On Wednesday 9 April 2008, Maajid Nawaz (Director, Quilliam Foundation) will lead a discussion meeting on "Deflating Global Islamism" from 4-5 pm.
The Quilliam Foundation is a counter extremism think tank created by former activists of radical Islamist organisations, who are familiar with the mindset and methods of extremist groups. Now under the guidance of mainstream Muslim scholars, they believe that Western Muslims should revive Western Islam, their Andalusian heritage of pluralism and respect, and thereby find harmony in West-Islam relations.
Maajid Nawaz is the Foundation’s first Director. His experience with Islamism stretches back to when he was 16-years-old, when he was recruited to Hizb ut-Tahrir (The Liberation Party). He very quickly became a national speaker and an international recruiter for the party, traveling first to Pakistan and then to Denmark to export the party's ideology and set up cells from London. He was also in Egypt, where in 2002 he was detained, subjected to witnessing of torture, and then convicted to five years imprisonment for belonging to Hizb ut-Tahrir. After Amnesty International’s adoption as a prisoner of conscience and a global campaign for his release, Mr Nawaz returned to the UK in March 2006 to join Hizb ut-Tahrir's national leadership committee. He became one of only two members who joined Hizb ut-Tahrir's external Executive Committee and its then secret internal leadership, known as the Wilayah Committee. In May 2007, Mr Nawaz unilaterally resigned his membership from the party and in September 2007 he recanted Islamism on the BBC’s Newsnight programme.
Mr Nawaz regularly presents seminars and lectures on Islamism and Muslim political thought both in the UK and abroad. Upon leaving Hizb ut-Tahrir, he authored a booklet, Towards Political Engagement, detailing his ideological objections to Hizb ut-Tahrir in particular, and Islamism in general. He has also written for national newspapers, including The Times and The Independent, and he has been cited by the Prime Minister in government policy towards dealing with extreme Islamist groups.
Mr Nawaz was born and raised in Essex, England. He is a graduate of Law and Arabic from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London. He also pursued post-graduate studies at the London School of Economics (LSE) in Political Theory.
The meeting will be Chaired by Nigel Inkster (IISS Director of Transnational Threats and Political Risk) and will be held on the Fifth Floor at Arundel House, 13-15 Arundel Street, Temple Place, London WC2R 3DX.
If you would like to attend, please RSVP Raffaello Pantucci on pantucci@iiss.org or tel. 020 7395 9128
