After delivery and assembly of my furniture yesterday, the two delivery men took a little time out for coffee. One of them, looking at my bookshelf said, “the noble Qur’an and the Glorious Qur’an, what’s the difference?” I told him “no difference, it’s just different names. They are translations of the Qur’an” Continue reading Dinner over two hours multiplied by 2 million Muslims

I always knew negative images of Muslims were quite prevalent around the country, but the extent to which the general British public has begun to have a disdain for Islam and Muslims was shocking.

And this is not just among the intellectual Islamophobes whose corrupt internal nature predisposes a dislike of the truth, or others whose ignorance and lack of intelligence draws them into the gutter of racial hatred. It is Jo Public, who previously (never consciously) had ill feelings towards Islam and Muslims. Continue reading No it shouldn’t happen to us

Just imagine Ehud Olmert (the under-fire Israeli Prime Minister) needs to appoint an ambassador to the US; a country to which it owes its very existence. You can’t really get a more strategically important post in Israeli politics.

Continue imagining and visualise Olmert in front of the cameras, who announces: “I have appointed Fatima Ansari as the ambassador to the US.” Jaws drop to the ground, even the sounds of thuds are heard as people faint one after another and heads hit the ground. You know the kind of scene you see in cartoons - Tom and Gerry and the likes. 

Fatima Ansari, is she not a Muslim? Yes she is and no, none of us can imagine that ever happening. Continue reading Jaw dropping appointments

I hate to say we told you so, but we did.

You can be forgiven for thinking policy makers at Downing Street were all under the influence given the number of u-turns they are making lately. Last week came the acceptance that abolishing the 10p tax rate was an error and that people affected by this will now receive compensation. This week comes the news that number 10 is planning to reclassify cannabis from class C to B. 

Back in 2004 under Tony Blair and the then Home Secretary David Blunkett, cannabis was downgraded to a class C drug. Four years on and the results of the relaxation has meant that those found in possession of cannabis were being let off by the police, with perhaps a verbal warning at most rather than being arrested. 

Well, I hate to say we told you so but we did. ‘We’ are the community based drugs agencies like the one I manage, who warned against the downgrading. Continue reading We told you so

As the 2008 US Presidential primaries draws close to its crescendo – Barack Obama’s candidacy for the Democratic Party clearly shows that, in the land of the free and the home of the brave all Americans are equal but some are less equal than others.
 
What were once hidden unstated feelings are now public weapons. Every time Obama’s election machine gathers momentum, conveniently, the rumour-mill goes into overdrive. Obama is genuinely believed to have a credible chance at securing the Whitehouse.  However, his colour and more importantly his connection to Muslims is proving to be a toxic mixture for US politics.
 
Barack Obama has clearly stated that he was never raised a Muslim. Mr Obama’s father was a non practising Kenyan Muslim who separated from his white American mother when the senator was only two years old. His mother however soon remarried another Muslim, this time from Indonesia. He was raised as a Christian and is still a Christian. Continue reading All Americans are equal; some are less equal than others.