The Muslim Jewish Forum of Greater Manchester
Established to develop the cultural and social ties between the Muslim and Jewish Communities of Greater Manchester
The members of the Executive committee, elected and co-opted at the most recent AGM on 19 November 2012 are:
Cllr Afzal Khan CBE (Co-Chair)
Jonny Wineberg (Co-Chair)
Heather Fletcher (Secretary)
Mohammed Amin (Treasurer)
Rabnawaz Akbar
Tahara Amin
David Berkley
Yasmin Bukhari
Jackie Harrison
Sarah Kemp
Dr. Jackie Lewis
Laura Nathan
Shahid Saleem
Qaisra Shahraz
Below are profiles of those Executive members who have supplied them.
As well as being founder member and co chair of the Muslim Jewish Forum of Greater Manchester, Councillor Khan has also been involved with many community organisations, including interfaith work. He has been involved in setting up and serving on a number of national community organisations, such as Young Muslim UK, the Islamic Society of Britain, Ansar Finance Ltd, the British Muslim Heritage Centre and the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB). Councillor Khan is a member of the Greater Manchester Faith Leaders Group, and also helped to set up the Christian Muslim Forum for Greater Manchester.
Cllr Khan is a lawyer by profession and a partner at Khan Solicitors. He has been the councillor for Manchester Cheetham ward since 2000 and since that time he has served on a number of committees: social strategy, finance and general purpose. He has been Manchester City Council's assistant Executive member for Finance and Personnel, lead member for Race Equality and assistant Executive for Children's services. In 2005 he became the youngest and first Asian Lord Mayor of Manchester, Vice President for world mayors for peace, and in 2006 was named Mayor of the Year by the Co-operative Bank.
Currently Cllr Khan is an active member of the Unite and GMB trade unions and the Co-operative movement. He is involved with extensive charitable work and is a national trustee of the British Red Cross. He is also a member of The University of Manchester Board of Governors.
He has also worked in the following roles:
In recognition of his long and distinguished services to community and interfaith relations and to local government he was awarded Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2008.
In addition to being Co-Chairperson of The Muslim Jewish Forum Greater Manchester, Jonny is:
- Vice-Chairperson, Faith Network 4 Manchester
- Convenor, Faith Youth Manchester
- Governor, Langdon College
- Treasurer, Salford Jewish Cricket Club
- Development Consultant for Assist (Independence) UK
Jonny is involved in many interfaith initiatives, particularly for young people, and runs sessions for schools, youth and community groups on Judaism and its relationship with other faiths. His previous voluntary activities have included being a Scout Leader, Chairperson of Old Moat Youth Outreach Project in Manchester, UK Electoral Reform Society Council member and Chairperson of the Campaign Committee, Chairperson of Manchester Limmud, Vice-Chairperson of North Manchester Jewish Youth Project and Vice-President of the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester & Region.
Jonny recently won the 2012 Community Cohesion/Diversity Award as part of Manchester’s Peace Week in recognition of his work across Manchester’s diverse communities.
Jonny is self-employed as a freelance consultant for not-for-profit organisations. His current professional roles include:
He has also worked as Regional Development Project Consultant for the Board of Deputies of British Jews; Consultant for Manchester City Council Regeneration teams; Reviewer for The Jerusalem Trust’s Evaluation of Evangelistic events; Trainer for GMCVO; Reviewer for Manchester’s Service User Network for Homeless People. Jonny has previously been Northern Director of the Association for Jewish Youth, Deputy Principal Youth Officer for Manchester City Council and Campus Co-ordinator for the Anne Frank Trust UK.
Publications include:
Heather Fletcher was born in Salford, Greater Manchester. She was educated at King David Primary Schools and Manchester High School for Girls. She graduated in law from Birmingham University and qualified as a solicitor. After practising as matrimonial lawyer for 10 years, she went into another branch of the legal profession and became a law costs draftsman (preparing bills of costs for other solicitors). Heather has now run her own law costs draftsman's business for the past 10 years.
Heather initially became interested in interfaith work in 1992 when she practised in the culturally diverse area of Cheetham Hill. However, she did not develop her interest in this sphere until she attended the first meeting in August 2004 which led to the formation of the Muslim Jewish Forum. When Cllr Afzal Khan became Lord Mayor in May 2005, the late Henry Guterman asked Heather if she could take on the role as secretary for one year whilst Cllr Khan held this high office. However, Heather has now been the secretary of the Forum for over four years. She thoroughly enjoys the job both taking minutes and organising events. She also spoke at the Adam Day interfaith event in 2007.
Heather's other interests are amateur dramatics, writing poetry, photography and travelling.
Mohammed Amin has on several occasions been listed as one of the hundred most influential Muslims in the UK.
Amin graduated in mathematics from Clare College, Cambridge and obtained a Post Graduate Certificate in Education from Leeds University. After a year teaching, he trained as a chartered accountant, qualifying in 1977 after being placed fifth nationally in the PE1 examination out of over 4,000 candidates. In 1978 he qualified as a chartered tax advisor being awarded an examination distinction. In 1995 he became an associate member of the Association of Corporate Treasurers. His Chartered Institute of Taxation fellowship thesis was awarded a medal for the best thesis submitted in 1999.
For 33 years Amin practiced as a tax advisor, most recently spending 19 years as a tax partner in Price Waterhouse, now PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. He was the first Muslim to be admitted to the Price Waterhouse partnership in the UK. He specialised in international tax and the taxation of derivatives and foreign exchange, and for four years he led the firm’s UK finance and treasury tax network. Most recently before his retirement at the end of 2009, Amin was PwC’s head of Islamic finance in the UK and a member of PwC’s four person Global Islamic Finance Leadership Team. He has presented on Islamic finance around the world as well as advising the UK Government. From 2003 until he retired, Amin was an elected member of PwC’s 15 person Supervisory Board, responsible for overseeing the firm’s management and approving its accounts and all partnership admissions and withdrawals.
In retirement, as well as Islamic finance consulting and writing, Amin spends most of his time “giving back” to the community by writing, speaking, informal mentoring and active involvement in a number of organisations, including being:
You can learn more about Amin and read his writings at his personal website www.mohammedamin.com
Whilst studying for her MA in Art as Environment Laura Nathan explored the use of art as a tool to encourage the understanding of narratives and identity within communities; specifically those experiencing cultural conflict. Since graduating she has continued this work and practices as a community based artist delivering creative projects within diverse sections of the community. These have included Israelis and Palestinians, Muslim and Jewish Women, South Asian young women, ex offenders, refugees, and adults with learning disabilities.
Examples of Laura's projects are:-
Qaisra Shahraz was born in Pakistan and brought up in Manchester, England, since the age of nine.
She studied English and Classical Civilization at the University of Manchester and went on to gain two Masters Degrees, at the University of Salford, in English and European Literature and in Scriptwriting for Television and Radio. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and a Member of the Royal Society of Literature.
Qaisra Shahraz is the author of two novels The Holy Woman (2001) and Typhoon (2003) translated into numerous languages. The first is a powerful love story, introducing the reader to the traditions of a vibrant world of four Muslim countries. It was awarded the title Best Book of the Month by Waterstones and currently published in a Gold Edition as a best seller in Indonesia. Typhoon is a sequel set in the fictitious village of Chiraghpur. She has recently completed a third novel, a volume of short stories and co-authored a literary/academic textbook for German teachers entitled Emerging India. As a freelance journalist, she has contributed features and articles to various magazines and newspapers including The Times (London).
Several of her prize-winning short stories are published in the UK and abroad, in particular, in school anthologies in Germany. One of her short stories, Perchanvah, won the Ian St. James Award in 1994. Her work is also studied in Universities and a critical analysis of her works has been done in a book entitled The Holy and the Unholy: Critical Essays on Qaisra Shahraz’s Fiction (2011).
She has written plays for radio and television, including a screenplay adaptation of her first novel. Her award-winning drama serial Dil Hee To Hai (The Heart Is It) was broadcast internationally. She has appeared at several international literary festivals and book fairs. She was shortlisted for the Asian Women of Achievement Awards in 2002 and for the Muslim News Awards for Excellence in 2003.
Qaisra Shahraz has another successful career in education, as a consultant, teacher trainer and college inspector for Ofsted via Cfbt, Serco and Tribal Educational Services. Through her work in education and her writing, Qaisra has tried to promote community cohesion, empowerment of women and celebration of diversity. Her short stories (i.e. The Elopement, A Pair of Jeans and The Escape etc.) explore cross-cultural, migration and issues of multiple identities.
She regularly visits schools in the UK and abroad, particularly in Germany where her work is prescribed as literary texts for the Abitur students. Through dialogue with teachers and students she has raised awareness about cross-cultural issues, promoted the need for respecting other faiths and cultures and the importance of holding intercultural dialogue.
Qaisra joined the Muslim and Jewish forum of Manchester, because of her mission to build good relationships and better understanding between the Muslim and Jewish communities. She is interested in learning more about the Jewish faith and rituals.
Qaisra has many Jewish friends, including Prof. Lou Khusnick (who taught her American politics at Manchester university) and worked with his wife Patricia with Manchester Adult Education Service for many years. She finds the interaction between the two groups very fulfilling.
She is an active member of the forum and taken part in many events and trips. The trip to Auschwitz and Birkenau Concentration Camps, prompted her to write a story on the Holocaust "Train to Krakow."
Qaisra Shahraz - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shahid works as an IT Solutions Consultant and enjoys promoting community cohesion by organising social and sports events in aid of charitable causes. His career has included a peace keeping mission in the Middle East and when not watching Man Utd he enjoys playing tennis at the Hale Barns Tennis Club, albeit (he claims) very poorly.
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