By The Centre for the Study of Islam in the UK

The Centre for the Study of Islam in the UK was opened in September 2005 by Yusuf Islam, formerly musician Cat Stevens in front of 400 guests. Islam is the second largest religion in Britain and, indeed, the world and this program was an exciting program for 2016 Public Seminar Series, organized in conjunction with a number of local Muslim organizations based in Cardiff. It was a rich and varied program of speakers held in April, March, and February 2016. Some of the speakers and the topics are as follows:

• Trojan Horse and Preventing of Schooling: Muslims, Securitization and Racialized Politics (by Dr Shamim Miah)

Shamim Miah is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Huddersfield. His current research interests draw upon both empirical and theoretical approaches to the study of Muslims and education policy. Shamim is the author of Muslims, Schooling and the Question of Self-Segregation (Palgrave, 2015). He is also a ‘special interest group’ convenor (Race and Ethnicity) for BERA (British Educational Research Association).

• Islam, Education and Construction of Religious Authority among British Muslim Communities: A Critical Reflection (by Dr. Abdullah Sahin)

Abdullah Sahin is Head of Research and Senior Lecturer in Islamic Studies and Education at Markfield Institute of Higher Education (MIHE). Dr. Sahin comes from an Islamic Studies, Theology and Educational Studies background. His work aims to establish Islamic education as an interdisciplinary field of scholarly study, empirical inquiry and professional development. Dr. Sahin is the course leader for the MEd in Islamic Education program at MIHE and has numerous scholarly publications on Islam and education. His most recent book publication is entitled: New Directions in Islamic Education: Pedagogy and Identity Formation (Kube Academic, Leicestershire, Rev US Imprint 2014).

• Reclaiming the Idea of British Islam: Institutional Change and the Failures of the ‘Muslim Integration’ Debate (by Dr. Stephen Jones)

Stephen H. Jones is a sociologist with research interests in religion and social change, faith-based political participation, religion and education and the impact of policymaking on religious organizations. Subjects on which he has published recently include religion and higher education, the political representation of British Muslims, the sociology of Islamic knowledge, multiculturalism and Muslim political participation, and the UK government’s preventing extremism strategy. He is presently a Research Fellow at Newman University, Birmingham, and working on a project looking at perceptions of religion and evolution among a range of religious and secular groups.

• Contextualizing Islam in 21st Century Britain” (by Professor Grace Davie)

This lecture was organized in partnership with the Cardiff Centre for Law and Religion, Cardiff University, the Cardiff and District branch of the United Nations Association, and the Welsh Centre for International Affairs (WCIA). The WCIA inspires people to think and act on global issues. Their vision is a Wales where everyone contributes to creating a fairer and more peaceful world.

Grace Davie is professor emeritus in the Sociology of Religion at the University of Exeter UK and a senior adviser to the Impact of Religion Research Program at Uppsala University. She is a past president of the American Association for the Sociology of Religion (2003) and of the Research Committee 22 (Sociology of Religion) of the International Sociological Association (2002-06). In addition to numerous chapters and articles, she is the author of Religion in Britain since 1945 (Blackwell 1994), Religion in Modern Europe (OUP 2000), Europe: the Exceptional Case (DLT 2002), The Sociology of Religion (Sage 2007/2013) and Religion in Britain: A Persistent Paradox (Wiley-Blackwell 2015).

Continue reading about lectures HERE.