Islam, Muslims and Liberal Democracies
EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT - APRIL 22ND 2025, London
An evening to discuss Islam’s place in Western secular societies
As Muslim communities across the West continue to grow and evolve, so do debates over identity, integration, and the future of Islam in secular societies. How can Islam adapt to Western values while staying true to its core tenets? Can a distinctly Western Islam emerge - one that is at home in liberal democracies while resisting both extremism and the erosion of its distinct identity? And how do we address the dual challenge of rising anti-Muslim bigotry and concerns over ethnoreligious segregation?
This panel brings together leading voices to tackle these complex questions:
Dr. Timothy Winter (Abdul Hakim Murad) - Renowned theologian and scholar of Islam, whose work explores the intersections of Islamic tradition, modernity, and Anglo-Muslim relations. His writings and leadership in Islamic education provide a deep historical and spiritual perspective on Islam’s place in the West.
Mustafa Akyol – Senior Fellow on Islam and modernity at the Cato Institute, lecturer at Boston College. Author of books such as Reopening Muslim Minds and Why, As a Muslim, I Defend Liberty. Akyol has been a renowned advocate of Islamic liberalism, both in his native Turkey and beyond.
Kenan Malik – Observer columnist and author of Not So Black and White: A History of Race from White Supremacy to Identity Politics. A critic of identity politics, Malik offers insights on the broader social and political forces shaping the debate around Islam, multiculturalism, and integration.
Iram Ramzan - journalist and critic who, until recently, worked as a writer for the Daily Mail for five years. She is the founder of Sedaa, a platform for progressive and critical voices of Muslim heritage. The blog was shortlisted for the Georgina Henry Prize in 2015 and was subsequently a runner-up in the 2015 Press Awards.
This discussion will go beyond surface-level narratives to examine how Islam is evolving in the West: its theological and cultural transformations, the pressures from both within and outside Muslim communities, and what the future holds for a faith tradition navigating the demands of modernity and pluralism.
Join us for an evening of deep, balanced, and forward-thinking dialogue.
Event Details
Date and time:
22nd April 2025
7pm - 8.30pm
Tickets - £20
Location
The Tabernacle, 35 Powis Square, Off Portobello Road, London, W11 2AY
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If it's an evening of 'balanced' dialogue, which speaker is representing the view that Islam is not compatible with liberal democracy? It's a fairly common view and you seem to have assembled people well suited to answer it, but it's not really a debate without anyone genuinely representing the opposing side.
"He who knows only his own side of the case knows little of that. His reasons may be good, and no one may have been able to refute them. But if he is equally unable to refute the reasons on the opposite side, if he does not so much as know what they are, he has no ground for preferring either opinion... Nor is it enough that he should hear the opinions of adversaries from his own teachers, presented as they state them, and accompanied by what they offer as refutations. He must be able to hear them from persons who actually believe them...he must know them in their most plausible and persuasive form."
John Stuart Mill, On Liberty
Will this be taped?