MECO ANNUAL CONFERENCE - 2006

Keynote speaker: DR KENNETH CRAGG

Kenneth Cragg has a lengthy and enviable connection with the world of Islam. He has worked in several Middle Eastern countries, including Lebanon, Palestine and the United Arab Emirates. He has also held a variety of academic and ecclesiastical posts in the UK, USA and Africa. Dr Cragg is an Honorary Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford University and a former Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge University. He has also been recognised for his outstanding and original scholarship with the award of honorary doctorates from Leeds University and Toronto University.

Dr Cragg is the doyen of Christian specialists on Islam and has established himself as a towering scholar in the field of Qur’anic Studies and Christian-Muslim dialogue. Born over nine decade ago in 1913, he has a distinguished career. He earned his first degree at Bristol University and then proceeded to Jesus College at Oxford University to read Modern History in 1931. The Second World War interrupted Dr Cragg’s educational trajectory, but he later returned to Oxford to complete his D.Phil in 1950. Early on, his career was interspersed between religious posts in the Anglican Church and in academia. Starting as a deacon, priest and curate in Birkenhead in 1937, he left Britain to become chaplain at the All Saints Church in Beirut in 1939.

This move to the Middle East was to bring about a life-long attachment to the world of Islam. Dr Cragg’s appointment as Assistant Professor in Philosophy at the American University in Beirut was the first of many academic positions he would hold. He was recruited as Professor of Arabic and Islamics at the renowned Hartford Seminary in Connecticut, USA in the mid 1950s but was back in the Middle East in 1957 as Anglican canon in Jerusalem. This job afforded him the opportunity to enhance his growing expertise of the Qur’an and Islam. He returned to the UK in 1961, becoming warden of St Augustine’s College in Canterbury and later holing many concurrent posts in the Church of England and in the Bishopric of Jerusalem. For a while, Dr Cragg was also the Bishop of Chichester. Following a stint at the Union Theological Seminary in New York, Dr Cragg was appointed Reader in Religious Studies at the University of Sussex. His later academic appointments included teaching at Cambridge University, London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies, Ibadan University in Nigeria, and the Virginia Theological Seminary.

Dr Cragg’s first major foray into publishing was to become the Editor of the influential journal, The Muslim World. This was followed by his trail-blazing work on Islam, The Call of the Minaret, which was published in 1956. This well-received volume established Dr Cragg as an influential scholar of Islam. In rapid succession, a number of equally illuminating books with reference to Islam and Muslims followed. These included Sandals in the Mosque (1959); The Dome and the Rock (1964); Counsels in Contemporary Islam (1965); Christianity in World Perspective (1968); The House of Islam (1969); The Event of the Qur’an (1971); The Mind of the Qur’an (1973); The Wisdom of the Sufis (1976); Islam from Within (1979); Muhammad and the Christian (1983); The Pen and the Faith (1985); Jesus and the Muslim (1985); Readings in the Qur’an (1988); The Arab Christian (1991), Palestine: The Price and Prize of Zion (1998); Islam among the Spires (2000); Muhammad in the Qur’an (2002); Faiths in their Pronouns (2003); The Tragic in Islam (2004); and his most recent publication is A Certain Sympathy with Scriptures: Biblical and Qur’anic (2005).

PROFESSOR MOHAMMED ARKOUN

Professor Mohammed Arkoun was born in Taourirt-Mimoun in Algeria and hails from a family with strong intellectual and religious roots. After a long and distinguished academic career that has established him as one of the foremost Muslim scholars today, Professor Arkoun is currently Emeritus Professor of the History of Islamic Thought at the Sorbonne (Paris III). He has devoted his scholarly and professional life to investigating and researching the development of a reflexive history of Islamic thought and the evolution of Muslim philosophy through the ages. Professor Arkoun applies this incisive reflexive methodology both to the history of modern thought in the West and to that of the three great monotheistic faith traditions. In this connection, he examines the Abrahamic faiths and their religio-cultural expressions through their prism of theological, juridical, historiographical, exegetical and philosophical systems. This inter-related and multi-disciplinary approach ensures the emergence of a comprehensive worldview and coherent analysis with profound contemporary relevance.

Professor Arkoun’s scholarly investigations and enquiries, which cover the medieval period as well as modern and contemporary history, constantly refer backwards and forwards, in order to connect the data and information in the long, medium and short terms. He therefore places the history of Islamic thought and Muslim philosophy back into the different historical time frame and socio-economic contexts of the wider Mediterranean region. In this way, he produces cogent and insightful perspectives that are pertinent to the resolution of present dilemmas facing Muslims worldwide.

Since 1980, Professor Arkoun has been chief scientific director of the important periodical Arabica, the Review of Arabic and Islamic Studies; Laureate winner of the Prix Averroès in 2003, and of the Giorgio Levi della Vida Prize in Los Angeles in 2002. In addition to his academic position at the Sorbonne, Professor Arkoun has also been the recipient of several prestigious fellowships. He was a Fellow at the Wissenschaftkolleg in Berlin, 1986–87 and 1990; Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton, Visiting Professor at UCLA 1969, Princeton University 1985, Université de Louvain-La-Neuve 1977-1979, the Pontifical Institute for Arabic Studies in Rome, Temple University, Philadelphia 1988-90, Amsterdam 1991-1993, and New York University in March 2001 and April 2003. He gave the Gifford Lectures at Edinburgh University in November 2001. Professor Arkoun is also an influential figure and senior academic at the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London. He has also assumed other academic related posts such as his appointment as scholarly advisor for Islamic Studies at the Library of Congress from 2000 to 2003.

For his fearless pioneering research and original scholarship, he has been honoured by the French Government by being appointed as a Commander of the Légion d'honneur and has also been made a distinguished judge for academic awards and professional prizes. He has addressed numerous conferences and symposia throughout the Muslim world, Europe and North America; Professor Arkoun continues to promote his innovative and thought-provoking proposals for a new and real universal humanism, not only within Islam and Muslim society, but also in other religions and cultures.

The following are the main works in which he advocates such an intellectual and philosophical approach: L'Humanisme arabe au 4e/10e siècle (3e éd. Vrin 2005); Lectures du Coran (1991); La Pensée arabe (2003); Critique de la raison islamique (1984); L'islam, approche critique (2003); The Unthought in Contemporary Islamic Thought (London, 2002); second edition under the title: Islam: To Reform or To subvert (London 2005); De Manhattan à Bagdad: Au-delà du Bien et du Mal (2003); Humanisme et islam: Combats et Propositions (2006).

MAULANA SHAHID RAZA

Shahid Raza is the Deputy Director of the Muslim College in London and is the President of the World Islamic Mission of Europe. Aside from his other religious duties, he is devoting his scholarly attention to systematise a comprehensive educational programme for imams in the UK. Born in India, Maulana Raza earned a degree in Biology and Chemistry from the University of Agra in 1969. He then embarked upon post-graduate study at the University of Meerut in 1976. This was followed by an advanced degree in Islamic Studies from Jamia Na’imia Moradabad, one of the oldest and most prestigious theological seminaries in the Indian sub-continent. When Maulana Raza arrived in England in 1978, he joined the Islamic Centre (now Leicester Central Mosque) as the Principal Imam. After 27 years, he is still serving in this leadership capacity. He has in addition, also taken up a permanent lectureship at the Muslim College in London in 1986 where, for the past two decades, he has worked as Course Director for the training of British Imams. Even before the recent death in January 2006 of Shaykh Badawi, the founder of the Muslim College, Maulana Raza had become the deputy principal of that institution. Maulana Raza is also a board member of the Muslim Law (Shariah) Council UK and has been the Executive Secretary and Registrar since that organisation’s launch in 1988. More recently, in October 2004, he has taken a leadership role and has become a founding trustee in the formation of new national Muslim body, the British Muslim Forum which represents over 300 mosques and other Muslim organisations in the United Kingdom.

SHAYKH IBRAHIM MOGRA

Ibrahim Mogra is an Imam in Leicester and chair of the the high profile Masjid and Community Affairs Committee of the Muslim Council of Britain. He has been trained in classical theology and the traditional sciences of Islam. He holds religious credentials from Dar-ul-Uloom, Holcombe as well as advanced theological qualifications from the world famous Al-Azhar University in Cairo. In addition, Shaykh Mogra has undertaken a postgraduate degree at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. He is one of an emerging generation of theological leaders and Muslim Imams who seek to project a new understanding of Islam in the United Kingdom. He is in the forefront of reinterpreting the faith for today’s needs while also calling for greater and more effective Muslim integration into British society. Shaykh Mogra is a regular commentator on BBC Radio 4's Today programme where he voices the concerns and opinions of British Muslims. Aside from his ecclesiastical brief, Shaykh Mogra has also taken a leading role in opposing the illegal Anglo-American invasion and occupation of Iraq.

DR MUSHARRAF HUSSAIN

Dr Musharraf Hussain is the director of the Karimia institute in Nottingham and an adviser to the Muslim Council of Britain. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Staffordshire University in 2005. He is also one of the presidents of the Christian Muslim forum. Born in 1958 he came to Britain from Pakistan in 1966. After completing his first degree at Aston University, he went on to gain a doctorate in science from the same institution in 1985. He worked on in research until 1990 when he decided to further his religious knowledge, first in Pakistan and then at Al-Azhar University in Egypt. Upon his return to the UK, Dr Musharraf helped to establish a Muslim boarding school for boys in Retford and became a founding member of Muslim Hands, one of the largest Muslim charities in the UK. In 1997 Dr Musharraf was appointed director of the Karimia institute in Notttingham where he instituted a number of community, educational and interfaith progammes. Presently Karimia runs some 20 projects and is a premier Muslim organisation in UK. He has written some 10 books about traditional Islamic teachings to help Muslims practice their religion as well as over a 100 articles. He is a familiar voice on BBC radio Nottingham’s thought of the day.

DR AZZAM TAMIMI

Dr Tamimi is the Director of the Institute of Islamic Political Thought (IIPT), a Muslim think tank that is based in London. He is also a prominent political activist and is a member of the Muslim Association of Britain. Until 31 March 2006, he was visiting professor at Nagoya University in Japan for three months. He has published several books, the most recent of which has been on Islam and democracy entitled: Rachid Ghannouchi, Democrat within Islamism, Oxford University Press, 2001. He has also co-edited Islam and Secularism in the Middle East, Hurst, London, 2000. His forthcoming book: Hamas, the Unwritten Chapters will be published in summer 2006. He writes and lectures on issues related to Islamic political thought and Middle Eastern politics. He is a regular commentator on the Arabic satellite channel Al-Jazeera and frequently makes appearances on a number of other broadcast media both in English and Arabic. Dr Tamimi is in tremendous demand as an eloquent speaker on political Islam and is a champion for the creation of a free, independent and democratic Palestine.

PROFESSOR YAHYA MICHOT

From 1981 until 1997, Professor Yahya M. Michot was director of the Centre for Arabic Philosophy at the University of Louvain in Belgium. He gave courses in Arabic, History of Arabic philosophy, Commentary on Arabic philosophical texts, History of Muslim peoples and Institutions of Islam. His main field of research is the history of Muslim thought, mainly Avicenna (d. 428/1037), his predecessors and his impact on Sunni thought. This led to a growing interest in the theologian Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 728/1328), the time of the Mamlûks and Ilkhâns and modern Islamic movements. Since October 1998, Professor Michot is KFAS Fellow in Islamic Studies at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies and Islamic Centre Lecturer in the Faculty of Theology, Oxford University where he gives an introductory course in Islamic theology. He is also member of various international scholarly societies, and founder and director of the collection ‘Sagesses musulmanes’. From April 1995 to June 1998, Professor Michot was president of the Conseil Supérieur des Musulmans de Belgique. His numerous publications (mainly in French) include several volumes on Ibn Sina (Averroes) and Ibn Taymiyyah. As a result of his undisputed expertise in Islamic philosophy and theology, Professor Michot has delivered lectures on his specialisation throughout the Middle East and Europe.

DR SAJJAD RIZVI

Dr Sajjad Rizvi is Lecturer in Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, having previously taught at the Universities of Cambridge and Bristol. Coming from a Twelver Shi'i background from the Indian subcontinent and being a lineal descendant of the Prophet, he was educated at Westminster School in London, read Modern History at Christ Church, Oxford University, and completed his PhD in Islamic philosophy in 2000 at Pembroke College, Cambridge University. A specialist on Islamic intellectual history and Muslim political thought, he has published widely on Islamic philosophy, Shi'ism and Qur'anic hermeneutics. He is the author of Mulla Sadra (Oxford University Press, 2006), and with Feras Hamza, Understanding the Word of God (Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2007). He is currently completing projects on Sufi tafsir (commentary) in the 15th century, Islamic philosophical traditions in the early modern period, and the divergent narratives of Jihad in contemporary Islamic thought. He is actively engaged in policy work and involved with a number of governmental agencies and interfaith groups. Dr Rizvi has both advised and given interviews to all the major broadcast channels, including the BBC, Channel 4, CNN and other media organisations on aspects of the contemporary Muslim preoccupations and other Islamic issues.

SHAYKH MICHAEL MUMISA

Michael Mumisa is a visiting Lecturer at the University of Birmingham and is author of Islamic Law: Theory & Interpretation (2002), An Introduction to the Grammar of Classical Arabic (2003), Law, Hermeneutics and Social Change in Muslim Legal Theory: A close reading of al-Shatibi’s al-Muwafaqat (forthcoming, 2006). He has also published many essays in Islamic studies ranging from hermeneutics, theology, religious pluralism, Islamic law and philosophy. After completing a Diploma in Arabic Language and Literature from Iqra Darul Ilm College in KwaZulu Natal, he went on to receive the ‘Alimiyya from a traditional Islamic University in South Africa. He then enrolled at the Department of Semitic Languages at the Randse Afrikaanse Universiteit in Johannesburg. and graduated cum laude with a postgraduate degree in Islamic Studies. Shaykh Mumisa later taught Arabic Literature and Islam in at the same university and was a research fellow at the Islamic Research Centre in Pretoria. In 1998 he joined the University of Birmingham’s Graduate Institute for Theology and Religion, Centre for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations where he completed a postgraduate research degree specialising in Law, Hermeneutics and Social Change in Muslim Legal Theory. He is currently pursuing PhD research in English Literature specialising in Contemporary Literary and Critical Theory (Post-modern/Postcolonial Theory).

DR QUDSIA MIRZA

Qudsia Mirza is a Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of East London and works in the fields of of Islamic Law, Discrimination Law, Critical Race Theory and Feminist Legal Theory. Her current research focusses primarily on feminist perspectives of Islamic legal theory – investigating the relationship between theoretical developments taking place in Islamic scriptural exegesis and the impact this has on the creation of gendered legal rights. Dr Mirza’s research at the International Institute for the Sociology of Law in Spain centred on her other current focus of research: legal puralism and the operation of state and Islamic laws in the British and wider European context. She has published widely in her primary areas of specialisation. Dr Mirza is a founding member of the Encountering Legal Cultures Group, an Executive Committee member of the Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants and also sits on the Advisory Boards of the Divorce Regulation in a Multicultural Society: Implications for Law and Policy as well as the Centre for Law, Gender and Sexuality. Dr Mirza is also a member of the editorial board of the Muslim World Journal of Human Rights and is currently editing a book entitled Islamic Feminism and the Law, which will be published later this year. At UEL, Dr Mirza teaches courses on Discrimination Law, Constitutional Law and International Human Rights.

DR NATANA DELONG-BAS

Natana J. DeLong-Bas is a Lecturer in Theology at Boston College and is also a Visiting Lecturer in Islamic Studies at Brandeis University, Massachusetts where she teaches a range of courses and conducts research in her field of expertise. Following a decade of teaching and research at Georgetown University's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, she moved to New England. Dr DeLong-Bas is the widely acclaimed author of The Clash Within Civilization: The Jihad for the Soul of Islam in Contemporary Saudi Arabia (Oxford University Press, forthcoming 2007), Notable Muslims: Muslim Builders of World Civilization and Culture (OneWorld Publications, 2006), Wahhabi Islam: From Revival and Reform to Global Jihad (Oxford University Press, 2004), and Women in Muslim Family Law (with John L. Esposito, Syracuse University Press, 2001). Dr DeLong-Bas is the Deputy Editor for The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World and the Oxford On-Line Islamic Resource Center. Her original research, farsighted scholarship and informed conclusions have transformed her into a leading authority on contemporary Islam, particularly the modern manifestations of Jihad, militancy and violence. A frequent speaker on Islam, Saudi Arabia and Wahhabism, she is a consultant to international corporations and national governments.

DR HAIFAA JAWAD

Haifaa Jawad is Senior lecturer in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, Department of Theology and Religion, University of Birmingham. She has previously taught at al-Mustansiriyah University, Baghdad, Exeter University, New England College, Arundel, and Lancaster University. Dr Jawad was also visiting lecturer in contemporary Islam at the University of Alabama and at The Irish School of Ecumenics, Dublin Trinity College. She specialises in the socio-political study of Islam; Modern Islamic Thought; Contemporary Islamic Issues; Islamic Spirituality; Euro-Arab relations; Islam and the West; and women’s issues in Islam. Among Dr Jawad’s most recent publications are The Middle East in the New World Order (1997) The Rights of Women in Islam: an authentic approach (1998). She has also contributed to a number of edited volumes including ‘Islamic Extremism and its Impact on Western Images of Islam’ in J. Neilsen and S. Khaswnih (eds), Arabs and the West: Mutual Images (1998); ‘Muslim women in the United Kingdom and Beyond’, in Experiences and Images (co-editor and contributor) 2003, ‘Muslim Feminism: A Case Study of Amina Wadud’s Quran and Woman’, in Journal of Islamic Studies, Spring 2003. ‘Female conversion to Islam: the Sufi Paradigm’ in Karin van Nieuwkerk (ed), Gender and conversion to Islam in the West, (2006) and ‘Islamic Feminism: Leadership roles and public representation’ in Qudisa Mirza (ed), Islamic Feminism and the Law, forthcoming.

CHARLES ALLEN

Charles Allen is an undisputed authority on British Indian and South Asian history. In 2004 he was awarded the Sir Percy Sykes Gold Medal by the Royal Society for Asian Affairs for his contribution to the understanding of Asian affairs. Charles Allen was born in India, where five generations of his family had lived and served in the days of the British Raj. In 1975 he began writing documentaries for BBC Radio, leading to his reputation as a major oral historian. During this period he also scripted TV documentaries. In recent years, Charles Allen has concentrated on historical writing, focussed mainly on South and Central Asia. His most recently published work is God’s Terrorists: the Wahhabi Cult and the Hidden Roots of Modern Jihad (2006). His recent publications include: Duel in the Snows: the True Story of the Younghusband Mission to Tibet (2004); The Buddha and the Sahibs: The Men Who Discovered India’s Lost Religion (2002); Soldier Sahibs: The Men Who Made the North West Frontier (2000); ‘India of the Princes and Maharajas’ and ‘Imperial Image: the Grand Durbars of 1903 and 1911'. His earlier published work includes: The Search for Shangri La; Thunder and Lightning; The Savage Wars of Peace; A Glimpse of the Burning Plain; Kipling’s Kingdom; Lives of the Indian Princes; Tales from the Dark Continent; Raj: a Scrapbook of British India, His work in progress includes a biography of Rudyard Kipling in India.

PROFESSOR NASR ABU ZAYD

Nasr Abu Zayd, is one of the foremost scholars in contemporary Islam. He is an Egyptian academic who is Professor of Islamic Studies at Leiden and Utrecht Universities in Holland. He has been living in exile in the Netherlands since 1995 because he was condemned as an apostate for his persistent battle to bring about an independent scientific research of the Qur’an. As a literary specialist, Professor Nasr Abu Zayd criticizes the traditional way of reading the Qur’an as being outdated and calls for a scientifically founded interpretation which places the text into historical context and distinguishes the real meaning from contemporary ideas arising from the spirit of the times. A modern interpretation of Islam is to be developed by applying historic and linguistic methods, since the Qur’an itself is open to diverse interpretations. Such a pluralism of analysis once existed in Islamic history - before orthodoxy and Islamism made their claim to an absolute monopoly of interpretation and implementation. A practising Muslim, Professor Abu Zayd wants to make the Qur’an meaningful for the present day. He has produced a significant number of ground-breaking Qur’anic studies, which has gained him international fame as well as the 2005 Ibn Rushd Prize for Freedom of Thought. His main works include Rationalism in Exegesis: A Study of the Problem of Metaphor in the Writing of the Mutazilites (1998); The Philosophy of Hermeneutics: A Study of Ibn `Arabî's Hermeneutics of the Qur'an (1999); The Concept of the Text: A Study of the Qur’anic Sciences (1991); Women in the Crisis Discourse (1995); Thinking in the Time of Excommunication (1998); Discourse and Hermeneutics (2000); Rethinking the Qur’an: Towards a Humanistic Hermeneutics (2004); Reformation of Islamic Thought: A Critical Historical Analysis (2006).

REVD PROFESSOR RICHARD BONNEY

Richard Bonney was Professor of Modern History at the University of Leicester from 1984 to 2006. He was Head of the Department of History from 1985 to 1989 and from 1997 to 2002. He founded the Centre for the History of Religious and Political Pluralism and the Institute for the Study of Indo-Pakistan Relations, both at the University of Leicester. He was Chairman of the Society for Inter-Cultural Understanding, Leicester (SICUL) from 2003 to 2005. He was ordained as a non-stipendiary priest in the Church of England in 1997. He is strongly committed to the cause of inter-faith and inter-cultural understanding, has been a member of Leicester Council of Faiths since 1996 and is the Chair of the Europe–Islamic World Organization, which seeks to build relationships of trust and mutual endeavour between Europe and the Islamic World. (www.eiwo.org). Its main fundraising activity at present is the Kashmir Earthquake Homeless Appeal. Professor Bonney has published numerous books and articles on religious pluralism as well as in other areas of history. His most recent study is Jihad from Qur’an to Bin Laden, (2004) described by A. G. Noorani as ‘a service to inter-faith harmony no less than to scholarship. One wonders how many of the ulama in India or Pakistan can claim such erudition.’ A. G. Noorani, in Frontline 22/5 (New Delhi, 2005).

IMAM AJMAL MASROOR

Ajmal Masroor has a hybrid identity. His Bangladeshi origins and cosmopolitan upbringing has enabled him to be in equilibrium with British society and well connected across the social spectrum. His cross cultural roots, British rearing, faith connections and specialised community development skills have led to his emergence as a new kind of modern Muslim religious leader. Imam Masroor attended Islamic institutions in Bangladesh, Syria and the United Kingdom where he studied Politics and Arabic. He also obtained a Diploma in Counselling which has served him to become the Director of Communities in Action in London. This organisation furnishes specialist advice and consultancy on faith community research and development, social cohesion, cultural relations and civic engagement initiatives. Imam Masroor provides consultancy and support to media and various government agencies on Islam and Muslim issues. He is a regular contributor to national Radio and TV programmes and he presents his own programme on Islam channel and Channel S. Imam Masroor is a Trustee and former Vice Chair of London Civic Forum and is a Member of the national consultative body of the Islamic Society of Britain. He also works closely with the Muslim Council of Britain - an umbrella body to represent Islam and Muslim interest in the UK. He leads Friday prayers in rotation in four mosques across London.

SAYYID YOUSIF AL-KHOEI

Sayyid Yousif al-Khoei is an Executive Director of the Al-Khoei Foundation in London, a major international Islamic charity institute and socio-economic foundation established under the patronage and auspices of his illustrious grandfather, the late Grand Ayatollah Abu al-Qassim al-Khoei of Iraq. This philanthropic foundation operates a number of pioneering educational, social, and religious programmes in the United Kingdom, as well as in New York, Montreal, Paris, Bangkok, Islamabad and several other worldwide locations. Sayyid Yousif is actively involved in Islamic ecumenism and inter-denominational rapprochement and takes a leading role in projecting his community’s perspectives to British Muslims. Apart from his philanthropic work, Sayyid al-Khoei is also a co-founder of Dialogue, a new international current affairs Islamic monthly magazine. In addition to his intellectual interests, he is a regular participant and contributor to numerous inter-faith conventions and intra-faith conferences. Sayyid al-Khoei is a founding trustee of several Muslim organisations, including FAIR (Forum Against Islamophobia and Racism) and AMSS (Association of Muslim Social Scientists). His social commitment and community involvement extends to all walks of life and has influenced him to become a founding member of the National Council for the Welfare of Muslim Prisoners.