THE East London Mosque will tomorrow throw open its doors to a ground breaking public debate on the existence of Allah.

Called: Does Allah Exist? the debate invites leading atheists and Muslims to take to the podium and thrash out the controversial topic.

It’s the first time the mosque, one of the biggest in the UK, has invited the public to critically debate Islam.

Organisers hope the debate will demonstrate a commitment to free intellectual expression by thinkers, scholars and Imams from the Muslim community living in London.

The debate includes speaker Dr Brendan Larvor, representing the British Humanist Association, and Adam Deem, a Muslim philosopher and former Islam channel presenter.

Dr Larvor studied philosophy and mathematics at Balliol College, Oxford, before embarking on a brief career as a systems analyst. He resumed his studies in philosophy, with an MA from Queen’s University, Ontario, before returning to Balliol to write a doctoral thesis on the philosophy of mathematics of Imre Lakatos.

Dr Larvor taught at the Universities of Liverpool and Oxford, before joining Hertfordshire in 1997.

Adam Deen has been working in the field of Muslim apologetics for almost a decade, contributing to debates on issues including religious philosophy and theology.

His work draws on contemporary philosophy to defend Islam in debates. Mr Deen is also a researcher for the European Muslim Research Centre (EMRC).

The special event is run by the Muslim Debate Initiative (MDI), an organisation including experienced Muslim debaters, apologists, political analysts and researchers.

MDI aims to promote open debate, dialogue, discourse and discussion between all sections of the community.

The debate will be held at the London Muslim Centre, 46-92 Whitechapel Road, on Thursday October 21 from 6.15pm to 8.30pm.