Four young British Muslims from the UK’s Young Muslims Advisory Group (YMAG) visited the Maldives this week to learn about the Maldives and speak about their own experiences growing up as Muslims in a western society. During their visit they met ministers, civil society, school students and numerous community and religious leaders across Male’, Kuludhufushi and Hanimadhoo.
Minivan News spoke to Fahad Khan, YMAG’s chair and a graduate in International Relations from Leeds, Aisha Iqbal, a biochemist with an MSc in toxicology, Saadeya Shamsuddin, a London-based journalist and author, and Waliur Rahman, founder of the Bristol Active Youth Service (BAYS) and Project Manager for the Council of Ethnic Minority Voluntary Sector Organisations (CEMVO).
JJ Robinson: Can you explain what the Young Muslims Advisory Group does, and the purpose of your visit to the Maldives?
Aisha Iqbal: The organisation was set up in 2008 by the previous UK government to engage young Muslims with the government on issues relating to violent extremism, which has now expanded to other issues including Islamic justice, religious and sex education, and foreign policy.
Waliar Rahman: We have a relationship with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office – therefore this visit – and we also advise other governments, including the US, Syria, Bangladesh and Algeria.
Fahad Khan: We’re not in the Maldives on behalf of the British government. We are here to promote and express our own views, to explain what it is like being a young Muslim in Britain, what Islam is like in Britain, and what the benefits and challenges are.
JJ: How did the group come about?
Saadeya Shamsuddin: Since the [London bombings] of 7/7, and 9/11, the UK’s government has made a whole range of changes in terms of how it gets in touch with Muslims on the ground. YMAG is part of something they created called ‘Prevent’.
FK: After 7/7 the government released a policy document as part of its wider counter terrorism strategy aimed at preventing violent extremism. At the time it was formed it had a strong focus on al-Qaeda. There was quite a large backlash from Muslims in the UK, down to how the document was worded, and its use of rhetoric they found offensive.
What we want to do is engage with the gov to change the policy and make it more positive. Currently the document is under review, and it is looking more likely that the policy will change to focus on all forms of extremism, such as the current surge of right -wing extremism in the UK. It is trying to challenge ideology in a positive way, and bring extremism into the mainstream so it can be challenged.
WR: [YMAG] is not representative of Muslims. We are not elected. But we are a channel between young Muslims and the government, and we are in a unique position because we can see both the government’s strategy and the thinking at a grassroots level.
AI: We are the first group so have had so much access to cabinet ministers and government. ‘Prevent’ was a very top down policy imposed on Muslim communities, with no prior engagement with Muslim communities, which had settled into different parts of the UK and been left alone – there was no interaction [with government].
It addressed Muslims in a very security-focused way. Our role is to make sure the government understands the need for dialogue and consultation, and not just imposed policies.
JJ: What changed with regards to the treatment of Muslim in the UK following the July 2007 bombings?
FK: I’m from Leeds, where three of the bombers came from. The experience in Leeds was very different and exaggerated compared to other parts o the UK – there was a massive influx of the world’s press wanting to speak to locals about the bombers, wanting to know about them, and asking how extremism had taken root.
A lot people walking down street had a microphone put in front of them. It made the Muslim community in Leeds very uncomfortable, because a lot of those speaking were young people aged 14-15, people without confidence or skill to speak clearly. As a result, the community became very insular and closed off. The spotlight was on them, and they were saying “we don’t want this, it’s not fair.”
Five years later the Muslim community has started to open up, and is willing to talk to people and address the issue.
JJ: How did people’s reactions change to you as Muslims living in Britain?
SS: One of the crucial things was that these were so called ‘home-grown’ terrorists. Prior to 7/7 terrorists from different parts of world had attacked America – but now it was British people attacking their own country.
AI: The whole question of identity and ‘Britishness’ came up. People asking who were you loyal to – to your faith first or to the country?
SS: The government made it an issue. it was never an issue for us.
AI: People on the street would wonder. We had huge debates and people were asked to choose [between their faith and their nationality]. It was really unfair – nobody asked Hindis or Jews. They targeted Muslim communities.
WR: In Bristol a young person was arrested on charges of planning to blow up a shopping centre. He was self-radicalised – there wasn’t a terrorist recruiter involved, which was quite unusual. He was vulnerable, disengaged, and that fed it even more. What was different was that the Muslim community stood up and worked with police to prevent this from happening.
After that the Muslim community formed the Muslim Advisory Network, a single point of contact. Because Muslim communities [in the UK] are under the spotlight, they have had to be more proactive in promoting their faith and putting in safety blankets so it doesn’t happen again.
SS: There was a media storm – it was overwhelming after 9/11 and 7/7. I’m from London and the bus bomb in Tavislock square happened a few meters from my university. There was a climate of fear – I use the tube a lot, and you could really feel the sense of fear.
A few days afterwards I was at Finchley Road station and saw two bearded men giving bags to a policemen with a resigned look. I thought it was so sad it has come to this.
AI: A lot of young people felt targeted. Young boys were so disengaged by police and felt targeted just because they were Muslim. Stop and searches went through the roof, and every time I went to the cinema they would look through my bag. A lot of people were feeling targeted and under suveillance.
In Birmingham, with no community consultation, the authorities put up £3 million worth of number-plate cameras ring-fencing the majority Muslim areas, so that anyone coming in or out would be under surveillance. The community was so angry – before that the counter-terrorism unit had great links with Muslim community, but a separate department funded it with counter-terrorism funding and said it was targeting anti-social behaviour.There was huge debate in the community, and eventually police lobbied for the cameras to be taken down.
JJ: Is there a sense that Muslim communities in the UK do isolate themselves because of this kind of reaction from the authorities?
WR: What happened was that after 7/7 people felt targeted and marginalised, especially young people. They were disaffected an disillusioned, and they felt not done anything wrong, and were being targeted because of their faith. Because of that they became increasingly isolated. One of our roles was to be that channel and identify where this disengagement was happening.
FK: In response to the question, very bluntly – yes, Muslim communities did become very insular, and I think generally speaking if your way of life is under the spotlight you will shut off, and you will only speak to people that have same beliefs as you, the same culture, and understand things the same way. That’s what happened.
WR: Let’s remember – it’s not even a percentage of the population that have these terrorist ideologies. But 100% of the faith was tarred with this brush.
FK: I work closely in schools, and one of the messages I hear is segregation in schools of young Muslim males. But that’s not just the case with Muslims – you see that with other ethnic minorites. In the UK we do not want to become isolated. We don’t want to become divided to the point where communities live in different parts of cities and there is no cultural crossover.
AI: I do think that although the majority of communities have withdrawn from politics, we are seeing a lot more young people engaged in politics and civic engagement. It is more visual now – especially at universities. I became much more active, and the events held were interesting and engaging. There is also lots of investment in leadership skills and empowerment of young Muslims.
JJ: Would you say the situation for Muslims in the UK has improved since 7/7?
WR: When Prevent was introduced, there was a large group of people who would not apply for funding – they would not go near it.
AI: It has taken a long time.
WR: The government does seem not sure where taking the strategy. A minister described it as a “fluid process” – which to to me means they have no idea where it is going.
FK: Mosques are now a lot more engaged with statutory authorities. There are programs to go out and train Imans as community leaders, run workshops in mosques, debate and discuss Islam in a way that young people can get involved in the conversation.
AI: Initially, Muslims felt attack and went on the defensive. But people are breaking from the mold and becoming self-critical, and improving governance in the mosque. Often [mosque] council members stay the same for a long time and it is very hard get the change that is needed, but the fact is that Muslim communities are slowly taking on the challenges rather than burying their heads in the ground.
JJ: What is your impression of Islam in the Maldives?
SS: We’ve been learning. We’ve had a crash course over the last week or so, starting with the Maldives High Commissioner in the UK [Dr Farahanaz Faizal] last week.
AI: Some people here are saying the religion is very similar to the culture, other people said they are seeing new influences of conservative Islam from abroad which is concerning them. We need more time to understand it.
JJ: What are some of the things that have struck you so far?
SS: I’m familiar with the culture and lifestyles of countries such as India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, and what I really like about the Maldives is the progressive equality of men and women. At all the offices we visited we’ve seen women working alongside men – in many of these other countries women seem few and far between – even the UK has gender imbalance. It is very impressive here – women have freedom to go out, do shopping, and without a chaperone. It was a huge shock, I wasn’t expecting that.
I’m not sure about the economic status of the Maldives, but it’s clean, has nice pavements – and it’s really impressive in terms culture and religion. Even though women are wearing headscarves, they are also out enjoying themselves and being independent.
WR: I think for me it’s been a shock to see the segregation of the tourism and the locals.
AI: It struck me the way people dress here. I thought coming to a Muslim country people might be conservative or there might be a traditional way of dressing, but what I found was that everyone looked Western – skinny jeans and tops. I was really shocked because I thought a conservative country would be covering itself or wearing baggy clothes. But it reminded me a lot of Indonesia and Malaysia, where faith is seen as more internal, and people aren’t judged so much by their image and their exterior.
Even where I’m from in Birmingham, a predominantly Muslim area, you get judged for what you wear. People tend to make judgements on how religious you are by your exterior appearance.
WR: Although there appears to be a rise in that here, judging from the concern of ministers and NGOs.
FK: For me what has been fascinating was to find that divorce for women is not a social taboo. In the UK, particularly for Muslim women, divorce probably means she will find it very difficult to get married again – she is seen as tainted. Whereas over here a divorced woman is not looked at as any less than a single woman.
AI: The High Commissioner told us a very funny joke about it when we were in London: “A tourist comes to the beach and sees a very pretty Maldivian girl. He wants to know who she is so he goes up to three guys and asks them.
The first guy says, ‘She’s my ex-wife.’ The tourist is very embarrassed by this, and says sorry. The guy next to him says ‘Oh, don’t worry about it, she’s my wife.’ The tourist is now really apologising. Then the third guy says, ‘Don’t worry, she’s my future wife.’” And that’s how relaxed marriage is. We were really shocked.
FK: We find this fascinating, because divorce is talked about a lot in Islam – scholars say you should avoid it.
JJ: Some Maldivians who travel overseas meet a lot of criticism back home from people who say they have been exposed to corrupting, decadent Western influences, and that these make you less Islamic, less Muslim than those who live in a 100 percent Muslim society. As young Muslims living in the West, what is your reaction to that?
SS: We visited a school and spoke to a class of 25 teenagers. We asked them to describe what they thought our experiences in the UK were. A lot of answers were quite conflicted: “tough”, “difficult”. We gave our own experiences, and I can understand why Maldivians might have this myth of British Muslim youth being corrupted.
It couldn’t be further from the truth. Actually, because we’re not a 100 percent Muslim country, because we have such a diverse mixture of colours, cultures and races, especially in London, it is a good test of your faith. You have freedom to choose, freedom to wear the headscarf, freedom to fast, freedom to pray five times a day.
Aisha’s family in Pakistan is always asking her: “you must have boyfriends – how many boyfriends do you have?” Then they come over and see the way we live, that we are far more conservative than they are, in terms of what we want to do and don’t want to do. I think it is a complete myth.
AI: I think it is true to some degree that external appearance shows that someone is more religious. But religiousity is different everyone. I’ve seen people who follow a very spiritual Islam, and for them it is about making sure their character is correct. Culture also influences you – when I first went to university nobody wore the hijab. I was one of the few to wear it, but wearing it has become a trend. People wear it in a funky way, and it’s also an identity thing. It can be very trendy.
SS: That said – there are definitely corrupt Muslims in the UK, maybe as much as in the Maldives – but no one’s watching them. Of course we have option of drinking alcohol when our parents aren’t looking, or to go out with friends to nightclubs, or have boyfriends. But it’s a very strong test of your faith to set your boundries yourself.
Because Islam is such a diverse religion, with different thoughts and cultural influences, it’s such a generalisation to think that because we are exposed to corrupting influences that we are therefore by default corrupt ourselves.
JJ: The authorities are strict in policing [unIslamic] things here, and there is antagonism towards questioning these rules, at least publicly.
WR: But then you drive it underground, into secret communities. It gives the authorities even more of a headache in terms of enforcement. What we advised when we spoke to ministers was to let people have a dialogue – people are going to have ideas that don’t conform to what you would want them to think. But let’s have a dialogue and celebrate diversity rather than trying to control it.
JJ: How do you promote debate within Islam? There is a case made here that you are only allowed to participate in a debate if you are a scholar, if you have a particular level of training.
FK: In the UK I do talks on Muslim cultural awareness – I’m not an Imam, I’m not a scholar, and I don’t have as much knowledge as them. But we can comment on Muslim culture in the UK – and certainly Islam does allow you to quote verses, and give information – so long as it is the right information. Of course I think the reason the Maldivians are more conservative about this is because they don’t want the wrong information being given out by the wrong people, which can then cause deviations from the faith, or traditional school of thought.
But in the UK, because we have the freedom to debate, we have different schools of thought. Ultimately we believe there is one God, and that Mohamed (PBUH) is his last messenger. That, and the five pillars, are universal among all schools of thought. We celebrate that.
AI: In response I would say that the first thing the Prophet Mohamed (PBUH) commanded was “to read” – to read and find out about religion for yourself. We cannot just expect scholars to teach us about religion, we have to find out and take our own conclusions on the faith – to have a dialogue. Having only lectures is not empowering – it is disempowering. It’s important to learn and engage through dialogue, and if somebody doesn’t agree with you, the fact you have made your point means they have a choice; to reflect on their position, to adjust their position or maintain it.
WR: This is a difference in our cultures regarding education. It’s common in South Asian countries to learn by ‘read, regurgitate, put on paper.’ Whereas in UK we are taught to debate, to analyse, think on our feet and think for ourselves. That’s reflected in the way we practise our religion as well.
SS: I think having scholars commenting and reflecting on passages in Islam is only effective if it is in conjuntion with all these other things, such as young Muslims going out and reading the Quran for themselves, understanding the different interpretations and engaging with that inforamtion on all levels – not just sitting there and being talked to. It should be organic, not stilted.
JJ: What you are talking sounds similar to the human right of freedom of expression, which is stated in the Maldivian constitution as ‘freedom of expression subject to the tenets of Islam’. There is a perception that freedom of expression let fundamentalism out of the bag, as well as the liberal side, but such a caveat gives the moral authority in any debate to the conservative side – the liberal element feels it cannot debate publicly for fear of social ostracism. Can you have the kind of debate you are promoting with such a precondition?
SS: That’s very interesting – I think it’s about tolerance, and tolerance goes both ways. If you are liberal, you should be tolerant of extremist ideas – not accept them but give space to accept them. Freedom of expression is a good thing – but you can’t have it both ways. If you stop that debate, you will only hear the liberal debate and ideas – and that isn’t a democracy, or probably what the Maldives is striving to be.
AI: I would say that under the tenets of Islam you have 73 different groups that are going to be coming out – so I’m sure that both liberalism and conservatism will fit somewhere within those 73 groups. There is room for that debate and dialogue.
WR: I think that in a true democracy you have debate both sides of the argument, and do not control that debate to surpress one side or the other. I think what the Maldives will do is allow this new conservative view and allow people to have these ideologies, but also allow people to have the right information so it doesn’t become an extremist ideology. And to have control measures in place so there is no violent extremism. I think the only way you can empower people is to allow them to come to their own conclusions.
AI: I think the fear in the government here is that this new wave of conservative Islam may be eroding their culture. Any culture for them is integral because of their history. But I think that’s something for the people to decide, not the government.
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High Commissioner in the UK [Dr Farahanaz Faizal].does she know what shes stalking about!? . shes there to represent Maldives and she jokes about Maldivian girls.how would somebody who spent her life abroad know about Maldivian women and Islam.and that same hadith which says that there'l be 73 sects in islam says that only 1 will survive . that means only one way of Islam is correct. this Young Muslims Advisory Group (YMAG) is a fake group which has been formed to confuse and change Islam by the UK government.and 9/11 is a inside job.they know that they cant stop Islam by any war.if Britain wanted to stop violent extremism, sincerely, they should stop NATO and America and the Jews!!,if you really believe that humans should have there own rights why don't you guys face the truth and start working the way you should!!! cant you see how the Muslims are treated by America and your ppl??,
and by the way ....
Islam will never be stopped!!! revival is on the way!!!!!
something i noticed in all this interview is the pattern of questions asked by JJ Robinson. All of the questions reflect his negative view on islam. I'm not very surprised about that, because this websites main aim is to tarnish the image of islam. its easy to believe that this is a missionary funded website seeing how news/opinions are written. no one is fooled reading it.
About the last question, who is this jj robinson to comment about our constitution? and who are these british-government-sent-people to comment about it? we are not under british colonial rule now. Those days are gone. How would the brits feel if maldivians go and lecture them about their constitution, way of life, freedoms, etc.. One message to british government: keep your nose out of maldives!
Warned wrote:
"cant you see how the Muslims are treated by America and your ppl??,
and by the way ….
Islam will never be stopped!!! revival is on the way!!!!!!"
Yeah, we Maldivians could teach them a lot about religious tolerance.
As for your second point. Yep, our birth rate is quite formidable. Da'wa is quite unnecessary.Though might I suggest we kill each other less, it'd speed up the process me thinks.
There's a good trick if you want to not be harassed in Europe. Shave.
*Buh buh but, da Vatican!!! (Feel free to Ignore that they choose to go work there on a professional basis, and is not a “nation” in the conventional sense).
And something about hell fire; fee fo fi fum.*
Colonialism is so 19th century!
Conspiracy theories are so 1980s!
Europeans got bored with "missionary work" when they stopped believing in religion altogether. Heck they don't even do the missionary position now.
The sooner you nut-jobs realize this the easier for everyone.
Don't believe in the British or the white skin. Verily, they're the devils in disguise as Muslims.
I am the only Muslim by whom all Maldivians must listen. I will not talk crap but only the truth.
I've eaten a penny from the state. I've never said that I've left the political arena. I've never tortured a citizen. Not with my hands, no, no. 🙂
So please join like my cronies in commenting bad about this article. (That's if you're a true Muslim and if you're not with the white skin devils.)
can a newspaper journalist sink so low as to counter-comment his readers? Some of the comments seem like to be from him! Who knows? in a world of minivan news, anything goes. No creadibility.
Haha, Warned is an idiot. Inside job? Hahahaa! Maybe you know Osama bin Laden enough to know that it was in fact an inside job? I love when haabees who can actually read and write comment on such articles 😛
Free Our Schools
Almost all children now believe they go to school to pass exams. The idea that they may be there for an education is irrelevant. State schools have become exam factories, interested only in A to C Grades. They do not educate children. Exam results do not reflect a candidate’s innate ability. Employers have moaned for years that too many employees cannot read or write properly. According to a survey, school-leavers and even graduates lack basic literacy and numeracy skills. More and more companies are having to provide remedial training to new staff, who can’t write clear instructions, do simple maths, or solve problems. Both graduates and school-leavers were also criticised for their sloppy time-keeping, ignorance of basic customer service and lack of self-discipline.
Bilingual Muslims children have a right, as much as any other faith group, to be taught their culture, languages and faith alongside a mainstream curriculum. More faith schools will be opened under sweeping reforms of the education system in England. There is a dire need for the growth of state funded Muslim schools to meet the growing needs and demands of the Muslim parents and children. Now the time has come that parents and community should take over the running of their local schools. Parent-run schools will give the diversity, the choice and the competition that the wealthy have in the private sector. Parents can perform a better job than the Local Authority because parents have a genuine vested interest. The Local Authority simply cannot be trusted.
The British Government is planning to make it easier to schools to “opt out” from the Local Authorities. Muslim children in state schools feel isolated and confused about who they are. This can cause dissatisfaction and lead them into criminality, and the lack of a true understanding of Islam can ultimately make them more susceptible to the teachings of fundamentalists like Christians during the middle ages and Jews in recent times in Palestine. Fundamentalism is nothing to do with Islam and Muslim; you are either a Muslim or a non-Muslim.
There are hundreds of state primary and secondary schools where Muslim pupils are in majority. In my opinion all such schools may be opted out to become Muslim Academies. This mean the Muslim children will get a decent education. Muslim schools turned out balanced citizens, more tolerant of others and less likely to succumb to criminality or extremism. Muslim schools give young people confidence in who they are and an understanding of Islam’s teaching of tolerance and respect which prepares them for a positive and fulfilling role in society. Muslim schools are attractive to Muslim parents because they have better discipline and teaching Islamic values. Children like discipline, structure and boundaries. Bilingual Muslim children need Bilingual Muslim teachers as role models during their developmental periods, who understand their needs and demands.
None of the British Muslims convicted following the riots in Bradford and Oldham in 2001 or any of those linked to the London bombings had been to Islamic schools. An American Think Tank studied the educational back ground of 300 Jihadists; none of them were educated in Pakistani Madrasas. They were all Western educated by non-Muslim teachers. Bilingual Muslim children need bilingual Muslim teachers as role models. A Cambridge University study found that single-sex classes could make a big difference for boys. They perform better in single-sex classes. The research is promising because male students in the study saw noticeable gains in the grades. The study confirms the Islamic notion that academic achievement is better in single-sex classes.
IA
http://www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk
How stupid can one be...You can accept that during darkages, men may be fooled, but now?
Religions are man-concocted cocktails of mumbo-gibberish, to manage people. Sure, the parts where communities help each other are still applicable, good and MUST be enforced via constitution , but holy giberrish... No way.
There are more facts to prove that fact than there will ever be to prove otherwise.
Disgusting that High Commissioner Farahanaz Faisal would ridicule and joke about Maldivian women. A women with such attitude as Faraha should not representing Maldives overseas. She should issue a public apology..
@ The Balrog
I love when secularists who Keep on believing everything which is fed to them by the American government & other western governments, try to make a sound argument.
Just saying Haabee this and haabee that shows your insecurity!
High commissioner Barahanaz should be removed for making that stupid joke about our women. Evil tart. And JJ, what do you know about true journalism. You are a hell of an idiot paid by MN to promote negativeness about our beautiful country and its laws. Fuck off from Maldives JJ.
Its good and ok to study in British government funded scholarships. Ok to study in Britain with non-Muslims but not ok to meet any British Muslim visiting Maldives with a slightly different views.
The High Commissioner wasn't joking. What she said was a fair representation fo how things are. Did she have to misrepresent rather than represent in order to keep the terrorists happy?
we shud all forget the past and try to rebuild the future with positivity & true enlightment...purify our intentions & organise our globe for a more civilised harmonious peaceful and happy place...now there is a phenomenom we shud not forget...example if we say to a fat woman on her face u r so fat & ugly...u might either get a positive result or negative result...one is she might not be very strong from inside anf might not know the true intention of the person who said it to her face and become so much emberassed and stressed and commit suiceide...which means in this scenario its a total disaster...ther other scenario is she might as well take is as a challenge and do more excersise & be on a healthy balanced diet & may b in few month period she might become a total sexy body deva...so it goes both ways...the important point here is its better to be very direct to a person only if u r sure he/she can take it otherwise better give a kind suggestion advise or may be some educational material to solve the matter in which definitely the disaster component can be eliminated...this method applies in all levels...wether u r a begger,scientist,governer,army commander,fbi,cia,m16,president,religous person,non religous person,usa.saudi arabia,iran,iraq,japan,china.russia,italy,france,earth,universe,milkyway,billionare,trillionare or ant hahahahah...quite funny stuff huhh kekeke
I would say, the most religious part of maldives, is the exterior. Girls here wear the veil, and you can tell more about her body than another who is not wearing it. Its all a bloody show off
@Wine @ Pork Lover - Farahanaz Faizal may not have been joking but she was ridiculing Maldivian women for sure. If that is the standard of our diplomats it would be better to appoint Yoosay and Thajoobe to such posts.
@Hameed. Check the facts and it is true. A woman in Maldives would have 3 or 4 husbands. Kaey hajamu nukurevigen dho thi ulhenee. Keekey that dhen bunanvee. Emme meehakaa ey indhegen ulhenee? Dhen bunaane ambasador keevve hey dhogu hadhanee. Standard of diplomats eh nethey.
Some Maldivian women nowadays are meant to be ridiculed. Just look at 'em. Wearing suicide tents, and then acting like morons.
My hats off to the real women of Maldives who hilariously disregard the suicide tent and still hold on to the values of dignity, strength and faith in truth.
Islam may be revived - but it may never be the great religion that inspired the Arab world to achieving 0.8 Kardashev the way things are now. If islam is revived as a global religion, it will be no different from European colonialism.
Remember the slave at Harrow.
Never forget.
What are the chances of a revival of Islam?
Bleak.
You would need to start talking the same language before it can be revived to a stronger stance.
Arabic dictatorships are falling apart. Just like what happened in Egypt, will happen everywhere. The moment you are forced to let go of the grip on forced religion, other religions will come in, big time.
We muslims are paranoid of any one speaking nice about Jews, Christians. Because they know, if anybody starts talking logically, many will let go of our vile religion and cross to other religions.
The only way anyone can revive Islam is to move back in time, where everyone is isolated, and force feed arabic soup, so that they dont comprehend what the hell they chant about. And then terrorize them so that they dont even question any of it.
@Revival of Islam
Oh, and the oil's running out pretty quick, I hear. The free world is in a mad rush to covertly develop an alternative to petrofuels.
Hameed, Her Excellency the High Commissioner of the Republic of Maldives at the Court of St. James was simply drawing an analogy based on marriage, divorce and remarriage statistics. She too is a Maldivian woman and her family has lived on these islands probably longer than yours. If she was ridiculing Maldivian women she was ridiculing herself as well.
Not that much of British Muslims are really good examples of what it means to be a Muslim. If you visit Britain and meet some so called British Muslims, 1 out of 5 would mostly likely use foul language in his or her conversations. This trend is increasing within the youth because they are taught Islam in a more cultural way. Its the same concept used in Maldives before. Lets learn how to read Arabic so that we can just read the Quran. But what is the use of learning how to read a language - if you do not know the meaning of what your reading?
If someone was to learn how to read Dhivehi, wouldnt it be logical for that person to learn the meanings of it as well?
Due to this absense, the connection to the wisdom behind the words is lost. Most of us who do not know what we are reciting while praying, would be trying hard to focus and not be distracted easily by other things. When you understand what your reciting, it is harder to lose your focus.
http://www.sandhaanu.net/videos/nouman-ali-khan/why-and-how-to-learn-arabic-for-comprehension-of-the-quran-video_c2cfe32b7.html
Another thing about England is that the parent-child relationship has flown out the window in majority of the households. This is due to the Western culture which encourages children to be
independent as an individual. The filthy words the children at times use against their parents is unbelievable. This might be less in a more rich family, but in Islam it should not matter if your from a higher or lower income family. Islamic ways of behaviour is the same since we learn from the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
We do not need to look at other people to see how we should be as Muslims, not even to our families. We are already told to follow Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as a model example of every character that a Muslim should have. Its when we start following people close to us that we have a small chance of going astray. Many people including parents leave out some obligatory parts of Islam while concentrating more on other parts. Or some just stick to the five times praying and thats it. Others might practise suspision about people around them without evidences. So all these things are ways that a child can go astray. However if a child is taught to love Rasurullah (pbuh) more than his/her parents, that child will automatically want to be closer to Rasurullah (pbuh) more than anyone else. Inshallah may parents learn this and help the new generation not make the same mistakes as the current and previous generation.
http://www.sandhaanu.net/videos/nouman-ali-khan/the-legacy-of-prophet-abraham-ibrahim-alayhi-salaam-video_364cfd9a9.html
Muaz MZ. I suppose those British kuffar are the worst of animals. Allaah (SWT) revealed to Rasool (PBUH) "Lo! the worst of animals in Allaah's sight are the ungrateful who will not believe." (Glorious Qur`aan 8:55). What species of animals are these British, Muaz MZ?
you are exactly on behalf of the British government.can knw it by sayin that ure not.
Allah distinguishes between eemaan and kufr