Open Discussions
in association with
Gulf Cultural Club
invites you to a Discussion titled:
Lessons on martyrdom and change from the Karbala epic
Challenging the tyranny of the status quo
Speakers
*Dr Sheikh Saeed Bahmanpour (Scholar)
Cannon Dr Andrew Smith (Director of Interfaith Relations)
** Danjuma Bihari (Community Griot)
It is one of the greatest challenges of reformists to stand up to the cultural, religious or political ailments of their societies. The status quo is often so rigid that people with a religious mission would be frustrated as they face the social diseases inflated by evil forces; consumerism, materialism, immorality, dictatorship and exploitation. But they have a duty to fulfil. Imam Hussain, the grandson of Prophet Mohammad, sacrificed himself and 72 of his family members and supporters when he challenged the status quo that had developed under the Umayyad dynastical rule. They were all martyred on 10thMuharram 61 AH (680AD). To stand up for freedom, justice, human rights and pluralism is a task that only great people will undertake. Yet everyone is capable of challenging the status quo with the aim of changing the lives of people and granting them free choice, dignity and spirituality. This is the mission of people of religion today.
6.30pm, Tuesday, 25th September 2018
Venue: Abrar House, 45 Crawford Place, W1H 4LP
*Sheikh Mohammad Saeed Bahmanpour is a cleric and a popular speaker. Currently he is the director of interfaith relations at the Islamic Centre of England and a lecturer of Islamic Studies at the Islamic College for Advanced Studies, He completed his religious studies in Qum, Iran before he was invited to Cambridge University to teach as a visiting lecturer in the Faculty of Oriental Studies In 1999. Later, he was appointed as the principal of The Islamic College in London which has both seminary and university degrees on its educational programs where he continued for four years. He is also interested in the history of Jesus and Mary from an Islamic perspective and has written a screenplay about the life of Mary based on the Islamic sources, which was made into a successful movie. Another of his works on Christian history was the screenplay about The Seven Sleepers of the Cave (Ashab al-Kahf). Sheikh Bahmanpour has authored several books including Muslim Identity in the 21st Century, ed. (2001), The Idols Will Fall (2010), The Blessed Tree: The Life and Times of Fatima Daughter of Muhammad (2011), Towards Eternal Life (2015), and Understanding Sura Yāsīn (2018).
**Canon Dr. Andrew Smith is the Director of Interfaith Relations for the Bishop of Birmingham.In 2014, at the Bishop of Birmingham’s request, Andrew set up ‘The Birmingham Conversations’ dialogue process which involved people from six different faiths discussing ‘How faith is lived in modern society’. For ten years, from 1994-2004, he worked for Scripture Union as a Schools Worker working primarily with pupils from a Pakistani Muslim heritage, and thereafter as the Director of Youth Encounter, developing dialogue between Christian and Muslim teenagers and training Christian youth workers for work with young people of different faiths. He is the founder and Chair of Trustees for The Feast, a Christian charity which works to bring together Christian and Muslim young people to build friendship and understanding, which currently operates in four cities in the UK as well as Beirut and Berlin. (www.thefeast.org.uk). He was awarded Doctor of Theology by the University of Birmingham in 2007. He is the author of several articles and books
*** Danjuma Bihari is a community scholar, historian, anthropologist and public speaker. A Windrush activist, a compulsive reader who is an advocate for cultural heritage awareness and education.
Admission is Free. Please register for catering purposes – email: d05sa@yahoo.co.uk or text 07795 660 438
MS
Mr SAM <mrsam13@hotmail.com>
Mon 24/09/2018, 09:13
Open Discussions
in association with
Gulf Cultural Club
invites you to a Discussion titled:
Lessons on martyrdom and change from the Karbala epic
Challenging the tyranny of the status quo
Speakers
*Dr Sheikh Saeed Bahmanpour (Scholar)
Cannon Dr Andrew Smith (Director of Interfaith Relations)
** Danjuma Bihari (Community Griot)
It is one of the greatest challenges of reformists to stand up to the cultural, religious or political ailments of their societies. The status quo is often so rigid that people with a religious mission would be frustrated as they face the social diseases inflated by evil forces; consumerism, materialism, immorality, dictatorship and exploitation. But they have a duty to fulfil. Imam Hussain, the grandson of Prophet Mohammad, sacrificed himself and 72 of his family members and supporters when he challenged the status quo that had developed under the Umayyad dynastical rule. They were all martyred on 10thMuharram 61 AH (680AD). To stand up for freedom, justice, human rights and pluralism is a task that only great people will undertake. Yet everyone is capable of challenging the status quo with the aim of changing the lives of people and granting them free choice, dignity and spirituality. This is the mission of people of religion today.
6.30pm, Tuesday, 25th September 2018
Venue: Abrar House, 45 Crawford Place, W1H 4LP
*Sheikh Mohammad Saeed Bahmanpour is a cleric and a popular speaker. Currently he is the director of interfaith relations at the Islamic Centre of England and a lecturer of Islamic Studies at the Islamic College for Advanced Studies, He completed his religious studies in Qum, Iran before he was invited to Cambridge University to teach as a visiting lecturer in the Faculty of Oriental Studies In 1999. Later, he was appointed as the principal of The Islamic College in London which has both seminary and university degrees on its educational programs where he continued for four years. He is also interested in the history of Jesus and Mary from an Islamic perspective and has written a screenplay about the life of Mary based on the Islamic sources, which was made into a successful movie. Another of his works on Christian history was the screenplay about The Seven Sleepers of the Cave (Ashab al-Kahf). Sheikh Bahmanpour has authored several books including Muslim Identity in the 21st Century, ed. (2001), The Idols Will Fall (2010), The Blessed Tree: The Life and Times of Fatima Daughter of Muhammad (2011), Towards Eternal Life (2015), and Understanding Sura Yāsīn (2018).
**Canon Dr. Andrew Smith is the Director of Interfaith Relations for the Bishop of Birmingham.In 2014, at the Bishop of Birmingham’s request, Andrew set up ‘The Birmingham Conversations’ dialogue process which involved people from six different faiths discussing ‘How faith is lived in modern society’. For ten years, from 1994-2004, he worked for Scripture Union as a Schools Worker working primarily with pupils from a Pakistani Muslim heritage, and thereafter as the Director of Youth Encounter, developing dialogue between Christian and Muslim teenagers and training Christian youth workers for work with young people of different faiths. He is the founder and Chair of Trustees for The Feast, a Christian charity which works to bring together Christian and Muslim young people to build friendship and understanding, which currently operates in four cities in the UK as well as Beirut and Berlin. (www.thefeast.org.uk). He was awarded Doctor of Theology by the University of Birmingham in 2007. He is the author of several articles and books
*** Danjuma Bihari is a community scholar, historian, anthropologist and public speaker. A Windrush activist, a compulsive reader who is an advocate for cultural heritage awareness and education.
Admission is Free. Please register for catering purposes – email: d05sa@yahoo.co.uk or text 07795 660 438
