims conference in Oxford can be accessed here (website of the Centre for Social Investigation, Nuffield College, University of Oxford).
An excerpt:
We came up with three theories. The first is transitory factors, which is to say that Muslim groups are more recent arrivals to the UK and as such may have lower levels of education (or foreign qualifications that aren’t recognised), and are less likely to be proficient in English – these factors directly influence labour market outcomes. A second explanation might be intrinsic factors to the religion, for example, particular family values may mean lower rates of women going to work and larger family sizes. The third explanatory theory is prejudice and discrimination.
A more in-depth article about Professor Heath’s research, co-authored by Prof Li (University of Manchester), can be found here (‘Review of the relationship between religion and poverty – an analysis for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation’).
Professor Heath’s slides for his MBRN/OCIS presentation are available here.

Islam and Peaceful Relations
2016-04-05
MBRN conference with the Centre for Trust, Peace, and Social Relations, University of Coventry

Islam has been an important force for peace in the world historically and now. Peace is integral to Islamic theology and Muslim ethos, either as part of the individual’s personal experience or the wider context of maintaining peaceful relations in society. Yet terrorism undermines this discourse around peace and Islam. Recent attacks in France, Lebanon and Bangladesh have once again put Islam at the fore of debates around religiously-motivated conflict. Terrorists constitute a very small proportion of the global Muslim population and their ideology at best represents only a fringe, yet the narratives they propound have a dominating influence in shaping how Islam and Muslims are perceived. This has resulted in an increased focus on radicalisation and preventing violent extremism in policy, media discourse and some academic research around Islam and Muslims in Britain and beyond, subverting most other narratives of Islam and Muslims.
This conference will ‘radically’ depart from this trend. Instead it will focus its discussion about Islam on dialogue, peace and peaceful relations. In doing so it will uncover Islamic theological traditions around peacebuilding, historical precedents of peaceful existence with Muslims and contemporary lived experiences of intra-faith and inter-cultural dialogue, improved societal understanding of difference and peaceful relations. The conference will move the debate beyond simplistic ‘good and bad’, ‘us and them’ binaries to more complex discussions that consider the impact of diverse social factors including, gender, class, economy and geography.
The Faith and Peaceful Relations Research Group at CTPSR explores the role religion can play in achieving more peaceful and just societies. Faith can be a driver of peace, reconciliation and social justice, yet it can also be a source of violence, exclusion and misunderstanding. This conference will build on our research expertise and will explore the positive difference faith and belief, in this case Islam, can make in today’s world and how conflicts relating to Islam can be overcome.
Proposals for papers, panel discussions, workshops and poster presentations that focus on one, or more, of the above themes are invited from scholars, community activists and policy makers. For the purposes of the conference, we do not define the term ‘Islam and Peaceful Relations’, but rather envisage that contributions will broaden our understanding of what this can mean in contemporary plural society.
The conference will explore themes including:
– Theological and sociological constructs and definitions of Islam and peace
– Contemporary debates, including the role of the digital world
– Interfaith and Inter-cultural dialogue
– Intra-faith dialogue across diverse Muslim denominations and traditions
– Local ramifications of international events and initiatives
– Develop a narrative of Islam and peace
Abstracts & Proposals:
To submit a proposal:
– Please submit a title and abstract of no more than 300 words, indicating whether it is a paper / panel / workshop / poster presentation.
– Please include names and short biographies (150 words maximum) of the presenter/s, institutional affiliation/s (if relevant), and contact details.
– Proposals should be sent to the conference administrator Charlotte Martin via email
– Deadline: 5pm on Monday 15th February 2016.
– Successful participants will be notified by 29th February 2016.

Exploring Contemporary Muslim Art, Culture and Heritage in Britain
2017-09-14
In association with the Dept of Theology & Religion at the University of Birmingham

This one-day Muslims in Britain Research Network (MBRN) conference will create space for critical dialogue and community exchange by bringing aspiring and established Muslim artists and cultural producers together with eminent scholars and researchers, policymakers and arts funders. The conference will provide a space to discuss, inform and engage through a program of lectures, presentations and panel discussions. Cultural experts will share insights into the key factors affecting Muslim arts and culture in Britain.
For further information and registration see: https://muslimartconference2017.eventbrite.co.uk
Provisional Schedule:
09.15-10.00 – Registration and Networking
10.00-10.15 – Welcome
Professor Alison Scott-Baumann (MBRN Chair)
Dr Stephen Jones (MBRN General Secretary)
Dr Katherine Brown (University of Birmingham)
10.15-11-15 – Opening Plenary
Muslim Art & Culture in Britain: the Challenges
Dr Carl Morris (University of Central Lancashire)
‘Muslim Art and Culture: the Challenge of Conceptualisation and Definition’
Dr Fatima Zahra Hassan (Educator & Artist)
Luqman Ali (Artistic Director, Khayaal Theatre)
Sara Choudhrey (Digital Islamic Art, PhD Candidate, University of Kent)
Chair: Mobeen Butt (MBRN/Muslim Museum)
11.30-12.45 – Parallel Session 1
Muslim Art, Identity & Activism
Dr William Barylo (Affiliate Researcher, EHESS (Paris))
‘Art as a Decolonial Narrative: Rumi’s Cave in London’
Shahnaz Akhter (PhD Candidate, Warwick University)
‘Englistan, The New British’
Isa Sulaiman Noorudeen (Co-Founder, Developing Our Traditions)
‘Art in Our Times: The Battle with a Community to which Art is Alien’
Fasial Hussain (Director, True Form Projects)
‘Suspect Objects, Suspect Subjects’
Chair: Mohammed Ali MBE (Soul City Arts)
Muslim Heritage & Exhibitions
Dr Nazneen Ahmed (Research Associate – UCL)
‘“A Special Space for Sisters”: Tracing the Creative Making of Muslim Women’s Space Using Creative Research Methods’
Dr Irfan Malik (Independent Researcher)
‘The First World War contribution of Dulmial Village, Pakistan’
Haroon Ravat (Director, Xtra Mile West Midlands)
‘Connected Histories: Muslims in the WWI’
Izzy Mohammed (Project Manager, Soul City Arts)
‘Knights of the Raj Heritage Project’
Neelam Hussain (Curator, Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham)
‘Heritage, Arts and Islamic Manuscripts’
Chair: Dr Jamil Sherif (East London Mosque Archives)
12.45-13.45 – Lunch / Prayers (Zohar 1.03pm) / Networking
13.45-14.45 – Performance or Tour
Sufi Music
Dome Rehearsal Room, Bramall Music Building
Ayesha Khan (PhD Candidate, Cardiff University)
‘Contemporary Sufi Expression amongst Young British Muslims’
Tas Bashir & Dr Scott Wilson (University of Birmingham)
Qawwali Research Unit & Demonstration of Sufi music using B.E.A.S.T.
Chair: Prof Alison Scott-Baumann (MBRN/SOAS)
Tour of Cadbury Research Library (max. capacity 20)
Cadbury Research Library, Muirhead Tower
Neelam Hussain (Curator, Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham)
Tour of the Mingana Collection of Middle Eastern Manuscripts
15.00-16.00 – Parallel Session 2
Islam and Music: Rap, Choirs & Song
Mirina Paananen (Student, University of Oxford)
‘The Mosque Choir: Engaging with Muslim Choral Heritage’
Anna Nayyar (Research Director, Vivacity – Peterborough Museum)
‘The Quivering Scale: Tradition and Fusion Over 3 Generations of Muslim Women’s Song’
Ismael Lea South (Project Manager, Black Muslims in British History)
‘A Brief Overview of the History and Influence of Black British Urban Artistic Expression of Islamic Urban Rap & Poetry’
Dr Abdul-Azim Ahmed (Cardiff University)
‘Grime and Islam’
Chair: Dr Sadek Hamid (MBRN)
Traditional, Minimalistic & Digital: Islamic Art & Calligraphy
Dr Fatima Zahra Hassan (Educator & Artist)
‘Art of the Book’
Razwan Ul-Haq – Artist & Author, Calligraphy, Fantasy & Sci-Fi
‘Is There Such a Thing as “Islamic” Art? A Practical Exposition’
Razwan Baig – Calligrapher and Collector of Islamic Art
‘The evolution of Islamic Calligraphy’
Funding Workshop (TBC)
16.15-17.15 – Parallel Session 3
Literature
Prof Peter Morey (University of Birmingham)
Dr Rula M. Al-Abdulrazak (University of East London)
‘Who’s the hero? Muslim Women in Arabic Literature’
Chair: Dr Amina Yaqin (SOAS)
[Additional speaker(s) TBC]
Weapons of Beauty, Rumi’s Circle
Saimma Dyer (Director, Chickpea Press)
Fatimah Ashrif (Founder, Rumi’s Circle)
Mohammed Nazam (Founder, Berakah Arts)
(Re)Creating Muslim Heritage in Britain (roundtable)
Dr Jamil Sherif (East London Mosque Archive)
Sadiya Ahmed (Founder, Everyday Muslim Heritage and Archive Initiative)
Izzy Mohammed (PhD Candidate, ‘Representation in Public Archives’, University of Birmingham)
Haroon Ravat (Connected Histories: Muslims in WWI)
Neelam Hussain (Curator, Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham)
Facilitator: Mobeen Butt (Director, Muslim Museum Initiative)
[Additional participants TBC]
17.30-18.45 – Closing Plenary – Practitioner Panel Discussion
Artists in Conversation: the Opportunities
Mohammed Ali MBE (Founder, Soul City Arts)
Saba Khan (CEO, ArtEase)
Teakster (Digital & Graphic Artist)
Salma Zulfiqar (Humanitarian Artist)
Hassan Vawda (Community Arts Programmer)
Chair/Reflection: Abid Hussain (Director, Arts Council England)

Populist Politics and the Minority Voice: British Muslims, Extremisms and Inclusion
2018-04-19
In partnership with the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King’s College London (KCL), University of London:

Event Description
A one-day Muslims in Britain Research Network (MBRN) conference organised in partnership with the Department of Theology and Religious Studies, King’s College London (KCL), University of London
19 April 2018
Themes include:

Muslim activism and populist politics;
New media, populism and the representation of Muslims and other minorities;
Recognising, opposing and offering alternatives to anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and other extremisms;
British Muslims and national identity after Brexit;
Challenges to, and for, principles of tolerance, free speech and accommodation.

Plenary speakers
Narzanin Massoumi, University of Exeter & editor, What is Islamophobia?
Aaron Winter, University of East London
David Feldman, Director, Pears Institute for the Study of Anti-Semitism
Shenaz Bunglawala, Aziz Foundation
Rokhsana Fiaz OBE, Newham councillor and mayoral candidate
Keith Kahn-Harris, Leo Baeck College and Birkbeck, University of London
Ruth Sheldon, Birkbeck, University of London
Additional speakers
Reza Gholami, University of Birmingham
Khadijah Elshayyal, University of Edinburgh
Mirjam Aeschbach, University of Zurich
Shanon Shah, Critical Muslim
Ajmal Hussain, University of Manchester
Laura Jones, Cardiff University
Waqas Tufail, Leeds Beckett University
Gillian Kennedy, King’s College London
Kristin Henrard, ESL, Rotterdam
Ayesha Chowdhury, Leeds Becket University
Laurens de Rooij, University of Cape Town
Conference outline
Across Europe and North America, populist parties and leaders have surged in recent years, with figures such as Donald Trump and Andrej Babiš and parties such as UKIP and Alternative für Deutschland making significant electoral gains. Although different in important respects, these movements share certain themes, such as emphasis on national self-interest and hostility toward international co-operation, liberal political norms and established news media. In almost all cases this desire to reassert national identity has also involved renewed hostility toward ethnic and religious minorities – especially Jewish and Muslim minorities – as well as toward any frameworks of liberal accommodation that have allowed minorities to participate in public life on an equal footing. In the UK, this was evident in the referendum on European Union membership in 2016, which not only destabilised previously taken-for-granted political and legal frameworks but also contributed to a sustained rise in hate crime, anti-immigration rhetoric and Islamophobia.
This one-day conference on ‘Populist politics and the minority voice’ will discuss the effects of these changes on British Muslims, and how the concerns of British Muslims relate to those of other minority groups as well as wider debates about the future of liberal states, free speech and ‘fake news. Since at least the 1970s, British Muslims – as a group and alongside other minorities – have been involved in a struggle for rights, for media and political representation and for recognition. What might these struggles look like in the future? What is the future of British Muslim identity, post-Brexit? How might rights and legal accommodations be affected by withdrawal from the EU? How do concerns about rising Islamophobia intersect with concerns about resurgent anti-Semitism and far-right and populist movements? How should debates about Muslims and the media proceed in an era of ‘fake news’? How can standards of debate about minorities be preserved and what can higher education and Muslim institutions contribute?
Conference programme
09.30-10.15 – Registration and Networking
10.15-10.30 – Welcome, Alison Scott-Baumann (MBRN) and Daniel Nilsson DeHanas (King’s College London)
10.30-12.00 – Opening Plenary, ‘Recognising, Opposing and Offering Alternatives to Anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and Other Extremisms’

Narzanin Massoumi, University of Exeter
Aaron Winter, University of East London
David Feldman, Pears Institute for the study of Antisemitism, Birkbeck, University of London
Ruth Sheldon, Birkbeck, University of London

12.00-13.00 – Lunch
13.00-14.30 – Parallel Session 1A, ‘Transnational Law and Activism’

Gillian Kennedy, King’s College London, ‘Between a rock and a hard place’: British Egyptian Muslims and new explanations for Transnational Diaspora Mobilization since the 2011 Egyptian Uprising’
Ayesha Chowdhury and Razaq Raj, Leeds Beckett University, ‘21st Century Conflict: Incitement of Religious Discrimination, Freedom of Speech and Defamation of Religion’
Kristin Henrard, Erasmus School of Law, and Peter Vermeersch, University of Leuven (KU Leuven), ‘Nationalism with a ‘human’ face? European human rights judgments and the reinvention of nationalist politics’

13.00-14.30 – Parallel Session 1B, ‘Identity Politics’

Khadijah Elshayyal, University of Edinburgh, ‘Muslim Identity politics: Islam, activism and equality in Britain’
Shannon Shah, Critical Muslim, ‘Populist politics and gay Muslims: Scapegoats, pawns or rebels?’
Laura Jones, ‘Challenging Islamophobia and Fostering ‘Ambassadors’ for Islam – A Case Study of Open Iftar Events at a Mosque’

14.30-15.00 – Coffee / Networking
15.00-16.30 – Parallel Session 2A, ‘Media and Representation’

Laurens de Rooj, University of Cape Town, ‘Believing and Belonging: Media Engagement With Populism, Islam, And Muslims In Britain’
Mirjam Aeschbach, University of Zurich, ‘New Media, Representation, and Belonging: British Muslim Struggle for Recognition on Twitter’
Ajmal Hussain, University of Manchester, ‘The impossibility of Muslims in the public sphere’

15.00-16.30 – Parallel Session 2B, ‘Islamophobia and the Far-Right’

Waqas Tufail, Leeds Beckett University, ‘From ‘Grooming Gangs’ to Far-Right Populism and Racist Murder: Anti-Muslim Racism and Resistance in Neoliberal Britain’
Stephen H. Jones, Newman University and MBRN, ‘“That’s how Muslims are required to view the world”: Race, culture and belief in non-Muslims’ descriptions of Islam and science’
Reza Gholami, ‘Extremisms, Policy and Myths of ‘Muslim Education’

16.30-17.00 – Transfer / Set up / Networking
17.00-18.15 – Closing Plenary, ‘Minorities and British Identity after Brexit’

Shenaz Bunglawala, Aziz Foundation
Rokhsana Fiaz, Newham mayoral candidate
Keith Kahn-Harris, Leo Baeck College

18.15-18.30 – Closing Summary, Alison Scott-Baumann
CONFERENCE CLOSE

Studying Muslim Britain: A Forum for Early Career Researchers
2018-07-18
In collaboration with the University of Manchester

British Muslims and health: addressing inequalities and promoting access
2018-09-12
In partnership with Bradford University and the Born in Bradford project.

British Muslim Charitable Organisations: A Best Practice Forum
2020-01-15
In partnership with the Muslim Charities Forum and the Humanitarian Academy for Development

This event is for scholars and practitioners working in, working with or researching Muslim charities that are based in the United Kingdom but conduct charitable activities throughout the world. British Muslim INGOs have been in operation in the UK since the early eighties. Since then, the sector has grown and now includes over a hundred charities which have a total spend of just under half a billion pounds annually.
These charities have been at the forefront of providing aid in times of crisis and in supporting long term economic development in some of the poorest parts of the world. At this conference, scholars and practitioners from across this sector will showcase their work from the field and discuss and debate the challenges the sector faces, whether to do with fundraising, policy contexts or working internationally. Papers will either focus on a specific aspect of British Muslim charity that presenters wish to highlight as best practice or seek to open debates about working in any aspect of development work. The conference organisers intend to collect all or part of the proceedings of the conference to be published in book form.
The call for papers for this event has now closed, but all are welcome to register to attend.
The Muslims in Britain Research Network is a network of academics, researchers and practitioners that specialises in studying and supporting the development of the British Muslim community. The Muslim Charities Forum has been studying the sector for the past year and will be launching its research into the charity sector at this event. The Humanitarian Academy for Development is a center of excellence serving the leadership, research and talent development needs of the humanitarian sector.

BRITISH MUSLIMS AND COVID-19
2020-12-08
British Muslims and Covid-19: Impacts, Experiences and Responses

Symposium Overview

Research on Covid-19 highlighted its disproportionate impact on Black and Asian Minority Ethnic groups (BAME) communities (Public Health England, 2020). However, these studies only offer a limited understanding of the particularity of experiences within the umbrella category BAME. For instance, there is only limited discussion around faith in relation to Covid-19, its impacts and the socio-economic fall-outs of lockdown. This MBRN symposium redressed this gap by taking an intersectional perspective in mapping and analysing the impact of Covid-19 on British Muslim communities. By bringing together practitioners and academics, we examined how diverse British Muslim communities have experienced the pandemic, how their lives have been impacted during and after lockdown and how they responded.
By focusing on the experiences of British Muslims, this online symposium enabled us to examine the interplay of ethnicity, religion and deprivation, in negotiating the particular challenges of living through Covid-19. We explored the diversity of ways in which British Muslims have experienced and responded to Covid-19, and seek to understand its ongoing impacts. We suggested answers for the question, “How are diverse British Muslims living through, and responding to the challenges of, Covid-19?”.
The symposium included presentations from academics and practitioners from a range of epistemological positions and disciplinary standpoints to explore dimensions of Muslim identity / lived experiences in relation to the pandemic, lockdown and subsequent socio-economic implications of Covid-19 in Britain.

Call for Papers: British Muslim Studies at 50: Retrospect and Prospect
2024-08-14 08:00 - 17:00 UTC
This conference will examine some of the main contributions to British Muslim Studies (BMS), including a specific focus on research institutes and centres.
Though still in its infancy as a sub-field, the academic study of British Muslims in UK institutions of higher education is now over five decades old. Since the 1960s/1970s, research and teaching about Britain’s Muslims has developed and expanded – advancing our understanding and knowledge of Britain’s diverse and dynamic Muslim population in myriad disciplines – including but not limited to sociology, history, religious studies, Islamic Studies, geography, politics, and their various intersections.
Over the past decade or so, British Muslim Studies (BMS) has seen the emergence and flourishing of successive cohorts of scholars from within Muslim communities – complicating and enriching the field by interrogating definitions, concepts and parameters of understanding. This, coupled with the long tradition of engagement and partnership with community institutions, practitioners and grassroots spaces means it is an exciting time for BMS and an apt moment to cast a retrospective glance over the past 50 years, while looking ahead towards future prospects.
This conference will examine some of the main contributions to BMS, including a specific focus on research institutes and centres. It will also pay tribute to two recently departed pioneers of BMS: Professors Mohammed Anwar and Ataullah Siddiqui.
We invite abstract submissions for papers, which showcase emergent research topics and directions in British Muslim Studies. We are keen to receive abstracts from PhD scholars and early career academics and are particularly interested in proposals corresponding to the following themes:

Co-production/collaboration between researchers and communities
Synergies (or tensions) between academe and practitioners
Innovative research methods and interrogation/problematisation of extant methods

To submit a proposal:

Please submit a title and abstract of no more than 300 words together with names and short biographies (150 words) of the presenter/s, institutional affiliation/s (if relevant), and contact details.
We welcome proposals from postgraduate researchers, independent scholars and practitioners.
Proposals should be sent to MuslimsinBritainRN@gmail.com
Academic enquiries should be sent to Dr Khadijah Elshayyal, ke3@soas.ac.uk
Deadline: 5pm on Wednesday 15th June 2022
Successful presenters will be notified by Thursday 30th June 2022.

http://ijtihadnet.com/call-for-papers-british-muslim-studies-at-50-retrospect-and-prospect/

Conference: Muslims in Britain, 1800‒1970, and Beyond: Historical Approaches & Why
2024-08-14 08:00 - 17:00
Muslims in Britain, 1800‒1970, and Beyond: Historical Approaches & Why
Date: Monday and Tuesday, 1st and 2nd of July, 2024.
Time: Day One – 10 am – 5:30 pm
Day Two – 10 am – 2:30 pm
Venue: Westminster University – Marylebone Campus (see map)
Registration
Conference Schedule
Day 1: Monday 1st July
09:30 am – 10:00 am – Arrival, Registration and Refreshments
10:00 am – 10:20 am – Words of Welcome – Westminster & MBRN
10:25 am – 10:45 am – MBRN launches new membership programme & AGM
10:50 am – 11:50 am – First Plenary Session – Abdul-Azim Ahmed
Islam in Wales
Chair: Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor
11:50 am – 12: 05 pm- Break
12:10 am -1:05 pm – Panel Session 1 (Rooms tbc)
Sufi Communities of Britain: Tracing their Historic Trajectories
Chair: Dr. Hafza Iqbal

C J (Ted) Bearup (University of Manchester): The Growing Influence of the Shadhiliyya Tariqa in the UK
Qudra Goodall (University of East Anglia): Intergenerational narratives on belonging, ideology and British Islam
Farzana Hannan (Trustee of Hijaz Trust) & Imran Khan (Hijaz College): A Very British Islam: The Hijazi Naqshbandi Sufi Community in Warwickshire

Contemporary Trends and Future Possibilities in the Study of British Muslim History
Chair: Dr. Abdul Azim-Ahmed

Prof. Ron Geaves (Cardiff University): Contestation, Nuance and Consequence in Emic and Etic Approaches in Quilliam Studies
Prof. Gary R. Bunt (University of Wales, Trinity Saint David) & Prof. Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor (Coventry University): Future Histories: Our Contemporary Archiving of Digital British Islam
Tamanna Taznin (Department for Health and Social Care): Is it Fair to say that Muslim Experiences in non-Muslim States are Still Largely Determined by the Legacy of Colonialism?

1:10 pm – 2:10 pm – Networking Lunch
2:15 pm – 3:55 pm – Second Plenary Session
Collaboration and Co-Creation in Documenting History – Community Practitioners and Academia
Chair: Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor
– Everyday Muslim Heritage and Archive – Insights into community archiving and academic partnership
– Launch of muslimhistorymaps.com
Muslim History Maps is a digital mapping project that collects and shares the history of the global Muslim civilisation, past and present.
– Yahya Birt – Making Community History through Place, Poetry and Performance: the Commemoration of Fatima Cates
– Oluwatosin Daniju – Curating a Photographic Archive
– Asif Shakoor – My story researching BAME seafarers
– Muneera Williams – Spoken Word – Reflections on documenting and archiving family and community history
– Q&A
4:00 pm – 4:15 pm – Break
4:20 pm – 5:25 pm – Panel Session 2 (Rooms tbc)
Muslim Activism and Institutionalisation in British Muslim History
Chair: tbc

Tabassum Hawa (Royal Holloway, University of London): ‘A History in Shadow’ – Emotions, Identity, and Muslim Activism in Britain: 1933-1953
Muhammad Nabil (SOAS, University of London): Islamic Charitable and Philanthropic Organisations: Religiosity, Institutional activism and formation of British-Muslim Identities
Murid Shah Nadiri (University of Oxford): Resurrecting Muslim Intellectual Heritage in London/ A City of Shiʿi Muslim Institutions and Learning

British Muslim Knowledge Production and Resistance in Imperial Britain
Chair: Yahya Birt

Samuel Bartlett (Royal Holloway, University of London): Renegade in an Imperial Age: Tracing the Subversive Elements of Marmaduke Pickthall’s Scholarship
Omar Nasr (London School of Economics): British Imperialism, Knowledge Production and Islam in World War II
Hassam Latif (University of Durham): Lascars and the Pre-History of the Cardiff Race Riots 1919

5:30 pm Close
Day 2: Tuesday 2nd July
09:30 am – 10:00 am – Arrival, Registration and Refreshments
10: 00 am – 10:10 am – Welcome
10:15 am -11:05 am – Plenary (Room tbc)
Muslim Women in Britain, 1850-1950: 100 Years of Hidden History
Chair: tbc
11:10 am – 11:15 am – Coffee Break
11: 20 am – 12:25 pm – Panel Session 4 (Rooms tbc)
History of British Muslim Arts
Chair: tbc

Hassan Vawda (Goldsmiths University): Muslim Modern Artists in Britain: 1925 and 1962
Stefan Williamson Fa: Singing Sindhi Saints in Notting Hill: Aziz Balouch and his Sufi Society (1940- 1970)
Lynsey Haught (University of Birmingham): The Music of the Hemispheres: Halide Edib’s Transnational Voice and the Sound of East-West Fusion in Late Ottoman Constantinople

Travelling To, Through, and Within: History of British Muslim Migration and Travel
Chair: tbc

Talha Bhamji (University of Wales Trinity Saint David): Recollecting Hijra in the History of Deoband
Abdul Sabur Kidwai (King’s College London): Islam in/and Victorian Britain: Travel Writing of Sir Syed and Masihuddin Alvi
Nasima Hassan (Star Academies): 1967: The Journey of a Changemaker

12:30 pm 12:45 pm – Break
12:50 pm – 1:55 pm – Panel Session 4 (Rooms tbc)
Biographical Studies and Methodological Reflections in British Muslim History
Chair: tbc

Salim Ayduz (Independent Senior Researcher): The Astonishing Story of Ayuba Suleiman Diallo – An African Slave
Jaffer A. Mirza (King’s College London): Using oral history as a method: Documenting early Shi’a Muslim spaces in Britain (1960s-1970s)
Iman Dawood (University of Cambridge): A Post-Ideological Islam in the Making? Reflections from Preliminary Fieldwork in the British Muslim Community

Muslimahs in Britain: Injustices, Resistance, and Agency in the Past & Present
Chair: tbc

Muminah Hussain: Oral History Study into Muslim Female Agency, Late 20th Century Britain
Muhammad Zubair Abbasi (Oxford Brookes University): Religious Marriage as Children’s Play: Inequality, Uniformity, and Exclusion under English Matrimonial Laws
Farah Ahmed (University of Cambridge): British Muslim Women Educators’ Innovations to Counter the Securitisation and Demonisation of Muslim Youth.

2 pm – Close
——————————————————-
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Last date for submission of abstracts: Saturday, 11 May 2024
Muslims in Britain, 1800‒1970, and Beyond: Historical Approaches & Why
Venue: University of Westminster
Everyday Muslim Heritage and Archive Initiative (EMHAI) are delighted to announce a collaborative conference between the Muslims in Britain Research Network (MBRN), and the University of Westminster, which will be hosted as part of the Westminster Voices series. This unique partnership aims to bring together scholars, practitioners, and communities to delve into the multifaceted histories of Islam and Muslims in Britain from the 1800s onwards.
Muslims have been in Britain for centuries, but their presence grew in the nineteenth century, as did the first communities. The earliest Muslims had a transient presence in Britain as lascars (sailors), travellers, sojourners, soldiers, servants (including ayahs), students, notables, anti-colonial dissidents, as well as performing troupes including acrobats and ethnographic shows of colonised peoples.
The earliest Muslim communities in Britain evolved around the first mosques in Liverpool and Woking (both 1889) and also in and around the ports of Liverpool, Cardiff, East London, Manchester and South Shields, where from c. 1836 onwards, some ‘lascars’ took local wives and settled down. In the Liverpool and Woking mosque communities, many congregants were converts who encountered Islam through travel, mosque publications or public lectures, as well as sojourners and others who happened to be ‘passing through’. In port communities, working-class women converted to Islam to marry Muslim sailors, set up homes and have families. These conversions took place in social contexts that viewed Islam and Muslims with suspicion and ridicule (Gilham 2014, Ansari 2001). This remained a period of great mobility through imperial networks of sojourners to Britain. Take, for example, the itinerant scholar and thinker Mushir Hosein Kidwai, who stayed in Britain for 15 years over a 23-year timescale, making decisive contributions to the development of early Muslim political organising in Britain during this period, particularly his work on Islam and socialism (Fogg 2019). This conference is interested in uncovering both the transient and settled aspects of the Muslim experience, identity, Islamic beliefs and practices in Britain.
The two world wars saw the substantial contributions of Muslims, a third of the British Indian Army, to the war effort. According to the National Muslim War Memorial Trust, Muslims mainly from the Indian subcontinent (modern India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) and African countries fought on three continents, playing a decisive role in Britain’s first major land victory against Nazi Germany in North Africa. Throughout and beyond this period as Kidwai’s story indicates, Muslims were politically active, engaging in activism around a variety of Muslim issues of national and international significance (Cienkus 2018), including the Armenian-Ottoman conflict, the Khilafat movement and the Indian independence movement (which led to the formation of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh). This conference is keen to explore historical Muslim political activism in Britain.
Post-1960s, mass migration from South Asia, Africa and the Caribbean radically changed the demographics and ‘flavour’ of Islam and Britain forever (Gilliat-Ray 2010). These people from the erstwhile colonies often arrived in the UK, not solely as economic migrants but to help rebuild the mother country, Britain (Weller 2013). This was a new period of history-making, identity formation, and milestone moments. As Muslim communities grew in number and size, they encountered, experienced and challenged racism, anti-Muslim prejudice and Islamophobia (Weller et al 2013). The 1960s and 70s also saw the inception of Muslim institutions – mosques, seminaries, umbrella organisations – that, to date, remain foundational to the identity of Muslims in Britain (Elshayyal 2018, Peace 2015, Fazakarley 2014). Weller writes about the milestone moments in British Muslim history, including the Salman Rushdie affair, which, according to Weller (2009) and Hiro (1992), consolidated Muslim identity in Britain as distinct from South Asian identity. Despite being a period of significant flux and development for Islam in Britain, this period remains unresearched – a gap this conference aims to address.
The histories of Islam in Britain are growing (Ansari 2011, 2008, 2004; Cheruvallil-Contractor 2020, Cheruvallil-Contractor and Gilham 2023, Geaves 2010; Gilham 2023, 2014; Halliday 2010; Lawless 1995; Seddon 2014), but more nuance and granularity is needed about the complexity and intersectionality of Muslim identity and life in Britain, for example around gender, class, ethnicity and different ways of ‘believing’. The available insights provide valuable evidence of how different Muslims and any communities they were part of attempted to, not always successfully, negotiate conciliations between British and Muslim aspects of their identities, values, families, communities and loyalties. Discovering the stories of Islam in Britain has become increasingly important for modern British Muslims who want to better understand their roots in the country and celebrate their histories of activism, agency and nation-building. This conference aims to highlight these histories in all their richness and diversity.
We are eager to include perspectives from various backgrounds and positions, whether academic or non-academic. We encourage individual submissions at any stage of their academic or non-academic career. The goal is to foster collaborative efforts with community stakeholders, promoting knowledge exchange. We very much welcome submissions in different formats, including traditional academic papers, community heritage projects, poetry, spoken word, performances, and other forms of artistic expression. Topics for submissions can include but are not limited to:-

Intersectionality in historical Muslim identity in Britain
Post- and de-colonial approaches within history
Contemporary impact and influence of historical British Muslims
Experiences of racism and prejudice in early British Muslims
Histories of Muslim Organizations and Institutions
Contestations in ‘British Muslim’ identity
Socio-political activism to date
Significant ‘British Muslim’ public figures
Recent books/publications on the history of Islam and Muslims in Britain

To submit a proposal:

Please submit a title and abstract of no more than 300 words together with names and short biographies (150 words) of the presenter/s, institutional affiliation/s (if relevant), and contact details.
We also welcome proposals from academics, postgraduate researchers, independent scholars and community practitioners.
Proposals should be sent to MuslimsinBritainRN@gmail.com
Deadline: 5 pm on Friday, 11th May 2024
Successful presenters will be notified by 24th May 2024

Conference Organisers
Sadiya Ahmed, Samuel Bartlett, Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor
Muslim in Britain Research Network, Everyday Muslim Heritage and Archive Initiative and University of Westminster

Conference: Muslims in Britain, 1800‒1970, and Beyond: Historical Approaches & Why

Conference Update: Muslim Converts in Britain and Beyond
2024-11-26 00:00 - 2024-12-19 01:00
We look forward to welcoming academics and practitioners at the conference Muslim Converts in Britain and Beyond: Transitions and Transformations, which takes place on Thursday the 9th of January 2025 at Cardiff University. Registrations have now closed.

Please check the timetable and relevant information by downloading the Programme.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email us at MuslimsinBritainRN@gmail.com.

Call for Papers Muslim Converts in Britain and Beyond: Transitions and Transformations 9th January 2025, Cardiff University
2025-01-09 09:30 - 16:30
Call for Papers
Muslim Converts in Britain and Beyond: Transitions and Transformations
9th January 2025, Cardiff University
The Islam-UK Centre, Cardiff University & MBRN (Muslims in Britain Research Network) invite submissions for academic papers and professional contributions to a one-day conference about Muslim converts in Europe. This interdisciplinary conference is open to academic scholars, non-academic professionals and practitioners, and members of religious communities.
We will showcase contemporary research and practice in relation to Muslim converts in Britain, and identify topics for future research and practice by addressing the following questions:

What impact have British Muslim converts had on Muslim communities and wider British society?
What resources do British Muslim converts use to create progress and change in their own lives, and more widely?
What are the challenges and needs faced by British Muslim converts in the contemporary context, and how can research help to identify and address these?

State of knowledge
Over the past 20 years, conversion to Islam has captured the attention of academic scholars as well as practitioners and policy-makers from the criminal justice system, health and social care, religion professionals, and the media. In many European societies, conversion can be seen as controversial due to anti-Muslim prejudice and Islamophobia. For converts themselves, whilst conversion can be a joyous and fulfilling experience, it can also create tensions in their inter-personal relationships and in the wider public sphere, including in education and the workplace (Vroon 2014).
Research in Britain, and across Europe, has tended to focus on conversion experiences and the challenges Muslim converts can encounter (Alyedreessy 2016; Brice 2010). Specifically, conversion has been analysed in relation to: ethnicity, race and racialisation (Moosavi 2015; Piela & Krotofil 2023); gender and sexuality (Suleiman 2013, 2016; Van Nieuwkerk 2006); and, incarceration and terrorism/counter-terrorism (Flower 2013; Mullins 2015).
Conversion to Islam in Europe is most often characterised as a sudden and radical move to a ‘foreign’ religion. In contrast to this popular characterisation, research shows that conversion is a longer transformative process, motivated by a spiritual quest involving cumulative knowledge acquisition and a gradual shift in identity boundaries (Al-Qwidi 2002; Midden 2023). Scholarly attention has also been paid to historical evidence of Britain’s early encounters with Muslims and conversion, to counter such narratives (Ansari 2004; Gilliat-Ray 2010). Furthermore, the extent to which converts are shaping a specifically British or European Islam has been conceptualised as the ‘indigenisation’ of Islam (Zebiri 2014).
Convert Muslims have been described as ‘ambassadors of Islam’ in Europe (Van Es 2017). From this perspective, White Muslim converts can act as ‘bridges’ between born Muslims from minority backgrounds and non-Muslim majority populations (Roald 2004; Suleiman 2013). However, convert Muslim communities are ethnically diverse and a focus on whiteness can lead to further marginalisation of Muslim converts of other ethnic groups in both research and the practice of ‘convert care’ (Birt 2022). It is also important to note that converts’ positionality is complicated by colonial and historical legacies (Gallonier 2015).
More recently, scholarly interest in conversion has shifted to examine life (long) after conversion. The ‘Transformational: Muslim Converts in British Life’ is one such study, being conducted at the Islam-UK Centre Centre in collaboration with the Convert Muslim Foundation. This study aims to document and conceptualise the impact of leadership and changemaking activities of Muslim converts in Britain.
Conference Themes
We welcome contributions related to the following (non-exhaustive list of) themes:

Leadership and changemaking among Muslim converts
Second or third generation of converts
Intercultural integration
Conversion and Islamophobia
Conversion and social activism
Converts’ politics
Converts and (changing) religious authority
Converts’ long-term spiritual journeys
Evolved convert organisations
Gender
‘Race’, ethnicity and other dimensions of converts’ diversity
(Media) narratives on conversion
Conversion and da‘wah cultures
Other themes relevant to the conference questions

Submission guidelines
Please submit your abstract or description of your 15-minute presentation (300 words) addressing one or more of the conference questions, along with a short bio (50 words) using this online form: https://forms.office.com/e/bwKkwzHqDB
This call for papers will close on 31st October 2024.
You will be notified of acceptance by mid-November 2024.
Conference organisers
Centre for the Study of Islam in the UK: Sophie Gilliat-Ray and Asma Khan
Muslims in Britain Research Network: Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor; Laura Mora, Qudra Goodall.
