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On Saturday 19 October I attended the Battle of Ideas Festival for the first time. It was held in Church House, Westminster, and was very well attended.

I had agreed to take part in a panel with the title "Islam vs Islamism vs Islamophobia" which was organised in association with The Equiano Project. The Battle of Ideas categorised it with the subtitle "Culture Wars"!

The original invitation came via the email address on my "Contact me" page, illustrating the importance of being easy to contact.

About the event

There is a detailed description on the Battle of Ideas website. It opens with the paragraph below:

"Despite a broader decline in religious belief across Britain, Islam is the fastest-growing religion, largely due to relatively recent waves of migration from predominantly Muslim countries. Yet, discussions about Islam are often clouded by censorship and taboo, tip-toeing through concerns about criticism of a religion (Islam), a political ideology (Islamism) and anti-Muslim prejudice (Islamophobia)."

The panel chair was Inaya Folarin Iman, Founder and Director, The Equiano Project.

The panel consisted of:

• Professor Aaqil Ahmed, Former Head of Religion at Chanel 4 and at the BBC.
• Peymana Assad, Councillor, London Borough of Harrow.
• Dolan Cummings, Co-Director, The Manifesto Club.
• Dr Taj Hargey, Provost, Oxford Institute for British Islam.
• Me, described as Co-Chair, Muslim Jewish Forum of Greater Manchester.

The entire event was recorded, and I have waited for it to appear on YouTube. You can now watch the speakers' prepared remarks below. If I come across the recording of the audience questions, I will add it.

Below that, you can read the text of my prepared remarks.

Video of speakers' prepared remarks

I asked the chair if I could speak first, and nobody objected.

Text of my prepared remarks

Firstly, although I am the Co-Chair of the Muslim Jewish Forum of Greater Manchester, today I am speaking just in a personal capacity.

I am going to cover four brief points very briefly.

1. What is Islam?
2. What is Islamism?
3. The word Islamophobia
4. The correct relationship between religion and politics, he says modestly!

What is Islam?

Islam is a religion. It is very similar to Judaism and has some overlaps with Christianity such as the virgin birth of Jesus.

We can discuss theology in more detail later if you want.

What is Islamism?

Islamism is a political ideology invented in the 20th century. Mainly by two people:

• Hassan al Banna of Egypt, who founded the Muslim Brotherhood.
• Abul A'la Maududi of India, who founded the Jamaati Islam.

Today there are Islamist political parties in many Muslim majority countries.

Islamism also has a violent offshoot which seeks to impose itself by force. For example, the Taliban in Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Boko Haram in Nigeria, and ISIS.

If you want to know more, I recommend reading the book "The Genealogy of Terror: How to distinguish between Islam, Islamism and Islamist Extremism" by Dr Matthew L.N. Wilkinson.

I acted as Matthew’s sounding board when he was writing the book and also I funded the charity while he was writing it. In turn, he dedicated the book to me. There is a detailed review on my website.

Moving on to the word Islamophobia

“The word Islamophobia should be abandoned.” That’s the title of an article on my website. You can find it via my website’s home page. Just look down the list of 20 articles that I recommend.

It should be abandoned because the oldest modern definition, in a 1997 report that was funded by the Runnymede Trust which you can download, that report was hopeless.

It had 40, roughly, high powered academics and activists and between them they produced a real “camel” of a report. It mixed together hostility to Muslims (which is a bad thing) and hostility to Islam (which is your free choice).

Since then, several more definitions of Islamophobia have been published trying to rescue the original useless one. The most recent of those is the one from the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims. Many organisations have adopted this, I think including the Labour Party. And even my own party, the Liberal Democrats.

I don’t like it, for reasons we can discuss later in detail.

I never use the word Islamophobia, except when talking about the word. Instead, I say “Anti-Muslim hatred.” For the avoidance of doubt, anti-Muslim hatred is wrong, just as all other forms of hatred and prejudice are wrong.

Finally the correct relationship between religion and politics

In 2011, I gave a short talk in London to a delegation from Indonesia’s “Prosperous Justice Party.” They are an Islamist political party.

I explained that you cannot expect any Member of Parliament to leave their religious beliefs outside the door of the House of Commons. Your beliefs are an integral part of your identity.

What is wrong is to propose any policy which you cannot support with rational argument, but only by relying on the teachings of your religion.

I can, indeed I must, engage with your rational arguments. I have no obligation to share any of your religious beliefs.

This should not be controversial, although there are religious extremists in all religions who refuse to accept it.

Thank you.