Condemnation.

To the numerous amounts of people on social media asking where the Muslims are when it comes to condemning the Charlie Hebdo massacre,

Of course I am disgusted and horrified by the atrocity in Paris. And yes, I condemn the horrific actions of those people. But not because of the fact that I'm a Muslim, but because I think we should all condemn this kind of violence. 

Regardless of faith.

Condemning because of my religion, would be to admit that these individuals acted in the name of my religion.

My Islam that teaches me to pray 5 times a day.

My Islam that teaches me to respect my parents.

My Islam that teaches me to give a percentage of my wealth to charity every year.

My Islam that teaches me peace, love, and compassion. 

#Notinmyname

The Veil - Freedom? or Oppression?

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you'll no doubt have heard, seen, or read something or other about the Niqab or the veil.

Now when I first heard that this was something that was being discussed in parliament, I couldn't help but laugh. I honestly thought it had to be a joke. My first thought was seriously? Surely this country has bigger problems. Surely our government have more important things to tackle, instead of debating about the way a certain group of people should or shouldn't dress.

Having said that, I can completely understand why certain members of the public might be unnerved by women who choose to wear the veil. If it's something you don't know a lot about, or something you've never come across, it can seem somewhat 'alien' and even perhaps frightening.

However, if you take the time out to look into what the veil is and the reason that some Muslim women choose to wear it, the last thing it is, is frightening. In fact, all this news coverage and debate is doing the complete opposite of what the veil aims to do, it is drawing unnecessary attention to these women, who are trying to mind their own business and go about their daily lives.

A lot of the arguments about why the veil should be banned, link back to the story about a Muslim woman who allegedly refused to lift her veil in court. Whether this is or isn't true, I definitely understand that the face veil has to be lifted in court, in front of a jury for it to be a fair trial. 

What baffles me however, is that I know several women who wear the Niqab and have done for years, and I know that if they were ever to find themselves in a similar situation, they would have no problem at all lifting their veil. The same applies at airports, or any other situation where it is necessary for whatever reason, for someone to confirm their identity. Therefore, for this one isolated incident to spark a debate about potentially banning the veil, is to me, quite ludicrous.

Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of women in this country do not wear the veil because they have been forced to wear it by an oppressive, tyrannous male family member. In fact, they feel empowered by this piece of clothing. The idea that they are choosing what can and cannot be seen by other people is for them, freedom. Therefore, the people that think they are liberating these women by dictating to them how to dress (oh the irony), are in fact doing the exact opposite of what they are condemning, and are in fact taking on the role of the oppressors. 

I can't discuss the topic of the veil, without making mention of Rachid Nekkaz, a businessman who has paid 699 Niqab fines since the ban was implemented in France. (Faith in humanity restored!)

Finally, I'll leave you with this video that makes for quite an interesting watch:

:-) x

Woolwich attack

Recently something despicable happened. Something that has been all over the news since, and that has split public opinion and sent social networking sites on a frenzy. As you already probably know, on Wednesday 22nd May, a British soldier, Lee Rigby was murdered on the streets of Woolwich, London.

Now I think any sane person will agree with me when I say, what happened that day was barbaric, brutal, and unjustified. However, I want to just put a few thoughts out there.

Firstly, I strongly believe that a life is a life, one is not anymore valuable then another. So when 75 year old Mohammed Saleem was stabbed to death in Birmingham just under a month ago, correct me if I'm wrong, but I do not recall this cruel, unprovoked act of violence getting anywhere near the same amount of news coverage or discussion, as the Woolwich attack. All I'm trying to say, is take a moment to reflect before you unquestioningly believe everything the media tells you. Step back and look at things objectively and make up your own mind. Instead of just accepting the opinions and ideas of others that are being forced down you by the television screen in your living room.

Secondly, I want to tackle some of the reactions I've seen circulating the internet following the Woolwich attack. For all those people making inadequate and racist claims stating that all Muslims are terrorists, and should be sent out of the country, I'm sorry to be blunt but these are far-fetched and uneducated ideas. Drawing on an analogy that Russel Brand made, is Football to blame for the violence caused by the small minority of football hooligans? And therefore, should Football be banned? 

How can a religion that is followed by millions around the world be responsible or to blame for these violent acts that a minority commit? In fact, the Quran even states that the taking of one life, is comparable to killing the whole of humanity. That is how much Islam condemns murder.

I think in times of crisis like this, it is easy to turn against each other, to appoint blame based on stereotypes. Instead, we should be brushing our differences to one side and coming together to tackle these issues, to come up with ways of preventing these acts of violence from taking place in our society.

Myles Dyer put it best when he posted the following on his Facebook page,

'Those who use words like 'terrorist', 'evil', or '[race]' to explain horrific acts of violence, wipe their hands clean of identifying actual root causes, and thus preventative measures'.

I couldn't agree more, and though we are far from it, I wish as a society, we could come together at times like this and figure out what steps to take next, together.

My thoughts and prayers are with the families of Lee Rigby and Mohammed Saleem and the thousands dying around the world everyday.

I'll leave you with the following quote from one of my favourite novels, Noughts and Crosses by Malorie Blackman:

"I used to comfort myself with the belief that it was only certain individuals and their peculiar notions that spoilt things for the rest of us. But how many individuals does it take before it's not the individuals who are prejudiced but society itslef?"

:-) x