Musharraf Hussain is Director of the Karimia Institute Nottingham and the chief editor of a family magazine, The Invitation. He is the chairman of the Christian Muslim Forum, senior trustee of Muslim Hands, and a trustee of the National Centre for Citizenship and Law. He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Staffordshire University in 2005 for his services to the British Muslim community. He is also the founder and director of the PGCE course sponsored by the Teacher Training Agency, and formerly vice chair of the Association of Muslim Schools.
Born in 1958, he moved to Halifax from Pakistan in 1966 with his parents, where he memorised the glorious Quran, and learned Tajweed and basic Quranic Arabic. After completing a degree in biochemistry at Aston University, he went on to gain a science doctorate. He worked as a scientist until 1990 and then decided to dedicate himself to serving the community. He read Islamic studies at a seminary in Pakistan and at Al-Azhar University in Cairo.
In 1995 Dr Musharraf helped to establish a Muslim boarding school for boys in Retford, where he was the headteacher for three years. In 1997 he was appointed Director of the Karimia Institute. He began working on a number of projects ranging from community development to raising the educational achievements of Pakistani children, to adult classes and interfaith work. Currently Karimia runs some 20 projects and is a premier Muslim organisation in UK.
Dr Musharraf has translated and written ten books about traditional Islamic teachings to help Muslims practice their religion as well as some seventy articles. He has written an introduction to Islam, published by Nelson and Thornes, and has taught in secondary schools in England. He is a familiar voice on BBC Radio Nottingham's thought for the day and Radio 4's prayer for the day.
Over the past ten years he has worked tirelessly promoting interfaith work in Nottingham and nationally. He has organised three conferences for imams and Christian ministers to foster better understanding amongst the Christian and Muslim leaderships.
Along with Dr AJ Daud, Dr Musharraf flew to Iraq to help effect the release of British hostage Ken Bigley in September 2004. They appealed to the captors to release Ken, ana ction that was seen as an important symbolic gesture to show that British Muslims care for their fellow Britons. It was widely hailed as an important symbol of British Muslims' loyalty toward and love of their country.
In 2006 he was asked by the Prime Minister to chair the UK - Indonesian Islamic Advisory Group. The group's remit was to "advise on countering radicalism and promoting mutual understanding between Islam and the West." The group made several important recommendations; some of these have been implemented whilst others are at the planning stage.
