Meet Our Team
We have a number of experienced trainers, both male and female, able to deliver high quality sessions at short notice. Meet our core team below.
Maulana Fazal Hassan
maulana@tbservices.org.uk
Maulana (title used to denote Imam in Arabic) is a qualified Islamic scholar who graduated from the prestigious Islamic Seminary in Holcombe, Bury. Trained in classical Islamic sciences - including Arabic language and grammar, Quranic exegesis, prophetic traditions and fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) - Maulana has over 15 years of teaching experience at higher level educational establishments. He has held positions as a lecturer in A-Level Religious Education and Community Languages as well as serving as an Imam and Muslim Chaplain at the Blackburn & Hyndburn Ribble Valley (BHRV) NHS Trust.
Maulana has a track record of providing a leading role in community & voluntary work. He has been a member of the BHRV NHS Trust’s “Ethnic Minority Consultative Committee” and currently serves as the Chair of the Curriculum Committee at a leading Secondary Girls High School and as a Panel member on the Crown Prosecution Service's “Community Involvement Panel”. As Islamic Advisor to the 1st Ethical Charitable Trust, Maulana played a key role in establishing the first ever UK-based Shariah Consultancy Panel on Islamic Financial Advice - Al Qalam. He has also delivered a number of lectures to professionals in the finance sector on Islamic finance.
Maulana is active in inter-faith work across Lancashire, having served as a member on the Lancashire Diocese & Mosque Group chaired by the Bishop of Burnley himself - working together to achieve common goals and establish strong community cohesion. He has provided training to both working professionals at government agencies as well as local religious and community groups including Lancashire Constabulary, several Local Councils, the BHRV NHS Trust, Faith 4 Change and the congregation at Martin Luther King Baptist Church. He holds a degree in Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies and a teaching qualification in Post Compulsory sector as well as other diplomas.
Riyaz Timol
riyaz@tbservices.org.uk
Riyaz is an experienced producer and deliverer of diversity training workshops having worked successfully as a Diversity Champion in a major civil service department for several years. In his professional capacity, Riyaz has delivered diversity awareness sessions to a range of audiences from grass-roots to senior management, and in 2008 led a small team in devising a general diversity training package which was approved for delivery to over 7000 colleagues.
With a first class degree in BA (Hons) English Literary Studies, Riyaz is a member of the Government Communication Network – a virtual community of professional communicators working in government – who regularly produces articles and reviews for numerous in-house and external publications. In a personal capacity, he has collaborated in hosting several inter-faith initiatives aimed at building bridges of understanding between Britain’s diverse communities. This includes presenting the Islamic perspective at multi-faith celebration events and regularly facilitating mosque visits for members of the public.
Riyaz is a key contributor to the recently launched British Rainbow initiative aimed at “demonstrating shared values” between Western and Islamic ideals, and is also a member of the Civil Service Islamic Society – championed by the Head of the Civil Service, Sir Gus O'Donnell – committed to providing “guidance and advice to Permanent Secretaries, Senior Managers and HR Departments on religious issues that impact on the Muslim workforce”. He is a certified facilitator of the “Being Muslim Being British” training course developed by Cambridge University and has been invited to speak at several educational establishments about his experiences of Islam in a British context. Riyaz is also a part-time writer working on his first book about British Muslim identity.
Waqaus Ali
waqaus@tbservices.org.uk
Waqaus is a firm believer in multiculturalism and individual contribution. He is dedicated to empowering grass root communities to move beyond simple integration. Waqaus’s professional experience of training and consultancy, alongside his passion for education, enriches his contribution to thinkBRITE’s strategy. He is frequently invited by Edgehill University’s Faculty of Religious Education to lecture trainee teachers on Islam & culture awareness. Waqaus is also a long serving member of Burnley & Pendle Faith Centre and is regularly invited to speak at numerous schools, universities and various community and faith forums.
After graduating with a First Class BSc (Hons) in Business Management Studies, Waqaus spent two years with a Management Consultancy firm in Leeds, developing training packages for large organisations. The tragic 2005 London bombings made Waqaus re-assess his priorities and he embarked on a lifelong ambition to travel the world. He spent a valuable year widening his world-view by moving across Europe, the Middle East, Far East & South Asia and America. Waqaus spent his time living with local people, exploring cultural norms as well as studying different world religions and engaging in public speaking.
On returning to his home in Lancashire, Waqaus turned his hand to community development projects and focused his efforts on empowering grass root communities. Working for Building Bridges Pendle, Waqaus shared his oversees experience and regularly delivered public talks to different faith groups, schools and educational institutes. His most remarkable achievements came in 2008 where he successfully mobilised several Muslim leaders to overcome sectarian differences in order to serve the interests of the wider community. This led to Pendle’s first unified and active Mosques & Imams Forum. Waqaus also pioneered a working party of teachers to re-structure the educational curriculum for local Islamic seminaries, which later achieved national recognition and was incorporated into a national syllabus through the Islamic Citizenship Education (ICE) programme.
His successful accomplishments meant Waqaus was approached by 1st Ethical Charitable Trust. He joined the organisation in late October 2008 to further develop and strengthen the Trust’s national partner network of Mosques, Imams and Professional & Academic institutes – whose support was crucial in enabling grass root British Muslims to better understand how to apply Shari‘ah principles to contemporary legal and financial problems. Waqaus currently holds the position of Manager within the Charitable Trust and he currently resides with his wife and daughter in East Lancashire.
