The Vice-President of the UK Branch of the World Association for Al-Azhar Graduates (WAAG UK), Bakhtyar Pirzada al-Azhari, attended an evening with Shaykh Abdullah Bin Bayyah (Forum for Peace, UAE) and Shaykh Hamza Yusuf (Zaytuna College, USA), on Thursday 2 November 2017. The evening was titled ‘Islam in a Globalising World’ and was jointly hosted in London by the Forum for Peace and Imams Online.
During the evening, Shaykh Hamza met a number of WAAG UK members and graduates of Al-Azhar University who attended the evening including Shaykh Rizwan Hussian al-Azhari (Southampton), Imam Hasan Rabbani al-Azhari (Glasgow), Imam Mansoor Mahmood (London), and Shaykh Yazdani Raza Misbahi al-Azhari (London) was also in attendance. During their conversation, Shaykh Hamza conveyed his salam and regards to the President of WAAG UK, Shaykh Muhammad Imdad Hussain Pirzada, and conversed with the Vice-Principal regarding Shaykh Pirzada’s Qur’an commentary, the Tafsir Imdad-ul-Karam. Shaykh Hamza has met Shaykh Pirzada on numerous occasions with pleasant memories of teaching for 4 weeks during the first Rihla programme held at Jamia Al-Karam in Retford back in the summer of 1996.
The evening brought together a diverse range of senior British Islamic leadership from across the country. The audience listened to a special address from Shaykh Bin Bayyah in which he emphasised the critical role positive religious guidance played in today’s complex and confusing world and how strong faith leadership and a strict adherence to the ways and teachings of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) were the perfect antidote to the ills and evils that have become predominant in today’s world.
Other scholars in attendance included Imam Qari Muhammad Asim MBE, Allama Muhammad Shahid Raza Na’eemi OBE, Allama Rabbani Afghani and Mufti Faiz Rasool. The panel also included Dr Matar Salem al-Kaabi (Minister for Islamic Affairs, UAE) and Br Shaukat Waraich (Imams Online).
