Mona Siddiqui confirmed speaker

Mona Siddiqui joined the University of Edinburgh’s Divinity school in December 2011 as the first person to hold a chair in Islamic and Interreligious Studies. She also holds the posts of Assistant Principal for Religion and Society and Dean international for the Middle-East at the University of Edinburgh. Prior to this she worked at Glasgow University directing the Centre for the Study of Islam. Her research areas are primarily in the field of Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh) and ethics and Christian-Muslim relations. Amongst her most recent publications are, 50 Ideas in Islam (Quercus, 2016), Muslim Christian Encounters 4 volumes, (Routledge, 2016) Hospitality in Islam: Welcoming in God’s Name (Yale UP, 2015), My Way: A Muslim Woman’s Journey (IB Tauris, 2014), Christians, Muslims and Jesus (Yale University Press, 2013), and The Good Muslim: Reflections on Classical Islamic Law and Theology (Cambridge University Press, 2012). She is currently working on writing her Gifford lectures on the theme of human struggle for publication. She has held visiting professorships at several Dutch and American universities including a Humanitas Professorship at Cambridge University in 2014. Currently she is Visiting Professor at the University of Surrey, British University in Dubai and Kings College, London.

She is well known internationally as a public intellectual and a speaker on issues around religion, ethics and public life. She is a regular commentator in the media, known especially for her appearances on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio Scotland’s Thought for the Day. In June 2016, she became a panellist on BBC Radio 4’s award winning The Moral Maze. In 2012, she appeared as a guest on Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs and in July 2015, was a guest on BBC Radio 3’s Private Passions. She chairs the BBC’s Religious Advisory Committee in Scotland and during 2016 served as chair of the Scotland `Stronger In’ pro Europe campaign. In April 2016, she was invited by the Home Office to lead an independent review of shari`a councils in the UK. She is an elected member of the Nuffield Council of Bioethics as well as the British Medical Associations’ Ethics committee; she is also a member of the Franco-British Council and in November 2016, was invited to join the Robertson Trust trustees. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, holds five honorary doctorates and an honorary fellowship of the Royal Society of Scottish Architects for her contributions to public life. In 2011, she was awarded an OBE for her contribution to interfaith services. In 2014 she spoke on religion and politics at the World Economic Forum in Davos and is currently listed in the Debretts top 500 list of the most influential people in the UK. In 2018, she will deliver the second British Academy Religious Studies Lecture in London.