Islam and Politics - a Roadmap

Imam Tom Facchine's first trip to the UK! 

The Karima Foundation are pleased to announce a day seminar with Imam Tom Facchine, Shaykh Sohail Hanif and Shaykh Salman Younas. 

Muslims have been struggling to navigate the politics of the West for the last couple of centuries, and, in more recent times, have become more cognisant of tring to center their Islam in any political project they instigate. However, this has not been so simple, due to having to grapple with a philosophical foundation that is not Islamic, along with a variety of institutions that stem from this alien foundation. Our two main speakers have both, in their own unique way, been presenting ideas on how Muslim in the West should understand politics, and also how the path they should take for the revival of Muslim political strength in the UK and US.

Join us as we host these three amazingly gifted scholars, each with their own understandings and attempted grappling with the current Muslim political project in the West, as we attempt a deep dive into their visions and plans moving forward. 

The event will be interactive with an opportunity to discuss with, engage and provoke our speakers in their attempts to present their ideas.

Session 1: States of Impossibility with Imam Tom: Imam Tom will take the ideas of Wael Hallaq and reflect on the nation-state as we know its, its impotence in the face of recent challenges, and how Muslims should navigate it and its philosophical foundations moving forward.

Session 2: Fiqh as Politics with Shaykh Dr. Sohail Hanif: Shaykh Sohail will discuss his thoughts, taken from the classical Hanafi Fiqh tradition, on how to rebuild Islamic civilisational strength in the current post-colonial Western context. He will discuss ideas of community, using rituals as political resistance and his thoughts on Muslim planning for the future.

For bursary requests, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Speaker Biographies:

Shaykh Dr Sohail Hanif

Shaykh Sohail studied with many scholars in Jordan, and is a senior student of Shaykh Dr Salah Abu al-Hajj and Shaykh Ali Hani. He was the Head of Sciences at Qasid Arabic Institute in Amman and also the BA manager at Cambridge Muslim college. He has expertise in Islamic law, having studied extensively with traditional scholars in Jordan, and holds a PhD from Oxford University. His PhD thesis, which explores Islamic legal epistemology, won the 2019 prize of the British Association for Islamic Studies. He is currently the CEO of the National Zakat Foundation.

Imam Tom Facchine

He holds a BA in Political Science from Vassar College (2011) and a BA in Islamic Law from the Islamic University of Madinah (2020). He is currently the Research Director of Islam and Society at the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research.

Shaykh Dr Salman Younas

Sheikh Salman Younas graduated from Stony Brook University with a degree in Political Science and Religious Studies. He recently completed his PhD at Oxford University, looking at the early evolution of the Hanafi madhab. His teachers include: Shaykh Faraz Rabbani, Shaykh Salah Abu’l Hajj, Shaykh Ashraf Muneeb, Shaykh Ahmad Hasanat, Shaykh Hamza Karamali, Shaykh Ahmad Snobar, Shaykh Ali Hani, Shaykh Hamza Bakri, Ustadh Rajab Harun and others. He currently resides in the UK with his wife, whilst also teaching Hanafi Fiqh and Arabic at the Cambridge Muslim College.