Imam Monawar Hussain

Imam Monawar Hussain MBE DL FRSA MCCT has served as Deputy Lieutenant for Oxfordshire since 2009. During this time, he has also served as High Sheriff of Oxfordshire (2021-22). He is part of the Lieutenancy team focused on Oxford East and works especially on inter-faith activities in his work for the Lieutenancy.

Monawar read Theology at the University of Oxford, trained as an Imam at the Muslim College in London, and holds an MA in Abrahamic Religions from the University of London. Monawar is Muslim Tutor and Imam at Eton College, and Associate Director at Leadership Management International – UK, a leadership development company.

Alongside this work, and nationally, Monawar leads the national ‘United for Peace: Communities united against Extremism’ initiative. This builds on his work at Eton College, where he developed the first educational programme in the West tackling the radicalisation of young Muslims, the Oxford Muslim Pupils’ Empowerment Programme. Key aspects of this were integrated into the national Resilience programme. Monawar is a founding member of the Armed Forces Muslim Forum, an Executive Committee Member of the World Congress of Faiths, an Honorary Research Fellow at the Cadbury Centre for the Public Understanding of Religion, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and an alumnus of the Windsor Leadership Trust.

In Oxfordshire, Monawar is the founder of The Oxford Foundation, which aims to promote strong relationships of trust and understanding between diverse faiths and racial groups and inspire young Muslim people to achieve and contribute in a meaningful way to British society. He is also a founding member of the Oxford Council of Faiths. He founded the One World Festival, held annually at the Ashmolean Museum, and led the campaign to build the Central Oxford Mosque. He is a trustee of The Oxford Trust and Oxfordshire Community Foundation, Consultant to the Prison Phoenix Trust, Visitor to the History of Science Museum, an advisory board member of the Dalai Lama Centre for Compassion, Vice President of the Oxford Civic Society, and Co-Chairs both the Oxfordshire and Thames Valley Civic, Community and Faith Leaders Groups.

In 2020, Monawar was awarded the prestigious Sternberg Interfaith Gold Medallion; previous winners include Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Pope John Paul II, and Cardinal Basil Hume.

Monawar lives in Cowley with his wife Robina.