Upcoming events: Divan 2.0

When people discuss Muslims and the internet, there is still a tendency to describe it as a dark place where extremists hide and an unreliable source of Islamic information for impressionable youth. And yet, for a European Muslim population of about 20 million, with 4-6 million more in North America, there is a surprising amount of diversity of Islamic thought and opinion. What does it all mean and is it making a difference in the way Islam is practiced?

This Friday, I’ll join a distinguished panel of experts at Divan 2.0, a debate sponsored by an online pioneer of sorts -Britain’s Radical Middle Way – who have an influential website and podcast of their own (I spoke about their podcast on BBC’s Radio Five Live – you can hear the interview here). Now that young people get their primary Islamic information from the Internet (Shaykh Google, if you will), who is controlling the discourse (or, better yet, should there be any control)? Is it just chatter or is a consensus forming about how Islam should be practiced, discussed, and debated in the modern world?

Date: Friday 22 May 2009
Location: Old Theatre, London School of Economics
Address: Houghton Street (off the Aldwych) London WC2A 2AE

Time: Doors open 6:45 pm; Starts 7:15 pm; Ends 8:45 pm

Guests:
Shelina Zahra Janmohamed, Author of Love in a Headscarf and Spirit21 blog
Omar Tufail, Web Guru and Founder, DeenPort.com
Musab Bora, Blogger at Mooslim.com
Indigo Jo, Blogger at www,blogistan.co.uk/blog
Zahed Amanullah, Editor, altmuslim.com

Post questions for us beforehand here.

Zahed Amanullah is associate editor of altmuslim.com. He is based in London, England