The Projecting British Muslims programme is a series of high-profile visits by British Muslims to the Muslim World.

The aim is to showcase the integral role British Muslims play in all levels of British Society. The programme undermines a key part of the extremist narrative that the UK and the West is engaged in a ‘War against Islam’. The programme is co-ordinated by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office.

Diary:

Asad Mirza, Urdu Press Officer, British High Commission, New Delhi on his UK visit.

Monday, 25 January 2009: Arrived at London Heathrow along with a group of seven Indian journalists from English, Hindi and the Urdu press, covering foreign affairs and minority issues. We arrived amidst a light drizzle but overall the weather was much like New Delhi and quite contrary to the expectations of every one, who were expecting a bit more cold in the evenings. After getting the journalists checked-in at the posh Crone Plaza hotel on Buckingham Palace road, I shifted to my humble abode at Express Holiday Inn.
       
Tuesday, 26 January 2009: The journalists group was off to Leicestershire, the first call of their visit in Leicester was Markfield Institute of Higher Education (MIHE), where they met an Imam's group from India currently undergoing a training programme, 'Imams as Chaplains' sponsored by the British High Commission in New Delhi. The journalists were quite taken by the composition of the imam's group representing different Islamic schools of thought in India and their desire to learn new concepts related to interfaith and community issues. The interaction between the two groups was lively with quite interesting questions posed by the journalists. The group also visited the Leicester City Council, a groupware and some community initiatives.

Earlier in the day the imams group celebrated the Indian Republic Day at Markfield and marked the occasion by singing National Anthem before the start of the training.
       
Thursday, 28 January 2009: Accompanied the journalists group to Birmingham. Our first call was at the Birmingham City Council where we were met Dr Mashuq Ally, Head of Diversity , Ms Swati Achan, India Desk, a representative of the Indian Consulate, Inspector Paul of the Prevent Unit of the city police, who briefed the group on the various initiatives of the city council on diversity, community cohesion and preventing extremism projects of the city council, and the manner the city police handles the sensitive issue of countering radicalisation of the faith groups. The lively discussion between the city officials and journalists was followed by a working lunch with Councillor Alan Rudge responsible for Preventing Extremism programme of the council.

The group was quite impressed by the philosophy of the Councillor that he is responsible for the well being of Birmingham's citizens and for this he is not influenced by party politics but only by initiatives and the end results which he wants to achieve, as the journalist group felt that his stand on the terror issues was quite opposite to the Conservatives and the wide spread belief that they are against various initiatives taken by the Labour to handle radicalisation and extremism. The group also visited the city centre, Nishkam Gurudwara and Hampstead High school where they were apprised of different dimensions of the diversity and community development work, the way the Indian community has assimilated itself in the British society, different issues of tension and the manner in which they are resolved by the city council with inputs from different community representatives, city council officials and the faith and community groups.
       
The same day the Imams group arrived in London, where they visited the offices of the Muslim Council of Britain, after which they met the Special Advisor of the Archbishop of Canterburry Rowen Williams on Interfaith relations, where the two sides held a comparative discussion on the Holy Quran and the Bible, where the Imam group reiterated the stand of Muslims on the issues, as they felt that on any such issue they tend to compare the Holy Quran and the Bible, whereas the Christians view it by comparing the Holy Quran and Jesus Christ, another issue discussed was the manner in which the Holy Prophet is referred to in the Bible, which the group felt was not as per the stature of the Holy Prophet. At the end of a lively discussion the Islamic scholar from Aligarh Muslim University invited the Archbishop to India and the university, thus giving a boost to interfaith and community issues.

Friday, 29 January 2009: Joined the Imams group from India who arrived in London from Leicester the last night, Our first call of the day was Leoback College, where we were met by Prof Andy Steinback, who took us around the college and the local synagogue followed by a lively discussion on different issues of common interest to the Jews and Muslims alike. Later we went to the East London Mosque to offer Juma prayers. Later in the day the group had a meeting with the Prevent and CTD teams at the FCO where they were apprised by the respective team members of different programmes currently underway in different countries and managed by the FCO.

Sunday, 1 February 2009: The Imam’s group left Leicester for a visit to London over the weekend. Today they went off to see and offer prayers at the East London Mosque and also visited the Islamic Centre near the centre.

Monday, 2 February 2009: The Imams group enjoyed the snowfall or the first time in their lives. The snowfall had started at night and when they got up in the morning they were treated to a white blanket all around, which was a novel experience for them. After attending two sessions on British Education System, and the challenges of Islamic Education in the UK at the MIHE, they went off to see and meet the officials of the Islamic Dawah Centre in Leicester, run by a renowned Barelvi scholar Muhammad Saleem Dhorat, who has initiated pioneering work amongst the Muslim youth in the UK. The Dawah Centre has Muslim scholars and volunteers working for its different Community Outreach Programmes and also has two scholars who work in the local hospital as Chaplains. The Highfield area in Leicester has a high concentration of Gujarati Muslims and the centre works for the betterment and guidance of its young inhabitants in particular.

Tuesday, 3 February 2009: The Imams group today went to Oxford and visited various colleges and libraries over there and later went on for a meeting at the Oxford Centre of Islamic Studies. Its current director is of Indian origin and the school was established with the blessings and patronage of the top most Indian Muslim scholar of his times, Maulana Ali Mian of Nadwatul Ulema, Lucknow. The discussion mainly focussed on ways how the Centre can establish more fruitful relations with Indian religious scholars and academics besides institutions for forwarding and propagating the new approaches and solutions to various issues afflicting the Muslim society and particularly the youth in India and vice versa, as new initiative from Indian scholars can be propagated in the UK through the Centre also. For these proposals the director assured of all help to Indian religious scholars from his side.

On our way back to Leicester I spoke to Dr Ishtiyaque Ahmed, Professor of Islamic Studies, at Hamdard University, New Delhi and Editor of Journal of Objective Studies and Studies on Islam, and sought his views on the group’s meeting with FCO Prevent team.

He felt that the FCO was trying to linkup the Prevent Strategy to India.

He was of the view that the group was very diverse, having Muslim scholars from various schools of thoughts found in India besides the academics, therefore their perception of different issues involved was quite different.