Teenage years has probably got to be one of the most sensitive times of communication between the teen and his/her parents. Especially for the second generation whose parents are immigrants. So listen...
You will never be able to win your parents over to allow you to do that new thing (that you so desperately want to pursue) by talking to them with a tone in your voice. You perceive that tone as passion, but your parents will perceive it as a lack of maturity & incompetence. If you want your parents to love and support you in your new path, talk to them with humility, and be patient for whatever answer you will get after. It takes time for parents to loosen up and relax whatever constraints they have on you, but eventually it will happen. For most of our parents, if we talk to them with an attitude, they completely shut off from us because they dislike the way we talked to them, even if you are right and they are wrong. This is just how many parents are.
And don't bring up that ''I'm not a child anymore, I'm an adult!" because they haaate that. Whether you are 17 or 70 you will always remain a child in their eyes. So don't exclaim that you are an adult, SHOW them that you're an adult, show them that you're competent, mature, capable and intelligent. And in response hopefully they will reach that realization that they should start treating you like an adult. So yeah, hold your tongue, be patient, it will do you amazing favors in the long term. Trust me.
Negotiate, discuss, and reason with them; the important thing is that you do it in a good manner.
Wednesday, 5 June 2013
Monday, 3 June 2013
If you're a woman and you want to pursue a degree in Islamic studies, DO IT.
If you're a woman and you want to pursue a degree in Islamic studies, do it. Yes, DO IT.
There is an urgent need for women scholars and it’s very serious. Something that many Muslim women are struggling with is finding themselves, their status and their worth in the deen of Islam. The amount of times I was close to leaving Islam because of the ignorance of a few speakers when lecturing about women. This struggle exists because unfortunately there are traditions among Islamic thinkers that have distorted Islamic teachings pertaining to women... and has been further affected by cultural thought, for example, the literalist and cultural traditions that don’t look at women’s issues holistically. According to both traditions, the Quran views men as superior over women, that it is haram for a woman to work, women must stay confined in their homes at all times and that wife-beating can even be permissible. These are the products of looking at Islamic texts literally and devoiding it from its historical & cultural context they were revealed in. From my opinion, this is actually dangerous e.g. verse 2:228 in the Quran:
“And they (women) have rights (over their husbands as regards living expenses) similar (to those of their husbands) over them (as regards obedience and respect) to what is reasonable, but men have a degree over them. And Allaah is All-Mighty, All-Wise”- [al-Baqarah 2:228]
From a literal point of view, you could understand this verse to mean that men are superior over women and that this belief is legitimate within Islam. But when you look at the Arabic, context and the tafseer (explanation) you will find it implies something totally different. The commentators of the Quran in the earlier Islamic period such as Ibn Hajar and Ibn Katheer never understood this to mean absolute superiority over women. Rather the correct meaning implied is that men have a degree of RESPONSIBILITY over the women. That they “are the protectors and maintainers of women”. Other verses that have been interpreted literally to justify wife beating & the confinement of women in the home when it is IN FACT contradictory to the Sunnah (Prophetic tradition):
1) The prophet (PBUH) never laid a finger on his wives except with gentleness, and he advised his companions to do likewise. In one hadith he expressed his extreme repulsion from this behavior and said: "How does anyone of you beat his wife as he beats the stallion camel and then embrace (sleep with) her?” (Al-Bukhari, English Translation, vol. 8, Hadith 68, pp. 42-43)
2) He never forbade Khadija (RA) from continuing with her business dealings. A woman even came to him for advice on trade: A companion named Qaila said to the Prophet: "I am a woman who buys and sells things (in other words, a trader)." Then she asked him several questions about buying and selling (Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqat, Vol. 8, p.228) [Afzal: p. 69]
Referring to a second woman: It is reported about Shifa' Bint Abdullah: "Umar often entrusted her with market responsibilities (i.e., as a market inspector) Al--Isti'ab fi Asma' al-Ashab by Jalal U. Ansar Umri. [Afzal: p.86]
Referring to a third woman: Ibn Abd al-Barr, Al--Isti'ab fi Asma' al-Ashab: writes about Samra Bint Nuhaik, "She commanded good and forbade evil while going around in the markets. She had a whip in her hand with which she punished those who committed any evil or vice (Munkar). [Afzal: p.77]
3) Also he was the one who supported Aisha (RA) through her struggle to becoming a teacher, a scholar and a political activist who was very much engaged with her society. Many of us overlook the fact that she was even a narrator of hadith.
So we can now see how some literalist & cultural traditions can produce conclusions that are INCOMPATIBLE with Islam.
On top of that, this tradition has resulted in limiting the role of women to merely a wife and a mother, nothing more. Although these are VERY important roles, it's not right to limit a woman's purpose in Islam to just those, and not encourage her to exercise her talents & intellect within the limits of halal. The mothers of the believers were not just mothers and wives as they had a very active role in society, but they did so in a way that it wouldn’t interfere with their roles as mothers and wives.
It was the combination of the efforts of both Muslim men and women that allowed their Islamic communities to flourish in Arabia, Persia and North Africa. In the 9th century Fatima Al-Fihri opened up the University of Qarawiyyin in Morocco and was also the founder of the world's first academic degree-granting institution of higher education. I know Islamic Societies in universities that would not have survived if it wasn’t for their women’s participation. And this could not have been achieved if these women were confined to their home. If we women were to do so, then who would be doing dawah to other women and younger Muslim girls? If men were to do it, that would fall under free-mixing. It is a fact that Muslim girls are lacking of good adult influence. And sadly not all Muslim girls can look to their families for that. One Muslim woman who won’t be named even complained that girls are not practicing Islam because they feel it’s not applicable to them. So please, don’t tell me that the literalist & cultural view of women in Islam is the correct approach.
Additionally there is a double standard, Why is it that when a white revert female is on the forefront of dawah, we praise her, but when a Muslim woman who comes from our Middle Eastern, Asian and Somali backgrounds, we discourage her?
When women are not given their rightful place in Islam, it is half of the Ummah who are being deprived. Like a plane with only one wing, it will fly forward a little bit, but eventually it will return in a circle and land back at square one. This is how I view a society that doesn’t do justice to the other sex. I can think of communities who largely take on the literal & cultural tradition and they aren’t progressing anywhere.The real practice of Islamic studies requires intense intellectual effort & excellence; memorization, language ability, historical knowledge & understanding, sociology, law, philosophy etc. Scholars are trained to disassociate themselves from their whims and cultural assumptions so they can understand Islam the way it would be understood rather than through the lens of their whims and cultural traditions. Now you can see why scholars are known as the inheritors of knowledge. So to look at the Islamic teaching in a literalist & cultural perspective severely undermines that. But people do it anyway, because it’s easy and doesn’t require as much intellectual effort- as stated by Tareq Ramadan.
Lastly, we’re in a crisis; When there are shariah councils in the UK are turning Muslim women away who are suffering from domestic abuse, it’s no small matter. Islamic law says that a woman who is being abused by her husband has the right to dissolve her marriage and even choose to bring forth consequences. So where is this knowledge today? Us Muslim women, really, we share the blame for not taking the initiative to study women’s rights, femininity, and what it means to be a woman in the light of Islam. So yes, we need more female scholars side by side with our male scholars. In the early centuries of Islam there were no less than 8000 Muslim women scholars. Such vast numbers truly testify to the huge role that women have played in the preservation and development of Islamic learning since the time of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). So please, any one of you women who want to pursue Islamic studies. Do it. May Allah make it easy for you.
This is not ‘Islamic feminism’, this is simply just Islam.
“"Whoever is met by death while he is seeking knowledge to revive Islam, then between him and the Prophets will be only one degree in Paradise."- Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) Sunnan Al-Darimi
There is an urgent need for women scholars and it’s very serious. Something that many Muslim women are struggling with is finding themselves, their status and their worth in the deen of Islam. The amount of times I was close to leaving Islam because of the ignorance of a few speakers when lecturing about women. This struggle exists because unfortunately there are traditions among Islamic thinkers that have distorted Islamic teachings pertaining to women... and has been further affected by cultural thought, for example, the literalist and cultural traditions that don’t look at women’s issues holistically. According to both traditions, the Quran views men as superior over women, that it is haram for a woman to work, women must stay confined in their homes at all times and that wife-beating can even be permissible. These are the products of looking at Islamic texts literally and devoiding it from its historical & cultural context they were revealed in. From my opinion, this is actually dangerous e.g. verse 2:228 in the Quran:
“And they (women) have rights (over their husbands as regards living expenses) similar (to those of their husbands) over them (as regards obedience and respect) to what is reasonable, but men have a degree over them. And Allaah is All-Mighty, All-Wise”- [al-Baqarah 2:228]
From a literal point of view, you could understand this verse to mean that men are superior over women and that this belief is legitimate within Islam. But when you look at the Arabic, context and the tafseer (explanation) you will find it implies something totally different. The commentators of the Quran in the earlier Islamic period such as Ibn Hajar and Ibn Katheer never understood this to mean absolute superiority over women. Rather the correct meaning implied is that men have a degree of RESPONSIBILITY over the women. That they “are the protectors and maintainers of women”. Other verses that have been interpreted literally to justify wife beating & the confinement of women in the home when it is IN FACT contradictory to the Sunnah (Prophetic tradition):
1) The prophet (PBUH) never laid a finger on his wives except with gentleness, and he advised his companions to do likewise. In one hadith he expressed his extreme repulsion from this behavior and said: "How does anyone of you beat his wife as he beats the stallion camel and then embrace (sleep with) her?” (Al-Bukhari, English Translation, vol. 8, Hadith 68, pp. 42-43)
2) He never forbade Khadija (RA) from continuing with her business dealings. A woman even came to him for advice on trade: A companion named Qaila said to the Prophet: "I am a woman who buys and sells things (in other words, a trader)." Then she asked him several questions about buying and selling (Ibn Sa'd, Tabaqat, Vol. 8, p.228) [Afzal: p. 69]
Referring to a second woman: It is reported about Shifa' Bint Abdullah: "Umar often entrusted her with market responsibilities (i.e., as a market inspector) Al--Isti'ab fi Asma' al-Ashab by Jalal U. Ansar Umri. [Afzal: p.86]
Referring to a third woman: Ibn Abd al-Barr, Al--Isti'ab fi Asma' al-Ashab: writes about Samra Bint Nuhaik, "She commanded good and forbade evil while going around in the markets. She had a whip in her hand with which she punished those who committed any evil or vice (Munkar). [Afzal: p.77]
3) Also he was the one who supported Aisha (RA) through her struggle to becoming a teacher, a scholar and a political activist who was very much engaged with her society. Many of us overlook the fact that she was even a narrator of hadith.
So we can now see how some literalist & cultural traditions can produce conclusions that are INCOMPATIBLE with Islam.
On top of that, this tradition has resulted in limiting the role of women to merely a wife and a mother, nothing more. Although these are VERY important roles, it's not right to limit a woman's purpose in Islam to just those, and not encourage her to exercise her talents & intellect within the limits of halal. The mothers of the believers were not just mothers and wives as they had a very active role in society, but they did so in a way that it wouldn’t interfere with their roles as mothers and wives.
It was the combination of the efforts of both Muslim men and women that allowed their Islamic communities to flourish in Arabia, Persia and North Africa. In the 9th century Fatima Al-Fihri opened up the University of Qarawiyyin in Morocco and was also the founder of the world's first academic degree-granting institution of higher education. I know Islamic Societies in universities that would not have survived if it wasn’t for their women’s participation. And this could not have been achieved if these women were confined to their home. If we women were to do so, then who would be doing dawah to other women and younger Muslim girls? If men were to do it, that would fall under free-mixing. It is a fact that Muslim girls are lacking of good adult influence. And sadly not all Muslim girls can look to their families for that. One Muslim woman who won’t be named even complained that girls are not practicing Islam because they feel it’s not applicable to them. So please, don’t tell me that the literalist & cultural view of women in Islam is the correct approach.
Additionally there is a double standard, Why is it that when a white revert female is on the forefront of dawah, we praise her, but when a Muslim woman who comes from our Middle Eastern, Asian and Somali backgrounds, we discourage her?
When women are not given their rightful place in Islam, it is half of the Ummah who are being deprived. Like a plane with only one wing, it will fly forward a little bit, but eventually it will return in a circle and land back at square one. This is how I view a society that doesn’t do justice to the other sex. I can think of communities who largely take on the literal & cultural tradition and they aren’t progressing anywhere.The real practice of Islamic studies requires intense intellectual effort & excellence; memorization, language ability, historical knowledge & understanding, sociology, law, philosophy etc. Scholars are trained to disassociate themselves from their whims and cultural assumptions so they can understand Islam the way it would be understood rather than through the lens of their whims and cultural traditions. Now you can see why scholars are known as the inheritors of knowledge. So to look at the Islamic teaching in a literalist & cultural perspective severely undermines that. But people do it anyway, because it’s easy and doesn’t require as much intellectual effort- as stated by Tareq Ramadan.
Lastly, we’re in a crisis; When there are shariah councils in the UK are turning Muslim women away who are suffering from domestic abuse, it’s no small matter. Islamic law says that a woman who is being abused by her husband has the right to dissolve her marriage and even choose to bring forth consequences. So where is this knowledge today? Us Muslim women, really, we share the blame for not taking the initiative to study women’s rights, femininity, and what it means to be a woman in the light of Islam. So yes, we need more female scholars side by side with our male scholars. In the early centuries of Islam there were no less than 8000 Muslim women scholars. Such vast numbers truly testify to the huge role that women have played in the preservation and development of Islamic learning since the time of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). So please, any one of you women who want to pursue Islamic studies. Do it. May Allah make it easy for you.
This is not ‘Islamic feminism’, this is simply just Islam.
“"Whoever is met by death while he is seeking knowledge to revive Islam, then between him and the Prophets will be only one degree in Paradise."- Prophet Muhammed (PBUH) Sunnan Al-Darimi
Thursday, 30 May 2013
So called Islamic Infiltration of the UK. More Hot Air From the Far Right groups to spark fear in the population.
Again, there is a media flare on the 'Islamic infiltration' of the United Kingdom, a myth that is being fueled by nationalist groups in their social circles and on Youtube, facebook, twitter and other media sites across the web. They talk about how Anjem Choudhary and his followers are getting brave by openly protesting their hate towards the British way of life and that it is a sign of the 'fundamentalist uprising' that will be successful in implementing shariah in the UK if we continue to ignore them. If you think that Anjem Choudhary and his 100-200 followers (whom have little knowledge about shariah let alone the UK Political system) are going to achieve their aim of implementing shariah law on the entire United Kingdom and its 60,000,000 citizens. Then you've simply had your emotions played with.
Monday, 27 May 2013
A confession
After a long moment of reflection. I don't care of reputation, i don't care of opinions, pride, image, wealth, possessions, impressing others because they really amount to nothing if I haven't pleased the one above. They don't bring me happiness and contentment, only a superficial feeling which i mistook for happiness. Paraphrasing the Quran: This world is only a moment of amusement and sweet deception, and the next life is better for you and so are your enduring good deeds. All these things that I stated won't last. I will never be able to capture them, but they will follow me and they will tease me. The only things that will last are the good deeds that are treasured by Allah. I'm not trying to be cheesy and philosophical here. The more you understand this the happier you will become.
By grounding your heart in this dunya, investing in it emotionally and mentally, then you are only setting yourself up for loss, and possibly insanity. Because your conscience and your heart doesn't rest if it is placed on things that are finite. But by placing your heart in the one who does not perish (SWT), then you are safe. This is one major difference between the one who believes in the Akhirah and the one who doesn't.
By grounding your heart in this dunya, investing in it emotionally and mentally, then you are only setting yourself up for loss, and possibly insanity. Because your conscience and your heart doesn't rest if it is placed on things that are finite. But by placing your heart in the one who does not perish (SWT), then you are safe. This is one major difference between the one who believes in the Akhirah and the one who doesn't.
Friday, 24 May 2013
"There was a time where you were on the brink of destruction..."
Enhance the good in people.
I remember in the past I came across a someone at Uni who shared his anti-Arab sentiment with me. He's a student like myself. The stuff that he was coming up with was exactly the kind of information you would find in colonialist literature; portraying us as if we were warmongering people who had 10 wives stealing peoples riches on our conquests. I was FUMING for days afterwards that I had even complained to people about him! The same anger arisen when arguing with someone on the Woolwich incident. It was a really heated moment. Then a friend kindly pointed out to 'advise with hikmah' i.e. advise in a patient manner and with wisdom. There was a great lesson to learn from what she advised me.
Going back to the first person, I realized i was so focused on that one bad aspect of him that i totally disregarded everything else. He was an intelligent historian, he was on the deen, he was sociable and would do favors for others without asking. Such a shame that he held such prejudiced sentiments- but that could have been fixed. If I had advised this brother in a proper manner, then there was a possibility that he would have abandoned such beliefs and become a better person. Instead I disregarded him altogether along with the good qualities he had in a moment of blind anger.
There was once a time when we all were worse off, but then someone had the patience and the faith in us to advise us to take the higher route. We didn't develop into better people on our own, we had some form of help and advice along the way from someone who overlooked OUR faults and believed in us! As Saudi Sheikh Muhammed Al-Arayfi said; "Perhaps there is 90% bad [in a person] and there is 10% good. So expand this 10% and treat it as 50%. Don't say [to such a person] that you are a sinner/transgressor. Because that will decrease the 10%. Consider the good to be more. Perhaps Allah shall rectify this person at your hands."
See full video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38bUWI_7rGQ
I remember in the past I came across a someone at Uni who shared his anti-Arab sentiment with me. He's a student like myself. The stuff that he was coming up with was exactly the kind of information you would find in colonialist literature; portraying us as if we were warmongering people who had 10 wives stealing peoples riches on our conquests. I was FUMING for days afterwards that I had even complained to people about him! The same anger arisen when arguing with someone on the Woolwich incident. It was a really heated moment. Then a friend kindly pointed out to 'advise with hikmah' i.e. advise in a patient manner and with wisdom. There was a great lesson to learn from what she advised me.
Going back to the first person, I realized i was so focused on that one bad aspect of him that i totally disregarded everything else. He was an intelligent historian, he was on the deen, he was sociable and would do favors for others without asking. Such a shame that he held such prejudiced sentiments- but that could have been fixed. If I had advised this brother in a proper manner, then there was a possibility that he would have abandoned such beliefs and become a better person. Instead I disregarded him altogether along with the good qualities he had in a moment of blind anger.
There was once a time when we all were worse off, but then someone had the patience and the faith in us to advise us to take the higher route. We didn't develop into better people on our own, we had some form of help and advice along the way from someone who overlooked OUR faults and believed in us! As Saudi Sheikh Muhammed Al-Arayfi said; "Perhaps there is 90% bad [in a person] and there is 10% good. So expand this 10% and treat it as 50%. Don't say [to such a person] that you are a sinner/transgressor. Because that will decrease the 10%. Consider the good to be more. Perhaps Allah shall rectify this person at your hands."
See full video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38bUWI_7rGQ
Thursday, 23 May 2013
This is Amazing.
I commend the blogger who put this together:
http://publicshaming.tumblr.com/post/51092450285/man-killed-in-horrible-london-machete-attack-racist
Also see: Muslims and the British press: http://amilandonethoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/if-you-believe-media-you-will-only-see.html
http://publicshaming.tumblr.com/post/51092450285/man-killed-in-horrible-london-machete-attack-racist
Also see: Muslims and the British press: http://amilandonethoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/if-you-believe-media-you-will-only-see.html
If you believe the Media, You Will Only See an Illusion.
I have already expressed my anger and discontentment with the Woolwich murder. But I think it is equally important for us to read between the lines of the media representation. Let's look at the bigger picture; HOW are Muslims being represented in the media in general?
It is very obvious that the media are grossly disproportionate in their reporting of incidents caused by Muslims and those caused by other groups. It is not simply my speedy opinion as a student activist seeking to find an explanation for the events that took place. For example, a couple of weeks back a 75 year old Muslim man was stabbed to death outside a Mosque in Small Heath, Birmingham. But how many of us heard about this incident? Very few. [see article here: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/
Why? because it didn't match the media's status quo of representing the British Muslim population in a negative light that would cause suspicion and fear in British non-Muslims.
A study done by the University of Exeter (of which the findings were replicated by researcher Ahmad Jomaa, who has a degree in International relations and studied Security studies & Journalism. It was roughly replicated in a study on how Muslim students are represented in the British press) demonstrates the media's extremely distorted misrepresentation of Muslims. In short, the most prominent themes that were discovered were that Muslims were represented in the media in the prism of; Security risks, terrorism, extremism, unable to integrate into British society, violent, and that they are just 'different'. The adjectives that were mostly attributed to Muslims were as such; militant, extremist, cleric, violent and the list goes on, with scarcely anything neutral or positive.
Professor Paddy Hillyard, a Northern Irish professor wrote a book during the 1970's called ‘The Suspect Communities’. He was referring to the Northern Irish communities in Britain in the aftermath of the IRA bombing campaign and the crude process of the victims in the way they were treated- how they were treated with absolute suspicion. He went on to say some years later that the new suspect community was the Muslim community. [Transcribed from Carl Arrindell's speech at the House of Lords].
I'm not denying that there is extremism, if anything I believe that whenever there is a sign of such, preventative measures have to be taken by the Muslims within that community together. What I'm saying is that it is much lower than what the media amplifies it to be. More Britons are killed in road accidents every year (approx 1900 deaths) than from terror attacks. More Britons die from cancer every year with over 135,000 deaths. And it is certainly not the "greatest threat of the 21st century". Leaving the British non-Muslim population in fear and suspicion. How irresponsible on the part of the mass media. One might argue that this is due to the amount of terror plots that were foiled. Well, I think that there is a play on discourse here. There may a group of Muslim men who are plotting a terror attack, but what about individuals from other groups who are already involved in organised crime? Similarly there have been reports of WHITE BRITISH citizens who have plotted the same terror attacks such as Neil Lewington who was charged for using tennis ball bombs. But yet again, very few of us heard about this incident. Because it doesn't match the status quo of the media.
Look around you to see how many Muslims are contributing to the well being of society. In the heavily populated Muslim areas you will find many- especially in Bristol; policemen, community leaders, Councillors, doctors, teacher. My mother is an English teacher, my father is an engineer, I'm a psychology student in UWE and my brother is a Physics student in Bristol University. Not so 'different' or 'strange' are we.
So of course when the British population look at the British Muslim population through the lens of the media, they will have an extremely distorted picture, not the reality. The media are far from being a moderate conveyor of messages.
taken from http://th02.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2011/100/d/e/mr__tv_head_by_perfectlypunky-d3dq2qu.jpg
It is very obvious that the media are grossly disproportionate in their reporting of incidents caused by Muslims and those caused by other groups. It is not simply my speedy opinion as a student activist seeking to find an explanation for the events that took place. For example, a couple of weeks back a 75 year old Muslim man was stabbed to death outside a Mosque in Small Heath, Birmingham. But how many of us heard about this incident? Very few. [see article here: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/
Why? because it didn't match the media's status quo of representing the British Muslim population in a negative light that would cause suspicion and fear in British non-Muslims.
A study done by the University of Exeter (of which the findings were replicated by researcher Ahmad Jomaa, who has a degree in International relations and studied Security studies & Journalism. It was roughly replicated in a study on how Muslim students are represented in the British press) demonstrates the media's extremely distorted misrepresentation of Muslims. In short, the most prominent themes that were discovered were that Muslims were represented in the media in the prism of; Security risks, terrorism, extremism, unable to integrate into British society, violent, and that they are just 'different'. The adjectives that were mostly attributed to Muslims were as such; militant, extremist, cleric, violent and the list goes on, with scarcely anything neutral or positive.
Professor Paddy Hillyard, a Northern Irish professor wrote a book during the 1970's called ‘The Suspect Communities’. He was referring to the Northern Irish communities in Britain in the aftermath of the IRA bombing campaign and the crude process of the victims in the way they were treated- how they were treated with absolute suspicion. He went on to say some years later that the new suspect community was the Muslim community. [Transcribed from Carl Arrindell's speech at the House of Lords].
I'm not denying that there is extremism, if anything I believe that whenever there is a sign of such, preventative measures have to be taken by the Muslims within that community together. What I'm saying is that it is much lower than what the media amplifies it to be. More Britons are killed in road accidents every year (approx 1900 deaths) than from terror attacks. More Britons die from cancer every year with over 135,000 deaths. And it is certainly not the "greatest threat of the 21st century". Leaving the British non-Muslim population in fear and suspicion. How irresponsible on the part of the mass media. One might argue that this is due to the amount of terror plots that were foiled. Well, I think that there is a play on discourse here. There may a group of Muslim men who are plotting a terror attack, but what about individuals from other groups who are already involved in organised crime? Similarly there have been reports of WHITE BRITISH citizens who have plotted the same terror attacks such as Neil Lewington who was charged for using tennis ball bombs. But yet again, very few of us heard about this incident. Because it doesn't match the status quo of the media.
Look around you to see how many Muslims are contributing to the well being of society. In the heavily populated Muslim areas you will find many- especially in Bristol; policemen, community leaders, Councillors, doctors, teacher. My mother is an English teacher, my father is an engineer, I'm a psychology student in UWE and my brother is a Physics student in Bristol University. Not so 'different' or 'strange' are we.
So of course when the British population look at the British Muslim population through the lens of the media, they will have an extremely distorted picture, not the reality. The media are far from being a moderate conveyor of messages.
taken from http://th02.deviantart.net/fs71/PRE/i/2011/100/d/e/mr__tv_head_by_perfectlypunky-d3dq2qu.jpg
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)