Recapturing Ramadān from Capitalism
The economic boom caused by Ramadan in the UK is described as third after Christmas and Easter. Laura Stuart asks if Muslims are using this power effectively...
“Did you convert just to please the in-laws?”
There is a question Muslim reverts are always asked that make our toes curl...
A Tangled Web of Religion in Politics
Some may say that the political arena is no place for religious sensibilities but, now and again, religion does raise its head...
“Reforming” Islam to suit popular culture is a bad idea
"As a former practising Christian, I saw first hand the effect of reforming wisdom and morality to suit the whims and desires of some powerful people..."
My Arrest Pt 2: They tried to recruit me
From Terror Suspect to Potential Safeguarding Operative On The 5th of November 2015 the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command or SO15 arrested me. I spent months on bail under restrictions where my passport was withheld along with many of my personal goods such as my laptop and phone. The police even held my handwritten Tajwīd course notebooks. Finally cleared in February 2016, I looked forward to life as a free woman, someone who was definitely not a terrorist, especially since the police had been through every aspect of my life and found nothing that constituted a crime. I was finally…
Londoners Reject the Politics of Racism & Fear
Since London woke up to confirmation of a resounding win for Labour’s Sadiq Khan in the Mayoral Elections, another campaign of blame apportioning in the Conservative Party seems to be underway. The “blame game” for the Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith’s defeat began before the final vote count at London’s City Hall had even been announced. It seems clear that David Cameron and his party want to pin their candidate’s defeat firmly onto Mr Goldsmith and his campaign manager Lynton Crosby’s shoulders, whilst distancing themselves from the reality that Mr Cameron was very much a major player in a very dirty…
My arrest – it could happen to you
My arrest took place on the 5th November 2015, an auspicious day better known as “Bonfire Night” in Britain. Guy Fawkes is famously known as “the only man to enter the Houses of Parliament with the correct intention”. He was a convert to Catholicism, a man who went to fight in Spain against the Protestants and who later became involved in the Gunpowder plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament. Guy Fawkes was caught, tortured and sentenced to death. The fact that hundreds of years later children still celebrate foiling the ‘Gunpowder Plot’ by burning effigies of Guy Fawkes…
According to Maajid Nawaz, Islam is the problem
Today, Maajid Nawaz of the Quilliam Foundation posted on social media the following statement:- This pathological jihadist obsession with "the Jooz" in Europe isn't born from lack of religiously justified sanction. Here's an example of a piece of scripture that is problematic: Allah's Apostle said, "The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say. "O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him." Saying attributed to the Prophet Muhammad in the Sahih of al-Bukhari. This, among many others, is a problematic religious…
Government PANIC at thought of Jews leaving UK
Do Muslims have a voice and is anybody listening? Recently Theresa May said that she never thought she would see the day when Jews would want to leave Britain, her words were based on a survey by the Campaign for Anti-Semitism that found 45% of Jews considered that they had no future in Britain. The survey was very quickly proven to be faulty in its findings and the reality is that 89% of Jews have no intention of leaving the U.K. whilst a poll taken in 2010 found that 4 out of 5 Britons (including Jews) had thought of leaving…
The government’s absurd letter to “The Muslims”
Today those of us who have read Eric Pickles letter to Muslim community leaders and Imāms are reeling in shock as we and our leaders appear to be held collectively responsible for acts of criminality committed by Muslims in France and elsewhere. Mr Pickles says, “Let us assure you that the Government will do all we can to defeat the voices of division”. Perhaps he can start with himself then, since he has clearly played right into the hands of the Islamophobes and growing far right by insinuating that the Muslim community may be harbouring or even encouraging violent extremists…