{{short description|British Muslim activist}} {{For|Egyptian footballer|Osama Hassan}} {{Use British English|date=February 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2020}} {{Infobox person | name = Usama Hasan | image = Usama Hasan speaking at Army and Navy Club, Saint James, London.jpg | caption = Hasan speaking at Army and Navy Club, Saint James, London | birth_name = | birth_date = 26 October 1971 | birth_place = London, England, UK | resting_place = | citizenship = British | nationality = | module = {{Infobox religious biography|embed=yes | movement = Liberal progressivism<ref>Hamid, Sadek. Sufis, Salafis and Islamists: The Contested Ground of British Islamic Activism. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2016.</ref>}} | education = | alma_mater = | party = | relations = | spouse = | children = | notable_works = | known_for = | occupation = Commentator | organization = Quilliam | movement = | website = {{URL|https://unity1.wordpress.com/}} | awards = }}
'''Usama Hasan''' is a British [https://www.institute.global/experts/usama-hasan Senior Analyst] at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change and has described himself as a "a full-time counter-extremism practitioner since 2012".<ref name="Hasan">{{cite news|last1=Hasan|first1=Usama|title=Extremism needs to be fought at every level for inclusive Islam to succeed|url=https://english.alarabiya.net/views/2021/09/20/Extremism-needs-to-be-fought-at-every-level-for-inclusive-Islam-to-succeed|accessdate=7 September 2023|publisher=Alarabiya News|date=September 20, 2021|archive-date=7 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907110935/https://english.alarabiya.net/views/2021/09/20/Extremism-needs-to-be-fought-at-every-level-for-inclusive-Islam-to-succeed|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Hasan9">{{cite news|last1=Hasan|first1=Usama|title=Usama Hasan author profile|url=https://english.alarabiya.net/authors/Dr-Usama-Hasan|accessdate=7 September 2023|publisher=Alarabiya News|date=September 20, 2021|archive-date=7 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907110940/https://english.alarabiya.net/authors/Dr-Usama-Hasan|url-status=live}}</ref> He was also a senior researcher in Islamic Studies at the Quilliam Foundation<ref name=quilliamstaff/> until it was closed down in April 2021.<ref>{{Cite web|url = https://bylinetimes.com/2021/05/11/the-charmed-life-and-strange-sad-death-of-the-quilliam-foundation/|title = The Charmed Life and Strange, Sad Death of the Quilliam Foundation|date = 11 May 2021|access-date = 5 October 2021|archive-date = 5 October 2021|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20211005130958/https://bylinetimes.com/2021/05/11/the-charmed-life-and-strange-sad-death-of-the-quilliam-foundation/|url-status = live}}</ref> He is a former senior lecturer in business information systems at Middlesex University,<ref name=quilliamstaff>{{Cite web |url=http://www.quilliamfoundation.org/about/staff/usama-hasan/ |title=Quilliam. Usama Hasan: Senior Researcher |access-date=7 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131016053740/http://www.quilliamfoundation.org/about/staff/usama-hasan/ |archive-date=16 October 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Middlesex University Staff directory. Usama Hasan. http://www.mdx.ac.uk/aboutus/staffdirectory/Usama_Hasan.aspx |accessdate=2012-07-15 {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519100424/http://www.mdx.ac.uk/aboutus/staffdirectory/Usama_Hasan.aspx |date=19 May 2011 }}</ref> and a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.<ref name=retract>Muslim academic forced to retract evolution claim - The First Post http://www.theweek.co.uk/people-news/7269/muslim-academic-forced-retract-evolution-claim {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120515222124/http://www.theweek.co.uk/people-news/7269/muslim-academic-forced-retract-evolution-claim |date=15 May 2012 }} Accessed 15 July 2012</ref><ref name=nutters>{{cite web |title=Imam fears 'nutters' could kill him for preaching evolution |work=Evening Standard |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/imam-fears-nutters-could-kill-him-for-preaching-evolution-6574985.html |access-date=2011-03-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110311145647/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23929834-imam-fears-nutters-could-kill-him-for-preaching-evolution.do |archive-date=11 March 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref>
==Career== Hasan who comes from an Indo-Pakistani family holds no formal qualifications in Islamic Studies or Arabic language from any Islamic university but states he was taught personally by his father, Suhaib Hasan, who is a Saudi Arabia-trained Islamic scholar, while his grandfather, Abdul-Ghaffar Hasan Al-Hindi (d. 2007), was a scholar as well, having taught at the Islamic University of Medina at the request of the influential Salafi scholar Al-Albani.<ref>John R. Bowen, ''On British Islam: Religion, Law, and Everyday Practice in Shariʿa Councils'', Princeton University Press (2016), p. 58</ref>
===Jihadist claims=== He has claimed that he fought in Afghanistan against the Soviet occupation.<ref name=hardtalk>{{cite news |title=Hardtalk - Usama Hasan |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/6970298.stm |access-date=2011-03-13 |work=BBC News |date=30 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215154919/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/hardtalk/6970298.stm |archive-date=15 February 2009 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>Dr Mathew Guest, Dr Elisabeth Arweck, Religion and Knowledge: Sociological Perspectives, p 36. {{ISBN|1409471160}}</ref>
===Quilliam Foundation=== Hasan was Senior Researcher at the Quilliam Foundation, whose activities have been heavily criticised by commentators and academics for their "deplorable work towards the institutionalisation of Islamophobia and the destruction of civil liberties...and the far-right thugs that they have empowered as well as legitimised through their work".<ref name="Bouattia">{{cite news|last1=Bouattia|first1=Malia|title=The Quilliam Foundation has closed but its toxic legacy remains|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/4/20/the-quilliam-foundation-has-closed-but-its-toxic-legacy-remains|accessdate=7 September 2023|publisher=Al Jazeera|date=April 20, 2021|archive-date=7 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907110935/https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2021/4/20/the-quilliam-foundation-has-closed-but-its-toxic-legacy-remains|url-status=live}}</ref>{{dubious|date=May 2026}}{{better source needed|date=May 2026}} During this time Hasan was involved in talks with Tommy Robinson of the English Defence League in which context he stated that "Robinson has always been against Islamism — political Islam — rather than Muslims".<ref name="Murray">{{cite news|last1=Murray|first1=Douglas|title=‘When Tommy met Mo’ revealed how far we have to travel before Islamism is uprooted|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/when-tommy-met-mo-revealed-how-far-we-have-to-travel-before-islamism-is-uprooted/|accessdate=7 September 2023|publisher=Church of England Newspaper|date=October 29, 2013|archive-date=7 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907110935/https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/when-tommy-met-mo-revealed-how-far-we-have-to-travel-before-islamism-is-uprooted/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Neather">{{cite news|last1=Neather|first1=Andrew|title=The odd couple: has an ex-Islamist turned former EDL leader Tommy Robinson?|url=https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/the-odd-couple-has-an-exislamist-turned-former-edl-leader-tommy-robinson-8871537.html|accessdate=7 September 2023|publisher=Evening Standard|date=October 10, 2013|archive-date=7 September 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230907110936/https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-life/the-odd-couple-has-an-exislamist-turned-former-edl-leader-tommy-robinson-8871537.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
===British government counter-extremism agenda=== Hasan was a member of the United Kingdom's Foreign and Commonwealth Office's Projecting British Muslims delegations to Egypt in 2008<ref>{{cite news|author=Dina Rabie|title=Projecting British Muslims|url=http://www.onislam.net/english/news/3341/435322.html|work=OnIslam|date=10 July 2008|access-date=7 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150505040654/http://www.onislam.net/english/news/3341/435322.html|archive-date=5 May 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> and to Afghanistan (Helmand) in 2010,<ref>{{cite web|access-date=7 November 2013|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/british-muslims-visit-afghanistan--2|title=British Muslims visit Afghanistan|publisher=Gov.UK|date=6 September 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150505003229/https://www.gov.uk/government/news/british-muslims-visit-afghanistan--2|archive-date=5 May 2015|url-status=live}}</ref> was a Keynote Speaker at the Anglo-Syrian government-sponsored conference "The Message of Peace in Islam" in Damascus in 2009,<ref>[http://www.quilliamfoundation.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/publications/free/the-balance-of-islam-in-challenging-extremism.pdf Usama Hasan. ''The Balance of Islam in Challenging Extremism''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140802045255/http://www.quilliamfoundation.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/publications/free/the-balance-of-islam-in-challenging-extremism.pdf |date=2 August 2014 }}. Quilliam, 2012: p. 4</ref> and is a Patron of both the Forum for the Discussion of Israel and Palestine (FODIP)<ref>{{cite web|access-date=7 November 2013|url=http://www.fodip.org/whatis.html|title=What is FODIP?|publisher=FODIP|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140113190013/http://www.fodip.org/whatis.html|archive-date=13 January 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> and Friends of the Bereaved Families Forum.<ref>{{cite web|access-date=7 November 2013|url=http://www.familiesforum.co.uk/page2/page2.php|title=Contact UKFBFF|publisher=Friends of the Bereaved Families Forum|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130726011531/http://familiesforum.co.uk/page2/page2.php|archive-date=26 July 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> Usama was also a speaker at the Google Ideas/Council on Foreign Relations ''Summit Against Violent Extremism'' (Dublin, 2011).<ref>{{cite web|access-date=7 November 2013|url=http://www.cfr.org/projects/world/summit-against-violent-extremism-save/pr1557|title=Summit Against Violent Extremism (SAVE)|publisher=Council on Foreign Relations|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131115191919/http://www.cfr.org/projects/world/summit-against-violent-extremism-save/pr1557|archive-date=15 November 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>
===Media appearances=== He has appeared on television programmes, including ''BBC Hardtalk'',<ref>{{Cite news |date=2007-08-30 |title=Usama Hasan |language=en-GB |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/hardtalk/6970298.stm |access-date=2023-01-24 |archive-date=15 February 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090215154919/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/hardtalk/6970298.stm |url-status=live }}</ref> CNN,<ref>CNN http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/21/cleric-evolution-compatible-with-islam/?iref=allsearch {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120918083503/http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/21/cleric-evolution-compatible-with-islam/?iref=allsearch |date=18 September 2012 }}</ref> and has also written various columns for ''The Guardian'' and ''The Washington Post''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Usama Hasan {{!}} The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/profile/usamahasan?INTCMP=SRCH |access-date=2023-01-24 |website=the Guardian |language=en |archive-date=18 September 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120918135116/http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/usamahasan?INTCMP=SRCH |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Adam |first=Karla |date=2010-01-01 |title=British universities sometimes seen as breeding grounds for radical Islam |newspaper=The Washington Post |language=en-US |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/31/AR2009123102332.html |access-date=2023-01-24 |issn=0190-8286 |archive-date=14 August 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190814102855/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/31/AR2009123102332.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
==Views and controversies== Hasan has expressed a number of views on Islam which have provoked strong reactions among Muslims and others.
===Evolution=== Hasan has previously argued in favour of a compatibility between Islam and human evolution, arguing the mention of Adam and Eve in the Quran is purely symbolic.<ref name=darwin>{{cite news |title=Knowledge regained |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/sep/11/religion.darwinbicentenary |access-date=2011-03-13 |location=London |work=The Guardian|first=Usama |last=Hasan |date=11 September 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160315073500/http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/sep/11/religion.darwinbicentenary |archive-date=15 March 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>
Hasan has argued that Islam is compatible with the theory of evolution, describing the story of Adam and Eve as "children's madrasa-level understanding" of human origins while pointing to antecedents of the modern theory of evolution among medieval Muslim philosophers like Ibn Khaldun (d.1406) and Ibn Miskawayh (d.1030).<ref name=darwin/> His lectures have been disrupted by hecklers and has reportedly received death threats.<ref name="nutters"/><ref name=Davis>{{cite web |title=London imam subjected to death threats for supporting evolution. Mosque suspends engineering lecturer Usama Hasan for 'antagonising' community and backing women's rights. |author=Rowenna Davis |website=TheGuardian.com |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/06/usama-hasan-london-imam-death-threats-evolution |date=6 March 2011 |access-date=13 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170118232415/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/mar/06/usama-hasan-london-imam-death-threats-evolution |archive-date=18 January 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref>
Hasan later retracted some of his views on evolution.<ref name=nutters/> Several British Muslim writers, including Inayat Bunglawala and Yahya Birt, backed his right to free speech.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pickledpolitics.com/archives/12085 |access-date=2011-03-13 |title=Pickled Politics » A growing campaign to defend Usama Hasan and free speech |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110819235404/http://www.pickledpolitics.com/archives/12085 |archive-date=19 August 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Inayat>{{cite web |title=Islam must engage with science, not deny it. Pressure put on a London imam to retract statements supporting the theory of evolution does Muslims a disservice. |author=Inayat Bunglawala. |website=TheGuardian.com |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2011/mar/09/islam-science-evolution |date=9 March 2011 |access-date=28 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190129122843/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2011/mar/09/islam-science-evolution |archive-date=29 January 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> On 5 January 2013, he was featured in a debate against Yasir Qadhi titled ''Have Muslims Misunderstood Evolution?'', in which he argued in favor of human evolution.<ref>{{Cite web |title=politicus.org.uk |url=http://www.politicus.org.uk/news/dr-usama-hasan-featured-on-the-panel-of-the-deen-institute-event-%E2%80%9Chave-muslims-misunderstood-evolution%E2%80%9D_1765 |access-date=2023-01-24 |website=www.politicus.org.uk |archive-date=1 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160201205947/http://www.politicus.org.uk/news/dr-usama-hasan-featured-on-the-panel-of-the-deen-institute-event-%E2%80%9Chave-muslims-misunderstood-evolution%E2%80%9D_1765 |url-status=usurped }}</ref>
===Power struggles at the Masjid al-Tawhid=== Hasan complained to British state authorities about "extremism" at the London Masjid al-Tawhid mosque and, in May 2012, as part of the arbitration process, he and all other trustees voluntarily stepped down from their positions as Trustees of the mosque.<ref>Arbitration Report May 2012. MUSLIM ARBITRATION SERVICE Masjid & Madrasah al-Tawhid Trust http://www.masjidtawhid.org/management/55-arbitration-report-may-2012 {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130104182914/http://www.masjidtawhid.org/management/55-arbitration-report-may-2012 |date=4 January 2013 }} accessed 15 July 2012</ref> In June 2012, the new Trustees of the Trust changed the locks of the Mosque doors and employed security guards.<ref>Masjid & Madrasah al-Tawhid Trust. Trust asserts control over the Mosque. Statement on events of Monday 18 June 2012. http://www.masjidtawhid.org/management/59-trust-asserts-control-over-the-mosque {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130103025326/http://www.masjidtawhid.org/management/59-trust-asserts-control-over-the-mosque |date=3 January 2013 }}. accessed 15 July 2012</ref> According to the website of the Masjid al-Tawhid, the Hasan family "want to ... regain personal control of the mosque" and the vice chair [https://www.civilsociety.co.uk/news/london-mosque-denies-extremism-links.html Mehmud Patel] said that "the mosque has 'effectively been run as a family affair, not a charity' by Usama Hasan and his father Suhaib Usama, and conflict as a result of the trustees' attempts to move away from this model of operation was inevitable".<ref>A Response to the Statement of Sr Nazima Sheikh. Masjid & Madrasah al-Tawhid Trust http://www.masjidtawhid.org/management {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121231211839/http://www.masjidtawhid.org/management |date=31 December 2012 }} accessed 15 July 2012</ref><ref>End of Arbitration, WFCOM Meeting, Disruption of Friday Announcement Masjid & Madrasah al-Tawhid Trust http://www.masjidtawhid.org/management {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121231211839/http://www.masjidtawhid.org/management |date=31 December 2012 }} accessed 15 July 2012</ref>
===Al-Shabaab video threat=== In October 2013 Hasan was alerted by anti-terrorist police that he and other Muslim figures in the UK who had spoken out against Islamist extremism had been targeted by a propaganda video created by Al-Shabaab, the terrorist group responsible for the attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Kenya.<ref>{{cite news|author=Shiv Malik|author2=Duncan Gardham|author3=Vikram Dodd|name-list-style=amp|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/17/al-shabaab-uk-muslims-police-protection|title=Prominent UK Muslims under police protection after al-Shabaab threats|work=The Guardian|date=17 October 2013|access-date=7 November 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131110161514/http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/17/al-shabaab-uk-muslims-police-protection|archive-date=10 November 2013|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=aljazeera>{{cite web |author=Simon Hooper |url=http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/10/british-muslims-defiant-over-al-shabab-threat-2013102591313719196.html |title=British Muslims defiant over al-Shabab threat |publisher=Al Jazeera English |date=26 October 2013 |access-date=6 November 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131031172927/http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2013/10/british-muslims-defiant-over-al-shabab-threat-2013102591313719196.html |archive-date=31 October 2013 |url-status=live}}</ref>
===Fatwa against ISIS=== In 2014 Hasan and others issued a fatwa condemning British Muslims fighting for the "oppressive and tyrannical" Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. Their fatwa "religiously prohibites" would-be British jihadists from joining the Islamic State and orders all Muslims to oppose ISIL's "poisonous ideology".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/isis-terror-threat-leading-british-muslims-issue-fatwa-condemning-terror-group-9702042.html|title=Isis terror threat: Leading British Muslims issue fatwa condemning terror group|last=Davies Boren|first=Zachary|work=The Independent|date=31 August 2014|accessdate=31 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170623191318/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/isis-terror-threat-leading-british-muslims-issue-fatwa-condemning-terror-group-9702042.html|archive-date=23 June 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/multimedia/archive/01091/Fatwa_on_ISIS_1091394a.pdf|title=FATWA ON THE SO-CALLED "ISLAMIC STATE" (FORMERLY "ISLAMIC STATE IN IRAQ & SYRIA")|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140912030216/http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/multimedia/archive/01091/Fatwa_on_ISIS_1091394a.pdf|date=12 September 2014|archive-date=12 September 2014|url-status=dead|work=The Sunday Times}}</ref>
===Summer fasting times=== Hasan believes that Muslims in the UK should fast shorter hours – rather than the dawn-to-sunset hours that most Muslims do – as summer days at such latitudes can run for up to 19 hours.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-33125736 |title=Ramadan fast in UK 'should be shortened' says scholar |work=BBC News |access-date=11 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160609052726/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-33125736 |archive-date=9 June 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref>
===Tony Blair Institute for Global Change === Hasan's reports for the Tony Blair Institute with the foreword by Michael Nazir-Ali have been criticized by [http://www.salaam.co.uk/11th-july-2023-the-tony-blair-institutes-report-missing-the-point-of-global-change/ Salaam] as "hegemonic project to save the Muslim world from itself and coax it towards 'a model of Muslim civil religion that mirrors the United States'...it is a repackaging of Neo-Con wisdom 16-years on".
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==External links== {{Commons}} * [http://unity1.wordpress.com/ Unity - Blog by Usama Hasan]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hasan, Usama}} Category:English Muslims Category:English religious writers Category:English people of Pakistani descent Category:Fellows of the Royal Astronomical Society Category:Living people Category:Academics of Middlesex University Category:Theistic evolutionists Category:1971 births Category:Science activists