Written by Tabbasam Hamid

After watching the BBC’s ‘My Brother, the Islamist’ last week, I was reading some of the comments that had been posted on the BBC blog site, and they seemed to somewhat mirror the tone of Robb Leech’s own experience: mothers grieving for lost sons, friends and relatives distraught and bemused. Their loved ones had been taken from them, except they did not die a physical death, but it was as if a wicked imposter had assumed the physical form of their beloved and initiated an indefinitely long ceremony of cruelty against them.  And what led them away? They believe it was Islam. As if the religion hasn’t been denigrated enough, now there are people who believe that the Islamic mission is one of destroying bonds of kith and kin, and conditioning young men to look on any non-Muslim as subhuman.

Robb Leech tries to follow his step-brother ‘Rich’ in this poignant documentary, only to be confronted by a  ‘Salahuddin’ and some of his associates. I must clarify that Salahuddin and Rich are the same person, but after Rich’s conversion to Islam, he becomes, in a sense, unrecognisable to his stepbrother. Robb is by no means Islamaphobic, but reacts as any person would to his brother turning against him in such a cold and inexplicable way. He recounts their life growing up together, their closeness, and the mutual affection; and at times when he interviews his brother, you can sense the very feint remnants of a bond. But all this is completely swept away by Salahuddin’s bigotry and vitriol. It really was heartbreaking to see, especially when Robb  learns that some of the brothers shake his hand with their left hand because they class him as among the ‘dirty kafir’.

Robb also follows a 17 year old convert to Islam who falls under the influence of Anjem Choudhary and his cohort as well. His mother feels distraught  at the thought of her son becoming radical, but resolves to allow him to make his own choices in life, however much hurt that may cause her.

Under the tutelage of Choudhary’s group young men have been led down a path of delusions and falsehood. It is true that they constitute a negligible minority and extremist fringe, but they have a grotesquely disproportionate influence in forming public opinion about Islam. It is a shame that the media converges on these fools to give them a platform to tar our religion. Where is the voice of the ‘moderates’ people ask? It’s not sensationalist, too dull to listen to, is the answer.

Another thing I noticed watching this was that when Salahuddin and his posse film messages in their makeshift studio to upload to youtube, in the background there is always a banner of the shahadah in black and white- black writing and white background, or vice versa. And I think that this black/white colour code they seem to have runs in parallel with their thought processes: their world view too is black and white, incapable of viewing the panoply of human diversity or the goodness in human beings as human beings. Their views also lack any frame of reference, existing at the level of parrot-fashion imitation. They are like machines: capable of saying an array of words in the right order (sometimes!) but never even beginning to understand their meaning or their weight.

This is a beautifully made and thought-provoking documentary, on BBC iPlayer now.

Written by Tabassam Hamid

Sometimes, aspirations and idyllic dreams are burnt to an ash, blown away, and we are left to despair.

In moments of turmoil, suffering, and distress, where is there to turn to relieve us of the intensity of our suffering? It consumes our horizon, this pain. It soars over us with its crushing greyness. It mutates and confronts us with its gaping infernal face, and it seems that we are destined never to leave this soul-destroying place.

Nothing in this physical world is of assistance, nor does it offer redemption. It is full of imperfection, full of limitations and degrees of ugliness. There is a burning need for the transcendental. And it is beyond my understanding how non-believers can endure a life without it. Our transcendental need is Allah. Our experience of the transcendental is through the Qur’an.

One of the verses of the Qur’an that I have found especially gripping is Ayat-al-Qursi. Here is a translation of its meaning:

“Allah! There is no god but He – the Living, The Self-subsisting, Eternal. No slumber can seize Him Nor Sleep. His are all things In the heavens and on earth. Who is there can intercede In His presence except As he permitteth? He knoweth What (appeareth to His creatures As) Before or After or Behind them. Nor shall they compass Aught of his knowledge Except as He willeth. His throne doth extend Over the heavens And on earth, and He feeleth No fatigue in guarding And preserving them, For He is the Most High. The Supreme (in glory).” [Surah al-Baqarah 2: 255]

For some time now, this Ayat has challenged me, because rarely is it that I can come across a piece of literature that moves m e, but be unable to explain why or how it has that impact; in the case of Ayat-al-Qursi, truly, I could not understand why it was moving me in the manner and to the extent that it was. By no means do I pretend to have understood it, but I think I am now at least able to give somewhat meaningful expression to my feelings. I must make it clear that I do not venture a tafsir of the surah here, but offer a very personal account of what ayat-al-qursi means to me.

The Ayat opens by declaring the unparalleled majesty of God; declaring first, His name; then, His uncontested position as the one and only God; then, His self-subsistence and his eternal existence. When you are suffering, you know He is there. That alone captivated me because, the mention of His mere existence and its raw imminence. He does not need sustenance from anyone or anything, and He is eternal- unlike anything germinating from this incapacitated, crippled and weak world. So when you seek help and you seek succour, you seek it from He who needs none. He does not need anything prior to giving something, and He does not share any of our limitations. What better source of help is there? And no slumber or sleep can overtake Him. He is forever present, and so, at any moment of any day when you raise your hands in supplication He is there to listen and to answer.

And everything in the heavens and on the earth belongs to him, and none can intervene except as he wishes. What power have dictators and tyrants who declare themselves Lords of men? What power has any human being over and against the life, property and dignity of any other human being? What claim to glory or wealth has he? None, not an iota! What can any man claim to be master of? Nothing-except as Allah wishes. When you realise that even the greatest acts of barbarism that could conceivably be committed against you amount to nothing, because all possessions are Allah’s and all power derives from Him, the threats of this world dwindle and they cower.  Who will challenge the supremacy of God? All powers and possessions are His, and so, to Him we raise our hands in supplication.

And He knows what is before us, after us, or behind us. Knowing this provides us with a sense of utmost security, because He is aware of what lies before all men. Sometimes you may feel that you are leaping into the unknown, you do not know where you are heading or what dangers might confront you at any moment. But Allah knows what lies before, after, and behind the righteous and the corrupt. Who better to guide you?

And his throne extends over the heavens and the earth, and he feels no fatigue in guarding or preserving them. When you peer up at the cosmos, with its almost inconceivable immensity and intricacy you are taken aback. Our earth vanishes to a speck in an observable universe in which there are approximately 170 billion galaxies, with our own galaxy, the Milky Way, containing approximately 200 billion stars. The Allah who sustains this universe and the Allah whose throne spans the heavens and the earth is the same Allah who is ‘nearer to him [man] than his jugular vein.’  [Qaaf 50:16]. So when the vicissitudes of life leave us reeling, what greater power to heal and to lift our hearts is there than Allah? His words raise us from our decrepitude, they allow us to transcend this world of imperfections and seek help from its true source.

Every month in the magazine, we run a small article alongside the food feature called ‘Food from my Childhood.’ This feature allows people to revisit their favourite dishes growing up, reminiscing over warm memories around the dinner table.

Below are two examples of the articles -

Iqbal Chowdhury remembers the fishing trips with his grandfather.

Bengalis are renowned for their love of fish—and I was no different. I grew up in a village on my grandfather’s farm in Bangladesh, which included a 100-acre lake that had all types of fish in it. He started taking me on his fishing escapades from an early age, and I quickly familiarised myself with his makeshift rod (a bamboo stick with a hook made from a coat-hanger end).

We often caught a fish known as hilsa—a very bony fish. He would pull the fish in and then scoop them out with his hands; I would have to keep them alive and fresh in a bucket full of water. At the end of the day, as dusk approached, we would take our catch to a straw hut that had a stove built into the mud floor and was lit using kerosene. I would watch my grandma prepare a marinade of turmeric, ginger and chilli powder. She would then fry the fish, before currying it and serving with rice.

Dinner was always an intimate family gathering, even more so because electricity in the area was in sparse supply and we often had to light candles. We would all be engaged in lively conversations during these meals, and it always amazed me how we managed to talk and avoid getting choked on fish bones at the same time! The food always tasted great, but looking back now, it is the lifestyle that went with it that I miss the most. The people in my village all seemed very content – perhaps because the demands of life were not so complicated; their main daily expectation was simply to provide sufficient food for their families. Sometimes I yearn for those simple times—and those simple meals round a candle.

__________________________________________________

Asiyah Amersi fondly recalls her family feasts in Kenya.

I grew up in Mombasa in a bustling family of twelve. In addition to my immediate family, I lived with my aunt, uncle, cousins, and grandparents. All three meals were a communal event – a pleasant excuse for the family to sit together, catch up, and exchange stories.

I still remember sharing weekly family BBQs with our poorer neighbours in a culinary and cultural union. Every Saturday we’d gather for a mouth-watering meal that combined African delicacies with Indian specialities. The meal was always the same: piping hot African fried sweet bread (mandaazi) with a coconut based pigeon-pea curry (barazi), and skewer grilled marinated meat (mishkaki). The smell of succulent meat would waft into the house through tiny vents, and my cousins and I would conjur up inventive ways of swiping the sizzling meat from under the eyes of our watchful parents. The meat always tasted fresh and natural, and to this day, I have never tasted anything similar.

After we’d let our stomachs rest from the evening’s culinary extravaganza, we’d feast on juicy, homegrown mangoes and delicately prepared deserts. While the women busied themselves in the kitchen and the men relaxed in the evening breeze discussing business and politics, my cousins and I would sneak away into the dark, playing hide and seek; racing in the garden on our bikes.
When I look back on my childhood, I associate meals with family, friendship, and love.  Having moved to London, I no longer live in a house bursting with people. Where once I used to live with eleven others, now I live with my sister and a housemate.  Even so, the (less frequent) extended family meals remind me of the fantastic family BBQs of my childhood.

We’re looking for your stories. Send them in to info@emel.com to get your story published in the magazine.

Posted by Robi Chowdhury

Who doesn’t like an inspirational video? We spotted one yesterday that we thought we should share with you.

The story is set in a small fishing village in Thailand called Koh Panyee. The whole village has been built entirely over the water and is propped up on giant stilts by the local fishermen. A group of young boys one day decided to start their own football team, despite being completely surrounded by water and having no football field. They faced ridicule from the locals at first, but eventually…well.. we’ll let you watch the short video

Posted by Robi Chowdhury

With the world still healing after suffering from the earthquakes in Japan, the human cost of the disaster is still being counted, as well as the technological cost. When entire business infrastructures get swept away by the raw forces of nature, you realise just how fragile our existence is.

There is a room, buried deep in the heart of Switzerland, which could prove one day prove itself of preserving the stories of humanity. The former Swiss Air Force Communications Centre is a vault that is under the protection of armed guards 24 hours a day. The bulletproof and blast-proof doors alone weigh over 3.5 tonnes and are strong enough to withstand most natural disasters as well as nuclear attacks.

So what exactly is in this room? A time capsule.

We can safely assume that you’re bound to bump into SD cards, CDs and hard drives in the distant future. What is uncertain though, is that if there will be mediums for you to open up such platforms. Hieroglyphics and cave paintings were never a problem to understand as they could be read and deciphered. A USB stick on the other hand, would need a computer with a USB port. Even an iPad would be useless in this situation!

The Swiss time capsule holds an encyclopedia of data formats so that generations to come will be able to process important historical information that might need to be called upon one day.

Have you ever built a time capsule? What would you stick in one? (if you haven’t already) Feel free to stick all your back issues of emel in there

Today is pi day! No, that’s not a typo, it’s a reference to the mathematical term.

The date is 14th March, which can be written as 3/14, and is the first three digits of this amazing irrational number.

Many of us would have only come across pi during maths lessons, and probably haven’t come across it since. (Just to re-jig your memory, the circumference of a circle is two x pi x radius; and the area is pi x radius-squared – I bet your probably remembering any horrid maths teachers that you had instead of the numerical theory!)

But the number plays an important role in the field of irrational numbers, which are numbers that have a never-ending stream of digits, and without a pattern emerging amongst them.
This Pi-Search website allows you to search for any string of digits within the first 200 million digits of Pi.

See if you can find your date of birth within this massive set of numbers. You’ll definitely be in a select few if you can’t! Alternatively, if you clicked on this link because you thought it was about pie, the dessert; let us know your favourite one!

Posted by Ali Khimji

Happy Ramadan from the emel team

 Ramadan sound bytes from around the office….

Remona Aly; Deputy Editor
I’m a big food lover, but I plan to stay really focused this Ramadan – feeding my soul rather than my stomach is top of the list!

Somaiya Khan-Piachaud; Features Editor
Ramadan is a time to slow down and contemplate; as I fast I pray for the billion people around the world who go hungry every day.

Tajkia Misbah; Administrator
Ramadan to me is a time of new beginnings, a time to better oneself, a time to change. My hopes for this Ramadan are to do exactly that!

Shakera Mohammed; PR & Marketing Manager
“I haven’t got TIME” – My usual slogan! I think of this month as a mental detox and training for the rest of the year.  Forgetting about the daily rush and focusing on our devotion to Allah and each other.

Robi Chowdhury; Web Editor
Ramadan is a time of year that teaches me self discipline in my behaviour  and moderation in all aspects of my life. I try to use what I learn in Ramadan for the rest of the year.

Ayman J Khwaja; Editorial Assistant
I’m praying internally to Allah every day – from the tube station, to the
walk to work, as I pass every bakery and sweet shop, every milkshake bar
and sushi joint – ‘Dear Allah, please make my eyes see coal instead of
doughnuts in the shop window!’ I’ll be fine, inshAllah – I must channel my inner-Oliver and NOT ask for more, Sir! But settle for less and be greedy for spiritual bliss!

Tasnim El-Naggar; Editorial Intern                                                                  My Ramadan will be a bit different than usual – I will miss my friends and family who are at home in Germany. Fortunately I am living together with a few nice Turkish girls, and I am sure we will have a faithful time, breaking our fast and praying together. And of course I am really curious how Ramadan is practiced here. Is it different from Germany?

Hira Rana ; Advertising Consultant                                                                Ramadan for me is simply about the following: The doors of heaven  are opened up on the first night of Ramadan and not a single door is closed until the last night of Ramadan.”

We’ve been busy at the office recently compiling the back issues so that we can feature them on our website. It’s a difficult task that will take months to do and we’re getting a lot of help from a number of interns who are helping out at emel.

The lastest issue to go up on the site is the Issue 3 (December/January 2004).

The magazine features Native Deen (relatively new to the Muslim music market then) along with an interview with Yvonne Ridley right after her capture by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Read the full articles online here

join the emel team tomorrow

This is your chance to network with the emel team – Sarah Joseph – the Editor, emel Writers, Lifestyle Editor, Art Director, Web Editor, the sales team etc will all be on hand to mingle and answer your questions. You will also get behind the scenes access into what is coming out over the course of the year and have the opportunity to give feedback and suggestions.

Scrumptious snacks are available on the day, including Nisa’s Homemade Recipes -
(Meat and Veg)
Samosas
Spring Rolls
Cutlets
Kebabs

Healthy and wholesome tidbits will also be available for the calorie conscious.

All attendees will receive an emel goodie bag to take away with them.

——————————————–

What is World House Party Day?

The focus of World House Party Day is to raise a minimum of £100,000 to fund a national Islamic Awareness campaign in Ramadan.

The money raised will be used to go into :

* Distributing 10,000 packs of dates to the general public through city centre events.
* Catering for up to 5000 People (Muslim & Non Muslim) to break fast together in the UK’s 3 major largest cities.
* Distributing toys at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital for Eid Ul Fitr with celebrity support.
* Putting up posters on three famous high streets with the hadith of Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
* Decorating 150 buses with The hadith of Holy Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)

How to Register -

1) Register on our justgiving page here

2) Drop an email to info@emel.com expressing your interest to register. Add ‘emel House Party’ in your subject line.

3) Call us on 020 7328 7300

Where and When?

Friday the 14th May 2010

1 Canfield Place,
Finchley Road,
London,
NW6 3BT

You can pop in any time between 5 and 8pm.

Greetings All,

After the popularity of Sarah’s post last month on 10 tips to show our love for Muhammad (PBUH), we have been inundated with emails and calls from people who have requested for the idea to be extended to printed t-shirts.

We are pleased to say that we are launching our limited edition ‘I love Muhammad’ t-shirts.

The t-shirts cost £10.00 plus postage and packaging* for advance orders. Orders must be made by 5pm GMT on on the 23rd of June 2010.

For orders placed after this date, t-shirts will cost £15.00 plus postage and packaging*.

To order yours, drop us a line at +44(0) 207 328 7300 or email us at info@emel.com with your name, preferred shirt size and telephone number.

Get yours now, whilst stocks last!

Hey all,

Just thought I’d drop you a line this lovely Monday morning. I’m looking ahead to… Ramadan!! Thinking about all the things I want out of this beautiful month, and reminiscing of previous years.

I’m also working towards the Ramadan issue of emel, looking at the lifestyle aspects. Here at emel, we thought we’d look at some elegant Abaya’s and hijabs, from timeless cuts to edgy newer designs. What are some of your favourite stores? Where did you buy your favourite abaya from?

With summer upon us, I’ve also started wearing more colourful floral scarves and figured, what better time to feature an array of different prints, colours and styles of hijab than in this issue. So what are your favourite colours or styles, and why? Where do you buy your hijabs?

Back to work… Over and out

Fatema

The Times, one of the UK’s largest and oldest newspapers, has finally raised its much speculated Paywall today. The Paywall will only allow selected users to read articles from The Times website. This could very well bring out the dawn of a new age in online experiences. Rupert Murdoch promises us that the scheme will help readers pay for ‘quality’ content as opposed to what’s already available online.

Would you be willing to pay for online content if you knew you were getting more?

We want to know what you think Leave your comments below >

Interesting posts relating to the story -

The Guardian – Paywall? What paywall? Times site still free

BBC article – Times begins charges for online readers

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Have you ever been lost in a maze?

Trafalgar Square is playing host to a giant maze until 6^th August.

The temporary tourist attraction is hoping to attract visitors to the West  End, with the 2.4m (7.9ft) laurel and thuja structure. Parts of the maze are named after areas of the West End and as the visitors try to find their way around they can learn about those places. In the centre are different pieces of entertainment from around the West End, including a giant paper dragon show from Chinatown. (http://www.westendlondon.com/maze/)

A few people have asked about my reference to a butterfly in my most recent editorial: “Any attempt to prematurely escape from such challenges before they have had the chance to impact your character is like the butterfly that is hastily urged out of its cocoon – it will be unable to truly fly.”  (http://www.emel.com/article?id=75&a_id=2084&c=63)

This reference comes from The Story of the Butterfly:

“A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared; he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther.

Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the Cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shrivelled wings.

The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.

Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shrivelled wings. It never was able to fly.

What this man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting Cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were nature’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.”

What do you think the moral of The Story of the Butterfly is?

An initiative to build a 13-storey Islamic cultural centre and mosque in New York, several hundred feet away from the site of the Twin Towers, looks set to go ahead after the Landmarks Preservation Commission rejected calls to ban development by achieving landmark status for the current building.

The planned centre and mosque to be called Cordoba House is a project of Cordoba Initiative, run by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who along with his wife, Daisy Khan, have created a number of projects and initiatives post September 11^th.

The mosque project has caused much negative reaction: TV adverts were rejected, Sarah Palin, some 9/11 victims families and the influential ADL have called for the centre not to be built on the site. However New York Mayor, Michael Bloomberg; other 9/11 victims families and civil liberties groups have said the mosque should go ahead as a matter of principle.

What do you think? Is it insensitive and tasteless of the Cordoba Initiative to attempt to build the mosque so close to Ground Zero? Or should principle win out, for no one behind the mosque project sanctions in any way the horrors of 9/11? Can the mosque be a place for healing as its planners suggest, or is it a wound in the flesh of so much sorrow?

Image courtesy Human Appeal

With a million people displaced and two million people needing emergency provisions, charities are appealing for donations. We look at ten ways to raise money.

1. Invite all of your friends to an iftar evening and ask them to pay what they might in a restaurant.
2. Make sweets and cakes and sell them to friends and family.
3. With Ramadan here, make homemade Eid cards and crafts with your children and arrange to sell them to friends and family or even at the mosque.
4. Encourage children to donate some or all of their pocket money.
5. Take part in a boot sale; encourage children to sell clothes or toys they no longer need.
6. Walk to work or school and donate the travel money.
7. Think of one thing you really enjoy; perhaps your daily coffee and cake on the way to work and go without for a week. Donate the money you save.
8. Put aside the amount you would have spent on lunch during Ramadan and donate that
9. Liaise with the wider community to hold unified events such as bazaars —the local Church or local school may help hold events in their halls.
10. Sponsored events such as walks, swims, spellathons or Qur’an memorisation are all great ways to collect money.

And remember – a little money goes a long way:
£5 will provide a case of bottled water
£15 will buy a family hygiene kit
£40 will buy a food pack for one month
£100 will buy a family tent
£1000 will provide a medical camp for 48 hours

With only a day or two to spare, we thought we’d provide you with a last minute list of things to do to prepare for Ramadan. You can add points of your own in the comments section below!

1) Cook One, Freeze One – Don’t leave all your cooking until the last minute. We tend to spent a lot of our day making food and the rest of it binge eating. Save effort and time by preparing twice as much food – some for now, freeze some for later. Check out our recipes ideas for that here.

2) Suhoor Food Rampage – You’re about to start the day and want to prepare by clearing out the fridge to stuff yourself with as much food as possible – and it’s not even 4am yet. Not good. We have a few recipe ideas that should help keep you going throughout the day. Check that out here.

3) Moonsighting Wars – Baba Ali has created this brilliant Ramadan video to encourage people to stop making very common silly mistakes during the month. It’s a very funny video but with some strong messages too.

4) Pay attention, this is the science bit – Find out what happens to your body when you fast. Dr Noreen Kassem breaks it down by giving suggestions on things to eat and food to avoid. Read that here.

5) To Fast or Not to Fast? – Imam Zaid Shakir set the parameters and talks about God’s mercy for those who may not be well enough to fast

6) The celestial firework display to welcome Ramadan – The annual Perseid meteor shower that starts from around the 9th to the 13th of August will be seen by millions of people all over the world. This happens to coincide this year with the opening of Ramadan. Why not give yourself a spiritual boost by trying to see if you can spot it with your freinds and family?

Think you have lots more to add to this list? Leave your suggestions and comments below!

We’re half way through Ramadan and it’s been a beautiful month so far, filled with loved ones and spirituality. As the blessed month slowly comes to an end, many of us will begin to experience that sinking feeling in our stomach – we’ll miss everything that Ramadan brings and hope that we can continue it throughout the year.

Eid is the perfect time to show how grateful you are for those you love and cherish. I asked around the office for everyone’s Eid gift ideas and here are our top ten:

Hiba Hampers

www.hibahampers.co.uk

Hiba Hampers are great for any occasion. Having received one a few months back, I was surprised at the thoughtful, handmade touch that comes with these baskets. Each hamper can be personally chosen to include specific items that will appeal to the recipient. You can choose from an extensive range of gift products from around the world, each packaged to perfection in these luxury hampers.

MADE

www.made.uk.com

made accessories are unique and ideal gifts that are not only beautiful pieces but also a step to empowering developing countries. All made products are designed by influential designers, then sourced and created within disadvantaged communities across East Africa.

Red Letter Days

www.redletterdays.co.uk

From cool and adventurous, to serene or educational, Red Letters Days provides options for the most eclectic of tastes. Great for finding a unique and personalised gift, the website offers cookery courses, flying lessons and for a more laid back choice – a trip on the orient express!

Oxfam unwrapped

www.oxfam.org.uk

Give a gift with a lasting effect, Oxfam unwrapped provides big impact gifts such as the gift of education or clean water to people less fortunate.

Profound Aesthetic

www.profoundaesthetic.com

A unique t-shirt with an inspired message is a great gift. Profound Aesthetic is a rare brand unlike many. The conceptual designs hold powerful messages filled with positive energy. The combination of creative ideas mixed with visually appealing designs makes these t-shirts a brilliant gift choice.
(Look out for our own range of unique and inspired t-shirts at the emel shop – coming very soon!)

Adopt an Animal

www.zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo

Now this is a brilliant gift – adopt an animal at the London Zoo. This is an ideal gift for any animal lover, whilst helping the conservation work for endangered species.

Merlin Annual Pass

www.merlinannualpass.co.uk

No need to limit visits to your favourite attractions, this annual pass makes a great gift, allowing you to visit popular attractions multiple times, including Thorpe Park, Legoland and Madame Tussauds.

Zaytoun

www.zaytoun.org

Zaytoun is a community interest company, created to develop a UK base for fairly traded Palestinian produce. These products provide the authentic touch, as well as empowering people to feel they are actively engaging towards a solution for their own benefit.

Etsy

www.etsy.com

A great place to buy handmade and vintage products, from woodwork and ceramics, to furniture and house-ware. Etsy often sells one-off unique finds as well as items you’d perhaps never think of.

Gift of Time

You don’t need to spend money to give a great gift – share your time with a loved one with a ‘time coupon’. Here’s one we’ve made for you, all you have to do is decide how you’re going to spend your time with the person you’re giving the gift to, for example ‘spend the day gardening’ or ‘spend the day exploring a city’.

For more Eid inspiration, look out for our Eid photo essay; showcasing a selection of snapshots, capturing the spirit of Eid from across the globe or enjoy our little morsels of sweetness with ‘Eid Bites’. This month, I also got to speak to some of our favourite Hijabi Bloggers; Mariam and Jana, getting a glimpse into their childhood experiences of Eid.For the added spiritual touch, our special feature on ’40 Ways to Make the Spirit of Ramadan Last the Whole Year’ is a must read, with great pointers on remaining spiritually connected. (Available in the Eid special, Issue 72 – out now).

Last of all – a personal highlight of mine was the story on Christians in Bethlehem joining Muslims in the act of fasting. How’s that for one love and a great way to sign off…

One Love and Peace.

Fatema

Salaams and greetings all, hope you’re all well

Have you ever thought about writing for emel? Well, here’s your chance! As one of the most popular sections of emel, our real lives section is a great way for people to share their life experiences, whether they’re about marriage, friendship or times of hardship and ease.

We’re currently looking for people to send us in their stories for the Marriage and After Hardship Comes Ease pieces. The couples featured in emel previously have shared their personal stories of companionship, the journey they’ve embarked on with their partners as well as the life lessons they’ve learnt from the experience of marriage. The After Hardship Comes Ease article is a chance for people to talk about a particular difficulty they’ve encountered and how their faith in God motivated them to have the courage to overcome.

If you’d be interested in sharing your story, please drop us an email at info@emel.com (FAO Esham)

Peace out

Esham

Editorial Assistant

We recently blogged about Christians in Bethlehem joining Muslims in fasting during the month of Ramadan. Here’s another beautiful story of inter-faith co-existence.

Robert Harush, a 58 year old Father of four, is a Jewish businessman who had made a fortune in European real estate. He grew up in the Southern city of Ashkelon, but has been residing in France with his family for the past 10 years. Despite leaving his hometown, he divdes his time between both countries and has embarked on various business ventures there.

The mayor of Montereau, a city near Paris, recently approached Robert, who informed him of his difficulties in financing the renovation of a large mosque in the city.

“I told myself ‘here is an opportunity to bring the people together’ and decided to donate the money,” Harush said. “People were dumbfounded. What does a Jewish-Israeli man have do to with refurbishing a mosque? The answer is simple: I’m sick and tired of the hatred. A sane voice must emerge.”

Harush explained that he built the mosque in order to promote co-existence. “It wasn’t a cheap venture but I did with all my heart.”

Source – http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3907600,00.html

Do you know of any individuals or organisations that are inspiring others and doing amazing things that are having a real impact on our lives? If you do, you should take this opportunity to get them recognised at Mosaic’s Talent Awards. In line with their commitment to recognise the amazing talent of young British Muslims, the people short listed for the awards will be enlisted onto the Mosaic Talent Programme. The programme includes mentoring from their most inspiring supporters, internship oppurtunities, and participation in Mosaic’s International Summit.

Here are the categories that are being short listed -

Science and Technology / Excellence in Education / Arts and Culture / Mosaic Mentor of the Year / Inspirational Leader of the Year / Young Entrepeneur / Young Volunteer / Community Leadership International / Sports / Interfaith / Media

To apply, fill out a nomination form by visiting www.mosaicnetwork.co.uk/awards

Applications will be open until Friday 10th September (not long to go!)

Winners will be announced at the Mosaic Talent Awards in November 2010

Salams and Greetings all,

After many weeks of planning, discussing and scribbling, we are happy to announce that we have finally launched our first store on Cafepress. We’ve decided to start small as we experiment with ideas and concepts and hope with your input, we can come out with some very cool products.

We would really appreciate your feedback and welcome all suggestions! Let us know what you want to see in there. You can find it at www.cafepress.com/muslimlifestyle

Robi

Web Editor

Pope Benedict XVI has just touched down in Edinburgh today to begin the first Papal visit to the UK for 28 years. The last time a Pontiff arrived in the UK was John Paul II in 1982, although that was not a full State visit like this time.

The Pope’s four day tour starts with a meeting with the Queen at Holyrood House, before heading to Glasgow for an open-air Mass. He will then head to London to meet politicians and religious leaders; then head off to Birmingham to beatify Cardinal Henry Newman before flying back to Rome. Protests by victims of child sex abuse will be protesting at the visit, as will secularists.

A close aide of the Pope, Cardinal Kasper stirred some controversy by reporting in a German newspaper how there is an atmosphere of “aggressive atheism” that exists in the UK. He also claimed: “When you land at Heathrow you think you’re in a Third World land” due to the variety of ethnicities in the UK. The Cardinal has since dropped out of the tour, citing “health reasons.”

So, do you see the UK as being aggressively atheist? Was the Cardinal right in making those remarks? And what do you think about the visit in general? Should we be making space for faith in Britain?

Please post your thoughts and comments below. For Sarah’s Pause for Thought on BBC radio about the visit, click here.

We have seen a fair amount of rather embarrassing Photoshop blunders in the past, from oil spills to race changes. The Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram has been scrutinised after manipulating an image suggesting that President Hosni Mubarak was leading the Middle East peace talks at the White House.

And here’s the original image taken by a White House photographer

The printing of the photograph above coincided with the arrival of Mahmoud Abbas and Benjamin Netanyahu in Sharm Al-Sheikh for the second round of talks under the current peace process. The newspaper has since replaced the images on their website. Oops.

The aging butler-based search engine website, Ask (formerly Ask Jeeves. Yes there was life before Google) has compiled what they call a top ten “unanswerable” questions from the past decade. These questions include, “What is the meaning of life?”, “Is there anybody out there?” and “How long will I live?”. This is of course to coincide with this year being their tenth anniversary. The list is based on the 1.1 billion queries that users have made on the site since it’s first launch in 2000.

They are also giving members of the public the opportunity to potentially answer the tricky unanswerable questions and shed light on their own theories. You can check out the list below or visit the site here.

The Top 10 Unanswerables

1. What is the meaning of life?

2. Is there a God?

3. Do blondes have more fun?

4. What is the best diet?

5. Is there anybody out there?

6. Who is the most famous person in the world?

7. What is love?

8. What is the secret to happiness?

9. Did Tony Soprano die?

10. How long will I live?

What would you add to this list? Please leave comments and suggestions below

By Ali Khimji

‘Mum! What’s for dinner today?!’ is regularly heard shouted across homes just as the first hunger pangs are setting in.

However, a shock study has revealed that 6 out of 10 mothers do not regularly cook healthy meals for their children. Of this, half said that they would like to, but claimed time and money restrictions, as well as fussy children, prevented them from doing so.

Growing children need a wide range of nutritious food, and should be avoiding snacks that are rich in fat and sugars. Fruits and vegetables ought to form a staple part of their diet too.

Could the rise of fast food be the primary blame for the lack of healthy, home-cooked food? And could the absence of nutritious meals be preventing kids from reaching their potential in school and extra-curricular activities? That isn’t to say that we can’t always get the teenagers to indulge in a bit of cooking themselves…

What do you think? Should mothers be cooking the family meal, or are our adolescents responsible enough to know the importance of non-stick frying pans?

For information from the FSA on eating advice for children, see here (http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/agesandstages/children/). For the NHS’ website on educating children about healthy eating, see here (http://www.childrenfirst.nhs.uk/teens/health/healthy_eating/)

By Khadija Gulamhusein

More and more aspects of our lives are becoming interactions with technology, from self- service checkouts at supermarkets to instant messenger communications. A recent comment piece in the London Evening  Standard argued that “the self checkout lets supermarkets turn alienation into profit.” Where once we used to communicate with each other, we now interact with a machine or mediate our communications through one. But is this a natural outcome of technological advances or something used to bolster corporate profits to the unknowing detriment of consumers?

There are growing fears of an inevitable move towards an isolated society and fears that the younger generation, for whom technology is such an ingrained part of their lives, will gradually become inept at communicating face-to-face. While the use of words is just one aspect of face-to-face communications, it is often the only ingredient in technology-mediated communications. Face-to-face communications allow the use of body language, moderated tones and word- inflections, all of which are precluded by technology-mediated communications. Communicating within the comforts of their own homes, social networking site users, for example, are able to spend time mulling over the wittiness and exact phrasing of their responses, without having to worry about the speed or flow of their conversations. The more fluid nature of face-to-face conversations, however, bars long and drawn-out silences.

We’ve all been taught that practice makes perfect. Is there a danger that with an increasingly decreased amount of practice, people will become less and less able to communicate with each other in the conventional way? Will the use of technology become so institutionalised that conventional conversation will be defined as technology-mediated conversation? Is this shift necessarily a bad thing? Proponents of the expanding use of technology in our everyday communications argue that platforms like Facebook allow us, rather, to become super-social beings. Being able interact with such a wide range and large number of people means that we become more socially apt rather than inept.

The question, however, is: Are we happy with these new and increasingly accepted definitions of socially apt and do they work to our interests or corporate interests?

Please leave your comments below

Like Fatema, I also spotted an interesting story in the Metro this morning and wanted to forward it here. The mainstream media have been spending quite a lot of their time in recent years highlighting bad press amongst young people within wider society. It’s always good to highlight the good press, which will set to inspire and encourage more people to come out and promote all the positive things the youth bring to the community.

Barry Spilling, 73 from Ipswich has commended a group of brave teenagers who came to his aid when he collapsed after suffering from a diabetic hypoglycemic attack. His blood sugar had sunk from 8.2 to 2.7.

The four boys from the nearby 4′rce youth training centre, led by 14-year old Charlie Mickleburgh, spotted the struggling man and ran to help him.

“Teenage boys get such a bad press these days that it was lovely to find such helpful, caring young lads.” Mr Spilling praised.

It’s important to understand that when we knowingly or unknowingly demonise a segment of any community, we fuel the engines that cause people to react. To handle that, we should highlight the good things around us and promote them.

———

Robi

You can read the full story in The Metro below.

Source – The Metro, 23rd September 2010

You’ve heard of Marvel’s action super hero The Silversurfer, now prepare to be wowed by The Silver Scorpion; the latest comic book super hero to hit the scene. It turns out that he’s wheelchair bound.. and also Muslim.

The new character from Liquid Comics apparently began life when a US philanthropist, Jay T Snyder was inspired by President Obama’s attempt to reach out to the Muslim world with disabled Syrian and American kids. When the children were asked what superpower they wanted, none of them wanted their disabilities healed. The CEO of Liquid Comics suggested how these children were “empowered by their own disabilities, and they should not be seen as a source of weakness”.

The Silver Surfer is still an early idea, but the author has mentioned that he has lost his legs in a landmine accident and later develops the ability to control metal with his mind (similar to Magneto from Marvel’s X-Men comics).

Initially, 50,000 Arabic language comics will be distributed throughout Syria in November, but will be also be published in English and be available for downloading worldwide online.

It’s not the first time Muslims have become comic book characters of course. We ran a special feature on the 99 back in October last year. You can read the feature here and watch the video below>

By Ali Khimji

Many of us ask each other the above question in a hypothetical scenario, but unfortunately this was a real question asked to the miners that have been trapped underground in Chile for the last eight weeks.

Some of the items that have been sent down, the 12cm borehole include sandwiches, vacuum-packed meals, portable games consoles, pocket Bibles and medication. Barcelona also provided a signed football shirt which was sent down in one of the tubes, which have been nicknamed ‘palomas’ or ‘doves’.

We had a quick run-around the emel office to find out what two things people would need if they were stuck down a mine. After much discussion around the technicalities and conditions (we agreed that we already have nutrition, water, light and hygiene products, but no power sources), we came up with:

“My diary and a DVD of Sophie’s Choice, one of Meryl Streep’s best performances. If life in a mine is imminent, it may as well be with literary reflection and a reminder of Meryl Streep’s thespian genius!”

Ayman - Managing Editor

“A book of poetry by Rumi and my mum’s pashmina – to remind me of her scent.”

Fatema - Lifestyle Editor

“A football and my pillow.” - Israr Ahmed - Sales Executive

“A martial arts manual and a Qur’an.” - Narges - Designer

“A Qur’an and a notepad” - Iram - Administrator

“A Mcguyver DVD box set and a portable dvd player that runs on solar energy. The genius that was McGuyver could use two trees and a couple of cans to evade almost anything.” - Robi – Web Editor (aka The Geek Shaykh)

“A Rubik’s cube and my Man Utd shirt.” - Ali  - Editorial Intern

“ A copy of the most recent issue of emel & a Qur’an.” – Nada - Editorial Intern

“A 5000 piece jigsaw puzzle and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – the book!”

Khadija - Editorial Intern

What two things would you need if you were stuck down a mine? Answers on a postcard please, down a 12cm tube…

(or just post below!)

By Ali Khimji

The winners of the Ig Nobel Awards were announced last week, with Britain landing a national record of four wins at the ceremony.

The ‘Igs’ are awarded to scientists whose work makes people laugh first and think later. Winners included psychologists Simon Rietveld and Ilja van Beest at the University of Amsterdam, who discovered that breathing difficulties caused by asthma can be alleviated by repeated rollercoaster rides.

The Physics prize went to Lianne Parkin and her team at the University of Otago in New Zealand, who discovered that people are less likely to slip over on icy footpaths if they wear their socks outside their shoes instead of inside.
One research paper that you might want to show your boss is the winner of the Management Prize; Alessandro Pluchino at the University of Catania, who demonstrated that companies work more efficiently if people are promoted at random.

While they may appear to be as random as the above, people have sworn by home-made remedies throughout time; with the Ancient Greeks believing that a headache could be cured by a shock from an electric eel, and Koreans pricking their thumbs with a needle to relieve indigestion.

My mum will always make me eat onions soaked in honey to get rid of a cough, while my dad believes that a good cup of tea can solve any problem.

We want to know what your random remedies for ailments are? Or have you spotted any random connections that could make an (Ig) Nobel Prize winner?

For more natural remedies check out Issue 58 – July 2009 – Kitchen Cures

By Ali Khimji

With news of the election of World Cup Winner Romario into Brazil’s lower House of Congress, we at emel took time to reflect over the politicians that had illustrious careers before entering office:
Arnold Schwarznegger starred in over 30 movies before becoming the ‘Governator’ of California in 2003.

Winning two Oscars wasn’t enough for Glenda Jackson, and she has won five elections to hold a seat in Parliament for 18 years.

Ronald Reagen was also an actor, but went one step further and secured the Oval Office of the White House for eight years. Mr Reagen was able to use his knack for remembering lines, in memorising lengthy political speeches.

Sir Menzies Campbell held the British 100m record from 1967 to 1974, but was unable to transfer the winning mentality to the Liberal Democrats when he was leader of the party.

On the other hand, Manny Pacquiao was able to knock his political opponent out of office, receiving double the votes that his rival did, to become congressman of Sangrani.
More recently, Wyclef Jean tried to run as a candidate in the upcoming Haitian presidential elections. However, he did not meet the residency requirements and we are still not sure if we should be ‘Ready or not’ for his entrance into politics.

At emel, we were thinking of other celebrities that might make good politicians:

• Sir Alex Ferguson would be perfect to bring the House of Commons into order, and would gladly give his ‘hairdryer treatment’ to any unruly MPs.
• Given her persistence in securing citizenship for the Gurkhas in Britain, we feel Joanna Lumley would be able to push any Bill through Parliament.
• After playing the role in The West Wing, Martin Sheen appears to have picked up the demeanour of being President with his dominant authority and excellent people skills.

We want to know which celebrities you think would make good politicians. Or did your local politician have an interesting career before entering office?

Salams and Greetings All,

As you may (we hope) or may not have noticed, over the past couple of months, the team at emel have been working hard at building up our social media presence. We’re attempt to push out blog posts more frequently (now with the help of three brilliant interns who are working with the editorial team for a little while). However, we would like to publish and promote a lot more interesting features in the near future. We’d like to get a conversation going, with you coming to us with ideas and suggestions on how we can get these conversations, debates and discussions started.

Which brings us to our next point. Blog posts. We’d like a lot more of them, but before we can do that, we’d like you to suggest topics and areas to talk about. After we receive a good amount of suggestions, we’ll pick the best ones and open up the floor for you to submit your own thoughts and opinions on the subjects. The editorial team will go through your post, and the best write-ups will be published on our blog.

Let us know what you think.. or if you have any ideas of your own! You can send us topic suggestions as a comment below, or leave them on our Facebook page. I’ll open up a tread on our discussion boards for ideas.

Live long and prosper

Robi

Web Editor

(We were struggling to find an appropriate image for this blog. You can guess why)

By Khadija Gulamhusein

Who says it’s difficult to be green? Or brown for that matter…Now every time you go for a poo, you could be saving a tree or mitigating the chance of a freak weather event. No really, I’m being serious. An innovative new pilot project in the UK will see human waste being used to produce gas for household use. After being stored for 18 days, the waste will make its way back to the homes of unsuspecting residents, alongside gas from other more conventional sources.

We want to know what you think of the pilot and whether you think it should a permanent fixture across the UK.  Do you think it’s a poopy idea or are you all for natural poo-wer?

Salams and Greetings All,

It’s approaching the end of the day today. It’s a relatively quiet day in the office, with our Creative Director and Lifestyle Editor off on a fashion shoot for out next issue. When I mean quiet, I mean in relation to our usual ‘print week’ mania. With the Global Peace and Unity event looming in a couple of weeks time, the team are busy preparing for that and making some last minute arrangements. We’re very excited at the buzz going around that and we have some very cool ideas in-store Watch this space for more info!

I wrote a blog post a couple of days ago, asking you to send in your suggestions for topics and themes to start a conversation. We had quite a few responses, and are awaiting a few more. The thread is still open on our blog post. You can find that here.

We’ve just wrapped up our Friday afternoon tea session and closing up for the day. Have a great weekend

Live long and Prosper!

Robi

Web Editor

By Ali Khimji

If someone was sent to a place for a long time, and it was for reasons beyond control, you’d think that when given the chance to leave, that someone would jump at the opportunity.

However, this doesn’t appear to be the case in Abu Zabaal, Egypt’s last surviving leper colony. The doors have been thrown open, but residents don’t appear to be in a rush to leave. Abu Zabaal was opened in 1933 and was effectively an ‘open-air prison’, having little contact with the outside world. Over the last 10 years, Abu Zabaal became a thriving village of 6,000 people with plenty of local amenities.

In the past, people feared leprosy because it caused visible disfigurement and disability, was believed to be contagious, and was incurable until the 1990s. Leper colonies were located in remote locations, and they were provided with their own currency because it was thought that using mainstream currency would spread the disease.

The whole notion of being withdrawn from society can have detrimental effects on a person’s personality, and if offered a way back into society, they can become reclusive as they have made a home of their new surroundings.

This appears to be the case at Abu Zabaal and many people have built lives in the colony. The residents feel a sense of belonging and have no wish to re-integrate back into mainstream society.

There is also a parallel with prisoners on death row. Their perception of the world is based on them living their last few days, but if they are acquitted of their crime and released from prison, they feel lost and vulnerable and some even commit further crimes to return to the prison environment.

Those that have seen ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ may remember Brooks Hatlen, the aged convict who is released and commits suicide because he cannot cope with life outside; he finds everything is too fast-paced.

It doesn’t help if mainstream society has pigeonholed a particular group, and this is the case with lepers. This also throws up an analogy with the novel ‘Blindness’ by José Saramago, where an epidemic of blindness spreads in a unnamed city and the afflicted people are sent to a filthy, overcrowded asylum. The asylum breaks down into anarchy and this spreads to the city outside.

We want to hear your thoughts on this topic; how can we help people integrate back into society after they have been excluded?

By Ali Khimji

Andrew Marr, presenter of his own BBC show, has labelled bloggers as “socially inadequate, pimpled, single, slightly seedy, bald, cauliflower-nosed young men sitting in their mother’s basements and ranting.”

As bloggers, we feel the need to respond to such hurtful comments. We’re definitely not socially inadequate, as you’re probably reading this through Facebook.

We’re not pimpled or slightly seedy. Not any type of seedy for that matter. Most of us are single, but we are still young (some at heart), and we all have full heads of hair. We don’t even know what cauliflower noses are, and we are not all young men in our mother’s basement. (Women outnumber men in our above-ground London offices)

But most importantly, we are not ranting. (This post isn’t a rant, it’s a response. There is a difference of six letters!)

Although many blogs out there may seem like verbal diarrhoea, everyone should be entitled to their own opinion and be free to express it.  Freedom of speech is a fundamental human right, and cannot be denied to anyone.

However, some people do need to recognise when their views are insulting and abusive and we, as society, cannot tolerate any offensive behaviour.

But at the same time, should we take everything to heart and feel insulted by the smallest of jokes? Perhaps if we take life too seriously, we’ll never get out alive?

We want to hear your views on the matter; should people be prevented from putting across any sort of offensive views? Or should we take everything with a pinch of salt and let people express their opinions?

By Ali Khimji

Following a change of logo, Gap was faced with a mass online protest over its decision. More than 2,000 comments appeared on the company’s Facebook page, and 5,000 people became followers of an anti-Gap logo Twitter account. But those pale in comparison to the 14,000 parody logos that appeared on another website.

However, there is an air of ‘publicity stunt’ around this, as Gap didn’t bother updating any of its merchandise to reflect the change.

This isn’t the first time that a company has attempted to develop a new brand, and some were more successful than others. Apple dropped the multi-coloured apple for a silver one back in 1998, and Google even had an exclamation mark attached to its logo for a few months around the same time. More recently, Tropicana put a picture of a glass of orange juice on its cartons in the US which was quickly changed back.

There is one lesson to be learnt here; the people truly do have power. The fact that a multi-million dollar company had to back down to the outcry of several thousand people, can speak volumes to the hidden activist within.

There are further examples of the strength of consumer power. In 2007, Masterfoods announced that it would start using rennet in its products. But a campaign by the Vegetarian Society urged people to complain to the company, local media and MPs. More than 6,000 e-mails and calls were received by Masterfoods, and 40 MPs signed a petition.

Let’s also not forget the Anti-Apartheid Movement that started in 1959 with a consumer boycott of South African goods. This led to the exclusion of South Africa from the Olympics and further economic sanctions. Today, there are boycotts of Israeli goods known as the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.

We want to hear your views on the matter. Do you think that consumers still have the power to change corporate decisions? Or are there any logos that you want companies to get rid of? (Just don’t make a protest of your answers!)

Coming to the GPU this weekend? Well emel is delighted that Baba Ali will be our guest at the emel stand – E24.

Baba Ali’s GPU video is here

Looking forward to seeing you all there.

By Ali Khimji

A new report from the Independent Scientific Committee on Drugs has found alcohol to be more dangerous than illegal drugs. The organisation, led by David Nutt, scored the drugs on a scale of 1-100 based on mental and physical damage, addiction, crime and costs to the economy and communities.

Alcohol scored 72 points, heroin got 55 points, and crack came third with 54 points. The report also calls for a new classification system for illegal drugs.

The findings arrive alongside more concerns over the anti-social effects of alcohol in town centres. “Too many of our streets and town and city centres are plagued by shouting, vomiting, fights, urination and other rowdy behaviour,” said Matthew Bennett, chairman of Open All Hours campaign group.

Alcohol-related crime and disorder is thought to cost taxpayers £13bn per year. It is estimated to cost the NHS £3bn per year to treat alcohol-related sickness. Furthermore, alcohol is responsible for a total of 26,000 deaths in England and Wales.

As we enter the age of austerity and government spending cuts, it is hard to believe that the government spends £16bn on treating the effects of alcohol.

The combined Departmental Programme and Administration Budgets for Energy & Climate Change, the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Transport, and International Development add up to £14bn in 2010-11.

If people were able to control their alcohol consumption, we would be able to double the amount of money that we spend on securing a sustainable future, improving our infrastructure, and supporting developmental aid programmes abroad.

These statistics really beg the question of asking ourselves if we have our priorities right. Alcohol spending reached £41bn last year. In the previous year, cash donations to charities in the UK reached £1.3bn. If people were able to decrease their alcohol consumption by 10%, we could boost the work of charities across the UK and the world.

What do you think? We want to hear your views on this >

>Check out the Government Spending Figures here<

Salams and Greetings All,

It’s Monday evening and here at emel HQ we’re all looking forward to what’s set to be a great week inshAllah. It’s Eid week, and Muslims around the world will be getting together to celebrate the occasion of Eid ul Adha.

To mark this, we thought we’d share some of our Eid plans and hopefully inspire you to share with us too.

Robi, Web Editor - After the initial mosque run in the morning (not a local marathon.. I mean the Eid Prayers),  I’ll be spending some time with the family helping distribute meat to our extended family members.

Fatema, Lifestyle Editor – I’ll be getting together with family over a good meal. Eid-Al-Adha is usually a time when people in the family will be reflecting on their past Hajj experiences, which is always pretty interesting.

Iram, Administrator – We’re holding a family talent contest at home. All the cousins will be turning up and as for the cooking; the parents will be putting up their feet whilst the kids rustle up some Eid food.

Ali, Editorial Intern – Eid for me is just a family occasion – a time to catch up with cousins over plates of delicious food!

Steven, Creative Director – It means a day off for me! I can reflect on the goodness of life.

How are you spending Eid this year?

To celebrate, emel is offering a special limited edition offer for this week only (ends Friday). We will be offering 13 issues for the price of 12 issues, that’s 13 issues for the usual price of £29.95*

To receive this special offer, get in touch by contacting us on +44 (0) 207 328 7300 or drop us an email at info@emel.com. Quote the reference “Eidgift10” Alternatively you can subscribe here.

Eid Greetings from everyone at emel HQ.

Peace Out,

Fatema & Robi

*£29.95 for direct debit subscribers, and £35.95 for online, cash, card and cheque.

Written by Nada Mansy

Just imagine rolling out of bed to step into your office just a 10 second stroll away. That’s exactly what is about to happen for some of Google’s employees, as today a huge expansion of its California headquarters was revealed, including new homes for its growing workforce. Talk about work being a bit too close to home.

But it’s not really that special to Google. We saw a few articles today including this one at the BBC which talks about how tasks traditionally left to home-life are being carried out at work. From breakfast and exercise to email writing, face booking and online shopping. Sounds like a weekend break to me. And likewise, work is being taken back home – and why not when we have blackberries and laptops that give us that key remote-email access.  A few studies indicate this work-home two-way shift started by the introduction of such technology. And perhaps more so in the current climate of job insecurity as workers try to take everything with them, never totally switching off from the office or from the home.

So this all prompted some interesting thoughts at the emel office, whilst we were listening to our iPods and munching on our brunch. (Okay, a little artistic license from me)

Is this greater flexibility good news, where sitting at our desks all day doesn’t just mean work, work, work? Or is it time go back to a strict separation of work and home life?

We’d like to hear from you. Please leave your thoughts and comments below.

Written by Khadija Gulamhusein

We’ve heard it all before; Madrassahs are the perfect environment for cultivating extremist tendencies. But usually the finger is being pointed at Madrassahs in Pakistan or Afghanistan, where young boys and girls are seen to be indoctrinated into the Taliban’s ideology. But according to the BBC’s Panorama, aired tonight on British Television at 8:30 pm on BBC 1, more than 5000 pupils are being taught the official Saudi national curriculum at Saudi Students’ Schools and Clubs in the UK. The curriculum is seen to be anti-Semitic and negatively affecting the ability of young Muslims to integrate into British society.

I can only speak from personal experience, but my Madrassah was definitely not extreme in what it taught. Apart from being open, and questioning of established religious opinions, we had student-led current affairs lessons and rigorous and analytical history lessons. There was no shortage of healthy debate, and in fact, it was these lessons that inspired me to go to study Philosophy, Politics, and Economics at university and pursue a career in journalism.

While I’m not suggesting that all Madrassahs are the same as mine, and I’m sure there are Madrassahs out there that will have curriculums that most Muslims find distasteful at the very least, I don’t believe this to be the majority tendency. My fear is that Panorama’s exploration will simply add to the suspicion that every Islamic school is somehow a breeding ground for extremism.

The interesting thing is that as a result of this documentary, Ofsted is looking into possible regulation and inspection of out-of-hours clubs and schools. Personally, I’m stuck in two minds; I don’t think that all Madrassahs should have to be inspected simply because a few are perpetuating unsuitable and inaccurate content. But then again, as a Muslim, I fear the spread of this ideology just as much as any non-Muslim. Should I be imbibing the ‘if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to lose’ mentality?

Have you got a story to tell?

emel is looking for some stories to feature in our Real Lives section. If you, or anyone you know, would be ideal for the following sections, please get in touch with us:

Marriage – a couple that have had an interesting relationship, perhaps met through strange circumstances and have funny stories. Click HERE to see examples.
Kith & Kin – two close friends or relatives that have a special relationship, with lots of funny stories and quirky characteristics. Click HERE to see examples.
After Hardship Comes Ease – a story of someone that has gone through something traumatic, but managed to get through it and make positive steps (we can have anonymity for this). Click HERE to see examples.
Week In the Life Of – a typical week of someone that is involved in a range of activities or has an interesting job, with a few funny anecdotes. Click HERE to see examples.
Watch This Face – up and coming young Muslims, who have achieved a lot in their field and can inspire others. Click HERE to see examples.
Food From My Childhood – a personal account of someone’s memories of their childhood with relation to food

Please drop us an email at info@emel.com with a brief description of the story and we will get back to you.

By Khadija Gulamhusein

Bernie Ecclestone, the 80 year old F1 boss who was violently beaten up in a mugging for his possessions, has become the new face of an advert for a Swiss watch company, Hublot. The tagline of the new advert reads: “See what people will do for a Hublot.”

My first reaction to this initial piece of information was: “Poor guy; his plight is being exploited by the unfeeling, profit driven, money-minded corporation.” But as I read on, I learnt that the advert was actually Ecclestone’s idea.

Now I’m all for giving people the freedom to do what they want in life, but this struck me as particularly distasteful, if not bordering on wrong. Ecclestone’s motivation for the advert was to stand up to his attackers and to show courage in the face of their crime. It may be a distasteful way of showing courage but his actions are understandable all the same. What isn’t understandable is the Swiss company’s agreement to his proposal. While the CEO of the company is arguing that the advert is a “protestation against violence that we are all afraid of today,” only the naive would assume that this is the company’s main motivation behind the advert. It is an advert after all.

The BBC article I read got me thinking. In the advert, Ecclestone looks pretty badly beaten up. If I was walking through a tube station or down the street, and saw his face displayed on a billboard, I’d probably have looked twice. Isn’t that the whole point of good advertising? To grab the attention of passer-by’s, long enough to feed them just enough information about the company or product being advertised?

But what does this say about the state of mind of consumers? Have we been bombarded with so much advertising, that the mediocre and the normal no longer appeal to us, even if they invoke the same message? Are we only attracted by the shocking, the distasteful, and the abnormal? I see it as similar to the Lady Gaga phenomenon. While she may be musically talented, part of the public’s fascination with her and her rise to fame stems from her complete defiance of everything normal.  

Let us know what you think about the state of advertising in this day and age. Have we become desensitised to everything normal and only respond to the abnormal and shocking?

A Qur’an, named the ‘Qansuk al Ghuri’, coined after the Egyptian Mamluk who had the Qur’an commissioned in the early 16th Century, is being digitised in Manchester. The project is being undertaken by the John Rylands Library in Manchester, with the large fragile copy being scanned in page by page to preserve the ancient text online. The Qur’an is one of the world’s largest copies, and was originally bought by John Rylands’ wife Enriqueta in 1901.

Facts about the Qansuk al Ghuri Qur’an

• Each of the 470 pages measures 35in by 24in, the size of a large plasma screen TV.
• The ornate book was written by several scribes and illuminators for Qansuk al Ghuri, the penultimate Mamluk Sultan of Egypt.
• The paper it is written on was made from bombycine, a silken fabric which after sizing is polished with smooth stones so that the ink sits on the surface rather than being absorbed (similar in properties to vellum).
• Historians disagree on when it was written, with estimates ranging from the second half of the 14th century to 1500.
• It was kept in the Sultan’s library in Cairo and was eventually acquired by the Earl of Crawford.
• The Qur’an was one of several manuscripts which formed the Crawford Collection, artefacts acquired by various Earls of Crawford, which was bought by Enriqueta Rylands in 1900 and became part of her husband’s library the John Rylands Library.
• The library eventually formed part of the University of Manchester in 1972 which is where it is now.

Source – The Daily Mail Online, 19.01.11

Written by Tabassam Hamid

The channel 4 Dispatches programme has exposed some Islamic educational establishments as places where violence and hatred is taught. Whilst we may be sceptical about much of the allegations, it is essential that the inherent failings of Madrasah education be addressed.
The first word revealed to our esteemed Prophet, peace be upon him, was ‘Iqra!’- ‘Read!’ It is not befitting of the majesty and pre-eminence of that message for the educational standards in our community to have plunged to the depths portrayed in the recent Dispatches programme. The Qur’an is infused with hypnotic rhythms; it is poetry to stir the soul. But more than that, it is a book that appeals to the intellect, asking mankind to reflect, to ponder, to exercise the rational faculty- because that faculty has not been granted to us without reason.

Yet here we have evidence of instructors at some of our educational establishments failing – quite appallingly – to do justice to the essence of that message. These children aren’t being taught, they are being instructed: in dogma, intolerance, and violence. The segments concerning Hindus are alarmingly crude, and those concerning the ‘kuffar’ are similarly distasteful and misconceived. Then there is footage of children being pummelled by a teacher, followed by children meting out similar treatment to younger children: violence perpetuates violence.

With respect to corporal punishment, in my view it stems mostly from the fact that the teachers we have at these madrasahs come from a vastly different cultural environment, where such practices are acceptable and uncontroversial. Most (if not all) of the individuals featured in the Dispatches programme are of South Asian origins, and have a radically different conception of discipline. That is the way they were taught, and it is the way they were disciplined at home, and it is the way misdemeanours of any kind are generally dealt with in much of the Indian sub-continent. But that is not Islamically acceptable: the Prophet (peace be upon him) never hit a child.

Secondly, when it comes to the instruction of the children, we have footage of quite inarticulate young men making foolish and crude remarks. They keep blathering on about imitation of the ‘kuffar’ etc, clearly missing the irony that they are conveying their message in the ‘kuffar’s’ very own  language. There is also footage of a ‘maulana’ who delivers a speech in Urdu which is translated into English – to what degree of accuracy remains unclear. But what is clear is that his audience have not grown up learning Urdu in Pakistan. They were born in Keighley and Birmingham, not Karachi and Baluchistan, and they are not imprinted with all the cultural associations that living in such radically different societies would entail. They are British children, and their experience of the world could not be more disconnected from the maulana’s. The Qur’an issues a command to ‘read’; to read is to be educated. Education has reason as it chief persuasive force, not the lash of the stick or the pounding of fists.

By Sarah Joseph

David Cameron has been vigorously laying out his stall for Big Society. Sarah Joseph suggests Muslims will hear the call, but Cameron will have to sort out his Munich rhetoric first.

The Big Society is Mr Cameron’s “mission to politics.” He believes we “need a social recovery to mend our broken society.”

Putting aside for one minute all the criticism that has been thrown at Big Society (and there is plenty of it), it is worth examining Cameron’s Big Idea for Britain.

Big Ideas are all very well, but if they are to be the solution to our ‘broken society’ we need more than ideas, we need Big Ideals – the “L” being a vital component to shift perspectives. But what Ls do we need? I would suggest we need at least four: love, labour, longevity and leadership.

It is on this last L of leadership that I feel Mr Cameron, especially with regards to the Muslim community, needs some direction.

Faith groups are an obvious place for Cameron to sell his ideas of Big Society as, by and large, faith groups already have a commitment to community work, volunteering, and social good. Muslim groups have for years worked in the grassroots providing services that the state does not. This faith inspired social action is grounded within a tradition that does not delineate between the sacred and the profane, but rather sees religious obligations to society as part and parcel of faith. Which is why Cameron’s Munich Security Conference speech was such a letdown for Muslims who have been working for what Cameron would call his Big Society, and what Muslims would just call a religious obligation towards others. At Munich, Cameron wanted to distance religion from politics, and indeed conflated a political understanding of Islam with terrorism. But Big Society requires people to be inspired by an idealism, and to fully engage in things which were once the remit of the government.

At Munich, Cameron showed he did not understand the interplay between faith and politics, but he is not alone in this. A man was trying to convince me of the benefits of a peace march he was organising. “It’s completely non-political, like a Gandhi march.” I felt compelled to clarify for him that Gandhi was actually very political. Leading his followers to non-violent passive resistance was not a Sunday picnic; rather he led them to a certain beating at the hands of British troops. I then referenced Jesus’ upturning of the money lenders’ tables in the Temple, and the fact that the leaders of the time desired to have Jesus killed because he was causing ripples in their power base; a theme repeated across almost all the prophetic stories.

Gandhi himself said, “those who think religion has nothing to do with politics understand neither religion nor politics,” and yet today, over six decades since his assassination, we are proud to hold him up as an apolitical saint-like figure, neutered (like Christ) from anything to do with the world, highlighting only the word “passive” from his non-violent passive resistance movement.

The terms ‘political Islam’ and ‘Islamism’ are bandied about by politicians and policy wonks with images of sinister terrorists lurking around to blow us all up. We need to be more careful with words. We are assured that this has nothing to do with ‘the religion of Islam’, which is ‘a peaceful religion’ with lots of adherents. Nor is it to do with people of Muslim backgrounds engaged in politics, which is alright apparently, and we can become MPs. Rather, the problem lies when you are inspired by your scripture to bring about political change. This apparently is dangerous stuff, and such people are scary revolutionary types ready to tear down the very fabric of our systems. If you want to spearhead any change, you first have to declare that this has nothing to do with your faith, that you have no links to anyone who is inspired by their faith, and that really you only want a few tweaks here and there, but nothing to upset ‘the system’.

Even as a Christian, I was inspired by the ability of faith to bring about fundamental change. Campaigning for nuclear disarmament is political, so why should it matter if you are motivated by the Bible which says, “Thou shalt not kill”, and I could not see how it was Christian to build weapons of mass and indiscriminate destruction. Calling for an end to Apartheid and for sanctions against South Africa is political, but should it matter if your inspiration is the Bible which says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus,” and I could not see how it was Christian to oppress people. Indeed, the anti-Apartheid movement was very much about change in their lifetime, and whilst the religion of the Boers was part of the oppression, to another group religion was part of the liberation. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, “The well-to-do and powerful complain that we are mixing religion with politics. I have never heard the poor complain that ‘Tutu, you are being too political’.”

I can see no reason why people cannot call upon the scriptures which inspire them in order to inspire change in the world. The prophets spoke for the weak, the oppressed, and the marginalised. They fought for justice, which necessitated speaking truth to the powerful. All of this is very political stuff.

Religious followers have been responsible for wars, death, destruction, and acts of great tyranny and hatred, but to quote Tutu again, “Religion is like a knife, because though a knife can be used to stab a man in the stomach, a knife can also be used to cut bread and feed the hungry.”

We need leadership today that speaks to people’s hearts, mind, and spirit. We need leadership that unites, and not foment division. We need leadership that does not prey on people’s fears, but gives confidence to their aspirations, for as the Bible says, “Perfect love casts out fear” (1 John 4.18). It would be useful if our political leadership could remember that, especially leaders that need all the help they can to get their Big Society up and running.

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