UNITED KINGDOM

Abu Eesa Niamatullah is the Founder of 'The Nahlah Foundation' which is an Educational Institute and Publishing House. He is also the Executive Director of 'Prophetic Guidance': a Da'wah organization involved in the local community, charity fundraising and holding workshops for various societal groups. A translator of classical texts and author for many websites, Abu Eesa presents the popular 'al-Adab al-Mufrad' show on Islamic manners and etiquettes. He has appeared in the Broadsheets, the BBC and other Media outlets on various Islamic issues, especially post 9/11 and 7/7 concerning his work on trying to bring the non-Muslim and Muslim communities closer together as a member of various working groups and think tanks including the World Economic Forum, Geneva. He read Pharmacy at the University of Manchester and has studied Islamic Theology and Law in Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Mauritania as well as Anthropology and Islamic History in Manchester. He currently teaches these subjects and is a part-time Imam and Khatib at Cheadle Mosque, Cheshire.

City: Manchester

Aftab Ahmad Malik is a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Ethnicity and Culture at the University of Birmingham. He has been called a "first rate scholar" by John L., Esposito, "a rising intellectual star" by The Muslim World Book Review and as someone "at the cutting edge of research on Islam and at the heart of a group of young, emerging Muslim scholars, as well as established Muslim scholars," by Professor Philip Lewis at the department of Peace Studies (University of Bradford). He is the author of The Broken Chain: Reflections upon the Neglect of a Tradition (Amal Press, 2001) and the editor of four books: Shattered Illusions: Analyzing the War on Terrorism (Amal Press: 2002); The Empire and the Crescent: Global Implications for a New American Century (Amal Press: 2003) which the BBC called "compelling and authoritative"; With God on Our Side: Politics & Theology of the War on Terrorism (Amal Press: 2005). These three volumes span some 1,000 pages in total. Following the 7/7 suicide terror attacks on London, Aftab was quick to assemble a young and dynamic group of British Muslim scholars and thinkers to produce, "The State We Are In: Identity, Terror and the Law of Jihad" (Amal Press, 2006), which examines the process of Muslim radicalization, its historical roots in the Muslim world and which concludes with a comprehensive fatwa against the targeting and killing of innocent civilians. His articles have appeared in a number of newspapers, on-line journals and magazines including, The BBC, The Muslim Weekly (London); The Path (Singapore), The Arab News (Saudi Arabia); The Evening Post (Bristol); Venue (Bath); Q-News International (London); The Muslim Reader (Singapore), OpenDemocracy.Net, Quantara.de and Qalam International (London). His advice in understanding the theological strain underpinning current manifestations of Muslim extremism and the challenges and opportunities confronting Muslims in the West generally, and in Britain specifically, has been sought by various media outlets such as the BBC, Panorama, ITN and most recently by the Alliance for Civilization, an initiative inaugurated by the UN in 2004. Having worked with a broad range of academics, religious scholars and activists, Aftab has worked assiduously in trying to develop a better understanding of Islam in the West.

City: Bristol

Baber Saeed is a Trustee & Researcher for the Luqman Institute of Education and Development (registered UK Charity 1111079) not-for-profit independent organization. The Institute's work is primarily educational focusing at the grass roots level, engaging the Muslim communities, the European society and Institutions - building bridges towards a more harmonious society. We facilitate scriptural workshops to encourage a more reflective and enlightened understanding of the Quran. Capacity building with the Religious leadership and development of accredited Imam training course. We organise projects to counter-balance radicalistion of Muslim youth. Inter-faith dialogues and engagement with wider society. Recently organized a seminar "Islam or Jahiliyah" in response to the caricature controversy. He has spoken/participated in numerous inter-faith gatherings. Speaker at the RUSI Workshop "Extremism & Education". Speaker at the Wilton Park conference: Towards a community-based approach to counter-terrorism. "The use and abuse of faith". Quoted in report by Anthony Glees & Chris Pope When Students Turn to Terror: Terrorist and Extremist Activity on British Campuses. He has appeared on BBC TV, BBC Radio 4, Regional Radio Stations, ARY Digital TV & Geo TV to name a few.

City: London

Hisham A. Hellyer is a research consultant and policy analyst, based at the University of Warwick as an Associate Fellow. In the aftermath of the 7PthP July bombings in London, he was nominated to be the Deputy Convenor of the UK Government's Home Office work stream on 'Tackling Extremism and Radicalization'. In that capacity, he engaged with different parts of the UK and US administrations, as well as many different community stakeholders in Britain. He took his first degree in law from the University of Sheffield, and then continued to take a higher degree in International Political Economy from the same institution, examining theories of world order, US hegemony and Russian politics. His research interests include European Muslim communities, European law, European social policy, political philosophy (multiculturalism/integration/citizenship), and the interplay between Islam and modernity, including the rise of radical extremism. He is a member of the Muslims in Britain Research Network and the Euro-Islam Network. His academic career included a fully funded (Economic and Social Research Council award) doctorate from the University of Warwick on the subject of Muslim populations in the European Union, under the supervision of Professor Muhammad Anwar at the Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations, one of the most prolific authors on British Muslims in the UK. The Guardian, Open-Democracy.Net, Islam-Online.Net and the BBC World Service have all sought his expertise in his field, and he has written for a number of publications including the Independent, Q-News, the Muslim World Review, and contributed chapters to a number of books including a recent volume on Muslim radical extremism (due to be released in 2006 in a Brill publication) and a volume published by Amal Press called 'The State We are In: Identity, Terror and the Law of Jihad'. His own book on European Muslims is due to be published by IB Tauris in October 2006 under the title of ''Islam in Europe: Multiculturalism and the European 'Other'.

City: Warwick

Imam Usama Hassan is a Kenyan-born British citizen of Indo-Pakistani origin. He has memorized the Qur'an and has isnad and ijaza in both Qur'an and Hadith. Furthermore, he holds a PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of London and an MA in Theoretical Physics from the University of Cambridge. Currently he is a Senior Lecturer in Computing Science, Middlesex. University; Imam & Khatib, Tawhid Mosque (London) and a Member of Muslim Council of Britain. His ongoing collaboration with the Royal Observatory (Greenwich) and MCB has resulted in Moonwatch (www.crescentmoonwatch.org) and other projects related to Islam and Astronomy, about which he is due to speak at the Cheltenham Science Festival, June 2006, He has published Translations (publ. Al-Qur'an Society)"The Character of the People of the Qur'an" (al-Ajurri)"The Journey of Love" (Ibn Qayyim) . He is a Member of Scriptural Reasoning group at St. Ethelburga's Centre for Peace and Reconciliation and of UK Three Faiths' Forum He has appeared on Heaven & Earth (BBC2, 2006) Material World program (BBC Radio 4, 2006). He is a Presenter, weekly Islamiqa program on Islam Channel Ramadan Diaries (ITV, 2005).Panelist, Shariah TV (Channel 4, 2004).

City: London

Mahmud Al-Rashid is a Human Rights Barrister in London and the executive member of the Association of Muslim Lawyers (UK), Vice-President of the Islamic Society of Britain, and publisher of Emel Magazine. Mahmud was previously the Deputy Secretary-General of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) and Chair of its Legal Affairs Committee. Mahmud has been quoted in numerous British press and appeared on leading UK TV and Radio stations, particularly after the 9/11 and 7/7 attacks. Born in Bangladesh, Mahmud is married to Sarah Joseph and they have three children.

City: Middlesex

Masud Ahmed Khan born, raised and schooled in the UK has been the webmaster of one of the world's leading websites for Traditional Islam since 1996. Since its early incarnation on the web, it has gained an international reputation for having excellent and balanced scholarly material from some of the Muslim world's foremost scholars in the English Language. masud.co.uk has influenced and inspired other websites and internet initiatives. The site masud.co.uk has been referenced by a permanent link on the BBC's Religion and Ethics page, the Guardian newspaper has said "this one man site has some interesting and thought provoking articles by prominent clerics and thinkers". Recently the British Library started archiving the site saying that it considered the site as "an important part of British literary heritage". Masud also took part as one of the key note speakers at the Islam in Europe conference in Brussels earlier this year. Over the last 10 years he has been involved in organizing lecture tours and various Islamically orientated events and continues to be involved in similar initiatives. Aside from the website he has a web log (HTUhttp://masud.co.uk/blog/UT in which he airs his thoughts and concerns for the Muslim community and other topics. Masud has a background as an IT professional with over 13 years experience. Due to his work with his website and having organized many talks and lectures over the years he is well respected by many Muslims both old and young in the UK. He is not part of any group or organization and does not carry the "baggage" of being part of a group. He presently resides in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, UK with his wife and 3 children.

City: Buckinghamshire

Maysa Ibrahim is an associate lawyer in the London office of White & Case, an international law firm with head offices in New York. Maysa Ibrahim has previously worked for the United Nations (UNDP/UNAMI) on various Iraq-related projects, including consensus-building amongst female parliamentarians on the constitutional drafting committee in Iraq. On behalf of Jubilee Iraq, Maysa has worked towards the reduction of the war debts incurred during the last 30 years and she also recently lobbied the IMF and World Bank at their annual meetings against reforms in particular against the drastic reduction of fuel subsidies. Following her questions raised of the head of the WB and the IMF, she was invited to participate in a discussion one-on-one with the head of the IMF at which arguments were made to the IMF against the imposition of reform policies involving subsidy-reduction at this stage in Iraq. Maysa was recently invited to become a board member of the UK-registered charity Medical Aid for Iraqi children following 3 years of organization of regular fundraising events in London to promote eastern artists whilst raising money for charities such as MAIC. Maysa also advises Arab Media Watch, a UK-based monitoring body, in its promotion of objectivity in reporting of Muslim and Arab issues in the UK press.

City: London

Mina Al-Oraibi is the Current Affairs Journalist of Asharq Alawsat Newspaper, an international, pan Ð Arab daily based in London. Mina has covered a wide-range of events, including international conferences such as the Euro-Med Summit in Barcelona and Forum for the Future in Bahrain, and recently wrote a series of reports on the position of Muslims in New York. Before joining Asharq Alawsat, Mina was London Correspondent for Al-Hayat newspaper. She has also made several media appearances on Arab satellite channels, CNN and BBC to speak on various topics including the Iraqi and Palestinian elections. She was awarded a Distinction for her MA History Dissertation on the 1958 coup d'etat in Iraq from University College London, where she also completed her BA Honours in History, specializing in Anglo-American relations. An Iraqi Ð Briton, Mina was born in Sweden and raised in Iraq, Australia and Saudi Arabia before moving to the United Kingdom.

Mustafa Suleyman began reading Philosophy and Theology at Mansfield College, Oxford and is currently taking time out to develop some work experience. Mustafa has been a trustee of Muslim Youth Helpline since its inception and was formerly the Chairman of the Board. He is also a trustee at the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services. He was recently commissioned by the Young Foundation as an independent policy consultant and is setting up a new charity with them. Mustafa is currently a Policy Support Officer in the Mayor's Office at the Greater London Authority.

City: London

Olga Aliya Gora accepted Islam 6 years ago and is the Editor at Islamic Relief. Olga has previously written for Q News. Olga has been quoted in Guardian, BBC, ITN, and in Polish, Turkish and Kosovan magazines. Born in London, of Polish parents, she studied chemistry then economics. Later, she traveled and interned for the UN in Syria and Kosovo. She has been interviewed for Polish, Turkish, Kosovan magazines on converting and being a Muslim woman her main passion is the position of women in Muslim communities and how it can be changed and improved so that the theory of strong Muslim women becomes a reality. She has written on women's issues for q-news and for guardian. (http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/olga_gora/TH) She has also taken part in a documentary for ITN on British Muslims and was interviewed for BBC. She is starting work as an editor for the president's office of Islamic Relief, and has also taken part in Demos conference on "community based measures to counter terrorism"

City: London

Saqeb Mueen is a Deputy Editor, RUSI Journal-Royal United Services Institute for Defense & Security Studies. Formerly, he was the Vice-Chair of Public Affairs Committee, Muslim Council of Britain. He has been published and quoted in RUSI Journal, The Guardian, CNN, Sky News, BBC World Service, Information (newspaper in Copenhagen) Born in London, UK he was a Judge for the Muslim News Awards for Excellence 2006

City: London

Shareefa Fulat read Biochemistry at Oxford University graduating in 2000. She worked as a graduate analyst in the investment bank JPMorgan Chase before joining the Forum Against Islamophobia and Racism in early 2002 as a Project Manager. At FAIR she was involved in a number of media projects, a campaign to change the anti-discrimination legislation in the UK and responses to government consultations on changes in Employment law affecting the Muslim communities in Britain.

Shareefa was co-author of a response from a Muslim community perspective to the Anti-Terrorsim Crime and Security Act 2001 Review Committee in June 2003 and appeared before the committee with a team of Muslim lawyers to present evidence on the impact of the legislation on Muslims in Britain.

Shareefa Fulat is currently the Director of the Muslim Youth Helpline, Britain's first support service for Muslim youth. The Muslim Youth Helpline is a free and confidential telephone, email and befriending service targeted at Muslim youth and seeks to address the failures of both the Muslim community and mainstream services to provide adequate support service to Muslim youth. To date MYH has responded to over 13,000 enquiries from clients. In October 2004 MYH launched muslimyouth.net, an online guidance and support portal for young Muslims to provide faith and culturally discussion and support on the issues facing Muslim youth in Britain. Shareefa has written for the Guardian Newspaper in Britain and has been quoted in numerous media interviews about the social condition of Muslim youth.

City: London

Tayyeb Shah is the Managing Director of Meem Music, the UK and US based Nasheed label formed in 2002 that has nurtured and showcased many well-known artists. Meem Music specialises in nasheed (Muslim devotional) music but approaches it from the perspective of artists born and brought up in the West who, in their music, fuse the sounds of East and West, traditional and contemporary. Prior to this he was the director of Yusuf Islam's record company between 1995-2002. He read PPE at Oxford, obtained his PGCE from Cambridge and holds an MA in Middle Eastern Studies from SOAS in London. An avid exponent of nasheeds as a form of cultural expression and identity for Muslims in the West, he has overseen the release of nearly 50 albums to date and has been one of the pioneers of the nasheed scene for over a decade. He resides in London and is married with 3 children.

City: London

Tufyal Choudhury is a lecturer in human rights at the University of Durham (UK) whose research focuses on issues of racial and religious discrimination, and policy issues affecting Muslims. He was director of the Open Society Institute's UK Muslims Research Project, which published its report, Muslims in the UK: Policies for Engaged Citizens, in early 2005. Other publications include the 2002 OSI report The Situation of Muslims in the UK, the forthcoming EUMC report, Perceptions of Islamophobia in the EU and Democratic Audit book Unequal Britain: Economic and Social Rights the UK. Currently, he is working with the Democratic Audit on a project exploring the impact of anti-terrorism legislation and policy on Muslims in the UK, and with the Oxford Centre for Migration, Policy and Society in a project exploring issues around Muslims and social cohesion in Britain. He is also a director at the Discrimination Law Association (UK) and advisor to the discrimination law project at the UK human rights organization JUSTICE. Tufyal was born in Bangladesh but grew up in rural southern England close to the ancient site of Stonehenge.

City: London

Zaid Hassan is a writer and facilitator based in London. He works with Generon Consulting (Boston) on long term projects which bring together business, civil society, government and communities to innovate within devolving social situations. A key area of his action- learning is the relationship between modern cultures and those labeled otherwise, such as aboriginal and indigenous cultures. Most recently he has worked on projects involving sustainable food supply chains in North America and Europe, child malnutrition in India, and aboriginal relations in Canada. Prior to Generon, Zaid worked for Pioneers of Change, an international learning community of young people, aged 25-35, who have committed to systemic change. He has a background in technology and has worked in the corporate and non- profit sectors over the last ten years. He is a regular contributor to worldchanging.com and Shikshantar (The People's Institute for Rethinking Education and Development). Zaid is currently writing a book on active responses to the destruction of cultures. Born in London, Zaid was raised in Bombay, Delhi and Abu Dhabi.

City: London