This House believes the face veil is a barrier to integration in the West
Monday February 19 2007
MOTION PASSED
by 57% to 43%
Speakers
Lord Ahmed of Rotherham
Speaking for the motion
Lord Ahmed of Rotherham was the first Muslim to be created a Life Peer in the United Kingdom and is an adviser to the British Home Office on Muslim affairs.
Nazir Ahmed entered the House of Lords in 1998 as Baron Ahmed of Rotherham in the county of South Yorkshire. He is President and founder of the All-Party Parliamentary Inter-Faith Group. He is also Vice President and founder of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Entrepreneurship. He led calls for the law against religious discrimination.
Before entering the House of Lords, he was a local councillor during the 1990s as well as serving as a Justice of the Peace on the magistrates' bench. He chaired the South Yorkshire Labour Party for four years and founded the British Muslim Councillors' Forum in 1992.
As well as being involved in politics, Lord Ahmed is also an entrepreneur. He ran a chain of fish and chip shops and mini-markets when he first came to the UK and then became involved in mining marble in Kashmir. He is also involved with numerous charities including the British Heart Foundation and the Yemeni Development Foundation, UK. He is Patron of the Kashmiri and Pakistani Professional Ass ociation; British Hajji Association and the Young Pakistani Doctors' Association among others. He also supports a large number of charities including Muslim Aid, Islamic Relief, International Disability Network, Human Appeal International, Sahara Foundation, Save the Children Fund and the Eve Appeal.
Born in Pakistan in 1957, Lord Ahmed moved to the UK at the age of seven. He gained a B.A. in public administration from Sheffield Hallam University. Proud of his British-ness, Lord Ahmed also keeps close contact with his Pakistani heritage. Following the earthquake in Kashmir he visited the area several times, donating from his own funds as well as raising money for rebuilding work and helping organise several millions in donations of resources.
Ayshah Ismail
Speaking against the motion
Ayshah Ismail is a British teacher who wears the face veil (niqab).
Ms. Ismail teaches science at a Muslim girls' secondary school. She had been wearing the headscarf (hijab) for the past eight years and started wearing the niqab a year ago.
Ms. Ismail is a community activist who works with several organisations to break down barriers between the Muslim and non-Muslim communities. She is an active supporter of the Stop the War Coalition and has spoken at a number of their rallies. She says she became an anti-war campaigner after seeing what she describes as a rise of Islamaphobia in the aftermath of the London bombings of 7/7.
Ms. Ismail is aiming to set up a charity which specialises in providing relief for children around the world, affected by war, poverty and natural disasters.
Born in the northern English city of Preston, she graduated from Liverpool University with a Bachelor of Science in Pharmaceutics.
Reem Maghribi
Speaking for the motion
Reem Maghribi is founder of Sharq, the premier English language British-Arab culture and lifestyle magazine.
With a background in IT and graphic design, Ms. Maghribi founded Sharq in 2004. As the magazine's Editor-in-Chief, she saw Sharq's transition through from a UK-based print publication to an International online magazine, at SharqMagazine.com, in 2007.
Ms. Maghribi calls herself a nationalist who is devoted to promoting pride and progress among Arabs both in the Arab world and outside it. She is a Trustee of both British Muslims for Secular Democracy, a foundation set up by British Muslims who support a clear separation between religion and state, and New Gen eration Network, an organisation seeking a new approach to tackle discrimination and prejudice in Britain by encouraging the under-represented to speak out against misinformation and scaremongering.
Born and raised in Britain, Ms. Maghribi is the second of three daughters to a former Libyan diplomat, who grew up with his family in Palestine before 1948, and a Syrian mother.
Ahmed Ahmed Younis
Speaking against the motion
Ahmed Ahmed Younis is the former National Director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in the US and will shortly take up the post of advisor to senior US government officials.
He is the author of 'American Muslims: Voir Dire' (Speak the Truth), a post-September 11 look at the reality of debate surrounding American Muslims and their country, which has also been translated into Arabic.
Mr. Younis served as National Director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) from 2004 to January 2007. During his tenure he lectured in Barcelona, Brussels, Kuala Lumpur, Madrid and Rome at academic and non-governmental institutions.
He is a member of the US Muslim World Advisory Committee of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP). He is also a regular speaker at government conferences, briefings and events covering topics such as terrorist financing, public diplomacy, identity/integration and issues affecting the Muslim American community.
Recently, he joined Ambassador Dennis Ross at the Search for Common Ground event to launch a bipartisan "US-Muslim World Initiative." In 2006 he was invited by the State Department to tour Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan where he met with government, community and religious leaders and visited madrassas across the region.
Mr. Younis is a frequent guest on numerous television and radio shows and his work has also been featured in several leading newspapers, including The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Associated Press and Los Angeles Times, as well as newspapers in 14 countries.
Before joining MPAC, he worked as an intern at the Office of the Legal Counsel of the Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations. He was assigned to the Office of the Special Advisor to the Secretary General on Iraq.
Mr. Younis has studied and lived in Egypt and Saudi Arabia and is fluent in Arabic. He is a graduate of Washington & Lee School of Law.
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