By Amira Abozeid

As a British-Born, Egyptian-raised young female, I have always been interested in knowing more and more about the UK.  I was looking forward to living in the UK one day and engaging with British society to enrich my cultural knowledge and socialise with people from diverse backgrounds and ethnicities.

But when I came to Britain a couple of years ago, many changes occurred to the image I had in my mind. I was shocked from the media’s run-of-the-mill stories about Muslims being violent, extremist, and backward and of Muslim women being oppressed, subjugated and helpless. I was disappointed to find that the negative stereotypes propagated by hard-liners had somehow succeeded in shaping the public opinion of some of the British people against Muslims.

By Dr Nafeez Mosaddeq Ahmed

The international system will face new and evolving challenges over the coming decades, concerning not only issues such as terrorism and violent conflict, but more pertinently, the intersecting convergence of global ecological, energy and economic crises. It so happens that these phenomena will intensify in direct relation to Muslim-majority regions in the Middle East, Central and South Asia, and North Africa.

Existing trends, and their probable trajectories, look grim without urgent preventive and mitigating action. Climate change is already happening, and has generated droughts this year in some of the most prominent food-producing regions. This trend is set to accelerate over the coming decades.

By Farhat Amin

What will be the outcome of 2010?

Whatever the outcome, one thing is certain that government priorities will change, public spending will be cut and bonuses will be given for failure. Sounds like business as usual.

Cynicism is not the answer, far from it. Times will be tough, that much is guaranteed but challenges can always be met face on. What is the point of this blog, some may be asking. Well the answer is that regardless of how disillusioned we become as individuals it is still important to be proactive and not reactive. It is easy to point fingers, but unless we do not take a stance, things will not change.

By Zahra Rammahi

Before I graduated I had not realised how unrealistic the education system was in preparing us for future work. I understood the purpose of school was to mould us into successful career people, however, I had not realised that a first class degree with honours wouldn’t get me anywhere in life –  especially with no experience.

In the three great university years of making amazing friends and learning psycho-social theories of human behaviour, people would often ask me, “so you’re a psychologist?” I would say, “yes”, they would ask, “can you tell what I’m thinking?”, I would reply, “erm…yes” they would inquire, “ what’s that?” and I would answer, “You my friend are thinking if I know what you’re thinking?’’

By Tamanna Rahman

I often hear the complaint, with some justification, from many friends that Muslims are almost always portrayed negatively in the media; as wildly exaggerated caricatures of stereotypical backward types, or as the vanguard of the new feminist movement who are using driving lessons to kick start the revolution.

For some reason, they say, of all the immigrant religious communities that live in Britain, Sikhs and Hindus are seen as being more integrated and seem to get a better press. How do they manage it without trying, they wonder? It’s not like Muslims are so very different.

By H M Zaheer

Optimism is the first step to changing Britain by 2020

The pessimists among us say Britain is heading towards economic and political decline, in the wake of the credit crunch that brought our financial system to its knees and the growing threat of the far right in recent elections. Nowadays there is a big difference between what people would prefer to see happen in the next ten years and what they feel might actually happen. But unless we are optimistic about the future, we cannot start building a better one. Our hopes are what will make the difference. Here are my hopes for where I want Britain to be by 2020.

By Suleman Khan

Afloat

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The sight of different cultures and religions coexisting is an inspirational one and worthy of preserving and sharing. I enjoy capturing the vibrant images of people and landscape

By Iqbal Chowdhury

A letter to my Self-less Ego

Dear Ego,

In the chambers of Corazon, we drank from the fountains of Zest

You favoured only those liquors sweet, disliking the rest

Scorning my indifference as My Self drank those acrid

Telling My Self to indulge the sweet Senses, whenever they’re arid

I loved you as I loved My Self, effects of the sweetness you made me taste

Little did I know, it was the last this Trinity of mine was ever chaste

By Samihah Dharamsi

Addressing Disability in the Muslim Community: Now and in the Coming Decade

The 2001 Census revealed the group with the highest level of disability in the UK is in fact the Muslim Community, with almost a quarter of Muslim females (24 per cent) and one in five Muslim males (21 per cent) as having a self-declared disability. So why are we so reluctant to accept these situations and tackle them?

Monday 8th March to Sunday 28th March 2010

Editorial

After weeks of contributions and debate, addressing a remarkable spectrum of issues through a vibrant range of genres, we have now come to the completion of the six themed and structured weeks of The Platform. And we would like to thank all of you who have taken part and made the discussions on the blog both energetic and passionate.