Comments on: The Hijaab: 20 Years On?

By: Rehanna

Rehanna — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 16:28:11 +0000

May Allah bless you Aisha you are a truly wonderful role model and a shining example for our young muslim today, jazakallah

By: Bejeweled

Bejeweled — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:09:47 +0000

Religion was ingrained in most societies in the past millennium. To speak of it as a separate influence is wrong from the outset. You may hold to it that it caused wars and conflict, whilst others hold to it that it was the cause of social cohesion, good mannerisms, moral etiquette and spirituality. Getting rid of religion at the time, and today, is fatal by any standards.

A good time to stop the debate, agreed, and maybe we should pick up some history books and question our ideas in the meantime.

By: Bejeweled

Bejeweled — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 12:05:03 +0000

Well let’s just say the nation at large that you know are, thankfully, not the ones I have come across.

Whilst I take your point that there are immigrant communities who need to broaden their horizons a bit more, your stereotypes of Pakistan and the world are deeply flawed. I have Pakistani friends who say that Pakistan is more westernised than here. So let’s let go of this superiority attitude please, it’s getting old.

Yes we’re not “in Pakistan” and most of us never claimed to be. This is home. Let’s get over it and learn how to live alongside each other.

By: Manfred

Manfred — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 11:21:48 +0000

We’ve gone off topic here anway. What I originally said was that religion had played a part in most major conflicts of over the past several hundreds years. Fact,
whatever slant you want to put on it.
Enough of this anyway, insults are now being traded, and thus a good time to stop the debate.

By: Manfred

Manfred — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 10:54:45 +0000

You keep burying your head in the sand then.
Average Joe, AKA Joe Public = the nation at large. And I think you’re right – Joe Public can be quite bigoted – regardless of race, creed or colour.
It’s interesting you refer to the average Joe who only sticks to his/her ‘close circle of pub-friends’ as you really summarise many an immigrant community in this country, where many don’t even bother to learn the language.
Really, it’s you who should be getting out more – immerse yourself in our culture, enjoy it, live it, experience it – you aren’t in Pakistan anymore. There’s more to life than an arranged marriage and 15 kids.

By: Bejeweled

Bejeweled — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 01:47:10 +0000

Manfred- the only person living in a ‘cuckoo’ land is yourself, consumed in your hazy alcoholic stupor, in the blessed boozer you refer to. I’m not even going to begin on your historical perceptions, which completely lack any speckle of understanding.

The fact is that British Muslims are here to stay, they are part of the fabric of the society, whether you like it or not. This is their home. The women are not going to come to their local boozer to get your approval, they’re going to do what they do best- make a positive, constructive contribution to their society.

I lived in London and had the most amazing high-school experience. I made life-long friends with white,black, malaysian, sri-lankan and iranian friends. And *shock horror* they weren’t all Muslim. It’s this exciting, wonderful diversity that I experienced here, which I am incredibly proud of.

These comments about what ‘your average Joe’ thinks and judges are completely irrelevant. If you’re average Joe is a bigot living in his/her close circle of pub-friends, then I guess you should be more seriously concerned about the future of these kind of average Joes, than the problems of Muslims.

You really need to get out more.

By: Bejeweled

Bejeweled — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 01:33:00 +0000

Fantastic response Opiya, I couldn’t have said it any better.

By: Bejeweled

Bejeweled — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 01:32:26 +0000

I agree on this use of language. Islam is not totalitarian or dictated, it encourages choice -and good choices.

By: Manfred

Manfred — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 14:35:30 +0000

You can trace all what you said back to religion. Foreign policies have only been formed since then – rightly or wrongly. The Israeli problem is there, largely because of WW2 after the Germans tried to exterminate an entire religion.
Multi-cultural Britain does not exist. Most immigrant populations (MOST) live in isolated poverty in this country, native poor live amongst themselves on vast council estates, and so on and so forth. We are nation divided as much by the way a man speaks i.e. accent as we are the colour of skin and the religion one follows.
As somebody once famously said, Britain is the only country on earth where one man will hate another simply for the way he speaks.
And you think we can live alongside other races and religions in harmony.
“British values are about appreciating our richness in diversity” utter tripe – you don’t know what your’re talking about.
Get yourself out into a boozer on any town centre street of a Friday night dressed in your veils and your burkas, and just see how the average Joe reacts. Your are living in PC cloud cuckoo land.

By: Opiya

Opiya — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 02:17:02 +0000

I explained how I denied it in that previous comment, but let’s break this down:
-Isreal and Palestine: a conflict against illegal occupation of Palestinian homeland and subjugation of the people. Prior to the UK backed establishment of Isreal [which continues to illegally grow with Western backing], a harmonious multi-faith community existed for centuries.
-Iraq: a war caused by Britain and America when they fell out with their previous sponsored buddy, the dictator Saddam, over trumped up WMD charges [in reality - oil supplies].
-Taliban: a group, like Saddam, created and sponsored by the US until they fell out. Then the US lead the Afghan war, which rather than removing the Taliban, made them go underground only to re-emerge elsewhere.
The common denominator is not religion but such Western foreign policies, which has created enemies and conflicts to everyone’s detriment.
And I hardly need to justify my Britishness to you, but I am British. I’ve lived here since I was born here. I am more British and proud of it, with a formal education in our culture and history, than the average. And I spend most of my voluntary time working and campaigning for the benefit of Britain. Yes, that does includes campaigning against our foreign policy as it not only damages other countries but damages our country deeply.
British values are about appreciating our richness in diversity, not forming some kind of homogenous police-state where the authorities feel they have a say on everything down to how people dress – as in France. Social harmony and cohesion is not about everyone being the same, it’s about everyone respecting each others’ differences.
It may be time you realised – British native culture has not stayed stagnant. It has shifted, since colonial times and particularly over the past century when mass immigration from British colonies [to, by the way, keep the post-war UK economically afloat] developed the racial diversity of Britain, and with it, cultural diversity.
There are now many more colours, cultures and, yes, faiths that are part of British culture. Hijab is as much a part of our culture as hats. And if you don’t like that, it is you who are dismissing British history and culture and maybe you should be the one to move.