Date
Thursday 26th June 2003, 1930-2130

Objective
To host a forum for discussion on how British Muslims can achieve change can by working within established mainstream institutions rather than resorting to extreme methods or seeking an isolationist approach. The event aimed to highlight why such changes are needed and how best to achieve them.
 
Speaker
Lord Nazir Ahmed is an extremely prominent and respected member of the British Muslim community. His example demonstrates that it is possible to rise up within the highest ranks of the British establishment without compromising a strong sense of religious and cultural identity.

A profile of Lord Nazir can be found by clicking here.

Review
Lord Nazir initially spoke about his background - his motivations and experiences in becoming involved within local community activities and later, party politics. This eventually led to his being offered a lifelong peerage in the House of Lords, enabling him to contribute actively in local, national and international affairs. He spoke passionately about the freedom and privileges that Muslims enjoy as citizens of Britain and how coupled with this is a responsibility to participate actively within mainstream society. His over-riding message was that isolation is not an option, both in order to raise achievement within the Muslim community, and to fulfil our Islamic and civic duties to contribute positively to the society we live in.

A lively 90 minute Q&A session followed. Questions from the floor covered issues including ways to improve young Muslims’ educational achievement, local problems, issues of institutionalised racism, wider issues such as Britain and the Labour Party’s role in the War on Terror, and understanding young British Muslims expressing frustration by turning to suicide bombing.

Practical ‘take home advice’ from Lord Nazir to achieve change from within, included encouragement for young people to get more involved in local community issues, more active participation in local government and party politics, for parents to become more involved in their children’s schooling (from helping with homework to joining school governing bodies) and for mosques to more pro-actively recognise and confront social problems within the community.

The event was extremely well attended by a wide cross section of the local community. Guests included local Muslim Councillors and heads of the local Education department and Equality Services.

Venue
Waterhouse Chamber, Town Hall, Reading. (Click here for Map to Town Hall)

Useful Links
- Event Programme:

IMAAD accepts no liability for information contained on external websites or for literature coming from third parties. Neither does a link to site imply IMAAD's support for the content of the site, the organisation associated with the site or any third parties the site's content pertains to.