Raficq Abdulla

Raficq Abdulla is a writer, poet, public speaker, and broadcaster on a number of topics. He has been trustee of the Poetry Society and Planet Poetry and is a trustee of English PEN. He is also currently an Associate Non-Executive Director of South West London and St. George's Mental Health NHS Trust. In 1999, Raficq was awarded an MBE for his interfaith work between Muslims, Jews, and Christians. He has published two books of poetry based on the Muslim mystics Rumi and Attar.
Written work and public appearances
Raficq has written and presented a large number of programmes on Islam for BBC World Service radio, including The Four Caliphs; Rumi; The Conference of the Birds (a new interpretation of the allegorical poem by the 12th-century mystic poet Fariduddin Attar), a series on the life of The Prophet Muhammad. He has contributed to live current affairs programmes such as News Hour on the World Service. As a writer, he has published Words of Paradise, a collection of his interpretations of Jalaluddin Rumi’s poetry, and a fresh interpretation of the allegorical poem by the medieval poet and mystic, Farid al-Din Attar, Conference of the Birds. He has been a regular reviewer of books on Islam and has published articles on a number of topics including issues concerning identity, Islamophobia, and the aftermath of the Salman Rushdie affair. He has written on Ruskin, Islamic Art, poetry and on topics dealing with Muslims in the contemporary world as well as screenplays for Channel 4 including the award-winning films Blood of Hussein and Born of Fire.
As a public speaker, Raficq has addressed a wide variety of national and international audiences in the UK, Canada, the USA, Spain and Dubai on issues concerning Islam, Muslims, Islamic Law, Islamic finance, Art, Identity, Poetry and Spirituality. He has spoken on the 13th century Muslim mystic poet Rumi and the 20th century German poet, Rilke during 2007 in this venue at St. Ethelburgas, and in early April 2008 he narrated his interpretation of parts of a poem by the 15th Century Persian mystic poet, Jami, also at St. Ethelburgas. In May 2008 he was the narrator at a concert in memory of the German/Jewish composer Victor Ullmann who was killed at Auschwitz in 1945. He has presented his own poetry including his interpretations of Rumi and Attar at several poetry festivals including Dartington, London and Ledbury
Further activities
He is an Associate Director of the South West London and St George’s Mental Health NHS Trust where his particular remit is governance and equality.
He was a trustee of the Poetry Society and a director of Planet Poetry until November 2008 when his term expired. He is presently a Deputy President of English PEN.
In 1999, he was awarded an MBE for his interfaith work between Muslims, Jews, and Christians.
Since he has retired from Kingston University as its University Secretary, Raficq has embarked on a new career in mentoring and coaching which he began whilst at Kingston University as part of its mentoring and coaching scheme, and he has set up a consultancy to advise on Sharia Finance and also a management consultancy partnership to advise both businesses and institutions in the public and third sector. He is currently a partner of Silverdale Consulting http://www.silverdaleconsulting.co.uk/ - a management consultancy business.
Legal Adviser to:
Muslim College, London
Imams & Mosques Council, London
Former Chairman of:
The Festival of Muslim Cultures

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