Join City Circle for honest reflection from an experienced panel on the state of "Islamic Activism in the UK: Then and Now" at 6.45pm on Friday, 29th June 2007 at Abrar House, 45 Crawford Place, off Edgware Road, London, W1H 4LP. 

Why did so many young Muslims turn back to religion in the 1990s? Should this revival really only be understood in terms of 9/11 or 7/7, as the subject of "threat assessments" or of "ideological linkages" with the tiny violent fringe? How are we to assess the role played by Islamic activist groups in this religious revival? Did they suffer too much from excesses of group-think, over-idealistic politics, rigidity of thinking, a lack of awareness of context, over-zealousness? Alternatively, did not Islamic activism take a lead in promoting an integrationist agenda, interfaith, serious youth work, large-scale charity relief work and so on? 

Have these groups now moved on to professionalise themselves, to encourage a open cross-sectarian culture of service and genuine interaction? How far have we moved from sharp differing over issues of faith, law and political loyalty to umma or nation to a more balanced appreciation of the complexity of many of these issues? Have we been able to find a better balance between activism and spirituality? Or between the home issues and pan-Islamic causes? Or between scholarly tradition and scholarly ijtihad? Or between imported models of Islamic activism and creating our own? Does Islamic activism still need to change further in order to become more relevant and dynamic? 

For a frank assessment from a variety of experienced activists, please join Yahya Birt (chair), Inayat Bunglawala (MCB/ISB), Usama Hasan (Imam, Masjid at-Tawhid), Hassan Saleemi (Islam Channel) and Salman Hasan (Ibn Jabal Institute). 

Free entrance. All welcome. 

Inayat Bunglawala is Assistant General-Secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain and co-presenter of the Politics and Media Show on the Islam Channel. 

Usama Hasan is a senior lecturer at Middlesex University, planetarium lecturer at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, and a part-time imam at Masjid at-Tawhid in Leytonstone, London. 

Hassan Saleemi of the Islam Channel (Hassan and Habiba Show) is the founder of CityMuslims and a former member of Hizb ut-Tahrir. 

Salman Hasan is the Director of the Ibn Jabal Institute, the well-known Arabic language school, who trained in law at the LSE and has taken part in Islamic activism in East London for many years.