We Need an Inclusive History Curriculum
On 7 February the Department for Education (DfE) launched a consultation on Reform of the National Curriculum in England. It ends today (16 April). The DfE has already published a draft curriculum specification for 12 school subjects. In History, the Islamic contribution to this country remains almost entirely absent. In June last year an education...
Are humans created or evolved?
Religion and science seem to be at loggerheads again. This time it is evolution that takes centre stage – the creation of our species on Earth – and it appears aggressive atheism is desperate to turn a theory into “fact”. Recently there have been impassioned debate on this area on two high-profile TV programmes: one...
Compromise Within the Family: An essential Ingredient of Parenting
Our children are our future, our hope. We all want them to be good human beings and better citizens. However, with changing nature of our society many of us are worried. Positive parenting is at the core of raising responsible children. Strong family, confident children Parenting starts in the family; family is the first human...
Census 2011: Muslims Are Not to Be Feared
The new Census figures from the Office for National Statistics for England and Wales reveal some startling, if perhaps unsurprising, changes over the last decade. For a start, we are mixing more, getting married less, religious affiliation is falling and the growth of immigration has altered the demographic makeup of certain areas of the nation....
Dignity of Death and Palliative Care
Controversy has arisen around end-of-life care. In recent time questions were raised on the Liverpool Care Pathway (LCP) system, which is intended to ease the last hours of a dying patient. But critics are saying that LCP is a way of hastening patients’ deaths. Some in the media are now calling it the “death pathway”....
The War on Terror Is Dead … Long Live the War on Terror?
Last March in an article titled Time for an Inclusive politics I wrote of my optimism surrounding the impending demise of the War on Terror. President Barack Obama himself had declared the war finished in 2010. Here in Britain we were looking forward to the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee as well as the Olympics. For once,...
We Muslims must be dignified despite anti-Islamic propaganda
It has been just one week since the 11th anniversary of the September 11th tragedy. Already at least seven people have been killed and scores more injured or arrested during protests against an anti-Muslim film which has gone viral on the internet. ‘The Innocence of Muslims’ was released, it seems, by a Coptic individual in...
Reviving the spirit of fasting & Ramadan
Religion and religious practice is for a higher purpose; to lift the status of human beings. When it comes to Islam it is about the spirit and message of the oneness of God and the stewardship of human beings on earth. Islam is essentially about one’s wilful submission to God to become His worthy vicegerent;...
The Cry of Srebrenica: Is Europe listening?
“We pray to You, Almighty God, may grievance become hope, May revenge become justice May mothers’ tears become prayers That Srebrenica never happens again To no one and nowhere!” Last Wednesday on the 11th of July, I was in Srebrenica for the very first time. The above is the main prayer that I heard...
Raising your child with discipline
A child is not an adult Children are not small adults. They are newcomers to the world; everything is a first to them. They view the world through fresh, new and curious eyes. They are inquisitive, playful, imaginative, impressionable, uncritical and driven by extrinsic motivations. Their life is about exploring and learning; they would not...
Sexual Grooming: A Degeneration of Humanity
The news that nine men have been found guilty of child sex abuse in Rochdale has created widespread revulsion. The disclosure in Liverpool Crown Court that the men plied their victims with drink and drugs so they could ‘pass them around’ and use them for sex was vile. One of the girls ‘groomed’ was as young as...
Islamophobia: Europe’s New Political Disease
A new wave of anti-Muslim intolerance and antagonism is sweeping Europe. The far right political gains seen in some parts of the continent are alarming. Anti-immigrant, anti-Muslim and extreme right parties seem to be cashing in on economic hardship and austerity measures. In a blinkered world of ‘us’ and ‘them’ they have found in Europe’s...
