TRENDS Research & Advisory is set to host the Fifth Annual Forum on Political Islam — Shared Patterns of Violence: Contemporary Approaches to Ideologically Driven Extremism — on 16th September 2025 at the Fairmont Bab Al Bahr Hotel in Abu Dhabi.
The forum will explore the common patterns of violence across extremist movements spanning religious, nationalist, and racist ideologies, with a focus on scientific and practical strategies to counter such threats.
Hamad Al-Hosani, Researcher and Director of the Political Islam Department at TRENDS, stated that the opening ceremony will feature a welcoming address by Dr. Mohammed Abdullah Al-Ali, CEO of TRENDS, followed by keynote speeches by several distinguished figures, including Rt. Hon. Sir Liam Fox, Chairman of the UK Abraham Accords Group, and Dr. Khalifa Mubarak Al Dhaheri, Chancellor of Mohamed Bin Zayed University for Humanities.
The ceremony will also announce the winner of the TRENDS Global Award for Combating Terrorism and Extremism.
He added that the high-level opening session will address the theme From Islamism to Far-Right Extremism: How Violence Unites Different Currents. The programme also includes four main sessions covering Tracing the Origins of Extremisms, Deconstructing the Foundational Ideas of Extremisms, New Approaches to Combating Extremisms: Global Experiences, and Community Discussions on Shared Patterns of Violence.
The event will convene an international and interdisciplinary group of researchers, experts, and media professionals from the UAE, UK, U.S., Canada, France, Italy, India, Indonesia, Portugal, Poland, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, ensuring diverse perspectives and a global dialogue.
“The Fifth Annual Forum on Political Islam comes at a critical juncture in which the world is witnessing the rise of ideological extremism, now posing a shared threat to international security and stability regardless of its religious, national, or ideological roots. Through this forum, TRENDS seeks to shed light on the commonalities among these movements and reveal the mechanisms that make violence a unifying language despite their differing references,” Al-Ali stated.
The conference is supported through strategic and media partnerships with leading media organisations, public institutions, and private companies.
(Inputs from WAM)
