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Dr Shuja Shafi (right), elected Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain with Harun Rashid Khan (left), elected Deputy Secretary General on 15 June 2015

Dr Shuja Shafi (right), elected Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain with Harun Rashid Khan (left), elected Deputy Secretary General on 15 June 201516th June 2014

  • Dr Shuja Shafi elected Secretary General and Harun Rashid Khan Deputy Secretary General
  • British Muslim leaders debate British values at Annual General Meeting
  • Veteran Anti Apartheid Campaigner discusses the place of Muslims in Britain today

On 15th June 2014, the Muslim Council of Britain elected its fifth Secretary General, Dr Shuja Shafi. It also elected as Deputy Secretary General, Mr Harun Rashid Khan. Dr Shuja Shafi takes over from Farooq Murad who has completed the maximum term of four years. 

Dr Shuja Shafi was previously Deputy Secretary General of the Muslim Council and has been involved with the MCB in many other capacities, including the Chair of its Health and Medical committee. Dr Shafi has led a lifelong career in medicine and utilises his distinguished career to raise health care awareness in minority communities.

Harun Rashid Khan was previously Treasurer of the Muslim Council of Britain. He too has been involved with the Muslim Council for many years, leading amongst other things, the MCB’s London committee where he launched Eid celebrations at London’s Trafalgar Square. (Full bio’s below)

The seventeenth MCB Annual General Meeting also elected a 30 strong National Council which included a record number of women representatives elected.

British Values

In the wake of the ‘Trojan Horse’ controversy in Birmingham schools, and following other stories sensationalising the place of Muslims in Britain today, the Muslim Council AGM also debated how British values relates to the Muslim community.

Delegates to the AGM passed the following motion:

“We, a cross section of Britain’s Muslim community, express our deep concern at the tone and tenor over the debate on British values.

We have no objection to British values. On the contrary. We believe in a tolerant, more free and more equal society.

We want a real debate that does not regard us as conditional Britons.

As individuals and communities, we are part and parcel of British society.

It is not Islam or Muslims that stand in the way of full participation.

It is the active and vociferous campaign to exclude Muslims from the public space.

We will continue to uphold the values of our faith, which inspires us to seek the common good.”

Veteran Anti Apartheid Campaigner on How British Muslims Can Live in Plural Societies

The Annual General Meeting concluded with thoughtful and pertinent advice to British Muslims from Ebrahim Rasool, South African Ambassador to the USA.

The veteran Anti Apartheid Campaigner shared his experiences of social activism and encouraged British Muslims to be consistent in campaigning for equal rights for all and be confident in giving a positive Islamic perspective to the on-going British values debate. Watch the full speech here.

About the New Leadership

Dr Shuja Shafi, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain

Dr Shuja Shafi

Dr Shuja Shafi has led a lifelong career in medicine, working at the NHS; University of London; Public Health Laboratory Service and Health Protection Agency as Lecturer, Hospital Consultant and a Clinical Regional Post Graduate Advisor. He has also been a leading community activist in several grassroots local and national voluntary community organisations, and ran the Islamic Cultural Society of Harrow’s Supplementary School for many years. He was the Deputy Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain. He became involved with the MCB from 2000 following the meningitis outbreak of British pilgrims to the Hajj, leading the MCB’s Health at Hajj and Umrah Research Project. Since then he has led several related activities at the MCB including chairing the Health and Medical Committee, the Food Standards and Chaplaincy Committee and initiating the Muslim Spiritual Care Provision in the NHS Project.

 

Harun Rashid Khan, Deputy Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain

Harun Rashid Khan

Harun Rashid Khan is a Londoner born and bred, and has been a Civil Engineer in the city for over two decades. Since he was a teenager, Harun also devoted a lot of his time to community work in East London and has also served as a school governor for many years. While serving as the Chair of the MCB London Committee (2006-2010) he founded the Eid celebrations in London’s Trafalgar Square in partnership with the Mayor of London and attended by up to 20,000 visitors. Harun was the first second generation Muslim to be elected into the leadership of the Muslim Council of Britain in 2010 as its Treasurer and during that time has lead on delivering the annual Muslim Leadership Dinner attended by Muslim leaders, politicians and civil society leaders. He has also appeared on various media outlets, challenging stereotypes and arguing the case for Muslims to be full and active citizens. Harun is married and lives with his wife and three daughters in London.

Elected National Council Members

Incoming and outgoing members of the MCB National Council in a group photograph with veteran anti-apartheid campaigner and South African Ambassador to the USA, Ebrahim Rasool

Incoming and outgoing members of the MCB National Council in a group photograph with veteran anti-apartheid campaigner and South African Ambassador to the USA, Ebrahim Rasool

[columnize] Mrs Helen Zehra Taskiran
Mrs Natasha Chaudhury
Mrs Shaheda Dewan
Mrs Talat Ahmed
Ms Lana Al-Sumaiday
Ms Saleha Islam
Mr Abdullah Adnan
Dr Akber Mohamedali
Ms Ameena Blake
Dr Faisal Hanjra
Mr Farooq Murad
Sir Iqbal Sacranie  MBE
Mr Hasan Mueenuddin
Mr Khalid Sofi
Dr Shuja Shafi
Mr Harun Rashid Khan
Dr Manazir Ahsan MBE
Mr Maroof Adeoye
Dr Mohammed Arif
Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari MBE
Mr Mohammed Dhalech
Mr Mohammed Adrees Sharif
Mr Musleh Faradhi
Mr Muzaffar Hussain
Mr Naeem Darr
Mr Nozmul Hussain
Dr Omer Hasem El-Hamdoon
Mr Shabbir Ahmad Kawsar
Mr Talha Jamil Ahmad
Mr Ufuk Secgin
Mr Navshir Jaffer
Mr Munawer Rattansey
Mrs Unaiza Malik
Mr Mohammed Aksar Hossain
Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra
Dr Junaid Patel
Mr Hussain Ahmed
Mr Muhammad Baig
Dr Nabeel Al-Ramadhani
Dr Ahmed Helmy
Dr Salah Beltagui
Dr Syed Asif Alam[/columnize]

 

June 15, 2014 in MCB Updates
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