The key ingredient since its formation in 1999 has been to remain non-aligned to any overseas or established doctrinal organisation by facilitating and networking personally between existing Islamic and community organisations by 'servicing' them with professional skills and resources.
The goodwill generated then allows the City Circle to act in an advisory capacity to encourage integration with wider society.
The diverse range of subjects covered in the weekly events and the wide spectrum of Muslim and non-Muslim opinion within it has established a respectable platform for honest critical debate which has allowed the City Circle to move sections of the community towards an increasingly proud, confident and positive definition of their identity as young British Muslim citizens in the UK. Another key success factor has been the ability of harnessing mainstream businesses to sponsor or allow our volunteers pro-bono time-off to support the projects.
It is up to each one of us to take individual responsibility for helping, in whatever small way we can, make our communities fairer, peaceful and just places for all. If you have a genuine desire to be in the service of the community then please get in contact with us.
The story so far...
The City Circle first met on Friday 29 January 1999 in Toynbee Hall in East London on a cold winter's evening. The initial idea was to offer Muslims in the city a "halal alternative" to the Friday night pub culture. A place where Muslims could hang out and relax without the fear of being led astray! There were religious talks designed to drum in the message of our 'Muslimness'. Muslim women were welcome (which was quite innovative in its day) but debate raged as to where they should be seated – at the back or separately alongside the men folk.
The City Circle's first motto was to "create a knowledgeable and organised Muslim community". To be fair, the City Circle was not too dissimilar from the bulk of Islamic circles available up and down the country. However, things were soon about to change.
Having no racial, political or sectarian affiliations, and professionals for whom 'innovation' comes as second nature, the City Circle found itself free to pursue a course of engagement based on its Islamic values.
The passion driving a number of the founding fathers (and mothers!) was to put something back into the community. It was not long before 'community' was defined more broadly and the word 'Muslim' was dropped. Our values were driven from Islam - Muslims are but one group, Islam is for mankind. Our role was to take an interest in social and welfare issues affecting all of the community. Whilst many of the male constituents were content with debating theological minutiae, the women were fast heading up the community projects and found themselves setting the agenda - crucial in those early days in determining the City Circle's direction.
In August 2000, the City Circle packed the LSE's old lecture theatre with a discussion on global warming. George Monbiot, the veteran environmental campaigner, was invited as the expert in the field. Learning from non-Muslim scholars was innovative for its time, even a discussion on environmental issues was blue-sky thinking! Difficult to believe now, but true.
The City Circle would not invite a non-Muslim with an opposing view to "debate" with a Muslim speaker. The ethos was instead to show the common values, not artificially highlight differences and the "superiority" of Muslims.
With 9/11, many found the City Circle's position on engagement far less a romantic luxury than a dire necessity. From amongst the City Circle an anti-war group emerged which formed part of the Stop the War coalition, urging Muslims to march alongside their compatriots. It was soon to become apparent that in our hour of need, it was the established non-Muslim communities who had the prerequisite skills to articulate and fight for "our" causes – which were, in fact, theirs too.
There was, however, resentment at the idea of working so closely with non-Muslims and much confusion. To deal with this the City Circle organised a conference in November 2001 on "Islam and the peace movement – where do we stand" inviting Muslim scholars to justify the positions we were taking. The process towards greater engagement was never going to be easy and had to be fought every step of the way if we wanted to take our constituents with us. Our religious scholars were called upon to explain – with evidences from the Qur'an and hadith – that the steps we were taking were right and necessary.
The City Circle would encourage Muslims to be more open-minded, self-critical and less holier than thou. Speakers were encouraged to be bold and radical in their talks, to openly and honestly say things they would never dream of saying in front of own their own followers. The City Circle emerged as a laboratory of ideas experimenting how far the community would go. Whenever a step too far was taken, it would be followed up with more traditional talks reassuring audiences of our Islamic roots. This process culminated with a talk in April 2004 on "the Muslim obsession with themselves" by a leading salafi scholar. Such criticism of 'religious' Muslims would previously have been considered treason!
The City Circle's approach to engagement is to offer a platform to highlight and debate wider concerns – not to impose solutions, but to ask the right questions. This coupled with its projects designed to provide practical solutions to community problems and convert talk into action.
The history of the City Circle to date is a micro-cosm of what is taking place within the wider Muslim community. A number of grassroot groups inspired by the City Circle are emerging up and down the country acting as bridgeheads between their local communities.
