Category: UK

British Jews are living under the shadow of fear: Whatever happens in Israel and Palestine, nothing excuses bigoted and criminal behaviour in the UK

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British Jews are living under the shadow of fear: Whatever happens in Israel and Palestine, nothing excuses bigoted and criminal behaviour in the UK

By Khadija Khan   The increase in anti-Semitic incidents following Hamas’s barbaric attack on Israeli civilians on October 7 is abhorrent – but regrettably not surprising. Whenever tensions flare up between Israel and Palestine, this decades-long conflict spills out from the middle east and makes its way to our shores. When Hamas terrorists crossed the border from Gaza into Israel, and slaughtered 1,400 people before taking hundreds of innocents as hostages, most right-thinking people sympathised with Israel. For this was the worst pogrom against Jews since the Holocaust. And yet…

The British monarchy should be reformed to represent modern, secular Britain

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The British monarchy should be reformed to represent modern, secular Britain

By Khadija Khan British society remains grief-stricken after the death of Queen Elizabeth II, who was widely admired for the commendable service to her country. Her eldest son, King Charles III, will be crowned on May 6. The new King has been receiving much adoration and reverence from the British people, as well as some criticism for having a Coronation amid a current cost of living crisis in the UK. But whatever your opinion of the coronation or indeed the monarchy, this is the beginning of a new era in…

The BBC’s podcast on Shamima Begum ignores the true victims of ISIS atrocities

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The BBC’s podcast on Shamima Begum ignores the true victims of ISIS atrocities

By Khadija Khan Shamima Begum has been making the headlines ever since she left the UK as a 15-year-old to join Islamic State. And if you thought you hadn’t heard enough of her sob stories and tales of remorse, she has offered a window into her life in the terrorist group in the BBC podcast ‘The Shamima Begum Story’. Over the course of 10 episodes, Josh Baker and his team have conducted numerous interviews with Shamima in Syria, to try and uncover who the now 23-year-old is today, and whether…

Wakefield ‘blasphemy’ incident is a wake-up call that we could lose the the freedoms we enjoy in Britain

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Wakefield ‘blasphemy’ incident is a wake-up call that we could lose the the freedoms we enjoy in Britain

By Khadija Khan Nearly 400 years ago, the Italian astronomer and physicist Galileo Galilei was convicted of heresy. His crime was to confirm the view that the sun rather than the earth was the centre of the solar system. While today we believe this to be a scientific fact, the Catholic Church at that time believed it was the sun that moved around the earth – a fact of scripture that could not be disputed. Galileo caused huge offence to the Church and, as a result, was prosecuted and put under house…

Britain is still unwilling to confront Islamist extremism

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Britain is still unwilling to confront Islamist extremism

By Khadija Khan The gruesome and senseless killing of British MP Sir David Amess is a blow to the heart and soul of Britain’s democracy. Sir David, who had been a Conservative MP since 1983, was stabbed multiple times during a Friday meeting with his constituents in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex. Soon after the attack, Ali Harbi Ali, 25, a London-born man of Somali heritage, was arrested on suspicion of murder, and has now been charged after being detained under terrorism legislation. While it is too soon to say what the motives were…

The Muslim Council of Britain finally has a female leader – but there’s a long way to go towards equality

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The Muslim Council of Britain finally has a female leader – but there’s a long way to go towards equality

 By Khadija Khan   A historic occasion has been marked in the British Muslim community. Zara Mohammed, a 29-year-old Glaswegian, became the first woman to be elected as secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB). The news was met with a lot of approval, particularly by women, and seen as a step in the right direction towards inspiring other Muslim women to take leadership roles. It was all going well for Ms Mohammed, with all the complimentary articles about her in the papers. That is until she was asked…

Sports should be free from political and religious influence

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Sports should be free from political and religious influence

By Khadija Khan   It was heart-warming for many of us to hear the World Cup-winning Irish-born captain Eoin Morgen’s remarks, “We had Allah with us as well”. The captain used the opportunity to promote diversity and inclusion that epitomises the men’s English cricket team as the winners of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. He added: “I spoke to Adil (Rashid); he said Allah was definitely with us. I said we had the rub of the green.” Muslims tend to give all credit of their success to Allah, therefore…

The Parkfield school controversy was all about homophobia

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The Parkfield school controversy was all about homophobia

By Saima Baig   The only reason to tell children that having two mommies or two daddies in a family is ‘not appropriate’ is if you are a homophobe. Talking about safe and healthy relationships, without considering the gender of the parents, is not something that should ever be considered unsuitable.   However, this is exactly what happened in Birmingham, UK, when Parkfield Community School introduced the No Outsiders programme, the brainchild of its assistant head Teacher Andrew Moffat.  Issues addressed include gender and gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, disability…

British authorities are not equipped to deal with jihadis returning from ISIS

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British authorities are not equipped to deal with jihadis returning from ISIS

By Khadija Khan   In 2004 the British government secured the release of Jamal Udeen al-Harith from Guantanamo Bay, after strenuous diplomacy with the Americans who had captured him in Pakistan, where he was believed to be an al-Qaeda operative. Al-Harith carried out a suicide bombing in Iraq in 2017 after joining ISIS. He was born Ronald Fiddler and raised in Manchester, UK, and was reportedly radicalised in the local mosque. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s Labour government reportedly lobbied “intensely” for his release from Guantanamo Bay and he was given £1…

Shamima Begum was a minor when she travelled to Syria but she must face the consequences of her actions

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Shamima Begum was a minor when she travelled to Syria but she must face the consequences of her actions

By Tehmina Kazi   Of all the reprehensible things said by jihadi bride Shamima Begum in her notorious Times interview, what sticks out the most is her callous indifference to seeing “severed heads in bins” in ISIS territory, “because they were enemies of Islam.” In a follow-up interview with Sky News, she admitted that she knew of this aspect of ISIS’ practice even before she left for Syria in 2015 as a 15-year-old, alongside her school friends Amira Abase and Kadiza Sultana.  In her own words on beheading, “from what…