The artist formerly known as Cat Stevens, Yusuf Islam, has opened a faith centre at Cardiff University that will lead research on Muslims in the UK. The centre, aiming to promote "scholarly and public understanding" of the faith, will be based in the School Of Religious And Theological Studies, and local Muslim community members are to form an advisory committee.
At the launch on Tuesday, Islam said: "Now is a chance, I think, to have a partnership, an academic understanding also, of how Islam impacts on the sociological behaviour of people, Muslims and non-Muslims. I think it's important for non-Muslims to walk a little bit closer towards understanding Islam, and for Muslims to come closer to explaining it in a better, more academic and understandable way. It's a two-way partnership. And [the centre] is a great symbol of opportunity, in the background that we have today, to go forward and perhaps make Islam a bit more integral to the British society, which it is capable of doing."
The centre's director, Sophie Gilliat-Ray said: "Few people know that the first mosque in the UK was established in Cardiff in 1860. From this early history, there is now a sizeable and well-established Muslim population in the city, making Cardiff one of the best places to fully appreciate the full and dynamic history of Islam and Muslims in Britain."
The unit will offer masters and diploma courses, as well as hosting public lectures, international conferences and professional development courses for specific groups such as prison officers and teachers.