On Tuesday 15th July 2025, Dr Muhammed Reza Tajri was invited to represent Al-Mahdi Institute in addressing a governmental thinktank, which seeks to explore the benefits of coining a definition of Islamophobia – or anti-Muslim hatred – for use by the UK government. The roundtable group, chaired by Dominic Grieve KC, was convened under the Government’s Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government.
Dr Tajri’s advice was sought by the ‘Working Group on Islamophobia’, as a sociologist whose research focuses on the UK’s Muslim communities. His interventions sought to highlight the potential pitfalls of not recognising the nuances between ‘Islamophobia’ and bigoted hatred of Muslims as a racialised group. Those potential pitfalls, he argued, can be seen in the adoption of the 2026 IHRA definition of antisemitism; how its deficiency cheapens the term; how its politicisation does not protect all Jews in an encompassing way; and how this leads to Jewish groups being deemed acceptable or marginalised depending on their geopolitical stances. Learning lessons from that, he insisted on the importance of working with representative Muslim groups, like the Muslim Council of Britain, which have been intentionally sidelined by previous government administrations.
Dr Tajri underlined the fact that it falls outside of the Government’s remit to try and impose a definition of ‘Islam’ and ‘Islamic culture’, as a precursor to defining Islamophobia. Rather, he asserted that the Government’s efforts should be targeted towards neutralising the power of expressions of bigotry, be they individual or institutionalised.
