Sufism in Britain: Past, Present and Future -Dr Hafza Iqbal, Markfield Institute of Higher Education:June19,2025

 YouTube Video:

https://youtu.be/755Bm8eephs?si=88wfnYRB-WdqNC79

In this episode, Dr Hafza Iqbal (Lecturer and Course Lead for Islam and Pastoral Care, MIHE) discusses the history of Sufism in Britain, the development and beliefs of the Barelwi movement, and the future of Sufism in a digital age. Dr Hafza Iqbal is Course Leader for Islam and Pastorial Care. She completed her PhD in the field of Sufi studies and Islamic Practical Theology at Coventry University’s Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations. Prior to the commencement of her doctoral research, based on Muslim communities in contemporary Britain, she completed a Masters in Theology at the University of Birmingham and studied Islamic Theology in the faculty of Usool in Madina Institute, South Africa. Her areas of research and writing continue to be based on contemporary religious communities and the history, development and modern expressions of Sufism. She has also theorised Islamic Practical Theology and is dedicated to highlighting and using the lived experiences of contemporary Muslims to produce new, contextualised and innovative theological understandings and adding nuance and depth to contemporary theology and Islamic studies.

Markfield Institute of Higher Education:https://www.mihe.ac.uk/

Madina Institute UK:Ustadha Hafza Iqbal has a university degree from the University of Wolverhampton in "Politics and World Religions." She has spent several years studying at "Sultan Bahu Trust" in Birmingham (UK) focusing on Arabic grammar. Her passion in the study of the Islamic Sciences took her to South Africa, where she studied at the Faculty of the Madina Institute and study "Usul-Ud-Deen" where she studied under several reputable scholars like:

Aqeedah, Ulum-ul-Hadith, Usul-ul-Fiqh with Shaykh Muhammad bin Yahya al-Ninowy
Arabic with Shaykh Ameinullah Abdur-Raoof
History and Uloom Ul Hadith with Shaykh Fukhrudeen Owaisi
Tazkiyyah with Shaykh Seeraj Hendericks
Hanafi and Shafi Fiqh, and Usool with Mufit Haroon al Azhari, Shaykh Ibrahim Moos and Shaykh Ahmad Saad al-Azhari

https://www.madinainstitute.org/instructors/ustadha-hafza-iqbal/

"Interactions with Sufi scholars throughout my teens including Shaykh Muhammad al-Yaqoubi, Habib Khadim, Shaykh Babikr Ahmad, culminating into the initiation into the Rifa’i Qadiri Sufi order at the hands of Shaykh Muhammad an-Ninowy in my early twenties. And the subsequent work with Sufi organisations and their 33  community outreach projects including the Zawiyyah Foundation and Madina Institute UK."Source: Hafza Iqbal'sPh.D Thesis pdf 

Hafza Iqbal's Ph.D Thesis:Sufi Hybrids: Theorising Islamic Practical Theology An Exploration of Sufism in Contemporary Britain:Coventry University 2023

https://pure.coventry.ac.uk/ws/portalfiles/portal/85044367/Iqbal2023PhD.pdf