Description
Ahmed Paul Keeler introduced the Mizan Thesis, a comparative study highlighting core differences between Islam and the West, in his ground-breaking work Rethinking Islam & The West. In this new book, The Mizan Narrative, Ahmed has endeavoured to knit together Islam and the West in a single narrative.
Ahmed will be joined by Ayman Abdel Haleem and Dr Yusuf Chaudhary, and chaired by Ali Keeler as they discuss how The Mizan Narrative’s four chapters, Revelation, Manifestation, Destruction and Witness, carry us along the journey from the Revelation of the Holy Quran to the present day.
The story, seen from the Islamic perspective of Mizan, reveals startling new insights, completely transforming our understanding of the history of Islam and the West, and provides the Muslim with a narrative that makes sense of past and present.
Related Book
The Mizan Narrative
Ahmed Paul Keeler
About the Chair
Ali Keeler
Having studied the violin from early childhood, at the age of 14, Ali became immersed in the study and recitation of the Qur’an. In his early 20s he travelled to Syria to study Arabic and the Islamic sciences, eventually specializing in tajweed. After several years of study, he received his ijaza for Qur’an recitation from Shaykh Abdur Razzaq Bahlawan. After settling with his family in Granada, Spain, Ali founded the music group Al Firdaus Ensemble, which has toured all over the world and recorded three albums. He has translated several books from Arabic into English, including the Aqida Muyassara (The Creed made Easy) , and The Tafsīr al-Tustari , in collaboration with his mother Dr Annabel Keeler.
About the Speakers
Ahmed Paul Keeler
Ahmed Paul Keeler was the founder and director of the World of Islam Festival that took place in London and the UK in 1976. The Festival was remarkable in that the arts and sciences were presented as a manifestation of the unity of Islam, instead of from the Eurocentric, fragmentary point of view. The Festival was opened by Her Majesty the Queen, and was the most comprehensive exposition of Islamic culture ever to have taken place in the West, having a far-reaching impact both in the UK, the West and the Muslim world.
On April 27th 2014 Ahmed presented his ground-breaking Mizan Thesis at Cambridge University in an Illustrated Lecture, after which the University’s Centre of Islamic Studies invited him to become a Visiting Fellow to continue his work. 2019 saw the publication of his seminal work Rethinking Islam & The West: A New Narrative for the Age of Crises, followed in 2022 by A Life’s Journey: The Story behind a Book, which serves as a commentary on Rethinking Islam & The West. Applying the mizan perspective Ahmed produced Gazan Awakening in 2024 and Breaching the Mizan: From a Sacred to a Secular World in 2025.
Ayman Abdel Haleem
Ayman Abdel Haleem completed his BA in Arabic at the School of Oriental & African Studies (SOAS), University of London with first class honours. Following a period of study in Egypt, he completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Economics from Birkbeck College and an MPhil in Theology at the University of Cambridge. Ayman then went on to work for many years on different academic, cultural, and historical projects focusing on the Middle East and the Islamic world. For over a decade now, his work has mainly involved working as a teacher of Arabic and a translator of Islamic literature, and more recently as a narrator of Islamic books in English.
About the Academic
Dr Yusuf Chaudhary
Dr Yusuf Chaudhary is an historian of Islamic intellectual history. He is a researcher at Mizan Research and Education in Cambridge, and studied the Islamic sciences traditionally for a number of years. He holds a PhD in Islamic intellectual history from the University of Cambridge.
Join Our Mailing List
By submitting this form you agree to our Privacy Policy and to receive marketing emails, including e-newsletters and event updates from Bradford Literature Festival.