Going to Extremes

Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari is a noted civic leader, educationalist, parenting consultant and author. He has served Britain's diverse communities in various capacities for over three decades. A former Bangladesh Air Force officer, trained at the Royal Air Force College in Lincolnshire (1978-79), Dr Bari worked as a physics researcher in the University of London in the 1980s, before moving into teaching in the early 1990s, completing his PGCE (postgraduate certificate of education). He worked as a specialist teacher for those with behavioural needs before taking an early retirement in 2011. Throughout and alongside his professional career, Dr Bari has been deeply involved in civil society organisations. He was a founding member of The East London Communities Organisation (TELCO), which is now the national organisation Citizens UK. He was a member of the British Government's Inner Cities Religious Council (ICRC) in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain from 2006-2010, and Chairman of Britain's largest Muslim community complex, the London Muslim Centre, from 2002-2013. He was also a non-executive board member of LOCOG (the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games) from 2006-2013. Today, he remains involved in a number of charities such as East London Mosque, London Catalyst and the Islamic Foundation Leicester. Since retiring, Dr Bari has been working with diverse communities to promote fuller engagement in public life, as well as writing on current affairs and his areas of expertise for various media outlets, including the Huffington Post and Al Jazeera English. In recent years, he has worked with Muslim youth, including the three talented editors of this publication, to encourage their full participation in public life in the UK. He worked with Citizens UK and advised its Commission on ?Islam, Participation and Public Life? (IPPL), which was chaired by former Attorney General, Dominic Grieve. The Commission's final report ?The Missing Muslims: Unlocking British Muslim Potential for the Benefit of All?, was published in the summer of 2017. He has authored a number of books on family, parenting and identity as well as one on the Rohingya Crisis. His memoir, A Long Jihad: My Quest for the Middle Way, offers an insider's perspective on the Muslim experience in modern Britain, presenting his blueprint for the middle way of life. In recognition for his services to the community, Dr Bari was conferred an MBE in 2003; he was also made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2005, an Honorary Fellow of Queen Mary University of London in 2008, an Honorary Doctor of Education by the University of East London in 2012, and Deputy Lieutenant of the Greater London Lieutenancy in 2016. He was also awarded the Community Cohesion Champion by the organisation Sikhs in England in 2006. Dr Bari lives in London with his wife, four children and three grandchildren.