0903, 2016

Event recording: Is there Justice Outside God’s Law?: Making Sense of the Boundaries of the Sharīʿah in Islamic Civilization by Professor Jonathan Brown (Alwaleed bin Talal Chair of Islamic Civilization, Georgetown University)

By Myriam Francois|March 9, 2016|Uncategorized|0 comments

On Monday 29th of February, the SOAS-CIS welcomed Prof Jonathan AC Brown as part of our Distinguished Speakers’ Lecture Series, for a talk on “Is there Justice Outside God’s Law?: Making Sense of the Boundaries of the Sharīʿah in Islamic Civilization “. You can watch the recording of the event here: http://www.soas.ac.uk/islamicstudies/events/cis-distinguished-speakers-lecture-series/29feb2016-is-there-justice-outside-gods-law-making-sense-of-the-boundaries-of-the-sharah-in-islamic-.html

0903, 2016

Idea’s Hub: Prof Jonathan AC Brown on “How Much Does Islamic Law Change When Customs Change?”

By Myriam Francois|March 9, 2016|Ideas Hub|4 comments

How Much Does Islamic Law Change When Customs Change? By Prof Jonathan Brown Not long ago one of my students approached me asking my opinion on a small text that had been circulating on social media, particularly amongst advocates of Progressive Islam. The snippet of text was fascinating, since it touched on a major question of Islamic law and legal reform, namely the competing authority of the original proof texts

0703, 2016

Ideas Hub: British Muslim Comedian Sadia Azmat on not being Malala, Prevent and Radical thinking

By Myriam Francois|March 7, 2016|Ideas Hub|0 comments

British Muslim Comedian Sadia Azmat on not being Malala, Prevent and Radical thinking I discovered stand up comedy at a very early age watching late night comedy specials like Chris Rock Bring The Pain. What I loved was how raw and honest the routines were. Legends like Bill Hicks, Richard Pryor, Dave Chappelle are all a great inspiration. My own style is observational humour and I call it as I

0103, 2016

Speaker’s Corner: Rotherham – on racism and accountability, by Muhbeen Hussain

By Myriam Francois|March 1, 2016|Speaker's Corner|0 comments

Muhbeen Hussain is the Founding member and Chief Executive of the British Muslim Youth. He is a regular contributor in the media. Muhbeen writes in a personal capacity. How did you come to hear about Rotherham? As someone that was born and has lived most of my life in Rotherham, I remember traveling across the UK and struggling to explain to people where I was from. I would sometimes add in that the

2402, 2016

Ideas Hub: A Historic Perspective on Contemporary British Muslim Fiction, by Hannah Kershaw

By Myriam Francois|February 24, 2016|Ideas Hub|0 comments

A Historic Perspective on Contemporary British Muslim Fiction by Hannah Kershaw Today’s British media outlets, particularly the tabloids, are saturated with claims that Muslims living in Britain have had a negative influence on society. Immigrant communities from traditionally Muslim regions in Asia and the Middle East has been targeted as potential enemies of ‘the West’, framed in popular discourse as a threat to supposedly intrinsic British values, such as

1902, 2016

Speaker’s Corner: Flying while Muslim – Abdul-Azim Ahmed

By Myriam Francois|February 19, 2016|Speaker's Corner|0 comments

Flying while Muslim by Abdul-Azim Ahmed Have you heard the one about the Muslim at the airport? “Muslim while flying” jokes have gone from being cutting edge political commentary, to trope, to cliché in the last few decades. I groaned out loud when I heard plans of a ‘Citizen Khan Goes to America’. But while airport jokes are beginning to feel dated, international travel remains a site of discrimination and

1602, 2016

Speaker’s corner: How to write about Muslims for TV – screenwriter Sabrina Mahfouz shares her thoughts

By Myriam Francois|February 16, 2016|Speaker's Corner|0 comments

Breaking the Code – how screenwriters takle writing about the underrepresented By Sabrina Mahfouz Is there a secret code amongst TV writers, signifying which characters at which points in approved stories are allowed to have screen time? I doubt it is as sinister, or as simple, as this. But the reality remains – representation of non-white, non-male, non-Christian, LGBQT and disabled people on UK screens is pretty abysmal. Movements towards something

0902, 2016

Speaker’s Corner: One Muslim charity explains why it works to alleviate poverty in the UK

By Myriam Francois|February 9, 2016|Speaker's Corner|0 comments

Is there really poverty in the UK? One Muslim Charity explains its decision to focus on poverty alleviation at home By Ali Khimji For many people, whenever they think of people on benefits in the UK, their minds are probably drawn to those who are lazy and unmotivated; skivers who cannot be bothered to work and prefer to drink and take drugs; scroungers who choose to live a life of leisure

0202, 2016

Speaker’s Corner: Fatima Begum Rajina on “What’s in a language and dress? “, a response to the British PM

By Myriam Francois|February 2, 2016|Speaker's Corner|0 comments

What’s in a language and dress? A response to David Cameron’s comments concerning Muslim women By Fatima Begum Rajina It’s been over a week since our PM David Cameron made the comments about Muslim women needing to learn English or else they would be deported. One of the first things I thought of and tweeted instantly was the infamous speech by Thomas Babington Macaulay in 1835 titled ‘Minute on

2901, 2016

Ideas Hub: Muslims, foreignness and the ‘integration’ debate – by Dr Sarah Hackett

By Myriam Francois|January 29, 2016|Ideas Hub|0 comments

Muslims, foreignness and the ‘integration’ debate by Dr Sarah Hackett Muslim minority communities have secured a firm position at the centre of political and public discourse in Britain in recent years. These ever-heated deliberations have centred upon, amongst other things, integration, multiculturalism, segregation, exclusion, identity, belonging, discrimination and extremism. Far too often, these debates have been driven by sensationalist and attention-grabbing agendas and headlines. Recently, these have included the

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