This discussion will aim to gauge the continuing appeal to young British Muslims of ‘caliphism’, a mindset where Islam is no longer a spiritual pathway to God but an expansionist imperial project that stands against the West, against the nation state and against secular Muslim and non-Muslim populations.

The ‘caliphist’ narrative of groups like Hibz Ut Tahrir, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Jamaat e Islami, drawn from fundamentalist Deobandi and Salafi doctrines, conjures an idealised past rather than a feasible project in a world of nation states more powerful than the Muslim ‘umma’.

Why does it continue to resonate among large numbers British Muslims? Why do they continue to adopt a narrow insular identity bound to sharia governed Islamic states, with little social or psychological stake in British civic life? How can a confident, forward looking British Muslim identity evolve rooted in the locale of a free, Western secular democracy?

The Henry Jackson Society is pleased to welcome Dr Taj Hargey and Fiyaz Mughal OBE to this timely event and invites you to take part in this important discussion.

Dr Taj Hargey is Imam of the Oxford Islamic Congregation and founder of the Open Mosque in Cape Town. In 2020 he founded the Oxford Institute for British Islam, a thinktank whose aim is to ‘theologically empower’ British Muslims to resist extremist narratives. The OIBI defines British Islam as ‘firmly rooted in and relevant to 21st century UK society, upholding universal values and democratic virtues’. Dr Hargey has a PhD in Islamic and Oriental Studies from St Antony’s College, Oxford and studied Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at the American University in Cairo.

Fiyaz Mughal OBE if the founder of Muslims Against Antisemitism and Faith Matters, both non-profit organizations which use conflict management tools to help faith communities reduce conflict and look at points of historical and social confluence between groups, as well as seeking to promote cohesion and integration, reduce hate crimes and counter extremism. He is also the founder of Tell MAMA, the anti-Muslim hatred monitoring and support group.

Hannah Baldock is a Research Fellow within the Centre on Radicalisation and Terrorism at the Henry Jackson Society. She is a journalist and risk consultant with 15 years experience of researching, analysing and interpreting complex, evolving events, including long stints as a foreign stringer for Sunday Business newspaper and as a risk consultant assisting multinationals, government bodies and financial institutions. Since the summer 2017 terror attacks she has been researching Islamist extremism, its origins, goals, methods and the risk it poses to Western secular democracies, as well as its symbiosis with Far Left and Far Right extremism. She has an MA in Spanish and French from Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge University, and a Postgraduate Diploma in Journalism from City University, London.

You can RSVP your tickets HERE

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