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I was invited as a guest, along with Ed Husain (Quilliam Foundation) on Islam Channel’s ‘Politics and Media’ show – or so I thought. As it turned out, Ed was not happy to be on a live show with me. His voice broke, his face screwed up with disdain, and the whites of his eyes were plain to see as he retorted, “I’m not going on if he is” Continue reading The folly of engagement Channel 4’s Shari’ah TV was once again on our screens; the fifth series was broadcast from New York. As usual the nature of these types of programmes is to a create some sort of controversy and debate, and many of the questions posed during the course of the discussions did generate just that. As someone who has interfaith discussions and dialogue with the local vicar, I was particularly interested in the third programme, ‘Pluralism and Interfaith dialogue’. There were three experts on the panel. Imam Yahya Hendi from Georgetown University, the first American university to hire a full-time Muslim chaplain, is apparently a sought after international speaker on interfaith issues. Then there was Daisy Khan, co-founder of the American society for Muslim advancement. She lectures on religious pluralism across the United States and around the world, and is one of many pseudo-experts on Islam after 9/11. This is the Rumi version of Islam: all religions are truth Continue reading Shari’ah TV: Pluralism and Interfaith dialogue Melanie Phillips, mostly known as the attack-dog for Israel, recently wrote in the Daily Mail: ‘The reason so many older British Muslims are traditionally moderate is that they were brought up in the Asian subcontinent under a tamed form of Islam, deriving from centuries of colonial rule, which glossed over much of the teaching of the religion.’ Cue Hazel Blears, Communities Secretary, who promptly declares the establishment of a new board to advise Muslims on Islam. I wonder whether this new board will ‘gloss’ over the teachings of Islam? Continue reading Blears takes the advice of Israel’s attack-dog Walking along the Strand (lost in the swarms of city workers and feeling generally very small and insignificant, but that’s another story), I happened to notice an advert on a passing bus. Now I make a pointed effort to not look at adverts of any shape or form – my lowering gaze covers a broad range – because they’re all either inappropriate or designed to brainwash, or both. But this particular one did catch my eye. OK – I’ll admit it! I DID go to the nasheed concert at the Islam Expo, and all in all I quite enjoyed myself. I only went for the Sunday evening performances and thought the Qur’an recitation by Shaykh Jibril and the young winner of the National Qirat Competition (Islam Channel) were particularly amazing. The host, a comedian and Palestinian refugee living in America, was funny and engaging. The music and singing… well it wasn’t all that to be honest! I’m more a fan of Zain and Dawud – old school! I am of the opinion – as espoused by Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi and others – that nasheeds accompanied with music, in and of themselves are permitted. That the original rule of permission only changes if conditions such as the subject matter, manner of singing, excessiveness (etc) are broken. But I don’t want to blog about that. I want to blog about the silly screaming, hand waving, dimwits – aka fans (overwhelmingly sisters)! Continue reading Muslim Concert Goers Three years after the 7/7 bombings in London, we are yet again trying to make sense of the threat from terrorism (or extremism). And those anxieties have opened up a Pandora’s box of questions. The inevitable questions are: Whether the Islamic faith is an inherent threat to British society; is this another McCarthyite witch-hunt; was multiculturalism a good working formula for coexistence; should the immigration laws be restricted further to limit Muslim migration; are Muslim youth much more exposed to extremism; or even whether we should take the 42 day detention without charge to 90 days. We are led to believe that disenfranchised, and disillusioned by the failure of integration, some British Muslims have taken up the militant Islamic ideology against Britain. Continue reading The only thing we have to fear is fear itself |
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