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Q-Notes
Affan Chowdhry
on environmental sins, watching Othello, being chaste, taking the plunge and why
detoxing is tougher than Ramadan.
Private lives,
public responsibility
In the aftermath of
David Blunkett’s humiliating resignation as
home secretary,
Sonia Malik finds out exactly what the ethics - and implications, of reporting the
private lives of
public people are.
A Dutch disaster
Community relations in The Netherlands weren’t much better before the murder of
Theo van Gogh. so, Nabil Marmouch wonders, why all Muslims are expected
to take responsibility for his murder while the underlying causes of social
division are ignored.
“The Hijab is a
swastika
type symbol”
"I still cannot imagine a ‘black’ on the German Olympic team,” a German
student admitted recently over dinner. The sentiment is widespread as Europe's
most populous nation struggles with the presence of minorities and its treatment
of foreigners - mostly Muslims. The message to German Muslims, reports Taris
Ahmad, is assimilate or suffer the consequences.
Multiculturalism:
The phony debate
It’s about time we had a real debate on the future of multiculturalism. But,
argues Khalida Khan, nothing will change for British Muslims until we
give up the outdated politics of the race industry.
The President’s new words
Once upon a time there lived a
headstrong, heedless president who enjoyed nothing more than brandishing his
large missiles and recklessly intimidating and stupefying his enemies. He was
very proud of his courage and his resolve. Oh, the other thing about this
president was that he was illiterate and had a very hard time speaking in full
sentences. Raneem Azzam tells his tale.
“...And I shall not look upon his
like again”
In a rare public appearance, Dr Martin Lings, whose books have changed the lives
of thousands, builds a bridge between Sufism and Shakespeare’s most important
works. Shamim Miah reports on a remarkable evening..
A Many Splendour’d Thing
A traditional Islamic souk in London or another glorified arts and crafts fair?
Perhaps it was a failure of the imagination, but Raania Rizvi was
skeptical. A visit to the globe made a believer out of her (and thousands of
others). Write Mind: The
American People Vote for the Salvation of Muslims
Frankly, anyone who fails to see
the gift America has given us is simply in denial, argues Naushaad Suliman.
Muslims have reached such a sickeningly low point that we find something as
simple as obeying parking laws on jummah difficult. We need help. We need
therapy, the kind of therapy that even Dr. Phil cannot deliver. We need George
Bush-style therapy.
Classic Q:
Let’s hear it for the curry! It inspires devotion and disgust, but curry
is now Britain’s favourite dish. John Evelyn traces its unlikely history.
Tartar Source
After six centuries, Poland's Muslims are still misunderstood, writes Wojtek
Kosc and
Wooden Mosques and Sign Language
Farrukh Younus explores Poland's Muslim countryside and finds a fast
talking, jean wearing tartar and a smiling hajji to show him around.
Letter from Jerusalem
When Palestinians have their own state, it is only the first step to inner
freedom. When you don’t genuinely process your inner vulnerability and your
history as victims and you cling to armed power, it becomes a very destructive
tool. This is something I hope the Palestinians will learn from us, writes
Yvonne Deutch. |
FROM THE PULPIT
January
2005, Issue 359
Read this issue online (1.53mb
PDF)
Adobe Acrobat required
When I was growing up, my
mother had several uncompromising rules - have a glass of milk with a
banana twice a day, oil your hair every week (something I never really got
used to) and believe it or not, donate blood regularly. You see, Mom was
often entrusted with the guardianship of patients, and their troubled
families, many of whom would travel from impoverished parts of Bangladesh
to seek treatment in the world-renowned hospitals of our then home-city,
Singapore.
I’m Bengali and that usually means that through some genetic miracle, I am
‘related’ to every other Bengali on this planet. However remote this
relation is, I assure you my people always find a connection. As a result,
foreign patients and their families often found themselves being delivered
home-cooked deshi food by my mother, to be eaten at bedside. On occasion,
my parents would invite visiting families to stay at our home, helping
them to save on exorbitant hotel bills. I have vivid memories of being
compelled to share my own bedroom with an elderly dialysis patient whose
health necessitated that my bedroom be turned into a mini dialysis centre.
Looking after the welfare of people my mother had taken under her wing was
difficult because for the longest time, it was her mission, not mine. I
was just a kid who wanted to be left alone. I didn’t want to take the bus
to the hospital with bags of food. I didn’t want to smell like a
twice-daily-dettol-sanitised kidney centre. I didn’t want to get up at
seven am everyday to help my mother prepare breakfast for all these
people.
Blood donation, changed the way I felt about all of the above. I gave
blood for the first time in my late teens. A Bangladeshi father had flown
in with his dying child who had a rare blood disease. On his last pennies,
the father couldn’t afford to pay for a bag of blood, which due to the
incredible national shortage cost about £25. The only way to help him was
for donors to donate blood at the hospital and then sign a form
bequeathing the gift to that particular patient.
My mother, who was described as Singapore’s Florence Nightingale in
an essay written by a patient who has since passed away, got the whole
family, and all our friends trooping off to the blood donation centre,
hoping to save the life of this little boy. Alhamdulillah, he
lived.
Somewhere along the line, as I began to learn more about my faith and the
example set by the Prophet, peace be upon him, and my priorities became
clearer. I realised, those years working under my mother’s command were
priceless. The dogged determination and imagination with which she made
others care about those in need had, what I now see as an immensely
spiritual dimension. I have no doubt that all the big and small blessings
I enjoy can be attributed to Allah’s reward for the good deeds of my
parents.
I have rarely had to donate for a specific patient since then, so I donate
for the general blood bank now. The needle scars on my arms are something
I have always been proud of. Not only is blood always in short supply, the
process is proven to be medically beneficial for the donor because it
encourages your body to gear up and produce new, fresh blood.
I recently met an imam from Cameroon. In 1990, both his mother and aunt
died because they didn’t receive blood transfusions in time - no one would
give blood except to members of their own family. Since then he has been
on a mission. He set up the first voluntary blood register in Cameroon,
establishing offices across the country. He organises for the blood to be
tested regularly for HIV and pays for students to be taken by bus, in
journeys taking up to four hours, to give blood at regional hospitals. He
has been working with people of all faiths to expand the blood register so
that anyone who needs blood will have safe donors. He is now raising funds
to build Cameroon’s first independent blood centre. We will be carrying
his amazing story in Q-News in the New Year. But, he told me with great
sadness that the least amount of help and support for his project has come
from Muslims - they are the worst at coming forward to donate blood.
In the United Kingdom, the National Blood Service has recently launched a
campaign aimed at ethnic and religious minorities. Whilst only 6% of the
eligible population in the UK currently gives blood the vast majority of
these volunteer blood donors are white. With Ramadan behind us and the
blessed time of Hajj on its way, Muslims know something about giving. Our
Prophet, peace be upon him, was the most generous of people and our faith
is based on being merciful to others. This year, resolve to do something
amazing and save the life of another by giving blood. The National Blood
Service has blood donation centres in every part of the country. Visit
them at www.blood.co.uk where you can easily find the clinic
nearest to you or call 0845 7 711 711. In this time of giving, there is no
better gift.
I want to wish all those who are going on the Hajj, a safe and blessed
pilgrimage. May all your prayers be granted and may you find Allah’s mercy
showered upon you. To our Christian friends, I extend our best wishes for
a happy, safe and joyful Christmas and holiday season. May the mince pies
be warm and the halal cider flow plentifully!
Fareena Alam
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Babar Ahmed's jihad
Beaten and assaulted by
anti-terror officers, Babar Ahmad took his quest for justice to court and lost.
Now, he awaits extradition to the US on allegations he is not even allowed to
contest. Ruhul Tarafder examines the bizarre case that is turning justice
on its head.
A false sense of security
The government wants us to think that identity cards will keep us safe. Think
again. The proposed scheme is costly, hasn’t worked elsewhere and will
inevitably target Muslims, argues Megan Addis.
A Many Splendour’d Thing
Gilles Kepel is no stranger to
controversy. For over 25 years he has ruffled the feathers of the French
academic establishment and Islamist ideologues alike. Recently, he was a member
of the Stasi Commission which proposed the ban on wearing hijab in French
schools. Kepel spoke to Abdul-Rehman Malik about his latest book and how
the future of Islam rests with Europe's Muslim communities.
Is Iran next?
In November, the US government demanded that Iran be censured for developing a
covert nuclear weapons program. While some last minute politicking diffused a
potential crisis, these latest developments feel like déjà vu all over
again. Iqbal Siddiqui explains.
That’s right, he’s back
Like a plague visited upon a sinful people, George Bush is back for a second
term. Svend White tries to find the silver lining in this dark cloud.
Shakespeare and Islam: “Heaven
hath a hand in these events”
It would be difficult
to find another cultural event in contemporary Britain that turned so many hats
(or turbans, for that matter) than the Globe Theatre’s season on Shakespeare and
Islam. It was not only an exercise in imagination and creativity but also a bold
adventure into our shared humanity: an explosion aimed at blowing apart the
restricted understanding we have today of the nature and essence of things great
and universal. Fuad Nahdi.
“I can no other
answer make, but, thanks, and
thanks”
Patrick
Spottiswoode joined the Shakespeare's globe when the theatre building was
just a dream. Now, twenty years later, he reflects on a spectacular year of
Shakespeare and Islam and finds himself and his beloved theatre illuminated and
transformed.
The Lure of Makkah
Peking, Lhasa, Timbuctu, Harrar, Madinah, Makkah - these were the forbidden
cities that for centuries captured the imagination of the West. One by one they
have given up their secrets to intrepid travelers. Until today all are open to
anyone with sufficient patience and the right political credentials. All, that
is, but Makkah and Medina-the two holiest cities of Islam.
Hajj
by numbers
Official workers assisting in the administration of the Hajj: 40,000. Number
of field groups involved in organising pilgrims: 350. Number of buses involved
transporting pilgrims: 13,770; Number of people carried by these buses: 651,37,
and sixty more Hajj stats collected by Abdul-Rehman Malik.
Fiqh questions, with Faraz Rabbani |
