Centre Blog

Sophie Gilliat-Ray, Mansur Ali, and Hansjoerg Schmid: Research Update

Posted on 2 June 2023 by Michael Munnik

We were treated in May to the presence of a visiting scholar - Prof. Hansjoerg Schmid from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland. Hansjoerg works with the Swiss Center for […]

Abdul-Azim Ahmed: Research Update (Islam in Wales)

Posted on 25 May 2023 by Michael Munnik

In this vlog, the Centre's deputy director Abdul-Azim Ahmed shares an update on his research project on Islam in Wales, with a special focus on his visit to the grave […]

Sophie Gilliat-Ray: Research Update

Posted on 15 May 2023 by Michael Munnik

In the first of our series on research updates from Centre staff, director Sophie Gilliat-Ray discusses issues of diversity, inclusion, and exclusion in relation to religion in the workplace and […]

Mansur Ali – The Alcoran of Mahomet in the Salisbury Collection: The Mystery Continues

Posted on 26 April 2023 by Michael Munnik

On Monday 13 March 2023, my colleagues from the School of English and Philosophy (Dr Megan Leitch, Dr Stephen Gordon and Prof Martin Willis) and I (Dr Mansur Ali) with […]

Mansur Ali – Organ Donation and You

Posted on 18 April 2023 by Michael Munnik

On Sunday 12 March 2023, the British Islamic Medical Association (BIMA) premiered its first movie on organ donation and Islam. The panel included transplant surgeons, organ transplant patients, nephrologists, organ […]

Abdul-Azim Ahmed – Wales’s First Muslim Grave

Posted on 14 March 2023 by Michael Munnik

Photo by Mark Bryant The pursuit of “firsts” is always enticing in history as superlative claims help justify the importance of the findings in question. But such claims are always […]

Thomas Sealy – Religion, Race, Culture: Islamophobia and British Converts to Islam

Posted on 6 March 2023 by Michael Munnik

My interview with Gayle, a white British Muslim convert of 18 years, had ended. It was a pleasant but chilly late winter’s day. About fifty yards up the street was […]

Mark and Sami Bryant – Our Pastwn for Hanan Issa, National Poet of Wales

Posted on 20 February 2023 by Michael Munnik

The creators of the pastwn and its recipient: Nancy Collis, Peter Forward, Sami Bryant, Hanan Issa, and Mark Bryant at the Grange Pavilion. Mark and Sami Bryant have known Hanan […]

Sophie Gilliat-Ray: Remembering Fatima Cates…a transformational convert of her time

Posted on 23 January 2023 by Michael Munnik

I can’t quite put my finger on it…but there is something rather compelling about the story of Fatima Cates (1865-1900) one of the first women to convert to Islam in […]

Abdul-Azim Ahmed – Muslims in Wales after the 2021 Census

Posted on 6 December 2022 by Michael Munnik

The Office for National Statistics has released the first information on religious affiliation from the 2021 Census, giving us a glimpse of the unfolding story of faith in Britain. The […]