Liverpool barrister aims to find ‘Voice of British Islam’

Feb 13 2008 by Vicky Anderson, Liverpool Daily Post

THE role of Muslims in western life is being examined by a new Liverpool-based project aimed at promoting the faith and forging links with the wider community.

The Spirit of Cordoba has been set up by barrister Zia Chaudhry.

Mr Chaudhry, who had given talks on Islam and Muslim life for several years and is chairman of the Merseyside Council of Faiths, decided to take time out of work to launch the project officially, which aims to “provide the voice of British Islam”.

He and a small team of city-based professionals will make their services available to any organisation or group interested in understanding more about Islam and promote relations between faiths.

He said: “I just got so fed up there was so much negative coverage in the media about Muslims, and eventually just thought how much longer am I going to complain about it?

“I decided to formalise my efforts. As a barrister, I’m self employed so I realised I had more chance of doing that than most people. I thought rather than wait for interested groups to contact me, I would make the time to ask myself. I was doing this kind of work anyway, giving talks to people who wanted to know a little more about Islam.”

Spirit of Cordoba has the backing of Prince Charles, who says there is “great need for a project of this sort, to educate, advise, and most importantly, to encourage”.

It is named after the Andalu-cian city, which more than 1,000 years ago was regarded as the most civilised city in Europe, under Muslim rule.

The group includes political and inter-faith consultant, barrister Steven Swift, and Sadia Saeed, a Liverpool chartered accountant and member of the North West Muslim Professionals Network, who talks on her role balancing faith and career.

Their services will be available initially throughout the North West and Yorkshire.

Mr Chaudhry, who practises from India Buildings Chambers said one of the priorities of Spirit of Cordoba was to engage with young people and encourage positive role models.

He added: “We have to counter negative stereotyping – it is in our interests to do so.

“People are seriously led to believe there is no in between of being wholly religious or having a successful career or living more hedonistically.

“One thing I like to get across is the idea that being an all-rounder is something the com-munity and the Muslim community, needs. What we need is for Muslims to be in the habit of thinking about issues, and not being defensive.

“On occasion, we are going to be confronted with some knotty problems and there will be some controversy along the way, but there is no reason why we can’t address these things.”

FOR more information visit www.spiritofcordoba.org.

vickyanderson