How can Muslims play a positive role in the West?

Panel discussion followed by audience Q&A

Chair

Lauren Booth

Author and Journalist , Drawing on 20 years in the mainstream, Lauren now delivers media training at university and community level. Her Youtube channel explores Muslim narratives. Her memoir ‘In Search of a Holy Land,’ is now a stage play, premiered at the Edinburgh Festival and Palestine House.

Panelists

Joram van Klaveren

He studied comparative religion at the Free University in Amsterdam, an academic teacher of religion and co-founder of the Islam Experience Centre (islamic museum). Former PM and author of two books Apostate: From Christianity to Islam in Times of Secularisation and Terror, and Hidden History.

Paul Williams studied philosophy and theology at the University of London and embraced Islam. Founder and Director of the Blogging Theology Academy and Blogging Theology, he lectures internationally on religion and philosophy. He has been featured in the 2024–2026 editions of The Muslim 500: The World’s 500 Most Influential Muslims.

Dr. Sohail Hanif  CEO of the National Zakat Foundation and a specialist in Ḥanafī legal theory. He holds an MA and DPhil from the University of Oxford, where his doctoral research focused on early islamic law. 

Imam Ashraf Dabous- Imam of Lewisham Islamic Centre with a BA in Usul al-Deen (Islamic University of Madinah), and an MSc in CBT Therpay (Goldsmiths, London), and an MA in Islamic Studies (Pending - Muslim College, Ealing) . He has nearly a decade of experience teaching Arabic, Fiqh, Usul al-Fiqh, Aqeedah, and Hadith studies

www.dwislam.org