1506, 2016

Question time: Cultural cold wars: The risk of anti-‘extremism’ policy for academic freedom of expression – Alison Scott-Baumann and Hugh Tomlinson QC

By Myriam Francois|June 15, 2016|Question Time|1 comments

Cultural cold wars: The risk of anti-‘extremism’ policy for academic freedom of expression – Alison Scott-Baumann and Hugh Tomlinson QC Universities are under increasing pressure from government to prevent students coming into contact with “extreme” ideas. The view is that students exposed to any kind of views designated “extreme” could be drawn into terrorism. But the risk to freedom of speech and academic freedom is obvious. Society needs to avoid a

0106, 2016

Question time: Islamic relief “SubhanAllah” bus campaign – the charity responds to its critics

By Myriam Francois|June 1, 2016|Question Time|0 comments

The Islamic relief “SubhanAllah” bus campaign – the charity responds to its critics By Martin Cottingham, Islamic Relief, Head of communications What’s in a word? A lively and sometimes heated debate, it seems, if that word is ‘SubhanAllah’ and it appears on London’s iconic red buses. Islamic Relief is advertising on 180 buses in London this Ramadan, as well as 460 more in Manchester, Bradford, Leicester and our home city of

2103, 2016

Question time: Are some Muslim women’s dress codes incompatible with surgery? A doctor responds to the Sun newspaper.

By Myriam Francois|March 21, 2016|Question Time|0 comments

Last week’s exclusive in the Sun newspaper reported how an NHS consultant was suspended after revealing that a female Muslim surgeon had been in breach of theatre safety standards when she refused to remove her blood stained hijab. Was the surgeon violating the code of ethics and professional standards by observing her faith whilst practicing her specialty? Should her colleagues have been afraid of being penalized for breaching equality

0911, 2015

Question Time: Ben Stanford – Prevent on Campus: Stopping Extremism or Stifling Debate?

By Myriam Francois|November 9, 2015|Question Time|1 comments

Prevent on Campus: Stopping Extremism or Stifling Debate? Ben Stanford, Legal Fellow, Rights Watch (UK) At a recent event on the Prevent Strategy in universities, the former Business Secretary Vince Cable suggested that efforts to combat campus extremism may worsen the problem. Opposition to terrorism-related interventions in universities is not new: During the 2010-2015 Coalition Government, the then Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg personally vetoed the plan to block extremist

0211, 2015

Question Time: MEND’s Shenaz Bunglawala tackles Baroness Cox’s claim that British Muslim men have ‘up to 20 children’

By Myriam Francois|November 2, 2015|Question Time|0 comments

Shenaz Bunglawala, Head of Research at MEND, offers her thoughts on recent comments in the press by Baroness Cox that British Muslim men have ‘up to 20 children’. Above: Shenaz Bunglawala Accelerating ‘Eurabia’? It is almost par for the course that we often see some peers of the realm engage in behaviour that one might reasonably consider as bringing the House of Lords into disrepute. Whether it is the former UKIP

1609, 2015

Question time – “Should George Galloway get the Muslim vote for London Mayor?” Prof Maleiha Malik (Kings College London) and Tahir Shah (MPACUK) discuss.

By Myriam Francois|September 16, 2015|Question Time|2 comments

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are solely those of the author in her/his private capacity and do not in any way represent the views of SOAS or the CIS. With the 2016 London Mayoral election campaign well underway, MuslimWise asked two diverging voices whether the London Muslim vote is necessarily a Galloway vote? Is there even such a thing as the Muslim vote? and if so, on what basis should it

1609, 2015

Question Time #1: TELL MAMA’s Fiyaz Mughal “Anti-Muslim Hatred is a Phenomenon that is Sadly Here to Stay for a While”

By Myriam Francois|September 16, 2015|Question Time|1 comments

Fiyal Mughal OBE, founder of the TELL Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks (MAMA) organisation (http://tellmamauk.org) comments on recent MET figures indicating indicating a 70% rise in islamophobic attacks in London. FM: When Tell MAMA launched in March 2012, looking back, it is easy to describe the experience as launching a project into a cesspit of on-line anti-Muslim hatred that had been developing over years. On launching the project, it was clear that there were thousands of social

1908, 2015

Question Time – Part #2 “”What’s going wrong in the public discourse on British Muslims?” Prof Arun Kundnani and Rashad Ali discuss

By Myriam Francois|August 19, 2015|Question Time|2 comments

Continuing the conversation on “what’s going wrong in the public discourse on British Muslims?“, two leading voices, Prof Arun Kundnani (NY university) and Rashad Ali (Institute for Strategic Dialogue) offer their analysis. Prof Arun Kundnani – Lecturer at New York University: In each of the last fourteen years, essentially the same speech has been delivered by one or another UK government minister. From Tony Blair, David Blunkett, Hazel Blears, and Ruth Kelly

2207, 2015

Question Time: What’s going wrong in the public discourse on British Muslims? Prof. Mona Siddiqui and Omar Khan discuss

By Myriam Francois|July 22, 2015|Question Time|1 comments

In our first instalment of the MuslimWise series on “What’s going wrong in the public discourse on British Muslims?“, two of the UK’s leading thinkers – Professor Mona Siddiqui, Professor of Islamic and Interreligious Studies at the University of Edinburgh and Omar Khan, Runnymede Trust, offer their thoughts: Omar Khan (Runnymede Trust): The public discourse on Islam: a lack of British values? Almost twenty years ago Runnymede published the report ‘Islamophobia: a