Minister Orders "Urgent Review" of University Islamic Courses
British Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell has come out and ordered an urgent review of university Islamic courses on claims that young Muslim students were being exposed to radical teachings.
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/2006-05/17/article01.shtml
What a load of rubbish! This is just more fuel again - I cannot think of one university in UK where they are going to teach you that it is good to blow things up. Honestly, where? Which university in Britain teaches this sort of thing. It is mindboggling that Dr Siddiqui will even give this legitimacy by conducting the review. A sheer waste of time and resources. Pure cosmetic solutions once again, the root problem being deliberately ignored.
He will also examine the nature of the spiritual advice which students are exposed to on campus.
So now we come to the root of the matter - the imams, the khateebs, the isocs. They cannot tolerate the fact that Muslim students do feel for their brothers and sisters, do hold a sense of justice and will speak out in the face of oppression. If the imam, khateeb or isoc encourages such behaviour, you can be sure it will be dubbed "extremist".
The minister also hit out at what he said demands by some Muslim students to dedicate prayer rooms in university libraries and re-arranging lectures to suit with the Friday prayers.
He claimed that such demands carried "big dangers", calling for an open debate on the issue.
"The alternative is that we drift into a position where some British Muslims begin to feel aggrieved because their expectations are not being met and no-one is commenting that those expectations are not appropriate for today's society.
"Pockets of discontent emerge, impressionable young people become vulnerable to extremists and Muslims become less integrated and more isolated."
So becuase of their intolerance and refusal to accommodate our religious beliefs, they blame us for not integrating and draw an amazingly illogical link between someone missing a lecture due to juma'ah prayers and becoming an "extremist".
Will be interesting to see where FOSIS stand on this or whether they will even issue a press release. In light of their new "radical middle way" ideology, I am pretty sure they will wholeheartedly welcome this report from their pay-masters.
posted by Abu Abdullah @ 11:56 p.m.
12 comments
12 Comments:
"those expectations are not appropriate for today's society..."
"Muslims become less integrated and more isolated."
Hijrah...Hijrah..Hijrah...
Hijrah ... but to where? It seems that wherever you look, there is no safe haven for Muslims. The Muslim countries seem to be only transit stations before reaching Cuba or worse.
Life on the run ... the life of a true mu'min. Have you read 'The Scholar and the Tyrant' by al-Qaradawi, about the encounter between Said ibn Jubayr and Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf? Well worth a read.
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Jordan is a bit risky with they stance in support of Israel and enmity towards Hamas
Briefly, none of the places you mentioned is very safe for a mu'min wishing to fully practice Islam. Slightest suspicion of stepping out of the routine of prayer, fasting, dhikr and pilgrimage and you could find yourself in a bottomless pit.
Comoros Islands anyone?
Thank you for the book - on my reading list for the summer. I will reserve further comment until then.
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"Comoros Islands anyone?"
lol hmm
At the peril of going back on what I said earlier about reserving comment until I finsihed the book about hijrah, I am going to just add a small "p.s."
I remember listening to a talk last summer regarding the issue of hijrah, particularly lessons from the first hijrah, where hijrah was made to a non-Muslim country, i.e. Abbysinia.
One of the lessons was that it is permissible to make hijrah to a non-Muslim country if you are able to serve Islam best from there. For example, take Dr al Massari. In Saudi, he is very restricted in what he can do and would probably be executed for it but from Britain, he can run his website, give his circles and do the work he does. Another example would be human rights lawyers and activists who serve Islam and the Ummah more by the work they do in this country than they would achieve in the Muslim world.
Islam is not a selfish deen where we wear hijab, beard, live in the mosque, etc all for ourselves while the Ummah suffers. This deen is not about rituals - if we reduce it to this, we are no better than Christians. We must always keep it primordial in our minds that we need to go where we can be of greatest benefit to the Ummah.
For some of us, that could very well mean making hijrah to shaam or misr. For others, it could mean travelling to Chechnya, Iraq or Kashmir. For others still, it could mean travelling to the States. But Allah knows our capabilities and will judge us accordingly.
At the end of the day, every mo'min should be working to revive 'active' Islam; otherwise, what's the point? Our deen isn't a religion like any other - it needs to be established and every one of us is responsible for that.
I remember hearing Imam Achmad Cassiem from South Africa once saying, "there is no such thing as a passive Muslim' because a Muslim by his very nature is active".
True, the test will come to us wherever we are and for many in UK, it has come already. So whats the point of fleeing, unless it is to a place where we can better serve the interests of the Ummah, and not just ourselves.
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Oh yes, sorry, dont get back until you've read the book and I will too...and I'm listening to 'Hijrah' by Ali Al Tamimi, so maybe I'll have some firm views to express then. Right now it's just airy-fairy thoughts.
Thanks for your thoughts. Interesting considerations.
wassalaam
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