The Colourful Years

Idris Tawfiq on Preserving Palestine's Heritage

2011-11-05T13:43:00.000-07:00

http://213.158.162.45/~egyptian/index.php?action=news&id=22066&title=Opinion%3A+Preserving+Palestine%E2%80%99s+heritage

September.

2011-09-08T15:59:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I spent the morning in my garden knocking the last of the pears off the pear tree with the help of a hockey stick. I also picked the last of the blueberries and strawberries off the plants. The tomatoes are nearly all ripe too and there's a couple of aubergines hanging off our plant which need picking soon. The weather was overcast like it has been these past few days, but there was that distinctly cooler breeze coming in which is unique to September. You can tell that autumn is drifting in. Finally.

Autumn is my favourite season. September feels more like the start of the year than January because everyone is going back to school, collage or University. And people who are not getting ready for school or University are stretching off the summer and getting ready for winter anyway.
Everybody is getting ready for something. Cosy nights in with hot chocolate and water bottles are just a few weeks round the corner. And its getting dark earlier but autumn sunsets are the most colourful. Have you noticed?

All the Earth is a Place for Prayer...?

2011-09-05T15:18:00.001-07:00

God has made this Earth for us and told us wherever we are in the world, we can turn to Him and pray. All the Earth is a place of prostration. Except of course, when people tell us that we can't pray somewhere.

In the run up to the 10th Anniversary of September 11th, I chanced over a programme on TV called 'The Ground Zero Mosque.' Watch it, if you haven't, it's on Channel 4's website. I'd like to know what conclusions you draw from it. I'd also like to know how you feel about the display of ignorance shown on this programme, despite a decade of Muslims screaming 'not in my name.'

The fact that people like Pamela Geller can claim that the mosque two blocks away from Ground Zero is a victory mosque is sickening. I understand that are some people who lost family there are generally upset. But a victory mosque? Are there really people who believe that American Muslims have conspired to build a mosque a couple of blocks away from ground zero as a symbol of victory? What far right islamaphobic way of thinking is this?

Perhaps the decision to build the mosque there isn't the wisest. Not if it's met with such a reaction. In fact, more Muslims seem to be against it for the trouble its causing than in favour for it. But the fact that an Islamic place of prayer offends a number of American people shows, that despite our best efforts, we've really got no where when it comes to dissociating Islam from 9/11. It seems like American Muslims will be reaping the consequences of an event they had nothing to do with for a long time to come.

How to Lead a Revolution

2011-08-14T18:01:00.000-07:00

These are just some thoughts I had.

Nearly 1500 years ago, a Prophet led a revolution which changed the world. He, peace be upon him, had many followers.

The youth are often crucial in leading revolutions. A man who most Muslims consider to be crucial to the growth of Islam after the Prophet died, Umar was just 27 years old when he became a Muslim. A man who became the 1st ambassador of Islam, who delivered an intelligent and eloquent speech to the King of Abyssinia to save the Muslims from being returned to the hands of their dangerous enemies, Ja'fa ibn Abi Talib was no older than 25. There was also Mus'ab ibn Umayr, who was trusted by the Prophet to go to Yathrib to pave the way for the Muslim migration, to help unite to the divided clans of Yathrib under one religion. He was only 20 years old. Perhaps most amazing of all, the first boy to convert to Islam, a boy who did not for a second doubt the Prophet's message when others twice his age did, Ali was 10 years old. These are just a few examples, Islam was in its early days, and indeed throughout history, pioneered by the youth, may God be pleased with them all.

Recently I've spent a lot of my time reading this book and a fair bit of time watching the news. In the light of what's been happening recently I can't help but draw comparisons, even if these comparisons are quite tenuous. Today the youth are still trying to lead revolutions. In some areas of the world, they've succeeded tremendously and have toppled tyrannical regimes. In other areas, the youth have burnt, smashed and stolen things and hardly know why themselves.

Comparing the first example to the latter, there seems to be a complete degeneration of the youth where young people in some societies are completely lacking direction. In the UK, politicians are racking their brains right at this very moment to try and come up with some plausible reasons as to why their youth decided to trash their own cities. Amidst the talk, I doubt any politician will point out the flaw of this country's misguided cultural tendency of excusing the youth from growing up. In the past, children grew up to become adults. Now they grow up to become adolescents. And whilst adults can lead revolutions, adolescents can't.

Just a quick post to say...

2011-08-12T12:00:00.000-07:00

Buy my Aunty's book ;)

Those of you who work in schools or have children in schools may have noticed that the literature on Muslims used in RE lessons isn't too great...particularly in secondary schools. Very little is known about the inspiring Muslim role models of our society, like Dr Hany El Bana, founder of Islamic Relief. Working very hard to improve the Islamic-based literature in our schools, author Suma Din has recently released a biography about Dr Hany himself, the first in a series of biographies about Muslim role models that will be used in our schools insha'Allah. The biography is also an extremely interesting read for adults, detailing his journey towards establishing the widely recognised and highly active charity that is Islamic Relief. Visit http://thekubeblog.wordpress.com/2011/08/09/dr-hany-el-banna-book-born-in-lincolnshire/#comment-23 to find out more.

Check the Label: Why I support FOA's campaign to boycott Israeli dates

2011-08-07T18:53:00.000-07:00

Every Ramadan, Muslims break their fast with dates in the manner of their Prophet pbuh. But how often do we think about where our dates come from? This Ramadan, Friends of Al Aqsa have launched a campaign calling for the boycott of Israeli dates grown in illegal settlements in the West Bank and Jordan Valley. The profit made from these dates goes into the pockets of the illegal settlers and helps to fund the Occupation.

I support the campaign because the production of these dates grown in illegally occupied land and sold en mass to the UK takes away from the dignity and freedom of the Palestinians. Boycotts helped end the South African Apartheid; I believe that boycotting Israeli goods and sanctions is a necessary way to show solidarity to the Palestinians and work towards freedom from the Israeli apartheid. I urge anyone with a conscience to check their dates and boycott the following companies:

Furthermore, Friends of Al Aqsa is requesting support for their campaign by urging customers to write to wholesalers and shops and inform consumers. Please visit their website for further details of their campaign and for free literature:
http://www.foa.org.uk/campaigns/check-the-label

This diagram clearly explains the process of how Israeli dates end up on our plates, and where the money goes:

Remember there are many alternative dates to buy such as zaytoun dates, where your money directly benefits Palestinian farmers and their families. Zaytoun products have also been branded with the Fair Trade mark, ensuring that the farmers get a fair price for the work they do.

*** Support the boycott of Israeli dates. Anti-Occupation does not equal Anti-Semitism.***

Presenting...The New Re:Balance Video!

2011-08-07T18:10:00.000-07:00

Just a quick post-here's the video to our RE:BALANCE campaign which our small team painstakingly put together. I mean it when I say that-we filmed part of this in between downpours of rain at Kew gardens, part of it at our local library, part of it at the London Oxfam office part of it in my cousin's back garden and the rest of it at my local mosque. Yep that's a lot of filming for 1mins 28 secs :)

Hope you enjoy it and hope it inspires you to RE:BALANCE!

Living Islam 2011

2011-08-05T07:39:00.000-07:00

Just last week I was enjoying the beautiful sunshine at the Lincolnshire showground along with 2000 + people at Living Islam. If you've not heard of Living Islam before, it's a 3-4 day camp aimed at Muslim families with the purpose of educating and entertaining people of all ages. There's not much out there for British Muslim families in the way of resorts, and so Living Islam fills that gap. It's organised by the Islamic Society of Britain every few years and this year's timing was perfect, finishing the day before Ramadan and getting us prepared for the month of fasting to follow.

This is a little late then I planned but here are some pictures from last week at Living Islam:

This is the show ground where it took place- it was huge! This pic was taken before anyone had arrived.

And this was our accommodation for 3 nights :) A city of tents.

ISB were the organisers.

This is Big Top, where all the evening entertainment and major talks took place.

The outdoor prayer area.

There was a bazaar with stalls of hijabs, books, jewellery etc.

After Jum'ah there was an airshow with the Areostars Air Display team. They were incredible-I can't count how many times I thought they were going to crash. Amazingly they never did :)

Katie Piper, who starred in channel 4's 'My Beautiful Friends' payed a visit. She established the Katie Piper Foundation to support victim of acid burn attacks. This is her website: http://www.katiepiperfoundation.org.uk/

BBC Lincolnshire dropped by to do some
interviews

Ajmal Masroor hosted all the evening events.

The Sound of Reason performed...

Watched by crowds of excited girls

There was a stunning firework display on Friday night

Amazing Qur'an recitation

And never a shortage of food!

Living Islam at Night.

All these pictures were taken from the Islamic Society of Britain's Facebook group. If you'd like to see them all visit http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=657562834#!/BritIslam

Re:Balance-Official Campaign Launch

2011-08-02T16:27:00.000-07:00

The campaign I was speaking about in my previous post is finally up and running-visit our facebook page to find out more!

http://www.facebook.com/re.6alance

Eco-Ramadan #1: Waste

2011-07-25T17:56:00.000-07:00

I think I've written this more than once on this blog.

But I just can't believe it's Ramadan again (almost).

This month of spiritual cleansing is one I look forward to every year and this year I have given myself an additional target: to tell everybody about Oxfam's GROW campaign.

GROW is the project I've taken on this summer, which I'll post more about in detail later. In a nutshell it's about the global food crisis, in other words it's Oxfam's most ambitious campaign to feed the world by 2050. That's 9 billion people. And it will only happen through a vigorous change of the current food system which is complex and completely broken.

You may be wondering why I've chosen Ramadan of all months to promote this campaign. Well besides from it falling in the middle of my summer holidays which technically is the only time I'm free to do something like this, there's also this oh too familiar sight spurring me on:

Aha, the left overs from that iftar party at the mosque or friend's house. The iftar where there was too much food and not enough space in our now constricted stomachs to consume it. And not enough space in our fridges to take home and use for tomorrow's iftar, because they're already packed with yesterday's leftovers and the day before leftovers.

The Qur'an tells us something very simple about wastage:

"Eat– But waste not by excess: for God does not love the wasters" (6:141).

But every Ramadan we seem to forget this message. Actually, food wastage is a HUGE problem in the UK with the average family losing £50 a month to food that's thrown away. We actually waste as much as a quarter of the food we buy. Somehow, in many Muslim households this issue worsens during Ramadan. If you write yourself a memo every time you throw something away in the first week of Ramadan and stick it on your fridge you'll see what I mean.

Generally we all hate wastage and do as much as we can to avoid it. But EVERYONE has to been to a party or gathering where leftovers look something like the picture above.

Oxfam's GROW campaign coincides perfectly with Ramadan. How can we waste £50 a month on food when in Chad families have as little as $1.23 to spend on their weekly meals? How can we scrape the leftovers of our iftar meals in the bin when some families have little more than a date to break their fasts with?
It's not fair and it's not right. The system is completely out of balance.
Keep checking this blog for updates on my campaign, in the mean time check out this website:
http://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/
Please keep Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya in your prayers and donate to help alleviate the suffering of the drought.

The Road to Benghazi

2011-07-25T16:49:00.000-07:00

The title of my post is the name of an incredible 7 minute video. The video is by the Libyan Youth Association, filmed by UK Libyan students who visited Libya in March.

I've posted the video below. Please watch it and spread, it deserves every recognition.

www.shababliby.com

Visiting the Village

2011-07-15T13:45:00.000-07:00

Today I spent the last sunny day of the week in a place called Penn. It has a pond, an old church and lots of greenery. But this is what draws me to it:

This little cottage is a treasure trove for book worms. There are more books then there is space to stand.

Like in the Classics section. It's a tiny cupboard in the shop with thousands of books crammed floor to ceiling.

A conservatory dedicated entirely to Sci-fi

And books above the staircase

There was a section dedicated entirely to Enid Blyton books

And Maths books.

And special editions of childrens books

And piles of organised mess everywhere. This section was poetry I think.

The long and short of it is I think every town should have a bookshop like this one. Then they'd be happy book worms all year round.

Make Over! (again)

2011-07-15T05:18:00.000-07:00

Hello/Salaam all,
Well any readers who have been following my blog will know why I always suddenly disappear for a few months around Easter time. But I'm back, and I've revamped this blog...yet again. Apologies for leaving it half complete and slightly bizarre for a few months back then. Be sure to expect background changes sometime in the future: it changes with my mood. And blog pictures >>
will change depending on what I'm involved in at the time.

That's all for now folks! But I WILL be posting again frequently :)

Veiling up in Israel?

2011-04-30T16:29:00.000-07:00

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/7919501/Israeli-rabbis-clamp-down-on-burka.html

The Ban of the Veil

2011-04-11T15:40:00.000-07:00

At an interview last summer with ITV journalists, discussion about France’s niqab ban became the topic of our conversation. It was a debate that had been ensuing across the media for months after Sarkozy promised to ban the veil.

Today the ban was implemented. The controversial legislation already sparked arrests. The first woman to be arrested for protesting ‘unauthorised’ outside Notre Dame said "I'm just expressing my freedom to be. A freedom of conscience, a freedom to come and go, a religious freedom.”

Yet France does not seem to recognise the contention that ‘freedom’ is behind most women’s choice to wear the veil. Hence legislation gives the heftiest fine to anyone found guilty of forcing a woman to cover their face, a fine up to 3000 Euros (that’s £26000). The alternative is one year’s imprisonment.

It seems that European law is swinging far to the right with the Netherlands, Italy and Germany also discussing the possibility of a ban. In London today about 50 people protested outside the French embassy. Their support for the French women affected by the ban is of course the underlying reason for the protest, but beneath is always the apprehension that a similar ban may make its way to our soil. Reassurances that Britain is ‘too tolerant’ for such a legislation is undermined not only by the Jack Straw’s previous comments, numerous polls which show public opinion in favour of a ban, but the prime minister’s recent comment that multi culturalism isn’t working.

At the interview, the journalist remarked that this debate is one that will fizzle down and flare up several times. With the ban now fully implemented and arrest already been made, I believe we have hardly seen the extent to which the debates surrounding the veil can flare up.

It Doesn’t Always Have to be About Middle East Politics

2011-04-11T15:36:00.000-07:00

About a month ago my university hosted an interfaith event, calling on the many diverse faith societies to team up and tackle common misconceptions about faith. For once, members of the Islamic society and Jewish society were able to work together in an environment where one side weren’t censuring the other over issues of Middle East Politics.

The event, entitled Myth? {Busters}! included a panel of the Islamic, Jewish, Christian, Bah’ai and Hindu speakers who were presented with a variety of ‘myths’ to address. The myths ranged from questions on faith and morality, fundamentalism, common misconceptions and the need and purpose for interfaith. Whilst steering clear of subjects of apparent controversy, the audience were able to continue discussion amongst themselves and the panellists in a networking session after. Probably unsurprisingly, I saw the Muslim and Jewish speaker engaged in conversation for a long time.

Muslims and Jews were not the sole participants of the events, but were amongst the largest groups represented within the audience. For once, faith provided us with common ground, moving discussion away from ongoing politics which occupies most of the conversation at other events where both societies are present.

However, there’s no denying that the issue of Israel and Palestine was stirring beneath the surface of some discussion, and there were members of the audience eager to incorporate politics into future interfaith events. Whether this is a good idea depends on the nature and purpose of interfaith. Could interfaith provide a platform for constructive political debate though its goal of encouraging discussion of religious tolerance and co-existence? Or should it remain essentially neutral, the one place where faith and not politics takes precedence in future debates? Whilst faith and politics surrounding Palestine/Israel are interchangeable, sometimes it’s refreshing to have events with the Jewish and Islamic societies which aren’t always about the Middle East.

After the Revolution: Cairo in Pictures

2011-04-11T15:29:00.000-07:00

The revolution over, Mubarak’s regime toppled, the people of Egypt call for their family abroad to come home and help rebuild the country. Many Egyptians fled Mubarak’s regime and now their sense of national pride and love for their home country calls them back.
Life in Cairo largely returns to normal, but there are plenty of issues left to be resolved. The tourism industry is just one of the many problems Egyptians face. Egypt depends on tourism as its main source of income, but with no tourists eager to return any time soon, things are looking uncertain for the country’s future.

A blogger/photographer visited Cairo recently to take pictures of day to day life in the city, following the topple of the regime. visit: http://www.lukeesh.com/blog/?p=5307

'A book so good I want to give it to you for free'

2011-03-04T13:12:00.000-08:00

1 million free books will be distributed tomorrow as part of World Book Night. Volunteers will be giving away books that they love and think should be shared with everyone else. If you could give away a free book what would it be? Drop me a comment.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/dec/02/world-book-night-1m-free-books

Dear Durrah,

2010-11-07T10:15:00.000-08:00

Do you remember the summer of Year Nine? I remember it as a series of disjointed sights and sounds and emotions, apart from that, everything was vague.

One thing about that summer sticks out in my mind, it was the summer that the girl had an accident in the park and there was blood all over her face and blood all over your hands after you’d helped her. When the ambulance came we both walked home in a state of shock afterwards, but for different reasons. I was shocked over the blood, you were shocked over something else, but you’ve probably forgotten what and I won’t remind you.

The thing is I remember so much about that incident, about an hour before it happened, about ten minutes afterwards, but I don’t remember what I was doing five minutes before or even what the time was. Perhaps it was 3 o’clock when I left for the park because I was listening to the Charts on the radio and it had nearly finished, and that was the first and last summer I listened to the Charts. I remember I was wearing a light purple fleece and jeans and trainers as it was back in the day when I wore trainers and the temperature wasn't too hot, and I remember thinking that I loved this fleece but that it was getting a bit worn. I even remember the weather- it was a sticky, cloudy day and the sky looked like a reflection of the ground.

Then we were playing in the park and then there was the accident, and then the ambulance came and we walked home and you had blood on your hands and those are my only memories of the summer of Year Nine. Since then and especially now, whenever I’m in a shop or watching TV and We Belong Together or Ghetto Gospel plays, I automatically remember that day because those were the songs that were playing on the Charts just before I left for the park.

A lot has happened in the summers since then, but that summer was a transitional summer, and I know it because so much about me changed after. I don’t think that it was the incident that sparked a change at all, only it comes to mind because when I look back to that summer I can’t believe how different things are today to how they were then.

The Letters that Time Forgot

2010-10-24T16:17:00.000-07:00

You're not meant to miss something that's been replaced with something easier, faster and better. For example, letters and emails.

But if like me you had a childhood that was relatively Internet free, or you grew up in a primary school where pen-pals were assigned to each pupil, then letter writing is a novelty you miss even when the ease and convenience of email wins over your letter writing days. Now, If I want to say hello to someone I haven't seen in a while, I'll do it via email. In fact, I'll do everything via email. I'm so dependant on it I often wonder how anyone functioned without it in the past. But as my mum keeps reminding me, you don't miss something you've never had.

Whilst my inbox overspills with new mail everyday, I hardly get any letters through my door unless they're Statements or updates from Student Finance, neither of which are particularly exciting. But, if the envelope bares a hand-scrawled address across the front, or if it is another colour other than white, there's no denying that I still feel that tiny rush of excitement. There's just something novel and almost suspenseful about getting an unexpected letter through the door which doesn't have it's 'subject' typed across the front or the name of the person who sent it to you.

The most exciting thing I've ever had posted to me was an anonymous parcel of beautiful headscarves. Adding to that, one of my favourite letters I received was from a cousin when she went on holiday to Trinidad a few years ago.

I still have the letter, she was about 6 or 7 at the time:

It says:

Nabihah's Trinidad news:

Dear Anisa,

It is hot here. I climbed upa mountain and wen I got to the top it was flat. I eat some coconut but I did not like it. I liked the squsages and Trinidad bread. But I did not like the coconut water. Me me and Haaniah sat at the back of uncle Jubs car in the boot. On the way back from my dad's cousins house the car crashed the frunt off the car came off.

from Nabihah

Talk about ending with suspense!

My second favourite is the card I got from another cousin when I was ill a few years ago in hospital. He was five at the time, and was thoughtfiul enough to draw this portrait of me:

I still wonder why he drew me with just ten strands of hair and three feet. But anyway, this is one of those things that could never be achieved to the same effect via email!

Everybody should have a Creative Outlet

2010-09-06T16:16:00.000-07:00

I was watching an Outlandish video before Ramadan called Let Off Some Stream. Have you seen it? It’s got bizarre lyrics and some really bright outfits, but that’s just Outlandish, it’s part of what makes them irrationally brilliant. Anyway, amazingly, I took some good advice from that video.

Everybody should have a creative outlet, a little something to turn to when the going gets tough. It could be anything really- drawing, carving, calligraphy, paper making, drum-bashing, song writing, graphics designing- anything. Never let your ‘creative talent’ stress you though -if something that you’re supposed to be enjoying becomes stressful then it essentially defeats the purpose. That doesn’t mean to say it shouldn’t be a bit challenging. Writing for me can be challenging, but I love it. When my creative writing course demands that I write the dreaded poem and it goes well, I love it, I feel like it’s my greatest achievement in the world. (I’m really not much of a poet).

I’ve been scribbling stories from the age of two. My dad actually saved some of my ‘scribble books,’ they look like they’re written in another language. Apparently however, I was always able to decipher my scribbles and tell the same story each time, even after I’d written fifty different scribble-books or so, so maybe I should be credited for creating my own language?

Anyway, I have friends and cousins who are amazing artists’ mashaAllah. Drawing is not particularly my strong point, so I always admire people who can draw and sketch really well. Also, to date I have broken every sewing machine that I’ve used apart from one perhaps, so I also really admire people who sew and make their own clothes. However, I will give myself space to say that I’m much better with piping bags and cookie cutters than I am with a needles and thread, so a more enduring hobby of mine has been cake baking and more recently chocolate making. This Ramadan however I’ve discovered another little creative outlet that I think I’m going to pursue— card making. I never realised that fiddling with bits of ribbon and craft paper could be so satisfying. Trying to replace the time I would usually spend eating with other activities I think, has made me more productive!

I even took some pictures:

Those of you who know me will probably be getting one through your doors in a couple of days. Eid Mubarak! :)

To wrap up this post, what are your creative outlets? Feel free to leave a comment. Or not.

Radio Ramadan High Wycombe

2010-08-25T17:19:00.000-07:00

A quick post-
even if you're not living in the area, check out the blog Radio Ramadan High Wycombe for some great info and articles:
http://www.radioramadanhw.blogspot.com/
Thanks!

'Beautiful' Boonaa Mohammed

2010-08-17T03:47:00.000-07:00

Take 6mins and 22seconds out of your time to watch this, it's worth it.

This time again

2010-08-12T22:17:00.000-07:00

Nearly all the blogs I've subscribed to have posted something about Ramadan. It's all part of the unique Ramadan atmosphere. You know the atmosphere I'm talking about. Not just the spiritual changes we undergo with the change of month, but the atmosphere that comes with the change of routine, i.e. when people are willingly waking hours before dawn to pray and begin their fasts, when TV channels are blasting Live Taraweh Prayers instead of EastEnders, when visits to the musjid become more frequent and when there's a general feeling of calm in your household because everyone's trying their best to be nice to one another.

Yup, it's a wonderful atmosphere. Even with its yearly moon-sighting dramas and Taraweh 'burping episodes' that Baba Ali sums up perfectly:

Anyway, I apologise if there are any non Muslims reading this who don't know much about Ramadan and therefore don't know what I'm talking about. The Cover Fell Off gives a brief explanation on her blog. Just to add to that, 'Taraweh' is the name of a special prayer performed during the nights of Ramadan.

Before I end this post, I'd like to draw your attention to an advert that I found hilarious before I got the point of it:

Needless to say this is a necessary reminder for us all. We're blessed with an entire range of different foods to break our fasts with, but some people only have water and dates, if they're lucky.

Feed the Fasting-Islamic Relief

Nouman Ali Khan

2010-08-06T15:42:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I was listening to a talk by brother Nourman Ali Khan. If you haven’t heard of him already he’s an extremely well spoken lecturer of Islam, an imam and the founder of the Bayyina institute, which is an Arabic studies institute in America.

If you go on youtube, you’ll see that he’s done a whole range of different lectures and talks. The one I watched was about harmony in the household.

On a radio show that I'm doing this Ramadan one of the topics I want to adress is kindness amongst the family. Brother Nouman has provided me with many points to talk about, I have a quote from one of his lectures which states,

‘We cannot talk about establishing a harmonious Islamic society, until we have harmony inside the household.’

And how do we achieve harmony, is the question I'll have to tackle. Again, here’s a quote from brother Nouman’s lecture:

‘We have to be the best to our spouses. We have to be the best to our parents. These are fundamental in relationships—all the other relationships are fixed if these two are fixed, and the only way these two will be fixed is if your relationship with Allah is fixed. So if you have marriage problems or parental problems, do you know what the real problem is? Taqwa and imaan. You’re not grateful enough. Your parents and spouses are a gift to you, and to be ungrateful to them is to be ungrateful to Allah.’

So in order to be kind to our families, we must remember that they are a gift from Allah. But realistically, we all know that creating harmony in the household can be difficult if there are huge problems with understanding each other, or, as is usually the case,a culture/religion clash. Brother Nouman addresses all of these problems in his talks, and gives very good solutions, so I definitely recommend searching for him online and listening to some of his talks if you haven't done so already.

Another problem we find with harmony amongst the family is that there’s a total lack of respect for parents. Now of course, this is a reminder to myself as well as everyone else. In surah Al Isra, verse 23, Allah tells us:

‘And do good to thy parents. Should one of them, or both, attain old age in thy care, never say “urg” to them or scold them, but always speak unto them with reverent speech, and spread over them humbly the wings of thy tenderness and say: “O my sustainer! Bestow Thy grace upon them, even as they cherished me and reared me when I was a child!”

Notice how in this verse, several commands are made by Allah regarding parents, particularly when they reach old age. As a general rule, as people get older, they become more demanding and more difficult to satisfy. Of course Allah is aware of this, and He tests us with it. Even when our parents do get old, Allah requires that we especially obey them. We should ‘never say “urg” to them,’ never ‘scold them,’ and ‘spread over them humbly the wings of tenderness,’ the way they did when we were children.

Regarding family relationships, culture divisions and the youth, Brother Nouman has said plenty. I really like his style of lectures, he has an amazing grasp of how the youth thinks- he'd be very good at family councilling I think!

An Obligatory Ramadan Post

2010-08-01T02:04:00.000-07:00

In the lead up to Ramadan I wanted to post something that would serve as a reminder and be of some benefit to all those who are preparing for the blessed month of fasting. Now, with about a week to go, we should begin preparing ourselves both physically and mentally. Now’s the time to start cutting back on food in preparation for the fast, and now’s the time to control our tongues and train our eyes to observe only what is good for us.
Whilst there is so much more I’d like to write, it’s 2am and I’m quite exhausted. I’m only keeping myself up because I have one more fast to make up from last year and if I sleep now I’ll never get up. Therefore, the remainder of this Ramadan post consists of an article I wrote for a magazine a year ago.

Ramadan, a month of spiritual training

‘O you who believe! Fasting is prescribed to you as it was prescribed to those before you so that you may learn self restraint.’ (2:183)

In this ayaa of the Quran, Allah reveals to us part of the valuable essence of Ramadan: the principle of self restraint. Self restraint not only refers to restraining oneself from food and drink, but from any act which would displease Allah. Ramadan is therefore a period of time where all things haraam for the eyes, the ears, the mouth and the heart are avoided. In effect, Ramadan is a time of fasting for the senses. The ears are trained to avoid listening to gossip or indecent music, the eyes are shut to haraam images on the TV screen and the heart and mouth are prohibited from back biting and telling lies. So important is it that we avoid backbiting and lies during Ramadan that Prophet (pbuh) warned: ‘if one does not abandon falsehood in words and deeds, Allah has no need for his abandoning of his food and drink.’ (al- Bukhari) Therefore the self restraint we are asked to exercise during this wonderful month pushes us beyond the self restraint of our stomachs and towards the self restraint of our souls.

At what is the purpose of exercising self restraint on the soul? What do we gain?
Well the answer is that primarily, we are training the soul in Taqwa. During Ramadan, we avoid lawful things, such as food. Therefore by giving up the lawful, we are much more capable of avoiding the unlawful. Additionally, we learn sincerity. Fasting is one of the few acts of worship which is entirely based on self restraint. So no other person except for yourself will know for sure whether you are fasting, or if you have broken your fast in secret. Therefore, restraining one’s self from doing these acts teaches us a high level of sincerity. This restraint is also a form of jihad. It teaches our soul how to master our desires rather than being controlled by them, which is by no means easy. And Inshallah, Allah will reward us for our efforts. The self restraint that we practice during Ramadan is indeed an act of atonement for our past mistakes, as mentioned by Prophet (pbuh): ‘whoever fasts the month of Ramadan in the basis of Iman and seeking the pleasure of Allah, his past errors are forgiven.’ (Ahmad).

So, as we wake for suhoor each morning during Ramadan, we must remind ourselves that that purpose of our fast is not just to avoid food and drink but to avoid all that is unlawful and harmful for the soul. By doing so, we are nourishing our souls and training ourselves in becoming obedient, sincere and worthy young Muslims. Inshallah, we will be on the path towards forgiveness and in reach of the gates of Jannah, which during this month are held wide open for us.

Why so defensive?

2010-07-25T15:00:00.000-07:00

Two things recently have really annoyed me. I hope you’re sitting back with a mug of tea and have nothing to do for the next ten minutes or so.

So where to begin?

Hanging up in London’s underground tube stations are posters bearing the faces of Muslim men and women who claim that they are ‘inspired by Muhammad.’
Inspired By Muhammad

The organisers of the campaign say: ‘The Inspired by Muhammad campaign is designed to improve the public understanding of Islam and Muslims. It showcases Britons demonstrating how Muhammad inspires them to contribute to society, with a focus on women’s rights, social justice and the environment.’ The campaign came about after the results of a national poll, the YouGov poll showed that

58% of people associate Islam with extremism
50% associate Islam with terrorism
69% believe that Islam encourages the repression of women
Only 6% of people associate Islam with justice
And a mere 6% believe that Islam promotes active measures to protect the environment.

Oh dear.

But I must say that with the negative media coverage Islam has been given, these results don’t particularly surprise me. If anything; they only advocate the already prevalent need for Muslims to do something to change these widespread misconceptions, which is why this campaign was initiated in the first place. However, just hours after the ‘Inspired by Muhammad’ posters went up, criticism flooded through newspapers, blogs and TV shows. BBCs ‘The Big Questions’ dedicated a whole debate on the topic ‘does Islam need better PR?’ where the response from some members of the audience was so cynical it was almost comical. One memeber of the audience, Peter Whittle, said to Kristine Backer, one of the initiators of the campaign, ‘You’re living in fairy land if you think Muhammad was an environmentalist and believer in women’s rights,’ Then he argued his point, as is always done by men of his calibre, by ‘pointing out’ that the Prophet (pbuh) was married to Aisha (RA) when she was very young and therefore cannot be an advocator of women’s rights.

click on the link below if you want to watch the debate:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwAMsQk7veI

Criticising along the same ignorant lines is Douglas Murray from the Telegraph. He began his blog post by saying:
‘This week sees the launch of a hilarious new campaign called “Inspired by Muhammad” (as we are now all expected to spell Mohammed). It claims to want to “improve the public understanding of Islam and Muslims”. It is being strongly pedalled by taxpayer-funded Muslim organisations. Which makes it another nice example of the British people being preached to and proselytised in an Islamic way, presumably at our own expense.’

Then, in the same arrogant tone he goes on to say:
‘The campaign posters show British Muslims saying things like: “I believe in protecting the environment. So did Mohammed.” Funniest of all is a woman barrister in a headscarf who fronts the poster: “I believe in women’s rights. So did Mohammed.” ‘

Clearly for Douglas Murray, the whole campaign is one big joke. Yet it’s because of men like himself that such campaigns exist!

The debate about the burqa is the second thing that’s been bothering me, it links back to issue of women’s rights brought up by the posters. Journalists who argued against the messages of the poster campaign are often the same journalists who are the keenest to argue that Muslim women are not liberated because they are ‘forced’ to cover from head to toe. The recent news coverage has been fuelling the debate on Muslim women’s dress in light of the ban in France and due to calls by a Conservative MP Philip Hollobone for a ban in the UK.

On Newsnight for example:

On the other hand, online newspapers and blog sites have been surprisingly unsupportive of the suggested UK Burqa ban, but not necessarily for the same reasons that a muslim woman wearing the burqa would have. Take the title of this article by the Guardian for example:

If Britain decides to ban the burqa I might just start wearing one.

Writer David Mitchell of this article seems to have grasped the point of the absurdity of such a ban-if women in the UK are free to wear practically nothing, then they should be free to cover up from head to toe if they choose:
“Governments and legislatures shouldn't tell people what they can and can't wear. By doing so, they would, in every sense, be taking a massive liberty. As long as people aren't wearing crotchless jeans outside primary schools or deely boppers with attached sparklers on petrol station forecourts, we've all got the right to wear exactly what the hell we like and I can barely believe that we're having this debate.”

Yet, like many of the anti- poster campaign journalists, he fails to grasp the point of the burqa, he sees it nothing short of oppressive:
“None of this means I think there's anything good about wearing a burqa. I think it's daft. I think any belief system that concludes that half the population should go around constantly covered from head to toe in black cloth, whether out of modesty, humility, tradition or stealth, has a massive flaw in it.”

Mitchell therefore argues solely on the grounds of freedom of choice in the UK, but pays no heed to the religious aspect of the burqa-or the niqab, as it should be called. This is an unsurprising fact, and considering that there are so many Muslims who fail to support sisters who choose to wear the niqab it would be totally revolutionary to find a non-Muslim journalist who does. To save this post from being any longer than it already is I’m going to skip writing about the Muslim perspective on the burqa, maybe I'll save that for another day.

CAKE FETISH

2010-07-21T12:05:00.000-07:00

As much as I hate to be cliché I have to admit I’m the type of person to bake a cake and take a snap—or two. Over the years I’ve accumulated a fair number of pictures of cakes.

This was my brother's graduation cake, with truffles and chocolate stripes. It was my most successful and most difficult bake-the chocolates took longer than the cake itself!

A bit of a bog standard I made for my flatmate's birthday. There was no electric whisk at uni so I whipped the cream by hand, by which time I hardly had any energy for decorating. That should explain the chocolate buttons.

This one I did with the cousins. The end result of watching Nigella on TV, scanning the internet for ages in search of the recipe and breaking my mum's food processor was some chocolate biscuits that resembled crumbly cakes.

A Birthday cake, and possibly the prettiest I've ever had. Courtesy of my lovely friend Sara!

The Lurpak ad reassures me that 'it's ok to bake imperfect looking cakes.' Ok, these cakes looked imperfect , but they were the tastiest things I'd baked in ages, which is really an achievement when you consider that half of them were burnt.

Driveway Cake Sale
Today I witnessed one of the most successful cakes sales ever- a driveway cake sale at my cousin’s. I've learnt some tricks of the trade, namely that perfect weather and perfectly decorated fairy cakes equals a sell out in less than an hour. I’m tempted to try this myself.

Are You Easily Distracted too?

2010-07-15T08:49:00.000-07:00

I’m talking about salaat. When you’re praying, do you suddenly get a million thoughts crossing your mind, stuff that you weren’t even thinking about just before? The answer is probably yes—everybody gets distracted by their thoughts during salaat. Sometimes, you remember important things, things that you need to do, people you need to call, sometimes you even remember where you’d put that certain thing that you’d been looking for all morning. Someone I knew remembered that she had left her USB with all her coursework on it in the common room at Uni, and rushed off straight after she’d prayed Asr to retrieve it. She said she was so grateful that Allah had reminded her about it whilst she was praying, or else she would have been in trouble, but then my friend told us this story after:

There was a young man whose family had been saving money in a pot for generations. Finally, his mother handed it to him and told him to use it for his own needs. However, when put in possession of such a great amount of money, the man felt nervous because he knew that it could easily be stolen. He decided to bury it somewhere deep in the desert until he actually needed it, in a spot that he could remember. So, he picked a landmark of particular prominence and buried it there. However, many years went by before the man needed the money, but when he went back he realised that he couldn’t remember where he had buried it. He searched and searched and tried desperately to remember, but had no luck. Every night he we get up and pray to Allah in a hope that by offering salaat, Allah would accept his du’a and help him find it. After many nights of praying, during his salaat, the man suddenly remembered where he’d buried it. He was so excited that he rushed the rest of his prayer and hurried out to retrieve his treasure.

Later on, the man related this story to a pious and learned man. ‘Because I prayed every night, Allah helped me remember where I’d buried the money,’ he told him. The pious man shook his head and informed him that it was actually Satan who had caused him to remember. Satan was so frustrated that the man was getting up every night to offer prayer that eventually he caused him to remember where he’d buried the money in a hope that it would distract him from his salaat, which it did!

A USB is certainly not as valuable as a pot of gold, but the message is still the same. Shaytan hates it when you pray and will distract you in any way, even by reminding you of something important. So be on your guard next time you’re about to pray and refuse your mind access to distractions!

Cruisin’ Down the Nile

2010-06-25T09:36:00.000-07:00

If you’ve read my previous post you’ll know I’ve been to Egypt recently. Apart from wandering through valleys and temples I was lucky enough to go on a one day Nile cruise. My hotel backed onto the Nile also, so I managed to get quite a few pictures of the famous river (although credit is due to my brother for the better pics of the lot). Hope you like them:

Caves, Coalmines and Mummy Tombs

2010-06-25T09:07:00.000-07:00

Whenever I go on holidays by some stroke of luck or misfortune I always end up going underground. I don’t mean tube stations or even the Euro Star on the way to France, but in enclosed, dark and stuffy places that usually aren’t very appealing. I’m not one for caves, the first caves I remember visiting were the Luray Caverns in America where the lights went out half way during the tour thanks to a technical fault up above, so naturally I’ve developed a slight fear of caves. In Dewsbury a couple of years ago I had the bizarre experience of going down a coalmine. If there are any northerners reading this can you please tell me whether coalmines are popular tourist attractions? Because going down a dark shaft deep underground where people dig for rocks is not something I would choose to do if I was given a choice, but on that particular holiday I wasn’t even consulted. Nevertheless once I’d got over the darkness and the heat it was interesting to learn about the working conditions of coal miners in the past, mostly because they were so horrific. I won’t go into details-why not visit the coalmines yourself?! But by far, the most fascinating underground experience I’ve had is going into mummy tombs, on the west bank of Luxor, Egypt.

These tombs are located in a place called the Valley of the Kings and the Valley of the Queens, in the stifling heat of the desert. Imagine walking through the valley in 40 degrees Celsius and descending into heated, narrow tombs which are not so different from your kitchen ovens. But once you get over the heat the interior of the tomb is absolutely fascinating. 3000 year old art work by the ancient Egyptians, colours still preserved and visible, patterns and pictures on the walls and celings and columns upon columns of hieroglyphics. I wish I’d been allowed to take pictures because these mummy tombs are certainly sights hard to contest. When you’re in them you actually forget that you’re in a tomb of a dead person in a gigantic graveyard. In reality, that’s what the Valley of the Kings is— a gigantic, extravagant graveyard, all history and embellishments aside. In theory, that’s got to be worse than a coalmine hasn’t it?

Oprah Magazine's Unlikely (but Lovely) Cover Girl

2010-06-13T11:38:00.000-07:00

http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Choosing-to-Wear-the-Muslim-Headscarf/1

After the Gaza Flotilla Attacks This Novel Hits Home More

2010-06-06T15:42:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick post about a novel that my cousin (thecoverfelloff) gave me to read last week. ‘Where The Streets Had A Name.’ It is written by Randa Abdel-Fattah, author of ‘Does My Head Look Big in This?,’ an Australian author of half Palestinian heritage. She writes about Palestine in this novel, more specifically, about a young girl who lives in Bethlehem and has to deal with life under occupation. She writes about curfews, deaths, checkpoints, refugees, soldiers, peace activists, families and weddings and somehow manages to infuse humour and light heartedness with underlying pain and grief. The story narrates the journey of the young girl Hayaat, as she tries to sneak into Jerusalem illegally, and along the way readers get just a snippet of what living in Palestine is like. It’s enough however, to get bleary eyes by the end of it. If there’s one thing that stands out in the novel more than anything, it’s the complete sense of loss conveyed through the nostalgic descriptions of occupied Palestinian homeland. Read it, and you’ll know what I mean. It may be a teen fiction novel but it’s beautifully done.

Journal Jungle

2010-06-06T15:09:00.000-07:00

Those of you on my course at Uni may have noticed that I carry with me at all times a small red journal. It’s tatty and thin and looks like this:

Well the reason for this is in my first creative writing lecture I was told to carry a ‘thoughts’ notebook with me at all times, in case a brilliant idea strikes me when I least expected, like on my way to a Historisim lecture or when I’m coming out of Aldis. It’s also something authors and writers advise— it’s something Jacqueline Wilson advised when I meet her in Year 2 and told her I wanted to be a writer, and it’s what Julie Bertagna claimed she did on her blog (for anyone who doesn’t know of Julie Bertagna she was one of my favourite childhood authors). So anyway I went ahead and brought myself a journal and started to jot all my ideas down. I salvaged as many thoughts as I could, but to be honest, it’s impossible to keep track of them all. Minutes after I’m struck with a ‘brilliant’ idea for my next short story or poem, they are slipping away, second by second as I search for my journal and try and translate these ideas into words.
But anyway I came home at the end of term and stashed my now full red notebook away and found that I couldn’t fit it in my desk draw. After having a good rummage through (I haven’t sorted through that draw in ages) I found that buried beneath my pens, missed-matched felt tips and lids and old Pokémon key rings I had an entire stash of journals and notebooks, looking something like this when they’ve all been pulled out:

They consist of recipe collections (the red flowery one in particular), story drafts, general ramblings, photos, bad drawings and revision notes. One or two are completely blank because they’re simply too nice to fill with revision notes or rough story drafts and I plan to fill them with something more worthwhile eventually. A couple of the rambling ones have ideas that I must have thought of ages ago and with a bit of tweaking would be potential articles or blog material. In fact, now that I’m on holiday I plan to use as them as posts, so watch this space!

You Don't Have To Be a Buddist Monk To Appreciate This

2010-05-23T04:15:00.000-07:00

4am and I couldn't sleep, so I reached for the book nearest to my bed. Turned out to be Chicken Soup for the Soul. Nice.

Two monks on a Pilgrimage came to a ford of a river. They saw a girl dressed in all her finery, obviously not knowing what to do as the river was high and she did not want to spoil her clothes. Without more ado, one of the monks took her on his back, carried her across and put her down on dry ground on the other side.

The monks continued on their way. But the other monk after an hour started complaining. 'Surely it is not right to touch a woman, it is against the commandments to have close contact with women. How could you go against the rules of monks?'

The monk who had carried the girl walked along silently, but finally he remarked, 'I set her down by the river an hour ago, why are you still carrying her?'

The Wisdom of Zen

It's now 4.30, I'm going to try and go back to sleep.

All about Voting- using logic to argue the point

2010-05-06T02:17:00.000-07:00

Well it's voting day today so I suppose this post is a little late. But nevertheless, it's useful to read and keep in mind. I've posted this in response to many people debating over whether voting is Haraam.

Oh and I promise more posts after May! Exam time=no time to do anything I want to do, and it seems to come around so quickly every year :(
http://alternativeentertainment.wordpress.com/2007/04/06/all-about-voting-shaykh-haitham-al-haddad/

Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?

2010-03-13T15:54:00.000-08:00

I have an aunty who used to give me a modern-day fable to read each time she came to visit. There was one in particular that stuck in my mind, depsite reading it four years ago. I decided to Google it and was surprised to discover that it's a much cited fable. As it's one I like so much I though I'd share it with you:

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life, and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it, and wanted to give up. She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved a new one arose. Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water. In the first pot, she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs and the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil without saying a word. In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl.

Turning to her daughter, she asked, "Tell me what do you see?" "Carrots, eggs, and coffee," she replied. She brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they got soft. She then asked her to take the egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard-boiled egg. Finally, she asked her to smell and sip the coffee. The daughter smiled, as she smelled and tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, "What's the point, mother?"

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity- boiling water-but each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior. But, after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water they had changed the water.

"Which are you?" she asked her daughter. "When trials and adversity knock on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg, or a coffee bean?"

Think of this: Which am I?

Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity, do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a passive heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside, am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and a hardened heart?

Or, am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you become better and change the situation around you.

When the hours are the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate to another level?

How do you handle adversity?

Like the CARROT, the EGG, OR the COFFEE BEAN?

Ummah Vouchers

2010-02-24T16:56:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post- for anyone who hasn't heard of Ummah Vouchers, check out the website, it's like a muslim version of Student Beans :) Lot's of discounts- although maybe not as amazing as 2 for 1 pizza express or free photo prints, more like free pins and 20% off jilbabs if you're into that kind of thing- but still discounts are discounts!
http://www.ummahvouchers.co.uk/

Five Weeks into the New Year and Already...

2010-02-07T12:21:00.000-08:00

The Haiti Earthquake, Bomb blast in Karachi, Bomb blast in Baghdad, Ahmadinejad and nuclear work, Wotton Basset outrage, Iraq enquiry, Guantanamo closure delay, trail and sentence of Aafia Siddique, Pakistan protests—these are just the few of the many headlines I can remember off the top of my head from the beginning of this year. Headlines for Haiti aside, when you analyse the news you’ll see that the Muslim world has made it to the forefront of the headlines again. It won’t be long before the BBC website adds ‘Muslims’ to their drop-down options menu. In the UK we were swept into the New Year with recycled apprehensions following investigations of the ‘Christmas day bomber,’ which put Islamic societies on the line and intensified the general anti-Islam vibe .

Even when you read articles online which talk about the majority of middle route Muslims condemning these acts of extremism, the comments tell you that people don’t care about the majority any more. The labels ‘Islam’ and ‘Muslim’ will always be associated to images of groups like Islam 4 UK or the faces of ‘violent extremists’ unless we do something about it.

The case of Umar Abdulmuttalab has meant BAD news for Isocs. Take a look at this article:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/8496066.stm

Umar Farouk’s case has not only given way for intensified Isoc interrogation but is making the whole airport experience even more torturous thanks to the implementation of body scanners. What’s next on the agenda for airport humiliation?

So far the only ‘positive’ thing I can credit the BBC for is for bringing me Muslim Driving School every Monday. Granny Taslima just makes my day when nothing else does. :)

An Attack on the Muslim Woman’s Dress By Yasmin Patel

2010-01-14T23:48:00.000-08:00

In the midst of pressing issues such as economic downturn, climate change, child welfare and world poverty, many political leaders and media outlets have yet chosen to focus on a piece of cloth that is worn by a fraction of Muslims. The niqab - or the face veil - has once again been at the centre of attention. The veil has been attacked in the past when on 22nd June 09 French President Nicholas Sarkozy, in his speech to the French Parliament, labelled the niqab “...a sign of the enslavement, the subjugation, the submission of women”.

The veil has been accused of being a mark of difference in society, despite its centuries old existence. Migrants from the Asian sub-continent brought a host of different customs, including dress codes and ingredients that had never been witnessed before. They had the opportunity to interact with different people in order to explain their different way of life. Today even the non-Asian women are fond of the ‘Shalwaar Kameez’ dress and the Indian curries are also very popular. Similarly, at one time the Muslim woman’s dress was respected, understood and a problem with communication was non-existent.

This concept of ‘difference’ therefore needs to be understood in context. Today we live in a post 9/11 era, where Muslims are under constant scrutiny and spied on via the Preventing Violent Extremism strategy; where the Muslim community is treated to be susceptible to ‘radicalisation’ and their faith perceived to be a threat to the apparent progressive Western nation. When such ideas are circulating in the society via popular media outlets, politicians and government strategies, a piece of cloth belonging to the Muslim woman is bound to be seen as a mark of difference, and even anti-social.

We interviewed Umm Mohammad on the Muslimah Today* radio show, on Unity fm on the 19th October 09. A mother of four, a teacher, a student and a parent governor, she has been wearing the face veil for nearly 12 years. She told us that the niqab has never hindered her to partake in day to day activities. She explained that non-Muslim parents happily approach her as a governor to discuss any problems they have. Examples like this show that the claim that a Muslim woman needs to make an effort to interact more, or is by any means isolated by the dress she chooses to adorn herself with, is baseless. Muslim women wearing the Islamic dress fully participate in society as doctors; teachers; scientists; governors; care workers and students.

The rhetoric of the submission of women via the Islamic dress is common. When I made the decision to adopt the hijaab (headscarf) and jilbaab (long dress) during my school days, my father had repeatedly asked me to remove both. Today he respects and encourages the Islamic dress. And it is true that today Muslim women are confidently adopting Islamic values, whether it is through the hijaab, jilbaab or niqab, even though they are encouraged to ‘liberate’ themselves.

Many countries such as Holland and Denmark are considering a ban on the niqab, and Egypt’s Sheikh Mohamed Sayyed Tantawi is the latest to join the bandwagon. Earlier this month Sheikh Tantawi, head of Al-Azhar University in Egypt, ordered a school girl in Cairo to remove her niqb and stated that he would seek a ban on the face veil in all schools affiliated to Al-Azhar. By saying the veil is a form of tradition as opposed to stemming from Islamic text, his remarks have legitimised the wish of various Western governments to ban the veil in their own countries.

It is naïve however to think that the controversy surrounding the niqab revolves around whether or not the face veil is obligatory to wear. The attack needs to be understood in context of the recent spotlight on Islam and many of its values. This attack comes at a time when there has been an attempt to examine every Islamic belief and obligation, labelling it as extreme, unacceptable, oppressive and a threat to Western societies. For example, the hijab, jilbab, the Islamic marriage contract, the Islamic view on women, divorce and polygamy, its ruling and punishments systems, its view on homosexuality, its political beliefs, have all been scrutinised. By such attacks Muslims are being coerced to leave their faith in exchange for secular ones. Andre Gerin, the French legislator who originally proposed the bill banning the face veil in France and who now chairs the French niqab parliamentary commission commented, “..The burqa is the tip of the iceberg.....Islamism really threatens us”.

The response of the Muslim community living in the West has been divided. Many Muslim women have defended the Islamic dress as their right to wear it. I recently joined a facebook group titled “I wear the hijaab and I am as normal as you are”. The description reads “It is our right and it is part of our faith”. The argument of “rights” however has no basis in Islam. The premise of a Muslim woman’s adoption of the Islamic way is her understanding of the need to adopt Islam as her reference point in all matters, as opposed to it being her right to do so. The latter implies that a Muslim woman has the right not to comply with Islam; however a believer in Allah takes Him as the legislator in all her affairs.

Those that believe the veil is born from tradition have supported the call for a ban. The Muslim Canadian Congress, for example, has earnestly supported government bans on the dress in their countries on the basis of the belief that it does not stem from Islamic texts. When attacking the Islamic dress, the anti-Islamic sentiments generated make no distinction between those who believes the face veil to be an Islamic obligation, recommendation or matter of choice in the religion. The current controversy surrounding the niqab is an issue that affects us all. It is a part of a series of attacks on the Islamic way of life, as opposed to the veil itself.

In fact, this very division of those who believe the niqab is an obligation, and those who do not seeks to weaken the Muslims. The attempt to weaken the unity of the Muslims through generating potential causes for division is nothing new to us. We are all familiar with terms such as 'moderate/extremist' and 'Sunni/Shia'.

The Muslims must stay united on the issue of the niqab. The classical scholars of Islam have differed in their views regarding the face veil. However, they all recognised it as a valid Islamic opinion and therefore never allowed the issue to become a cause of division amongst them.

Whilst the Islamic way of life is being debated in today’s climate, it is important that the Muslims lead the debate, rather than be led. Islam came to free women from the subjugation of man, and the Muslim women are fully capable of deciding whether it is Islam or secular values that cause women to be exploited as mere commodities for the pleasure of men.

*Muslimah Today is a radio show aired on Unity fm 93.5 every Mondays 4-6pm

Yasmin Patel is an undergraduate studying Political Science and Sociology at the University of Birmingham.

Hijab and a rant (over a cup of Kashmiri chai )

2010-01-06T22:17:00.000-08:00

I’m drinking an incredibly sweet cup of kashmiri tea and going through my emails. I’ve deleted a few hundred old ones and have just come across a really nice one about hijab that made me want to write this post.

Here it is.

"...When I was about 7 or 8 I asked my mother this question of why we cover, and to my surprise she responded with, "Let's go shopping". So we headed out to the mall and passed by a few stores, we went into Claire's and saw all the beaded jewellery and the fake crystals all lying around in piles in the store. Some people touched them, some people picked them up then put them back down, some people tried them on, and most of them were not even noticed. Then we went to a diamond store. There, we saw only a few select pieces of jewellery. Rare stones, hidden under glass containers. Sealed with the highest security systems. Kept protected from the hands of those who couldn't pay the price of handling them. My mother looked at me and said, "Which would you rather be?"

This ties in nicely with a video about hijab that my friend showed me a few days ago. It got me thinking about women in Islam again. Over the past year I’ve heard too many talks and read too many articles where Muslim women are a target for criticism, where they are blamed and condemned and scolded. When it comes to women suddenly everything becomes a matter of debate. Should Muslim women be on TV? Should they be allowed to give presentations in mosques? Can they wear t-shirts with logos? Are pink and hijabs appropriate? Should they be going to university?

That’s why this video was a little breath of fresh air.

I don’t claim to know the answers to all of these above questions but the fact that women are always a topic of debate annoys me to say the least. Don’t we get enough of it from the media?! Has anyone seen Nicky Campbell’s show The Big Questions? Hijab and niqab have been the central subject one too many times. Now why do Muslim men insist on pressing this subject? I feel as though Muslim women are constantly being reprimanded by Muslim men and stereotyped by the non Muslim population, so there’s no way of avoiding criticism.

It’s as though some muslims believe that to judge the state of Islam in the West today we need to judge the state of the Muslim women.

Really, it feels like that sometimes.

Don’t get me wrong; I know this is not the attitude of all men and that yes, women do need to be corrected for the things that we do wrong, but then so do men! And I also have a lot of appreciation for the many scholars like Hamza Yusuf who stick up for us. But also, I’d like women to take the initiative to speak out for themselves more. Especially regarding women’s rights in Islam. There’s just something comically ironic about a Muslim man trying to persuade a crowd of non-Muslims that Muslim women are liberated. How are they going to believe that when there’s not a single Muslim woman in sight? If a woman tried to tell an audience of men what it felt like to be a man surely there’d be a room full of raised eyebrows? Because how can a woman know what it’s like to be a man?

So in the same way a man cannot really know what it’s like to be a woman wearing hijab in this society. Of course they know the rationale behind hijab but how can a man know how it truly makes us feel?

So women should be the one talking about issues like this, we shouldn't rely on our brothers all the time. In one of the debates about hijab in ‘The Big Questions’ a Muslim woman in the audience did just this, she spoke up about the benefits of hijab really forcefully and the audience looked simply stunned.

More of this please!

I’ve shortened this post considerably, there’s so much more I wanted to write but just haven’t got the time. And now my tea’s gone cold. Oh well, it’s worth it, this is an essential topic I’m always musing over and I thought it was about time I shared my thoughts about it. Please comment and let me know what you think!

Speaking of New Year resoultions...

2009-12-31T00:14:00.000-08:00

Ok so admittedly I never have any, but I thought that maybe for next year (i.e. in less than 24 hours) it would be good to have this one:
Forget me, me, me, focus on charity!
Yes, corny, but necessary!
Before I was a student I was better at it as life didn’t revolve around mobile bills, food and train tickets. (And yes the more than occasional restaurant visit). Now I only remember to give charity when it comes bearing a free three-course dinner tag on an ISOC poster.
I can see those heads nodding with guilty recognition.

It’s time for some change I think. I want to make this resolution and keep it. I want to bring back some of my year ten enthusiasm when I honestly thought a walk around the park with water balloons was a good way of raising money.
Although my creativity’s hopefully spiralled upwards since then I know it’s impossible to organise events all the time, so for anyone who thinks they need a new year’s resolution like mine then I suggest a charity chart: twelve donations, one at the end of each month where you mark on who you donated to, and how much. Obviously it doesn’t have to be loads, we’re students after all :) You can alternate the charities on a monthly basis and make one off payments through their websites.

The first two on my list at the moment are islamic relief amd iera.
And don’t forget the classic penny jar either. Collect for one year and add it to your December donation. I remember doing that one year and getting £3.98. Maybe this year I’ll reach £4.00.

"Save yourself from hellfire by giving even half a date-fruit in charity." Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 2, Hadith 49
"The believer's shade on the Day of Resurrection will be his charity." Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 604

Before we look forward, look back and learn

2009-12-28T15:55:00.000-08:00

It's been sixth months since the Gaza crisis ended. A year since it begun. The Islamic Relief adverts say: 'They haven't forgotten, have you?'
Well this brought it all back. I first heard this (song) by Lowkey at the Gaza Protest in Hyde park on that freezing day on the 10th of January. I don't think anybody expected him to be as good as he was and he's even better with the music.

The second part is coming out in January.

I can't believe that it's been a whole year since Gaza came on our TV screens and the world was re-awakened to another horrific example of injustuice.
Please everyone, keep them in your prayers. We may have moved on, but time is frozen in an era of horror in Palestine.

Half an hour until until Magrib...

2009-12-17T14:50:00.001-08:00

I find it amazing how the times for prayer alter so much throughout the year. It’s something we barely think about. But it occurred to me today when I struggled to pray my Salaah on time just how quickly the days passes into night in December. From season to season the prayer times expand and contract so that we find ourselves praying Isha at ten o’clock in the summer and five thirty in the winter. Today I seemed to have awoken in summer mode, I had a busy day planned ahead, beginning with a trip to town at twelve o’clock. As a late riser, twelve o’clock to me still sounds like morning, it didn’t occur to me that it was actually time to pray Dhur until I finally caught the 12.18pm bus at 12.40pm and then realised that I had less than an hour until Asr.

So, when I reached town I ran off the bus and headed for the nearest clothes shop (H&M) to pray Dhur Dawud Wharnsby style in a changing room! But the most amazing sale in H&M had just begun, and the changing rooms were packed. Never mind, I thought, I’ll just have a rummage through the sale stuff until one of the rooms become free. But I, in true girly fashion, got completely caught up in an ‘I want everything on the £10 rack!’ moment and ages had passed until I checked the time again and realised that it was 1.30 pm. Unfortunately the first thought that passed through my head was not ‘oh my gosh I have to pray!’ but ‘oh my gosh, I have to be back home by three and I haven’t even started my shopping!’ So, completely forgetting my Dhur prayer, I dashed to the perfume shop, card shop and River Island, and once I was I was satisfied that I had everything on my list, my tummy started to rumble. My head followed my body clock’s instincts and led me straight to the Coffee Cup. It wasn’t until I had filled myself up with the tastiest soup and sandwich a £5 note can buy that I looked at the clock again and was so frustrated I wanted to kick myself. It was Asr time, and quarter to three. I needed to be home, and hadn’t even prayed Dhur! Well, I had no choice but to make Dhur up, but if I rushed back I could still make it in time for Asr. Or so I thought.

It was one of those days when both the time and the weather were out to get you. It had begun to snow heavily outside. The usual journey from town to home by bus takes fifteen minutes, but this time it took half an hour. Then walking from the bus stop was another journey in itself—downhill, uphill and downhill again before I reached my house—and you can imagine how easy that was in the snow!
So I came home with half an hour until Magrib and prayed my Asr and Dhur straight away. Then when I’d finally managed to put the kettle on, time had sifted through my fingers once again and the adhaan for Magrib had begun.

Pheww!
Today may have been exhausting, but the fundamental lesson I learnt from it is that it is so easy to get caught up in materiality and insignificant details of the day that we forget to do the most essential things like performing Salaah. Prioritising and timing are two big issues I need to improve on, and I’m sure I’m not alone with this. Salaah is a mercy to us not just because it provides us with a medium for communicating with Allah swt, but also because it puts a structure to our day. How much less aware of time would we be if we didn’t have five strict Salaah times to follow? How much more time would we waste and fritter away on the Dunya if we did not turn to remember Allah five times a day? Salaah is a blessing in so many ways, and sometimes it takes a day like mine to realise it fully!

And another thought provoking pic:

2009-12-17T12:57:00.000-08:00

This one caught my attention straight away, I'm sure lots of sisters could relate!

Hmm...

2009-12-17T12:52:00.000-08:00

I was emailed these pictures a few weeks ago of Eid Salah in Egypt and didn't know what to think of them really. I thought this only happened in Makkah?! So is this an attempt at 'liberalising' Islam or an act of pure ignorance? Well anyway I plan to post a few interesting/controversial/thought provoking pictures a week (to brighten this blog up more than anything)! but also to make us all think and see how the portrait of Islam is portrayed across the world...

EXPLAINING your way through life...

2009-12-01T14:35:00.000-08:00

When Non Muslims ask you questions on Islam, more often or not the questions are awkward or challenging. How are you most likely to respond? Do you make up some vague answer, avoid the question completely or just tell the truth?

Nearly all the way through secondary school I would have probably chosen option one or two. This was partly because I thought people were only asking me questions to criticise or to start an argument. I remember year ten in particular as the year I was asked the most awkward questions, especially as people started to notice I was refusing party invitations more and more! By year ten teens begin think they’re old enough to do what they want (if they hadn’t thought that by year nine already) and suddenly birthday invitations move from all girl sleepovers (which I was rarely allowed to anyway I might add) to Friday night parties and under 18 club nights. So obviously it was not long before non Muslim friends started asking questions like ‘why don’t you drink?’

I told them I don’t drink because I am a Muslim.
One friend called me a liar. I was a bit dumbfounded. For a moment I thought she was accusing me of lying about my religion. But then she clarified herself by saying:
‘So-and-so’s a Muslim and she drinks. So obviously Muslims can drink.’
Besides it being one of the most illogical arguments I’ve ever heard, I instantly realised that her knowledge of Islam was SERIOUSLY limited. I said to her:
‘I can see why you’re confused; some Muslims still do drink, but really Muslim’s aren’t allowed. Obviously not everybody does as they’re told.’

I expected the party invitations to stop then and there, but of course they didn’t. Friends started to say, ‘just come along to the pub with us, you don’t have to drink any alcohol, you can just have a coke.’ To them this seemed like a perfectly rational compromise. I could still have a good time with them outside of school without having to ‘break the rules of my religion’ as they use to say. By this point I would get extremely frustrated. Hadn’t I just explained myself? In the end I would just give up and say: ‘no I’m busy, I have coursework to do.’

But it didn’t take me long to realise that I hadn’t properly explained myself at all. I had skirted around the question, I had told them a mere fact rather than giving them a proper explanation. What they needed to hear was why exactly we didn’t drink, not that we just didn’t drink, full stop.
Of course this should be applied to everything, not just alcohol. Why do we pray? We do we not eat pork? We do we dress the way we do? These are basic questions which we know the answers to, so we should start telling people. This probably sounds like quite a basic reminder, but it’s amazing how many of us forget how essential it is to explain why we do what we do. the root meaning for the word ‘Kafir’ is a good reminder of why we should explain ourselves a bit better.

When the word kafir is mentioned we usually associate this to a person who disbelieves in Allah, a non-Muslim. In Arabic, the word ‘Kafir’ means a ‘rejecter.’ However the plural of ‘kafir,’ which is ‘kufar,’ means ‘to cover up,’ and was used as a term to refer to peasants who till the earth and ‘cover up’ the seeds. Therefore a kafir is not simply anyone who is a non Muslim, but someone who heard the truth and rejected it- in effect they ‘covered’ the truth up as they were unwilling to accept it. These are the people who Allah has damned to the hellfire. However, on the day of Judgement Muslims will be held responsible for not giving the message to the non Muslims who were ignorant of the truth. And how many people do we know who are ignorant of Islam?

Giving Dawah is such an important part of our Deen. Allah tells us in surah Asr :
(1) By the token of time through the ages (2) Verily mankind is at loss (3) Except such as have faith and do righteous deeds and join together in the mutual teaching of the Truth, and of patience and constancy.’

In this surah Allah has informed us of four criteria which Muslims need to meet to be successful in this life, one of which is to give dawah. By explaining to non Muslims WHY we do what we do and why we can’t do certain things is a form of dawah.

When I came to university I was reminded of these things. I have four non Muslim flatmates who have never had to live with a Muslim before. I see this as a perfect opportunity to spread small dawah, simply by telling them why I wear hijab and why I eat halaal meat etc. Amazingly some of my flatmates didn’t realise the most basics rules we follow, such as not eating pork or non halaal meat. But then again how can they know if nobody’s told them?

The ultimate conclusion of this rather long post: use every opportunity to give dawah to others by explaining! Of course people will not agree with everything you say and people are bound to criticise, but at least you know you have done your part by telling the truth. And InshaAllah...you never know who you might affect....

A useful reminder by Muhammad Alshareef

2009-12-01T10:33:00.000-08:00

How to get an A Grade final Exam?
1. In school, you can often redo your exam if you fail. In the hereafter, if one fails there is no going back.
2. In school, you often do not know what questions will be asked. In the hereafter, there are only 3 questions: Who is your Lord? What is your Deen? And who is this man who was sent to you? But the answers are answers you live by.
3. In school, we stay up at night to prepare for the exam the next day. So too in Allah's exam, we should be staying up in night prayers.
4. In school, we pray and hope and work for an outstanding mark. So too should be our attitude towards Allah's exam.
5. In school, when we get a great mark, we erupt with happiness. So too will the believers erupt in happiness when they get their books in their right hands. Work for it.
6. In school, when we get a bad mark, sadness can be seen on our faces, and we dislike to face others. So too in the hereafter. Protect yourself from that.
7. During a school exam, you cannot ask anyone for help. In the hereafter, you can prepare from now to get assistance from Allah's Messenger, the Quran, and other ways of intercession.
8. In school, when exam time draws near, we banish distractions to focus on what is really important. In Allah's exam, isn't death within 1 heart beat? Banish distractions and focus.
9. In school, until exam results come out, we worry about the result. In Allah's exam, we don't know what our result will be, so we spend our days in hope and worry until the results come out.

WHO ARE YOU IN 2009?

2009-11-13T11:42:00.000-08:00

Two months sounds like a long time but in reality it feels like just a few days. So, what seems like a few days ago I went to my first Isoc talk where the topic was the much loved topic of identity. Nothing new for me there. I’d been to numerous talks on identity and expected this one to be no different. And so rather unwisely, I went to the event with the intention of making new friends rather than learning anything new.
‘Who do you think you are?’ was the name of the talk. I recall the brother walking onto the stage, scrutinizing the rather sparse audience of fresher Muslims and beginning: ‘does everyone know who they are?’ Nobody answered. Because he didn’t give anyone a chance to answer. Instead he asserted: ‘Because if you do than I can move on to what I really wanted to talk about.’ And so he began a lecture on the rather different subject of Muslim mentality. I must say I was pleasantly surprised. I will not go into the details of his talk, but for anyone interested it is available here:
http://uploaded.to/file/my4wp6

So, although I had come with little expectation of being completely enlightened, I actually left with the feeling that I had really gained something from my first Isoc event.

And now after two months of university, surrounded by many different people with different views and backgrounds, I have come to a realisation that ‘who we are’ is an issue which is far too relevant to overlook. It has always been the hot topic amongst Islamic societies and for good reasons too- firstly because at university we are surrounded by a huge amount of non Muslims with perceptions of Islam which are mainly gathered from the media and secondly because today we dress in a more obviously Islamic way than we did say 20 years ago.

Regarding the way we dress, issues surrounding identity have moved from being exclusively about the way we should dress to being about the way we should behave whilst we are appropriately dressed. I’ll give you this example. A few weeks ago I was rummaging through my Auntie’s attic looking desperately for some Chaucer essays to help me through my first term of English Literature when I came across a Muslim magazine written by the students of SOAS and UCL in 1993. On the first page the question of identity was raised under the subheading ‘WHO ARE YOU?’ The editor commented: ‘I believe about 90% of this single Ummah at SOAS and UCL do not look particularly like Muslims. They could be anything, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Christian, Bahai, Jewish, Atheist...anything.’ she goes on to effectively rant about how the lack of Islamic clothing has caused a blur between the Muslim and non Muslim identity. ‘Are we embarrassed about our religion?!’ she demands. ‘why do we feel like this when Allah (swt) tells us: 'you are the best of peoples, evolved for mankind, enjoining what is right, forbidding what is wrong and believing in God (al Imran, 3:110).’

Today I would not assert that Muslims as a whole dressed any better. In fact with fashion favouring leggings and short tops (?!!) it is reasonable to argue that some of us are looking even worse. But I do believe that knowledge of our faith and the freedom and confidence to openly practice it has grown and as such so have the amount of sisters wearing hijab and jilbab and brothers supporting beards, thobes etc. But what is the identity issue today? Who are we in 2009? I believe that we are a generation with an altered identity crisis because we dress according to the criteria of Islam but then do not behave in an Islamic manner. In other words we seem to have forgotten the basic principles of INNER hijab.

So for example, if wearing the headscarf is a symbol of modesty and a useful way of telling the other sex that NO you are NOT interested, then why do some covered sisters act immodestly (by swearing at the top of their voices as one common example) and flirt unashamedly with guys ? And vice-versa. There appear to be too many brothers who don’t seem to understand what hijab means. I really pity those poor sisters who for no reason whatsoever have caught the attention of Mr Not-So-Practicing, who despite her hijab, is forever trying to chat her up and invite her to this event and that event.

Hijab= I am not interested in going to the PakSoc dance with you or any dance in that matter, leave me alone!

Or at least it should do!

Moving on to the issue of the media, it is blatantly clear the majority of non-Muslims seem to have a warped perception of us because of the amount of lies and misconceptions the media churns out on a daily basis. That is why it is so important that we know who we are and what we believe so that we can combat these ideas. Identity is both our character as well as the way we dress. We are certainly confused Muslims if we dress in one way and behave in another. It’s about time that we truly question who we are and start applying the principles of both inner and outer hijab to our characters. Because until we know who we are ourselves, there is no hope of ever changing the way the media and non Muslims see us.

Islamophobic attacks at City University

2009-11-07T02:40:00.000-08:00

I hate for this to be one of my first posts, but as my blog concerns Muslim student life I knew this was far too important to overlook. Muslim students are more than ever feeling the effects of Islamophobia, the incident which occurred recently at City University is a shocking example. As the Isoc website states, there have been a number of attacks over the last few days on campus including damage to a university building as bricks were hurled at the entrance, targeting Muslims inside. And even worse were the three or four stabbings against Muslim brothers around Angel station. All of this has been carried out by a group of Islamophobic thugs, a group I’ve been told of about 30 people. Now the Isoc are urging Muslim students to be extremely cautious, sisters have been told to head home at 4.00pm and brothers must go around in large groups. Here’s what City Isoc have said:

http://cityisoc.com/2812-islamophobic-attacks-on-campus/

The fact that this hasn’t been in reported in mainstream news says enough.

Islam channel news has however, had coverage of Queen Mary’s prayer room dilemma. This ongoing problem at the university is yet another example of unfair treatment to Muslim students.

www.queenmaryisoc.co.uk

I must say I like the banner on City Isoc's website:

an explanation...

2009-11-05T13:10:00.000-08:00

Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim
I’ll begin this blog by firstly saying that I’m a Muslim first year student and secondly a wannabe journalist. Having started university six weeks to date and having already experiencing enough to write reams about (if only I had the time), I decided to create this blog to share my experiences as a female Muslim student, to express my opinions and generally to rant about things which annoy me (the media will be a reoccurring theme here). I hope for people to relate, to contemplate, and hopefully gain something from my ‘reflective’ ramblings.

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