House of Commons Seminar, “Engagement and Partnership Work between Muslim Communities and the Police for the Purposes of Counter-Terrorism”, House of Commons, 13 May 2009 (Team)

Contemporary Islam and Europe Symposium, “Engaging Muslim Communities within a Counter-Terrorism Context”, King’s College London, 5 May 2009 (Spalek)

AHRC Seminar, “Engagement and Partnership Work between Muslim Communities and the Police for the Purposes of Counter-Terrorism” Plenary Speaker AHRC Funded Event for the West Midlands, Birmingham, 30 April 2009 (Spalek)

http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:eeKAwOu3ydgJ:www.iass.bham.ac.uk/study/socialresearch/religion_and_society/project-outputs.pdf+salwa+el-awa+ahrc&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

Feminism & Islam: ideas & activism, Post-Graduate Seminar Series in Islamic Studies, University of Birmingham 11/3/08

Conversion, identity & social activism: making space for British Islam, Conference: The Future of Islam in Britain, New Muslims Perspective University of Birmingham 4/3/08

British Muslims & Shariah Law: Islamic ideals in a secular reality, Shariah in the UK Symposium, University of Birmingham 25/4/07.

She is a member of The Muslims in Britain Research Network http://www.mbrn.org.uk/index.html

Chair: Professor Ron Geaves – a lecture he gave in April 2006 was reported in the Telegraph:

Prof Geaves, whose lecture was entitled Twenty years of fieldwork: reflections on ‘reflexivity’ in the study of British Muslims, said: “The title refers to the personal transformation that has taken place over the last two decades in which I have moved from a position of academic neutrality to one of active engagement with the Muslim community.”

Andrew Dismore, the Labour MP for Hendon, described Prof Geaves’s claims as “absolutely barking”.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1515223/July-7-bombs-were-a-demo-not-terrorism-claims-professor.html

Baxter Morgansfruh
2 April 2009, 1:17 pm

Sorry to post on this thread (the 2 Lambert related threads are dead), but I feel this to be germane and worthy of attention:

Robert Lambert first came to my attention in relation to the Glasgow Airport bombings when I carried out a little background research on him. I have subsequently done so again, in response to the Guardian article he co-authored and unearthed something that I had missed before.

Mr Lambert is ‘currently acting as consultant for an AHRC funded research project An Examination of Partnership Approaches to Challenging Religiously-Endorsed Violence involving Muslim Groups and Police headed by Dr. Basia Spalek, Senior Lecturer in Criminology & Criminal Justice, Institute of Applied Social Studies, University of Birmingham and Dr. Salwa El-Awa, Lecturer in Islamic Studies, Theology Department, University of Birmingham.’

Now, I knew he was completing a PhD at Exeter and had dealings with various universities such as Birmingham and Edinburgh, but I hadn’t taken care to examine the background of some of his colleagues in these institutions. In particular, I had missed the name Dr Salwa el-Awa, a lecturer in Islamic studies at Birmingham and, more importantly, a researcher on the project mentioned above, An Examination of Partnership Approaches to Challenging Religiously-Endorsed Violence involving Muslim Groups and Police.

I recognised the name, but couldn’t decide where I’d seen it before. I googled it and it dawned on me that she was related to Dr Muhammad Salim el-Awa, a well-known Egyptian Islamist. I found a profile of him and discovered that Dr Salwa is his wife.

Now, his links to the Ikhwaan are well-publicised even if the profile of him paints him as ‘distancing’ himself from their core doctrines on Islamisation. What I didn’t realise was that Dr Salwa is also the daughter of Hassan el-Ashmawi, a key figure (and former leader) of the Ikhwaan.

The question is, why is the daughter of one of the key ideologues in the MB, whose husband is a well-known Islamist, integral to a research project that will not only shape the way that the police deal with Islamists such as the MB/MCB/MAB etc., but also the government? The proximity of such individuals to the coterie of advisors that formulate and influence govt. policy on counter-terrorism is extremely worrying.

According to the project’s homepage, Dr el-Awa’s previous research ‘involved establishing strong connections with experts in and leaders of the Islamic movement in Egypt and UK, as well as relations and co-operation with other interested agencies.’ Surely, she need only meet with members of her immediate family, and as the daughter of a former MB leader, she would have ample experience and contacts from her formative years.

Isn’t this worrying? Are Birmingham University aware of her pedigree and that of her husband?

I don’t imagine that you do. That would require some effort and organisation.

Thanks for the encouragement. I’m doing my best to attract novice Shintoists and it’s tough. Maybe it’s the difficult language most Shintoist texts are printed it. Or their complete absence, rather, in Waterstones.

[After I submit this comment, I'll be meditating a lot to screen the G20 news out of my mind. Good tip. Ta.]

Meditation does wonders for the mind – it helps to screen out the less important material aspects of life.

Good luck with your enterprise – we need more Shintoists, especially in the corridors of power.

Three other UK worshippers and I are forming a Shintoist Council for Britain. I have appointed myself the Chairman of the SCB and would like to ‘do a meeting’ with either a sympathetic, high-ranking member of the Metropolitan Police or a ‘mainstream’ British politician who can represent our just demands to the British public and help achieve understanding, acceptance and tolerance. Does anyone have a list of the phone numbers I need to get this ball rolling?

I’ve never bought into the Islam/Islamism distinction. After all, what other religion so frequently puts on an “ism” and blows people up, makes unreasonable demands, kills gays, apostates, rape victims, etc?

When you say “Islam”, the ism is supefluous.