Event Details

Speakers: Yahya Birt

Yahya Birt will set out what politicians have sought to persuade 

Muslims to do in the post-9/11 world, the unspoken assumptions on which their appeal lies, and the categories they use to mobilise Muslim sentiment. 

The speaker believes it is essential that Muslims develop a critical distance from this political rhetoric,not only because it can be internalised and have negative 

consequences for how Muslims evaluate themselves and their faith, but also because this rhetoric does much to justify an aggressive militarism that feeds the very terrorism it purports to be ending. 

He will argue that there are two versions of the "war on terror" argument, a crude version and a sophisticated one. The crude one, based on a "clash of civilisations" or "Islam verses the West", is sometimes used, but much more common is the sophisticated version, founded on a values-based conflict between "political Islam" and "Western values", which divides Muslims into "moderates" and "extremists". The speaker contends that many of the arguments used against the sophisticated form of the "war on terror" rhetoric are ineffective, and suggests some ways forward. The speaker argues that it is for Muslims ourselves to define who are and what we stand for, based on our own rich ethical and legal traditions. Please join us for a lively discussion! 

All welcome. No entrance fee.