NETHERLANDS

Famile Arslan is a lawyer in Hague for a firm called Beykes Lawyers. Besides her daily job she is a member of the board of the Foundation Islam and Citizenship which has been engaged in the relationship between norms, values and citizenship and the role Islamic organizations can play in this issue. The objective of I&B is to stimulate the social debate within the Muslim community and broaden it, where relevant, to Dutch society as a whole and to stimulate the debate on the interpretation of the concept of citizenship within the Muslim community. I&B has tried to be a help for the emancipation and participation of the Muslim community in The Netherlands. She is involved in a project about domestic violence in Muslim community. She is the Chair (women) of the Commission for complains at Islamic schools (Klachtencommissie voor Islamitisch onderwijs). She is coaching a project of Fatush productions about emancipation of Muslim women. As researcher for a healthcare organization she has organized a course for intercultural communication. With Ineke Wienese has she written a lessons book. Also in the media is she very involved in issues like emancipation, integration and migration. Famile Arslan is born in Turkey, raised in the Netherlands. She has a master's degree in International Law. Before becoming a lawyer she worked 5 years for the Ministry of Justice.

Khalil Aitblal is the founder and chairman of Lifemakers Netherlands, the spokesman of the Union of Morrocan mosques in Amsterdam. Lifemakers NL is, a NGO organization dedicated to realize a revival in the societies in the Netherlands. Its goal is to realize development in combination with faith. It's also a bridge between Lifemakers NL and Lifemakers organizations in the Arabic world. The union for the mosques is an organization dedicated to stimulate and helping the mosques through the process of integration and create understanding between the Muslims and the rest of the society. He has previously organized a several debates and events especially during the Ramadan last year. He also participated in a debate on the Amsterdam TV channel (AT5) about the cartoon affair in Denmark. Born in Amsterdam, The Netherlands and educated in Amsterdam, Mr. Aitblal finished his study on economics and after that he started working for companies like Vodafone, Worldcom and Getronics Pinkroccade. He is now working for Islamic Relief Netherlands; his function is Marketing and Fundraising. Mr. Aitblal was recently nominated for the Volunteer of the year in Bos en Lommer in Amsterdam.

City: Amsterdam

Leyla Cakir started her professional career working in a youth jail for 2 years. She is currently a social worker for the non-profit institution 'PUNT' welzijn in the city of Weert, the Netherlands. Her professional goal is to stimulate the intercultural communication between Dutch citizens and immigrants. Next to her profession she is the only female chairman of the mosque Ihlas, a volunteer job. Leyla has frequently been asked in to forums, discussions and interviews. She has written articles (in Dutch) like: "(A) Way from Europe", "A Muslim with a vision without mission", "Hèhè the Netherlands are radicalising" and "Also a place for God in this society". Since so many things have happened with the Muslim society in the Netherlands after 9/11, Leyla is often interviewed by several media on her opinions regarding issues as integration, terrorism, radicalism and Muslim women's positions in Islam. With immigrant parents from Turkey, she was born in the Netherlands in 1978. Very recently Leyla has been asked to become the president of a national Muslim Women Organization.

Mustafa Hamurcu was born in Turkey and lived in the Netherlands for 26 years now. After studying economics, Mustafa worked at a consultancy. Currently he is a policy-officer for the government. Beside that, he have been active for local Milli Gorus departments for 15 years now, and since May 2006, he has been a member of the board of Milli Gorus Netherlands. Mustafa has previously received awards for his integration and education activities. He is 31 years old.

City: Amersfoort

Nur Hamurcu (31) is member of the board and spokesman of Milli Görüs, a non-profit social and religious organization dedicated to enhance emancipation and participation of Muslims in the Dutch society and by that building bridges between the Dutch public and Muslims. The aim of Milli Görüs is promoting peace, interfaith understanding and action through religious, social and cultural programs for members of the 23 affiliate mosques in Holland. He has previously created interfaith programs for especially youth and has participated in an inter-religious council. In collaboration with several Muslim organizations and the government, he is establishing an imam education program. Mr. Hamurcu frequently lectures and serves on panels and has been featured in several local and national newspapers. Born in Turkey and educated in the Netherlands, Mr. Hamurcu acquired a master degree in Economics at the university in Amsterdam. Beside his position as a volunteer at Milli Görüs, he works for several profit and non-profit companies as a management consultant.

City: Amersfoort

Rajae El Mouhandiz is Moroccan/Algerian) and the founder of Truthseeker Records, an independent record label based in Amsterdam, Rajae is also a poet, singer, and composer/producer. When she was only 16 years old she was the first Moroccan in Holland who studied classical music at a Dutch conservatory. To make a statement, she recently released her self produced album on her own record label. Rajae has recorded with several international producers in Holland, Paris, London, NY, California and Texas and will be in Ibiza this summer for new recordings. Her music is a blend of different popular music genres and her Arab roots. She had toured all over the country and has been invited to several Arab countries where she will perform later this year. In 2005 she performed for 40,000 people in Casablanca after not having visited her birth country for 12 years. The love of her audience has convinced her to follow her musical path and to use music as a way to communicate love, peace and compassion. Currently she also works as a part time consultant for Global Impact a consultancy company that focuses on CSR (corporate strategic responsibility) Rajae is working with them on a benchmark study about diversity and the inclusion of young highly educated, migrant professionals in the workforce. This study will be presented coming September. Another company, Troi Studio has hired her as a sound designer for projects they do with multinationals. Rajae has recently bought her portable studio and has 3 career aims: 1. empowering Muslim women and young talents with an ethnic background. Inspiring people with her music that carries a universal message, she shows the world that it's cool to be modern, female, talented and Muslim. Becoming one of the best music producers/sound designers in her field and to be able to release lots of timeless music that can function as a musical DUA

City: Amsterdam

Scott Siraj Al-Haqq Kugle is a research fellow at The Institute for The Study of Islam in the Modern World at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. He also teaches University courses on Islam from the perspective of comparative religion, on the Qur'an and Islamic hermeneutics, and on Islamic mysticism and ethics. Siraj has written several books, such as The Book of Illumination: Kitab al-Tanwir, Isqat al-Tadbir by Shaykh Ibn `Ata' Allah al-Iskandari an English translation (2005), and Rebel Between Spirit and Law: Ahmad Zarruq and Juridical Sainthood in North Africa (forthcoming 2006) and Sufis and Saints' Bodies: corporeality, mysticism and sacred power in Islam (forthcoming 2007). His current research explores contemporary Muslim sexuality, including how lesbian, gay and transgendered advocate for supportive communities within the Islamic tradition. He has been quoted in Omid Safi's book, Progressive Muslims: on gender, justice and pluralism and Voices of Islam and he has been interviewed on a BBC documentary on gay Muslims in 2006. Raised in Hawaii, Siraj received a Ph.D. from Duke University and was the recipient of research awards from the Fulbright Fellowship, the American Institute of Maghribi Studies, the American Institute of Indian Studies, and the Charlotte Newcombe Fellowship in Religion and Ethics from the Woodrow Wilson Foundation at Princeton.

City: Amsterdam

Yasmine Allas has written three novels (Idil, a girl, 1998, The general with the six fingers, 2001 and The blue room, 2004). Yasmine has also written for the Volkskrant, one of the leading newspapers in the Netherlands. An edited version of her articles was published in 2006 as Ontheemd en toch thuis. (No home and yet a home) In this book, a tribute speech to the murdered Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh was added. Born in Somalia in 1967 she left the country on her own at a quite young age and arrived in 1987 in Amsterdam where she started her career as an actress with the theater group the Trust. Besides writing, Yasmine Allas is an active member of the Marhaba Organisation, a cultural and social foundation with Islamic roots, which aims building bridges between the different groups which are living in the Netherlands. Yasmine Allas appears regularly on radio and television in the Netherlands since 1998. Most recently in Paul Rosenmöller meets Yasmine Allas, 27th May 2006. This program was recorded in Hargeisha (North Somalia)

City: Amsterdam

Youssef Azghari is a Lecturer, Avans University, School of Social Studies and the School of Communication and Multimedia Design. He is also a Columnist for the National Daily Trouw and is presently the Chairman and Founder of Qantara (Advisory Bureau for Intercultural Communication, he is also a Art Gallery owner. He has been a Part-time teacher Intercultural Communication, Dutch Ministry of Home Affairs an Advisor to Multi-Ethnic Society, Municipality of Tilburg and Worked as translator Arabic-Dutch. He has an MA in Arabic Languages, University of Nijmegen. And his Thesis which received honorable mention in the national thesis competition, organized by national daily Het Paroo and the University of Amsterdam, on 'Dutch words borrowed in Moroccan-Arabic'. B.A. in Communication Science at the University of Nijmegen. He has published Articles for National Daily Trouw and in May 2005 he has published "Culturally determined communication" Values and interests of passive and active cultures - Born in Beni Said, Morocco he speaks Dutch, English, Arabic.

City: Tilburg