Hamza Tzortzis

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Hamza Tzortzis
Born
Andreas Tzortzis

1980
NationalityBritish
OccupationSpeaker, Author, Educator
OrganizationiERA
Notable work
The Divine Reality: God, Islam and the Mirage of Atheism
HonoursBritish Muslim Awards
YouTube information
Channel
Years activeSeptember 8, 2006–present
Subscribers41 thousand[1]
Total views1.2 million[1]
Associated actsiERA
Many Prophets One Message
Updated: 1 September 2021.
Website

Hamza Andreas Tzortzis (born 1980)[2] is a British public speaker and researcher on Islam.[3]

Hamza is a British Muslim convert of Greek heritage. Tzortzis has distanced himself from allegations of extremism, and stated that he preaches about peace and compassion.[4][5]

Career

Tzortzis has been invited as a guest speaker at several universities and Muslim conferences.[6][4] He has spoken in the United Kingdom and Australia.[6][4] Tzortzis was involved in publishing a survey study in 2010 to gauge non-Muslims' views of Islam in the United Kingdom.[3] In 2015 he was a finalist for Religious Advocate of the Year at the British Muslim Awards.[7] Tzortzis has contributed to the BBC news programs: The Big Questions and Newsnight.[8][9]

Controversy

Andrew Gilligan described Tzortzis in a 2010 The Telegraph article as "a former researcher for the hardline Hittin Institute and chaired the launch event of iERA, an umbrella organisation hosting many well-known British Muslim extremists who preach opposition to democracy and hatred against homosexuals and Jews."[6] Tzortzis calls this misrepresentations and lies.[10] Noting that Keele University had cancelled a speech by Tzortzis, the Stoke Sentinel called him a "radical Islamic speaker ... a former member of the radical group Hizb ut-Tahrir which believes in the idea of an Islamic state ... who supports Sharia law ... [and has] also been linked to controversial comments on homosexuality and a series of other issues."[11] Tzortzis said in a 2016 interview that, whilst he still sees homosexuality as "sinful" in the eyes of God, he condemns any violence towards the homosexual community.[10] According to Metro, Tzortzis has "claimed that those who leave the Islamic faith ‘should be killed.'"[12] He has since stated that he does not believe apostasy laws, which he calls "outdated".[10] Tzortzis also criticises child marriage, opposes extremism, denounces the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS), and tries to present a peaceful case for Islam.[4] In 2016 India's National Investigation Agency (NIA), in a chargesheet against the Islamic State, named Tzortzis as having directly or indirectly influenced suspects accused of having links with ISIS.[10] Tzortzis says that he has influenced Muslims of all persuasions and cannot be blamed for extremists latching onto his words.[10] He further stated that ISIS are "spiritually diseased, sick people".[10]

Publications

Books

  • .[13] FB Publishing, 2016.

Translations

Bengali

  • The Divine Reality: Allah, Islam o Nastikkobader Morichika. Tr. Masud Shorif, Sean Publications, 2020.
  • Liberalism o Muslim Somaj (Liberalism and Muslim Society). Tr. Hossain Shakil, Minarah Publications, Unpublished.

Arabic

  • al-Haqiqah al-Ilahiyyah: Allah wal-Islam wa Sarab al-Ilhad[14] (The Divine Reality). Tr. Naif al-Mal, Markaz Dalil, 2016.

Papers and Articles

References

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b "About Sapience Institute". YouTube.
  2. ^ http://etheses.bham.ac.uk/id/eprint/7235/1/Baz17PhD.pdf
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b Haroon Siddique (2 August 2010). "Three-quarters of non-Muslims believe Islam negative for Britain". The Guardian, 2 August 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Rohan Smith (17 February 2016). "So-called radical aiming to speak at Australian Muslim conference declares: 'I'm a peaceful hippie'". news.com.au, 17 February 2016. Retrieved 8 August 2016.
  5. ^ Karagiannis, Emmanuel (2018-01-02). The New Political Islam: Human Rights, Democracy, and Justice. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-0-8122-4972-9.
  6. ^ Jump up to: a b c Andrew Gilligan (18 January 2010). "Speaker with extremist links to address Detroit bomber's former student group". The Telegraph, 18 January 2010. Retrieved 8 May 2016.[unreliable source?]
  7. ^ "British Muslim Awards 2015 finalists unveiled". Asian Image, 23 January 2015. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
  8. ^ "BBC One - The Big Questions, Series 8, Episode 2 - Credits". BBC. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  9. ^ "Is clash between Islam and the West inevitable?". BBC. 17 December 2010. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e f Ayaz Farooqui (9 August 2016). "ISIS are spiritually diseased, sick people: Hamza Tzortzis, UK preacher named in NIA charges". ABP News, 12 August 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  11. ^ Kathie McInnes. "Keele University cancels visit from radical Islamic speaker Hamza Tzortzis". The Sentinel, 1 March 2016. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  12. ^ Nicholas Reilly (23 August 2015). "Islamic preacher 'named' on the leaked list of Ashley Madison members". Metro, 23 August 2015. Retrieved 8 May 2016.
  13. ^ Tzortzis, Hamza Andreas (2016-12-10). The Divine Reality: God, Islam and the Mirage of Atheism. FB Publishing. ISBN 978-0-9965453-8-9.
  14. ^ "الحقيقة الإلهية". www.goodreads.com. Retrieved 2020-05-29.

External links

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