Ajmal Masroor

Early life

Masroor was born in Sylhet District, Bangladesh and came to Britain at the age of one when his parents immigrated from the country. He moved back to Bangladesh a few years later at the age of nine due to his father's concerns about different cultures and the possibility of losing their Muslim identities. However, they returned when he was at the age of 13.

When living in the East End, Masroor experienced racism against the Bangladeshis in the areas, with properties being damaged. He was brought up in Shadwell, and attended the Bluegate Fields School on Cable Street. He is the oldest of six children. At the age of 19, his father attempted to force him into a marriage in Bangladesh, but was unsuccessful because Masroor challenged his father, saying forced marriage is not acceptable in Islam. He then married a Hungarian, Henrietta Szovati (who had converted to Islam), and they now have two children.

After his GCSEs and A Levels, he was very active in student unions and Islamic societies.

Career

Masroor is a local imam, who leads Friday prayers weekly at four different mosques in London: Goodge Street mosque, Palmers Green mosque, West Ealing mosque and Wightman Road mosque in Haringey.

Masroor is a member of the Muslim Council of Britain. He is the Central Working Committee spokesperson for and member of its national consultative body of the Islamic Society of Britain. He is Chairman and Director of Communities in Action. He is the Chairman of ChildrenPlus, a charity that focuses on providing humanitarian assistance to poverty stricken and most vulnerable children around the world. He runs the Barefoot Institute, which provides support and education for Muslim relationship, including marriage, divorce and family mediation.

Masroor was selected as Liberal Democrats prospective parliamentary candidate for West Ham in the 2010 General Election, but stood down after being criticised for posting on the Muslim Public Affairs Committee forum.

He stood in the 2010 General Election, for the Bethnal Green and Bow constituency in East London, representing the Liberal Democrats, came second with 10,210 votes (20.1%) to Labour candidate Rushanara Ali won with 21,784 votes (42.9%).

Masroor is a well known television presenter on various TV channels in the UK. He currently presents his own programmes on Islam Channel and on Channel S, where he presents an English programme called Let's Talk. He is also part of the panel in a programme broadcast by Channel 4, called Shariah TV. On Channel 4, he also presented a programme called Make Me a Muslim - he asks six non-Muslims and one lapsed Muslim to follow Islamic teachings for three weeks. On 10 May 2009, Masroor presented a programme called "Celebrity Lives - Sharia Style" which was broadcast on BBC One.

He has also appeared on major news channels such as the BBC, CNN and many other channels as a commentator on social, political and religious issues. On 30 January 2011, he appeared on the BBC show The Big Questions.

In October 2013, Masroor was alerted by anti-terrorist police that he and a number of other prominent Muslim figures in the UK who had spoken out against Islamist extremism were targeted by a propaganda video created by Al-Shabaab, the terrorist group responsible for the attack on the Westgate shopping mall in Kenya: the video urged jihadists in the UK to take action, citing the murder of Lee Rigby as an example to follow. Interviewed by Al Jazeera, Masroor said of the video: "It is a terrible piece of work and the content is vile and disgusting and horrific in many ways. It is a group of people who are glorifying violence and death. It didn't make me scared. It just made me angry and more determined."

In July 2015, Masroor was interviewed by Nadia Ali on BBC Asian Network about his Ramadan memories.

Personal life

Masroor currently lives in Haringey, London. His interests include learning about new cultures and world food, playing badminton, and reading based on history, society and politics.

On 17 December 2015, Masroor was stopped by a U.S. embassy staff from boarding Virgin Atlantic flight at Heathrow Airport to John F. Kennedy International Airport. Masroor was informed that his U.S. business visa had been revoked and received no further explanation as to why he was being prevented from travelling, despite travelling to the U.S. four times earlier in the year. On 22 December, he was invited to the U.S. embassy to speak about the matter but was still not given a reason, nor an apology. On 13 January 2016, it was reported that he was prevented from travelling to the U.S. and his visa was revoked over concerns about one of his 28,000 Facebook followers. Masroor set up a website, called www.flyingwhilemuslim.org.uk, so other Muslims can document any similar experiences they have faced while trying to travel to U.S.

Awards and nominations

In January 2013 and 2015, Masroor was nominated for the Religious Advocate of the Year award at the British Muslim Awards.