Category: Islam

Islamophobia is a convenient word to shut down a debate

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Islamophobia is a convenient word to shut down a debate

By Arshia Malik   Islamophobia is a term bandied around very casually these days on anything and anybody who stands up to the regressive practices in Muslim culture and denounces their oppressive characteristics. The first to scream Islamophobia are the practicing Muslims themselves at ex-Muslims, or agnostic Muslims, or liberal Muslims who feel they should speak out against the various shortcomings in their culture, their religion, their text and their fellow Muslims. A disclaimer first – I am aware that many cases of discrimination and abuse against Muslims are on…

Don’t ban the burqa – challenge the modesty doctrines instead

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Don’t ban the burqa – challenge the modesty doctrines instead

By Tehmina Kazi Unlike other articles on Muslim women’s sartorial trends, this one will not start with a terrible “thinly-veiled” pun, or a picture of a woman with her face covered in black  cloth. Shazia Hobbs managed to avoid both these traps in her “Ban the burqa” article, which correctly identified religious fundamentalism as a bigger problem in the current generation of British Muslims, than in previous generations.  The proliferation of face-veils is simply one manifestation of this; other manifestations include gender segregation on university campuses, and the ex-communication (or takfir) of…

Why is Sesame Street’s New Afghan Muppet wearing a headscarf?

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Why is Sesame Street’s New Afghan Muppet wearing a headscarf?

By Samar Esapzai This is a cross-post   I have always loved Sesame Street. It was the only children’s show, along with Fraggle Rock, that I eagerly watched as a little girl while growing up in Saudi Arabia. I especially love how culturally diverse the show is and how, through multicultural elements, it aims to teach young children the value of mutual acceptance and cross-cultural friendships. In a nutshell, the show is perfect in all aspects of what a children’s show is supposed to entail. So it did not come…

Let’s take Islam back from the extremists and fundamentalists

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Let’s take Islam back from the extremists and fundamentalists

By Hassan Radwan   Islam – my religion – is facing the most serious crisis of its 1400 year history. Extremists like ISIS only serve to bring this crisis to a head, but it has been growing over the last 200 years. Yet despite this, we refuse to accept there is need for reform or even to engage in a conversation about it. The past 200 years have seen some of the greatest changes in human history. Changes in relationships, gender roles, law and order, morality and ethics. Changes in the…

Ex Muslims and converts to Islam are not so different

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Ex Muslims and converts to Islam are not so different

By Sarah Ager   Ex-Muslims and converts to Islam have much more in common than you might imagine. These similarities go beyond simply moving from one set of beliefs (or lack thereof) to another or having a connection with Islam either in the past or the present. One of these unexpected, and rather negative, similarities between ex-Muslims and Muslim converts was first pointed out to me by Imtiaz Shams, co-founder of Faith to Faithless, during a conversation in which he commented that “both of us get fetishised and hated if you don’t fall in…

Muslims Must Accept LGBTQ People

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Muslims Must Accept LGBTQ People

By E.A. Sofia   Every so often, there is a news story about persecution against LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Queer) people in Muslim-majority countries or a poll on Muslim views on social issues. The resulting conversations are all too often derailed and the topic of the conversation changed to non-Muslims’ views on Islam. This derailment is convenient for those who wish to avoid the long-overdue conversation that’s needed about how Islamic views affect the lives of LGBTQ people. As Muslims are a minority in the West, there’s a desire to be seen…

What do British Muslims really think?

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What do British Muslims really think?

By Iram Ramzan   This was the week when British Muslims became experts in research methodology. Trevor Phillips, who led the Equality and Human Rights Commission, presented the Channel 4 show What British Muslims Really Think on Wednesday night, which was based on an ICM survey — and it has created quite a debate. The ICM surveyed 1,000 Muslims face-to-face and found that: One in 25 Muslims (four per cent) said they felt at least some sympathy with people who took part in suicide bombings, while a similar proportion said…

The likes of Nazimuddin Samad cannot die in vain

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The likes of Nazimuddin Samad cannot die in vain

By Malia B   Nazimuddin Samad, a 28 year old law student, was brutally murdered on 7th April, 2016 by Islamists in Bangladesh. His ‘crime’ – being critical of Islamism. He is the sixth Bangladeshi atheist/secular blogger to be killed in the last 15 months. The horror of what happened to Nazimuddin has sadly become the norm these days. It is almost an accepted form of hatred and resultant crime because he was provoking the delicate Islamists in his nation. Some asked, what did he expect in return? He was being…

Is Charlie Hebdo ‘Islamophobic’ for echoing liberal Muslim voices?

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Is Charlie Hebdo ‘Islamophobic’ for echoing liberal Muslim voices?

By Kunwar Khuldune Shahid   For a publication that has published barely 10 editions satirising Islam in the past decade, Charlie Hebdo has earned its ‘Islamophobic’ label rather effortlessly. ‘Islamophobia’ even in its most liberal definition would at least imply prejudice against Islam, Muslims or any variation thereof. Accusing a magazine that has mocked Christianity thrice as many times in the same duration, and religion in general twice as much, of bias against Islam betrays – at the very least – bias against the publication. Maybe it’s because there weren’t…

The Muslim Council of Britain needs to accept Ahmadis as their own.

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The Muslim Council of Britain needs to accept Ahmadis as their own.

By Shamila Ghyas   Asad Shah was what one would use as an example for a good human being. The humble shopkeeper from Glasgow was loved by his whole community — Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Well — except a few. We live in a world where it is the loud, violent people like Anjem Choudary who go around telling and trying to convince everyone that all ‘Kaafirs’ [non believers] deserve to die.  A world in which popular scholars like Zakir Naik preach that it is “haram” [forbidden] to even wish a Christian ‘Merry…