Cameron, are you really welcoming those who fast Ramadan?
Ramadan Mubarak?
It is difficult to believe some politicians. What do you say about a person who advocates the opposite of what he does? Especially when they talk about Islām and Muslims. Those are whom Allāh referred to when He said,
“And when you look at them, their bodies please you; and when they speak, you listen to their words”? [1]
It became a fashion for many leaders to greet Muslims with one hand, even whilst killing them with the other. Barack Obama, as the president of today’s most aggressive hegemony started this “Sunnah” and other puppets followed. I have even seen a message wishing “Ramadan Mubarak” delivered by one of the Commanders of the Israeli army, whose air forces rain Ramadan gifts on the heads of the people of Gaza every day.
In his recent short message, David Cameron wished Ramadan Mubarak to British Muslims and he gave us a good reminder about what Ramadan is about. In fact, I was planning to record a reminder about Ramadan myself but when I heard Sheikh Cameron’s I thought to myself: this is a good reminder. Ramadan is a time for contemplation and reflection according to Cameron so let us reflect on his message.
Has Cameron become an extremist?
To start with, Mr Cameron celebrated Ramadan as it is an incredibly special time of year for Muslims at home and abroad. Mr Cameron acknowledged that there are Muslims like us who fast Ramadan in other parts of the globe. The question is: who are those Muslims? Who are those whom we help because they are suffering in wars and famines overseas? The answer is clear; they are nothing but part of our beloved Ummah. Therefore, Mr Cameron has no problem of British Muslims being part of the Ummah. It is a great achievement for Mr Cameron to have undermined the malicious loaded-questions many of his neoconservative friends use to incite suspicion towards British Muslims, such as: “Are you British first or Muslim?” “Do you believe in a global form of Islamic Unity?” “Do you belong to the Muslim Ummah or to the British Isles?”
Mr Cameron then complimented the Muslim community for its charitable work and acknowledged “all the energy and money people (Muslims) donate to those who are less fortunate”. Perhaps he forgot to mention, however, that Muslim-run charities are among the most targeted and victimised by his government because of the good work they do. The Charity Commission has investigated a disproportionate number of Muslim-run charities, allegedly due to its being taken over by those with an extreme anti-Muslim ideology, to the protest of most of the general public.[2] I wonder how many more Muslim Charities and individuals will be harassed because of the millions of pounds raised for good causes, for those who are less fortunate here in Britain, and those who are suffering in wars and in famines overseas.
Mr Cameron then goes on to say that “uppermost in all our minds are those whose lives have been torn apart by the twin evils of Assad and Daesh, all those families spending this Holy Month in refugee camps, mourning loved ones, yearning to go back to school, and wondering whether they’ll every return home again”. Mr Cameron, if you are to greet us for Ramadan, and recognise the humanitarian crisis at our doorsteps, then let not your Government turn a blind eye towards the suffering of Muslims in Ramadan whether in Syria or other places, and be not so outrageous as to outlaw giving them aid and assistance.
He also reminded us that “fasting is what comes to mind when we think of Ramadan”. If he acknowledges that this is integral to Ramadan then his Government should not turn a blind eye to those schools which are banning children from fasting. He explains that Ramadan is also about prayer and contemplation. It is a good thing that he reminded us about the spirit of Ramadan, since we have to learn about it somewhere, since his government is working tirelessly to close down those “extremist” schools and “Madrassas” that teach children about Islām and Ramadan, thus trying to ruin the long-built cohesion of communities by acting on sensationalist, anti-Muslim fabrications and scaremongering. If his friends do succeed in closing down Islamic faith schools, forcing their narrow, intolerant interpretations of “British values” on independent Madrassas, and banning scholars and speakers from speaking in universities and mosques, then we will have no one to teach us about Ramadan and Islām except Sheikh Cameron and company.
Despite his friends cracking down on those trying to teach people about Islām—since it is counterproductive to those who rely on widespread ignorance to malign Islām and Muslims—Sheikh Cameron does seem to be a keen supporter of Da’wah. He expressed delight at how many community iftārs were taking place across the country in mosques and in community centres. I hope he has finally discarded his friends’ neoconservative jihad to incite hatred and suspicion in the hearts of the average citizen towards their Muslim neighbours by painting them out to be “extremists”, since he praised the mosques and homeless shelters which open their doors so that Muslims can break their fasts as well as people of all faiths and none who are often asked to join.
It is obvious that some of the key values Ramadan and those extremist Madrassas teach are at odds with some people’s British values. For example, in Ramadan men and women pray but not together. So if you accept Ramadan, accept traditions to do with it such as limited interactions between men and women. Another one of the key principles Ramadan teaches is that our most basic, almost animal-like desires do not control us; we can control them. This is somewhat at odds with those who give moral-legislative powers to the whims and desires of the human being, whether it be a knee-jerk aversion to sharī’ah punishments, or a strong desire towards acts of sodomy, homosexual relationships, sex outside wedlock, and so on. Ramadan tells us we are limited in our sexual activities so surely Cameron won’t call us extreme if we have limitations about sexual activities that we are involved in. I’m glad that the new Sheikh Cameron, unlike before his apparent Ramadan epiphany, does not seem like he will proceed with silencing and prosecuting those who express the futility of obeying the lowly human soul in all its demands.
The real point of Ramadan
Having said all of this, I have to say that Mr Cameron missed the most fundamental point of Ramadan. He missed the main reason that Muslims fast long hours and are pleased with it while the rest of society is enjoying a nice British summer: it is their extreme attachment to their Lord and their Islamic identity. So-called “extremist Muslims” obey their Lord even when it is difficult or unfashionable; otherwise they would not so happily fast long hours in summer, and instead they might want to adopt a liberal version of Islām and shift Ramadan to the winter months.
Mr Cameron, We fast Ramadan as an act of submission and worship to the One and only Creator. Allāh says,
“O you who have believed, prescribed upon you is fasting as it was prescribed upon those before you that you may become God-conscious.” [7]
Ramadan is not a cultural practice, but it is about 1) submitting to one God, and 2) taking all our values and laws from God too. Now, according to you, Mr Cameron, or your colleagues, to take values from God is to be extreme.
You can double check this, Cameron, but Ramadan tells us that apart from worshipping God alone we have to follow the guidance of the best person ever to have existed, the Prophet (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam). It is he who taught us about Ramadan, so if you wish to congratulate us on Ramadan, that would involve an acknowledgement of his, (sall Allāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam), lofty status in our eyes.
And it would be extreme hypocrisy to greet us for Ramadan but act in a disrespectful way towards the one who legislated Ramadan to Muslims, but I’m sure you would never do that. Cameron I hope that greeting Muslims who observe Ramadan in the UK is an official acceptance of true pluralism and an acceptance that this country does not belong just to non-Muslims but to Muslims and non-Muslims, alike.
We are not fasting Ramadan as a cultural activity. We as Muslims want goodness for the whole of humanity and the greatest goodness is surrendering to Allāh, the Creator. We invite you as you are saying Ramadan Mubarak to testify that there is nothing worthy of worship but Allāh and Muhammad is his final messenger. We call everyone for this testimony before they meet their Lord with regret. We wish a real “Ramadan Mubarak” to all.
Source: www.islam21c.com
Notes:
[1] Al-Qur’ān 63:4
[3] https://www.islam21c.com/politics/the-extremism-of-david-cameron-and-his-ministry-of-truth/
[4] http://www.cageuk.org/category/tag/uk-terrorism-policy/passport-removal
[5] http://www.cageuk.org/article/syria-britain%E2%80%99s-new-war-terror
[6] http://schedule7stories.com/
[7] Al-Qur’ān 2:183
Lol where is Cameron now!!!!
Boris Johnson’s Ramadan message is somthing to look forward to.
…or Michael Gove perhaps!
Jzk Sheikh for speaking aloud what almost every Muslim is thinking. It takes courage to speak the truth, especially in the current climate we’re living in. It upsets me to see non-Muslims ‘pretending’ to have compassion for the Muslims when indeed, they are happy to put rules in place which makes it difficult for us to practise our deen and also to divide people into ‘us VS them’. If Cameron actually cared about the Muslims, he would re-think all of his policies and how they are perceived by law-abiding Muslims who are quite frankly, tired of all the propaganda.
I have been accused of backbiting on several occasions but David Cameron’s Ramadan message really takes the biscuit. I am bewildered.
There’s a good chance that David Cameron will resign as PM this year if Britain votes to leave the EU because otherwise it will be egg on his face.
Well said, Sheikh. Jazakallahu Khairan.
JazakAllahKhair Shaykh Haitham some very relevant points made as always.