The Hijaab: 20 Years On?

Jemima Khan was a subject of a country’s culture. The Quran, the primary source of Islamic law, states that ‘there is no compulsion in religion’ [2:256]. Please don’t conflate religion and culture. And Pakistan hardly threatened to impose any bans. This was a point of the media, not the law nor the officials of an institution.
If anything, the approach in some European countries [btw, we Muslims who are born and raised here are also Westerners as Western Muslims] by seeking to ban all or parts of Hijab is a case of double standards. How is forcing a woman, who by choice wears it, to take it off any different than forcing her to wear it against choice? If you expect the freedom of choice in other countries, then practice what you preach.
And your final line reflects sheer ignorance. Have you studied no history? Or did the mass murder in the name of Godlessness in communist Russia completely wash over you? And which bit of the Middle East do you refer to? The bit where America and Britain supported the dictator Saddam when it suited them and then illegally blew apart Iraq to a state of exacerbated lawlessness when he stopped serving their capitalist aims? Or the bit where Britain and America colluded in establishing Isreal and supported and continue to allow the illegal occupation and subjugation of the entire Palestinian nation? Do you wonder why there is conflict in that region? If anything, the foreign policy of our secular ‘civilised’ Western nations are ‘evil, devisive and caused most of the world’s ills’. As you say, just look at the Middle East. Or any of the many other countries that have suffered from Western colonialism and imperialism for that matter.

British Mosques: Community Hubs or Exclusive Prayer Clubs?

Excellent post! We certainly need to work towards building our mosques to be the holistic, all-inclusive community centres that God intended them to be. I hope we can work to realise that, inshaAllah.

Islamic Law on Trial

A very informative article.

Islamic Law is often viewed through the lens of the simplistic portrayal propagated by the media. As such, one can get the impression of it being a law that is medieval and stagnant. But it is a lot more complex than that and to attempt to form a judgement on it, as a system of justice, based on rudimentary knowledge or misinformation is, in fact, extremely unjust in itself.

Return to Baghdad

often when we think of war-torn countries like iraq, the images we conjur up are of destruction and hopelessness. thank you for giving glimpes into an alternative reality – where there is hope for peace and stability and the power of human will can urge that hope into reality. may that be realised.

Islam in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Asset or Obstacle?

Very eye-opening. Shocking to see that after the atrocities, Bosnian’s are neither given equal rights nor justice – and war criminals as national heroes?!

Toleration of such treatment can only lead to it becoming acceptable and give scope for further injustices taking place. As you say – a troublesome sign for the future of the Western Balkans and Europe as a whole.

Why is Palestine Important?

It really is unbelievable how Isreal seems to get away with the most unbelievable human rights violations. And our government, for all its occasional [forked tongued] rhetoric, does Nothing.