From fashion magazines to social networking, the ‘Mipsterz’ to the ‘Haloodies’, halal internet dating to Muslim boy bands, Generation M are making their mark. Shelina Janmohamed, award-winning author and leading voice on Muslim youth, investigates this growing cultural phenomenon at a time when understanding the mindset of young Muslims is critical.  While responses to terrorism and Islamic extremism lead to discourse polarising Islam and the West, these young leaders are countering stereotypical representations and flexing their economic muscles.

We will be joined by a panel of Generation M individuals defying the caricatures of Islam presented in mainstream media; the young entrepreneurs, journalists, inventors and activists who are building new global identities in a changing and interconnected world.

Hosted by author Shelina Janmohamed. Shelina is author of Generation M: Young Muslims Changing the World (I.B.Tauris, 2016) and Love in a Headscarf (Aurum Press, 2014). An established commentator on Muslim social and religious trends, she has written for the Guardian, the National and the BBC. She is also vice president of Ogilvy Noor, the world’s first bespoke Islamic Branding practice.

Speakers

Aisha Gani (@aishagani) is a UK Senior Reporter for BuzzFeed News. She has written on issues from fake news, to interviewing the Muslim comedian who sat next to Donald Trump’s son on a plane, and has reported from France on the burkini ban and the refugee crisis in Europe. She was previously a news reporter at the Guardian. She is based in London.

Sheila Na’imah Nortley is an award winning film writer and producer. Starting out with her first short film in 2003, she set up her own production company and in 2009 her neo-noir short film The Hydra scooped Best Film at the BFM awards at the British Film Institute. Her acclaimed portfolio has won her debut screenings at The Ritzy in Brixton, Warner Bros, Google Headquarters and BAFTA as well as the ABFF in Miami where she won awards from Spike Lee for Best Film and Best Director. She recently won the Women of the Future Award for Arts and Culture. She is in preproduction of her feature film The Strangers.

Miqdaad Versi is the media spokesperson for the Muslim Council of Britain, as well as its Assistant Secretary General. He is a passionate community activist and works on projects including local interfaith engagement, the recent #VisitMyMosque campaign and mosque project The Salaam Centre that aims to be a community hub as well as faith centre. His recent work has included a campaign to hold media outlets accountable for their inaccuracies in reporting news about Muslims.

On the release of his new book Holy Lands: Reviving Pluralism in the Middle East, we will be joined by writer and Jerusalem correspondent for The Economist Nicolas Pelham – and others – to discuss his optimistic and vivid reportage that spans the region, from Israel and Palestine to Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. We will discuss the roots of today’s sectarian tensions and how they have come to characterise the region as a whole – often without a full recognition of historical context, socio-economic factors, or the rich differences of the countries contained within it. We will look to the future and assess hope for a recovery from conflict and a return to religious plurality.

This event will be chaired by Iraqi-British journalist and political analyst Mina Al-Oraibi, a senior fellow at the Institute of State Effectiveness and a Yale World Fellow. She is a member of the Global Agenda Council on the Middle East and has written extensively on US and European policies in the Middle East, in addition to conducting several high profile interviews including with US President Barack Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi.

The panel:

Nicolas Pelham is The Economist’s Middle East correspondent, and a writer on Arab affairs for the New York Review of Books. He spent five years as a senior analyst for International Crisis Group, covering the growing power of regional national-religious movements in Iraq, Lebanon and Israel/Palestine, and has worked as a consultant for the United Nations in Gaza. He was The Economist’s correspondent in Iraq during the 2003 American invasion and in the Maghreb. He is the author of A New Muslim Order (2008), which maps Shia resurgence in the Arab world, and co-author of A History of the Middle East (2004).

Patrick Cockburn is an Irish journalist who has been a Middle East correspondent since 1979 for the Financial Times and, currently, for The Independent. He was awarded Foreign Commentator of the Year at the 2013 Editorial Intelligence Comment Awards, and is the author of several books on Iraq’s recent history, including The Occupation: War and Resistance in Iraq, Muqtada Al-Sadr and the Battle for the Future of Iraq and most recently The Jihadis Return: Isis and the New Sunni Uprising.

Safa Al Ahmad is a Saudi Arabian journalist and filmmaker, and joint winner of the 2015 Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award for Journalism. She has been reporting on Yemen since 2010, and was one of only a handful of journalists reporting from inside the country for a Western news organisation as the crisis escalated. She has directed numerous documentaries for the BBC and PBS, including Al Qaeda in Yemen: A New Front (2012), Saudi’s Secret Uprising 2014), and more recently, Yemen Under Siege (2016).

Firas Abi Ali is a Senior Principal Analyst for IHS Country Risk, with a focus on forecasting political and violent risks in the MENA region. His expertise includes Islamic finance in Syria, Lebanon, Libya and Egypt, with a concentration on political stability and the rise of Islamist militant groups, as well as the likely evolution of conflicts and ensuing risks across the region. He makes regular appearances in the media, including interviews with Reuters, Bloomberg, the BBC, Newsweek and CNN.

Set in Pakistan, the documentary follows enigmatic cleric Maulana Aziz, also known as Abdul Aziz Ghazi, who is waging jihad against the Pakistani state and based at the controversial Red Mosque in Islamabad. Alongside Aziz, the film follows two 12-year-old students who have attended the madrassas – Islamic seminaries that teach Sharia law as the only law and at which students learn to recite the Quran – run by the Red Mosque network. Zarina escapes from her local madrassa to join a regular school; while Talha disengages from his moderate Muslim family and decides to become a jihadi preacher whilst studying at a madrassa.

The documentary explores the proliferation of Islamic fundamentalism in the context of a state that is trying to combat the indoctrination of children at madrassas.

The directors began the discussion by explaining how they had gained access to Aziz. Naqvi described how initially the film was about the two young teens, but as the story developed it became obvious that the team “needed to dig much more deeper than just following the other characters… We needed an anchor point, to follow someone who actually used a lot of these other characters, perpetuating their own rhetoric. And for us that happened to be Maulana Aziz,” said Naqvi.

Naqvi subsequently followed Aziz on and off for two years, but admitted the real access did not come until 2013. “I definitely came with my own baggage and my own prejudices,” said Naqvi. He was confronted by a man “affiliated with an institution that perpetuated militancy and intolerance in Pakistan, so I hated him definitely,” said Naqvi.

However, in 2013 “there was a major shift” in how Naqvi worked with Aziz.

Naqvi described how he had come to meet Aziz “on a common ground… on questions of my own faith and own spirituality.”

Goodman Levitt attributed much of the film’s success to the relationship Naqvi was able to build with Aziz, and commented that a combination of “good fortune and great work” had led to the film being made.

Saw @manaqvi‘s insightful and powerful documentary #AmongtheBelievers at the @frontlineclub last night.Most important film of the year.

— Maha Khan Phillips (@MahaKhanPhillip) March 12, 2016

Naqvi described how gaining access to and working with Zarina was a “real privilege” for the team. Despite pressure from her community not to become involved with the film, Zarina’s parents “really supported their daughter in wanting to bring this story forwards.” Zarina “really wanted to share her story, she was really open to it,” said Naqvi.

In addition to Aziz, Talha and Zarina, the film follows Dr Prevez Hoodbhoy, a doctor of nuclear physics and activist protesting the activities of the Red Mosque. Hoodbhoy was Aziz’s foil throughout the documentary and Naqvi described him as a useful ally of the production from the outset.

Much of the discussion focused on the future of Pakistan, and what changes will develop in the near future.

Among the Believers also explores the National Action Plan, instigated by the Pakistani government to push curriculum reform in the madrassas and to combat the culture of militancy. “The fact that they came up with the National Action Plan… The fact that there are some small disparate groups coming out on the streets and condemning this culture of intolerance, that’s something. All we can hope is that it grows from there,” said Naqvi. 

The response to the movie from within Pakistan was mixed. Some of Naqvi’s biggest and most loyal supporters are from Pakistan. However, some reacted “very viscerally… [they] said you’re just perpetuating a very singular stereotype and orientalist spectacle for western media.”

Naqvi concluded: “I’m still affecting change and if I can be part of the dialogue in change, that’s great.”

Among the Believers is being screened twice daily at the Curzon Bloomsbury, London until March 17 2016.

Music is the beating heart of Malian culture. But when Islamic extremists took control of northern Mali in 2012, they enforced one of the harshest interpretations of sharia law in history and, crucially for Mali, they banned all forms of music. Radio stations were destroyed, instruments burned and Mali’s musicians faced torture, even death.

Overnight, Mali’s revered musicians were forced into hiding or exile – where most remain even now. But rather than lay down their instruments, the musicians are fighting back, standing up for their cultural heritage and identity. Through everything, they have used music as their weapon against the ongoing violence that has left Mali ravaged.

‘Disco’ is a renowned singer, UN-recognised humanitarian and outspoken activist. She organises gigs from her refugee camp base in Burkina Faso and is a constant support for musicians in exile, who look to her to eventually lead them home.

Known as the “Nightingale of the North” and speaking all seven languages of the country, Khaira’s home was raided by jihadists and her materials, records and instruments destroyed. Yet she remains firm in her criticism of their actions despite threats to her life. She campaigns tirelessly for elections and is organising the first public concert in Timbuktu since the conflict to prove that musicians will not be silenced. But the rise of ISIS has given Mali’s extremists new life, and realising Khaira’s dream is risky for everyone.

With a specially commissioned soundtrack from Mali’s most exciting artists and a score written by the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Nick Zinner, They Will Have To Kill Us First leaps headfirst into a tale of courage in the face of conflict.

Directed by: Johanna Schwartz
Country: United Kingdom
Year: 2015
Runtime: 105′

Charismatic cleric Abdul Aziz Ghazi, an ISIS supporter and Taliban ally, is waging jihad against the Pakistani state. His dream is to impose a strict version of Sharia law throughout the country, as a model for the world. A flashpoint in Aziz’s holy war took place in 2007, when the government leveled his flagship mosque to the ground, killing his mother, brother, only son and 150 students. With unprecedented access, Among the Believers follows Aziz on his very personal quest to create an Islamic utopia, during the bloodiest period in Pakistan’s modern history.

The film also follows the lives of two teenage students who have attended madrassahs (Islamic seminaries) run by Aziz’s Red Mosque network. Throughout the film, their paths diverge: Talha, 12, detaches from his moderate Muslim family and decides to become a jihadi preacher. Zarina, also 12, escapes her madrassah and joins a regular school. Over the next few years, Zarina’s education is threatened by frequent Taliban attacks on schools like her own.

Aziz’s foil is nuclear physicist and leading educational activist Dr. Pervez Hoodbhoy. He passionately opposes Aziz through his public appearances, lectures, and in the media. Opposition to Aziz comes to a head in December 2014, when Aziz insults a grieving nation by trying to justify the brutal massacre of 132 school children in Peshawar by the Taliban. The attack ignites a movement to end extremism in Pakistan’s mosques and madrassahs. Led by Hoodbhoy and others, Pakistan’s moderate majority focuses on Aziz and calls for his arrest.

Intimate and shocking, Among the Believers offers rare insights into the ideological battles shaping Pakistan and the Muslim world.

Directed by: Hemal Trivedi and Mohammed Naqvi
Country: Pakistan
Year: 2015
Runtime: 84’

Legendary Iranian photographer Abbas joined journalist and filmmaker Maziar Bahari in a conversation at the Frontline Club on 3 February 2016, chaired by CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer.

Bahari and Abbas have collaborated to launch abbas.site, a platform showcasing Abbas’s photographic body of work on Iran since 1970, including his coverage of the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

Legendary photographer Abbas & @maziarbahari at @frontlineclub to talk about our new website https://t.co/bZLo4xtbIW pic.twitter.com/6mhEP8fXJx

— JournoIsNotACrime (@JournoNotACrime) February 3, 2016

Abbas’s work includes “the most iconic photos of Iranian history between 1971 and 2005,” said Bahari. “He shows parts of Iran in one photograph in a way that some people have to write many books about.”

“This is the first time I’m showing contact sheets,” said Abbas, as he showed his images of Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi’s Persepolis celebration in 1971. “Normally photographers don’t show them. It’s like your personal diary, but I thought after 37 years, I can show not just the photos, but what led to the photos.”

“I wanted to show the complexity of Iran through the complexity of the lives of 12 Iranians. One would lead to another, like a circle. But the revolution started, and that was the end of the work.”

“How did you make sure you didn’t get hurt when the revolution turned violent?” asked Palmer.

“Well, I ran fast!” said Abbas.

“Some of the violence and hate which emerged later was already written on [the revolutionaries’] faces,” Abbas said, on the subject of his work in the early stages of the Islamic Revolution in 1977.

He showed his photos of Iranian Prime Minister Hoveyda at home, and then in a morgue shortly after his execution by the Revolutionary Guard in 1979.

“Although you feel very strongly for the man on the slab, you still do your work as a photographer. You try to compose the best picture… In all situations of strife or violence or emotional upheaval, you put a curtain between you and what’s happening. Because if you don’t, you can’t function,” he said.

“As a photographer, you don’t think, you just act. You capture energies you’re not even aware of. It’s when you do the editing and the sequencing that you become conscious.

“The act of photography is very intuitive. Your intuition is fed by your education, your culture, by the argument you had with your girlfriend the night before… that makes you take this picture instead of that one.”

Khomeini’s return to Iran in 1979, captured by Abbas @frontlineclub pic.twitter.com/7jdRut7I3y

— Charlotte Beale (@CharlotteAGB) February 3, 2016

Abbas commented that great photography is a combination of two things – “information and aesthetics.”

“When the two come together, in a suspended moment, that’s it. I don’t freeze the moment, I suspend it. I like to give the impression to my reader that the people in my photograph kept on doing the thing they were doing before I took the photograph.”

On the subjectivity of his work, Abbas commented: “the difference between a militant and a photographer [is that] the militant has his own agenda. The photographer, although he feels strongly, has a duty to his readers and also as a historian of the present, to be as fair as possible.”

In response to a question on how he manages his presence as a photographer, Abbas responded: “as much as possible, you try only to be a witness, not a partisan. Sometimes it’s hard, because of course they know what you are when you have a camera in your hand.”

In response to an audience member who asked what model of camera he prefers, Abbas said, “my favourite camera is my eye. It works very well.”

The discussion then moved to Abbas‘s references as a photographer, with Bahari commenting: “when you ask about Abbas‘s icons he doesn’t talk about Cartier-Bresson – he talks about Caravaggio, Rembrandt, Cezanne, who really painted life.”

On the methods of the photographer, Abbas commented: “Instead of writing with words, you write with light.”

Visit abbas.site to view the project in full. 

Belgian journalist Rudi Vranckx joined an audience at the Frontline Club on Monday 1 February 2016 to discuss his documentary My Jihad, in which he explores how a small Belgian community is confronting extremism.

Loving the q&a @frontlineclub with @RudiVranckx after the screening of #myjihad pic.twitter.com/5PuJfdspiv

— Albany (@albanyassociate) February 1, 2016

Following a screening of the powerful film, which reveals how a town in a country that saw 400 young people travel to Syria last year is tackling the problem, Vranckx admitted that Belgian society – and the rest of Europe – has a lot of work to do.

“This film was made before the attacks in Paris and I’m afraid the situation is getting worse,” Vranckx said. “Even today a popular paper had the headline that read: ‘Our people are tired of foreigners’.”

Vranckx went on to explain that it is currently the symptoms of the issue – rather than the root causes – that are being dealt with. In My Jihad he meets Imad, a local youth councillor who has responded to cases of radicalisation by engaging with young Muslims on the subject of extremism.

“The issue is fear,” said Vranckx. “Fear of losing identity, fear of being isolated by one’s religion. The basic fight is a fight within Islam.”

This divide manifests itself in the film through Vranckx’s interviews with the mothers of the young Belgians who have fled to Syria.

“I spoke to one woman whose son was declared dead several times after fleeing. The news was on the front page of two newspapers, but it was not him,” Vranckx said.

“In the end he was one of the Paris killers. Before returning to Europe to commit the attack he didn’t even say hello to his mother. He didn’t say anything before blowing himself up.”

Vranckx commented on his respect for Saliah, who featured significantly in the film, and spoke in depth about her son leaving for Syria unannounced and his subsequent death.

“Saliah is very brave to have spoken about it,” said Vranckx. “She opened the door to other mothers in a similar situation.”

What role could the #media play in addressing the #identity #politics that are impacting today’s #youth? – @frontlineclub #MyJihad Q&A

— Alexandra Simmons (@arlsimmons) February 1, 2016

When questioned by a member of the audience on why there were no fathers interviewed in the film, Vranckx responded that the women tended to be more open.

“I spoke to some men whose sons had gone to Syria, but in the end they decided against being interviewed on film. They were too ashamed.

“The women were more willing to speak about the issue. Plus, in many cases the fathers were absent from the household.”

He said he has “never come across a parent who justified the fighting.”

Another audience member questioned the relationship between the young people who leave Europe to fight in Syria and the local fighters in the country, to which Vranckx responded that they had little in common.

“The locals often view Muslims who travel from Europe in a negative light,” he said. “Many local fighters believe they are not helping.

“They do not speak the language; they do not know the country. They come with a ‘Visit Syria’ travel book in their pocket. They rarely connect with the local people.”

Despite receiving threats over My Jihad from both sides of the debate on Islamic extremism, Vranckx explained that it is crucial to broach the subject, describing it as a “blind spot.”

“I don’t make the programme for an elitist group who know their own views,” he said. “I want to reach ordinary people, the people at risk.”

In the last year alone over 400 young Belgians have traveled to Syria. In My Jihad, directed by Mark De Visscher, reporter Rudi Vranckx visits the region of Vilvoorde to investigate why young Belgians from the area are becoming radicalised, and how the Muslim community is working to combat this trend.

“Everyone in Vilvoorde knows someone who’s left” explains Moad, a young Belgian Muslim. In the last year a number of Moad’s schoolmates have left Belgium for Syria to take up arms for ISIS. What is driving these young men to turn their backs on their families and their friends to sacrifice everything? Moad believes that “it’s a shared responsibility… there is nowhere else here for young Muslims to go.”

The film also introduces Imad, a youth counsellor. Like many other Muslims in Vilvoord, Imad has responded to cases of radicalisation by engaging with the local Muslim youth through charity; offering them guidance and support to create a sense of belonging within the community. One of Imad’s pupils explains, “ISIS is an ideology. You cannot bombard an ideology… an ideology has to be fought intellectually.”

Encouraging residents of Vilvoorde to voice their own perspectives, director Mark De Visscher creates a moving and revealing portrait of a small community confronting extremism. My Jihad offers a fascinating and topical insight into a growing issue, providing a valuable perspective on the impacts of extremism for Muslim communities in Europe.

Directed by: Mark De Visscher
Runtime: 52′
Country: Belgium
Distributor: Journeyman Pictures

On Monday 26 October, renowned Egyptian writer, feminist and activist Nawal El Saadawi joined journalist Wendell Steavenson and a packed audience at the Frontline Club for a discussion that spanned the topics of linguistic philosophy, feminism and globalisation – all of which were explored in the context of El Saadawi‘s own life experiences and recent developments in Egyptian politics.

Sitting in same room as legend #NawalElSaadaei @frontlineclub pic.twitter.com/93hzphE6My

— Nahla Al-Ageli (@NahlaInk) October 26, 2015

The discussion began with a focus on the United States’ continued military aid to Egypt. This was something El Saadawi felt passionately against, not just in Egypt’s case but on a global level. “Fair trade, not aid,” she said.

“The 2011 revolution was hijacked by the United States working with Egyptian politicians. Hilary Clinton came to Tahrir Square as soon as the revolution began. Why?”


The conversation then moved onto the subject of globalisation, and how colonising powers have always played the game of “divide and rule.”

El Saadawi expanded: “When Sadat and Reagan came, they brought the Muslim Brothers. Why? They wanted to fragment the country by religion. They wanted to fragment the country by class. They wanted to fragment the army. What is the difference between Syria and Egypt now? Syria is completely fragmented, because the army is fragmented. And this is why we are unified in comparison. This is why the Americans are against Sisi.”

When Steavenson questioned her about the way the Egyptian government has been punishing members of the Muslim Brotherhood with imprisonment and death sentencing, El Saadawi said: “I am against the death penalty. I am against putting anybody in prison. I am against all that. But I am also against a religious state. Whether Islamic, Jewish, or Christian. We cannot have true equality in any religious state, because all religions oppress women.”


She continued by explaining the extent to which gender inequality has been rooted in religion: “In the three major monotheistic religions, Adam was set free as an innocent, while Eve was a sinner because she ate from the tree of knowledge. Women are not expected to be equal. Why do you think I’ve had three husbands? Because they hated my intelligence. They wanted a stupid woman.”


Even though El Saadawi‘s main work and research focus revolves around injustice, she revealed her enduring optimism in the face of adversity. “I am always optimistic. I learned very much about this in the experience of prison. The women I was with were very pessimistic, because Sadat told us he will kill us. So every day they woke up crying, and I started dancing. I told them we will live and be free; just to have that idea gave me hope. When you have hope, you inspire people with hope, and hope is power. In the worst situations, I am hopeful.”


Steavenson asked about the moment when her sense of justice came into being, and why she initially became motivated to challenge injustice.

El Saadawi explained that when she was 7 and 8 years old, she felt something was not right in the way that she was treated in comparison with her brother. Her older brother was lazy and spoilt, whereas she was hardworking and neglected.

“During Eid, I received half the money that my brother received in gifts. I asked my parents why. They said because God said so. They thought they would shut me up by saying ‘God’. So my first letter ever when I was 8 years old was to God, but I still haven’t got an answer!”

Young Muslims are travelling from Europe to fight in countries such as Syria and Somalia, lured by groups like Al-Shabaab and the Islamic State (IS). Warriors From the North follows a cohort of young Al-Shabaab sympathisers in Denmark and Sweden.

The film focuses on a Danish-Somalian boy who gradually gained contact with the group and joined them in Somalia. With his back turned to the camera as he looks out over a nondescript housing development in Copenhagen, his friend “The Shadow” describes how the young man fell victim to recruiters and left his family behind to fight for Al-Shabaab.

In-depth discussions with former members of the Danish Al-Shabaab group break stereotypes about the profile of young men and women who join – many had supportive families, attended school and led seemingly normal lives until members of the community introduced them to a previously unknown network of Al-Shabaab devotees, and along with it a new sense of belonging.

Directors Nasib Farah and Søren Steen Jespersen approach the subject from multiple perspectives, speaking with current Al-Shabaab members, young men who have left the group and the family of one young man who left his life behind to join Al-Shabaab. A number of other very young fighters from other countries including The Netherlands, their identities concealed, explain why they left home and are prepared to die.

Directed by Søren Steen Jespersen
Duration: 59′
Year: 2014