You are invited to a reception held by the Mercurius Society in cooperation with the Malaysia Think Tank
On Wednesday 11 March, 2009, from 6.30 to 8.00 pm at the St. Stephen's Club, 34 Queen Anne's Gate, SW1H 9AB The theme of the evening will be: "Islam and Liberal Democracy: How Muslims Can Combine the Two" Featuring a presentation by Dr. Abdelwahab El-Affendi, Author of Who Needs an Islamic State? and comments by Wan Saiful Wan Jan, Director General of the Malaysia Think Tank and Head of Policy at the Conservative Muslim Forum The presentations will be followed by a discussion with the speakers. Those wishing to continue the discussion in an informal setting can do so over dinner at the same venue right after the reception. Copies of Who Needs an Islamic State? will be available for purchase at the event. Please RSVP by responding to this e-mail before 5 March 2009: [email protected] Participation fee charged at the door: £10 Dr Abdelwahab El-Affendiargues for a liberal democracy - one in which the citizens are able to actualise Islamic values into a new more viable democratic model. To El-Affendi, "the central value governing the Islamic polity and giving it meaning is freedom". More information about El-Affendi could be found at: http://my-islamic-state.com/El-Affendi is Senior Lecturer at the Centre for the Study of Democracy, University of Westminster, London, and co-ordinator of the Centre's Democracy and Islam Programme. El-Affendi was the 2006 winner of the Muslim News Allama Iqbal Award for Creativity in Islamic Thought. Educated at the Universities of Khartoum (Sudan), Wales, and Reading, Dr El-Affendi is author of several books and multiple publications which were translated into Arabic, Malay and Turkish. Wan Saiful Wan Jan argues: "As a Muslim, I am strongly against dictatorship or centralisation of power. Islam as a religion does not have a centralised religious authority, preferring instead to empower believers to make decisions for themselves and trusting them to seek knowledge in order to make informed decisions... Denying individuals their freedom to choose is robbing them of an important gift from God - the ability to think and make choices." Wan Saiful Wan Jan is the Director General of the Malaysia Think Tank and Head of Policy for the Conservative Muslim Forum. He is also Editor of www.WauBebas.org - the first free market project in the Malay language run as a partnership between the Malaysia Think Tank and Cato Institute. Mercurius Society: www.Mercuriussociety.com Malaysia Think Tank: www.WauBebas.org
