Women only Jihad

The latest Muslim related offering from Channel 4 will be aired tonight at 8pm. I urge you all to watch it, as I think it will be compulsive viewing. You can watch the trailer, but be warned, trailers always show the more sensational elements.

I hope someone manages to record this and put it on-line.

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Update: Two very good reviews and enlightening analysis of the documentary can be found here:

Women Only Jihad: Part One – by Jihad and the City. Its only a part one, can’t wait for part two.

Channel 4’s Women Only Jihad – by Osmam Saeed at Rolled up Trousers.

Also i might urge you to check out the reaction to Women only Jihad on the MPACUK website. And they are also taking questions regarding the documentary on their discussion forum.

Update: Asghar Bukhari, spokesperson and ex-ceo of MPACUK gave an interview on their discussion forum on this issue. Some very pertinent points were made.  (You’ll need to register to view this, although I have emailed and asked them to remove this restriction)

Unseen Footage of Madrid Bombing

Here is some footage of the Madrid bombing that hasn’t been aired on British TV before.

Its frankly shocking, and I hope it reminds you that there is no place in Islam for this.

Gagging Muslim Opinion

This has to be one of the most ridiculous things I have read.

An Imam in Italy has a discussion with a neo-fascist MP, and when she tries to lecture him in Islam, he tells her that she doesn’t have the right to lecture him in Islam.

After Ms Santanche insisted that the Qur’an did not call for women to wear a veil, the other guest, Ali Abu Shwaima, angrily replied: “I am an imam and I will not permit those who are ignorant to speak of Islam. You are ignorant of Islam and do not have the right to interpret the Qur’an.”

Fair point, like an accountant lecturing me in IT. I don’t think so.

But what is amazing is that his words were accused of being a coded death threat!!

The ministry said it had been advised that the words used by the imam might amount to a coded death sentence – which the imam has vigorously denied.

So now if a Muslim disagrees with a neo-facist, its a death threat?

This is simply an institutionally sponsored way of muzzling any Muslim response to the veil debate and comes hot in the steps of the recent furore about comments made by an Australian Imam who proposed a debate on whether women wearing skimpy clothes encourages promiscuity.

Are Muslim Leaders Useless?

Well that is a charge we here often. And dare I say it, but most Muslim community leaders are pretty darn useless. All they care about is their power base and clan politics. And it seems there are others that agree:

One 16-year-old, who gave his name as Bobby, said: “They are useless. They waste our money, they play politics. They don’t look at people’s problems.”

Youngsters as young as ten asked why they had been banned from the mosque.

They said religious leaders preached peace but internal politics had led to violence in mosques.

Student Ahmed Ali, 19, of Warren Street, Leyton, said: “Say I get my girl pregnant. If I’ve got a habit of taking drugs, who’s going to talk to me? They just want to think about who’s got power and where they are going to open a new mosque.”

However I have to add, that there are a few community elders out there who are very sincere and committed to helping Muslims.

But here is a deeper point, if one was to say that a people get the leaders they deserve, if Muslim leaders are useless, what does that say about us Muslims?

Hello world!

Salaam Everyone!

As an IT hack, what better title can one have for their first post?? Reminds me of Computer Science 101. Anyway I do hope I shall see more of you here. For those who are not sure what this blog is about here is a quick overview.

Being a Muslim in the UK, in the last few months I have noticed a huge increase in hostility towards Muslims in the media. Now I can say for a fact that this is not the case amongst the general British public, who are on the whole entirely splendid. However the misrepresentation on the Media is so worrying. What’s even more worrying is the increasing number of anti-Muslim sites on the web. Well this site is intended to be a sucker punch to all of those tossers!

See you all around. Oh and please leave comments if you have any suggestions!