Roles and Responsibilities of Muslims Living in Britain:
Blackburn, Saturday 3rd June, 2006.
The national speaker's tour was hosted on Saturday 3rd June at Jamia
Masjid, Blackburn, to an audience of over 1500 Muslims with many thousands
listening at home on their radio transmitters. The seminar touched on the
major problems facing the Muslims not only in Britain but also
internationally. Speakers included Shaykh Haneef Dudhwala, Shaykh Saeed
Ahmad, Dr Adnan Siddiqui, Shaykh Shu'ayb Desai and Shaykh Riyaadul Haq.
Ismail Adam Patel, one of the core organisers of the national tour
introduced local scholar Shaykh Haneef (Muslim Welfare Institute), who
reminded the audience of not forsaking our responsibilities that we have
for the whole of the Muslim nation for our personal gains; be it financial,
social or welfare. It is certainly not dignified nor part of our Islamic
tradition to compromise our humanitarian responsibilities to each other on
issues which denigrate, dishonour, and violate our rights as 'British
citizens'.
Speaking out against government policies is a democratic right
that all citizens have, and being Muslim should not stop us from doing so,
but within the boundaries of the law.
Dr Adnan Siddiqui (Cage Prisoners)
continued the discussion by giving importance to lobbying councillors and
MPs to raise issues concerning Muslims both locally, nationally, and
internationally.
Shaykh Saeed Ahmad (Imaam of Jamia Masjid Preston) explained
many obstacles may come along the way, but we should remain steadfast,
patient, and most of all trust in Allah (swa).
Shaykh Mohammad Sidat (Ummah Welfare Trust) who is an active charity worker
in Afghanistan, Kashmir, Pakistan and Africa further elucidated the plots
to change and enforce a certain type of 'progressive, modernist,
liberalist, reformist' Islam.
Muslims are told in which direction to
travel, subjugated to terms and conditions and calling for re-interpreting
the sources to 'suit our needs' of today. There is much confusion as to
what Islam really means but at its' core is the message of justice and
equity for all humans without coercion to any faith or way of life.
Shaykh
Shu'ayb Desai (Imaam of Masjid Umar, Sheffield) who outlined some of the
major problems in the Muslim community;
inactivity, fear of the authority
and silencing the pulpits of the masjids in guiding the congregation in
these testing times.
Not only has this created Muslims to over-react but
their efforts have not been focused and prioritised.
The function of the
Masjid is to guide and advise the community in all affairs concerning
Muslims everywhere.
so what are mosques/madressahs doing or discussing to address the possible impact of the new prevent proposal
PREVENT remains fixated on ideology as the primary driver of terrorism. Inevitably, this has meant a focus on religious interaction and Islamic symbolism to assess radicalisation. For example, growing a beard, wearing a hijab or mixing with those who believe Islam has a comprehensive political philosophy are key markers used to identify ‘potential’ terrorism.
3 weeks before news of the bbc doc came out i asked a local scholar if they would like to discuss prevent and the terrorism issue with me in a consultation with the ustaadhs(teachers) and some parents
the response was as predicted.."im sorry but no one wants to touch the issue"
and then 3 weeks later the issue has touched us all whether we ran from it at speed or stuck our heads in the sand
This cannot be undone and I am sure it will be greatly appreciated.
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