Talk:Mohammed Ansar

Bio

Bio claims:
"Mohammed is a public speaker, visiting university lecturer and appears regularly on television and radio. He runs a private consulting practice, is a community organiser and on outspoken civil rights activist. An experienced diversity expert and legal advocate, he is also involved in interfaith and education."
Only one reference is given for the above claims; that of community organiser, while the link to his private consulting practice is no longer active.
Contemporary Anarchist 18:34, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Visiting University Lecturer

The original wikipedia profile stated that Ansar was a "visiting university lecturer" but in the discussion about the deletion of the wikipedia article, no reference was provided to support this claim Ansar's wix profile states: "visiting lecturer on Islamophobia, Islam in contemporary Britain and Theology". The evidence will now be examined below.
There is no evidence on the University of Winchester's website that Ansar was a visiting university lecturer at the University. To be a visiting lecturer, the minimum required qualification is "a degree or equivalent qualification in a relevant discipline and a post graduate qualification is desirable". There is no indication that he has been educated beyond Grammar school level in any of his online bios. As mentioned in the wikipedia AfD on Mohammed Ansar, "The use of the label 'lecturer' is misleading in this case as it implies academic qualifications." and therefore this has been deleted from the bio.
Contemporary Anarchist 23:23, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Talks and Debates at various Universities

In January 2011, Ansar chaired a debate at Southampton University between Clive Thorn and Adnan Rashid of the iERA/Hittin Institute. On 25 September 2012, Ansar announced he was "speaking at the University of Southampton this Friday", 28th September 2012.
In January 2013, Ansar was one of four guest speakers participating in a debate organised by University College London Union's Debating Society, entitled This house believes that religion does more harm than good.
In February 2013, Ansar delivered a "talk" for York Islamic Society entitled Islam and Britain and the Muslim Civil Rights Crisis .
In April 2013, Ansar announced that he'd been "invited to give this year's Lovell Lecture which will be held at Winchester Cathedral in October.". This refers to the annual Lovell Interfaith Lecture organised jointly by Winchester University and Winchester Cathedral and the Lovell Family, not the annual Lovell Lecture held at Jodrell Bank in honour of Sir Bernard Lovell. Contemporary Anarchist 19:53, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Private consulting practice

As discussed above, the link given to Ansar's private consulting practice, Ansar Consulting, is no longer active. A google search shows that it exists as an entity in social media: on twitter as @AnsarConsulting, and; on facebook as Ansar Consulting. A search in companies records shows that Ansar Consulting Ltd was struck off and dissolved on 26th February 2013 and had never submitted documentation since its incorporation on 15 July 2011. Additionally, a previous limited company, also named Ansar Consulting Ltd was incorporated 18 August 2008, and struck off and dissolved 26 March 2010. This earlier incarnation had also failed to submit the required documentation.
Ansar has held, in total, three directorships since July 2008: two incarnations of Ansar Consulting Ltd, and; his first with a company named Securum Ltd, which he co-directed with Mr Shahid Zeeb and Mr Jabraan Azlam.
Securum Ltd was struck off and dissolved on 2 March 2010 and had never filed the required documents. Ansar's co-director Shahid Zeeb had, for two days in March 2008, been a co-director of Hanson Leisure Ltd, a retailer of "alcoholic & other beverages". Ansar's other co-director Jabraan Azlam, was one of the six Khan Line drug gang members arrested on 6 June 2011. On 26 March 2012, Azlam was sentenced to four years for his involvement in the Khan Line drug gang.
As Ansar's private consulting practice was struck off in February 2013, the reference has been changed to the past tense, and the link changed to the data held about the company, instead of the defunct website. Contemporary Anarchist 18:34, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Community Organiser

The reference to support claim that Mohammed Ansar is a community organiser leads to a different Mohammed Ansar who lives in Oldham, not the Mohammed Ansar originating from Watford and now living in Hampshire. The Oldham-based Mohammed Ansar was more recently quoted in the following reference. The original claim to be a community organiser, along with the misleading reference, has thus been removed.
Contemporary Anarchist 17:38, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Southampton Flood Relief Campaign

In September 2010, Ansar is listed in the Southampton Echo as an organiser for the Southampton Flood Relief Campaign"The Southampton Flood Relief Campaign which began with a few families in Chandler’s Ford, has spawned a Southampton and Hampshire-wide scheme that organiser Mohammed Ansar hopes will involve everyone from schools to the Women’s Institute."

Muslim Council of Southampton

In July 2011, Ansar was described by the iERA's Reverts website as "currently part of the Muslim Council of Southampton". The Muslim Council of Southampton's website is http://mcs-online.org. No mention of Ansar could be found on its website.
Contemporary Anarchist 00:31, 19 April 2013 (UTC)

Diversity

Hampshire Independent Equality Forum (HIEF)

In February 2010, Ansar was a member of the HIEF Steering Group:
"As suggested by Jeff, each member of the Group stated why they wanted to be part of the Steering Group. Madeline said her main focus was on Hampshire; Mohammed said the need for the Forum was obvious in terms of influencing service provision/providers; Jacqui wanted to use her influencing and persuading skills to enable services to be improved for each equality strand; and Derek said his focus was on economics and the need to reduce inequality. Jeff said that he believes in promoting equality for all across all strands and that equality cannot be based on someone else’s oppression.".
It was also proposed that steering group members receive basic equality and diversity training. In May 2010, Ansar was selected to be the Chair of the HIEF Steering Group. Claims made in the original wikipedia entry, which was copied over to anarchopedia, were that Ansar "was a founder and former chairman of the Hampshire Independent Equality Forum, a leading cross-sectoral UK equalities platform."
. While Ansar was a former chair of HIEF's Steering Group from May 2010, it is unclear as to when he ceased being the steering group's chair as no mention of him exists after 1 December 2010, when he gave a presentation outlining the year's achievements and future aspirations.
There is no firm indication to support the claim that Ansar was a founder of HIEF:
"The need to create such a Forum was identified during research carried out by the Diversity Network Project 2006-2008, a project led by Community Action Hampshire on behalf of the Hampshire Voluntary Sector Consortium. The Forum's development has also been supported through partner work over the last few years with other voluntary and community sector partners and Hampshire County Council." The HIEF was launched on 24th November 2010
Contemporary Anarchist 21:24, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Other Diversity work

In October 2010, Ansar was one of the keynote speakers at a £25-per-head diversity event, organised by Business Southampton, entitled Equality & Diversity Conference 2010 - How to deliver on diversity and workforce cohesion.
Contemporary Anarchist 21:24, 18 April 2013 (UTC)

Legal Advocate

On 10 January 2012, Ansar claims he is "an anti discrimn legal advocate". On 12 January 2012, Ansar claims he "took 3 claims to the Court of Appeal". On 12 May 2012, Ansar mentions again that he is "a legal advocate". All these three claims appear to employ fallacious appeals to authority. A search of the British and Irish Legal Information Institute database shows three cases relating to Ansar, detailing the proceedings of Ansar's Employment Appeal Tribunal - Ansar vs Lloyds TSB Bank PLC - where he represented himself.

Prevent

On 19 December 2012, Ansar mentions that he "worked on Prevent - it could work and has done in places if the communities are strong." On 28 January 2013, Ansar was presented by Ernie Rea on BBC Radio 4's Beyond Belief, as: "Mohammed Ansar, who is a social and political commentator who's contributed to Prevent, a government taskforce on fighting extremism".

Hizb ut-Tahrir

On 6 October 2011 Ansar promoted an article, by Hizb ut-Tahrir chair Abdul Wahid, as "simply brilliant".
On 22 September 2012, after Taji Mustafa appeared on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Ansar declared that Taji Mustafa was "Usually very good. Perhaps blinded in headlights?".
On 19 October 2012, Ansar promoted Shareef Hafiz, a Hizb ut-Tahrir speaker: ".

New Civilisation

New Civilisation is a print and online magazine produced by Hizb ut-Tahrir. Ansar has promoted this magazine at least eleven times since September 2011.

Muslim Brotherhood

Ansar has described Anas al-Tikriti, President and founder of the Cordoba Foundation - a UK based lobby group for the Muslim Brotherhood - as "my dear friend, the brilliant @anasaltikriti"

Islamic Education and Research Academy (iERA)

On iERA's Yusuf Chambers approached Ansar on twitter: "Need you on board for a project when you are back on your feet. So to speak."