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ringofknowledge · 11 years ago

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Does Racism still exist? Ibrahim Sincere

1. What is racism and what forms does it take? I think that we should consider two types of racism, firstly the one type that we are all comfortable discussing and speak about in society. First we talk about racism in the west from white people to non-white people, we need to differentiate from those in the west who are white and from those who are typically from our Muslim community racism to those of darker shades and typically black people. I think its key to mention that people would argue that not all racism is from lighter individuals towards darker individuals, it’s not always from lighter individuals to darker individuals. The argument that non-white can be racist too towards white people; I mean it’s true for prejudice and discrimination to a certain extent. When we talk about racism, we would like to discuss it as something as a much wider context and some type of phenomena that affects someone socioeconomically it causes some type of systematic oppression and so on. We would like to be realistic and look at racism as a system of privilege. So the challenge is there for anyone who makes the argument verse racism. They’d like to say that lighter shade people are systematically underprivileged and the case itself which is not a reaction to oppression to darker people. So racism in the west, how does it manifest itself in today’s society? Of course when it comes to people’s intellect, people’s level of civility, people are judged by their ability to conduct themselves in a certain manner to the extent that we as non-white people humanity. A funny example is when we look at an image of evolution there is always at white man at the end with blonde hair. It’s our humanity and our development of human being to look white and dress white and which is how we are dehumanised. Those who have made themselves white Europeans in their mannerisms and the way they speak even in their values and morals even then they are still looked down upon because inevitably they aren’t white. What are the origins, obviously people are aware that in order for the slavery and colonialism to be justified and for people to numb their human innate nature to be against oppression it needed to be explained to them. Black people, brown people, people of Asia, people of the middle east need to be presented to them as people who are subhuman so people would in order to benefit the colonisers to be justified this whole process was not explained to people for the whole world this was 100s of years of literature of the academia which has sought to present these non-white people Edward Saeed Says in his book orientalism says this entire plethora of literature has been created by these white people of the west, how we have always been presented as subhuman who are intellectually and morally inferior. We are still best judged by our backward ways. 2. Do you think it’s inherently innate in some white people to feel superior or to feel some sort of authority over some races and feels an advantage over others?

I would say innate and as Muslims we talk about the fitra and now I think that with the many years of propaganda colonialism it’s so deeply embedded in most white people and even when we talk about those volunteers in Africa and Asia doing Aid work. We take this philanthropy as something to avoid of any ego and what Edward Saeed talks about is this positional superiority with every interaction they always maintain or the people who have created this system put an image that with every interaction, superiority is maintained. It relates to the white saviour complex which enforces the idea that the white man or the white person feels the duty as someone who is morally higher or intellectually higher and need to go to Africa or Asia to be saved by white people. For most people it’s a subconscious process and you find if you could think deep and study racism in a very academic manner that all people are very strongly affected by ideas of white supremacy.

3. If were discussing what is not innate. Colonialism ended predominantly what is the factor that drives this in the community?

As Muslims we can’t be naïve and think racism started with colonialism because Arabs were enslaving black people 100 years before white people Racism and ideas of superiority is shaytan and what his ideology is that he won’t bow down to Adam who was made of mud which was mentioned in the Quran I am superior to Adam and I will not bow down. Today in our communities in the west, it’s always towards darker shades, this is a very superior image of Shaytan, as for Charlie Hepdo, what this orientalist discourse has done in dehumanising non-white people it has allowed white people to occupy this moral high ground which means that free speech is reserved for white people. They are allowed to say and offend what they want. If you try to do anything you will question what they do over you, this authority that Europeans had over the world. In general peoples mentality over everyone else. When there is a growing force like Islam and saying that our values and conduct is perfect, when this force is growing and is a threat, then this is seen as subhuman and less likely to have good will. For example in the media when a white person commits a massacre he is labelled as mentally unstable but when a black person does it then he is labelled a criminal and a thug. It is reinforcing the idea that they have as black people as subhuman. I was watching a documentary by Jane Elliot, when Martin Luther King was assassinated, she was a white teacher and she had a class of white kids she did an experiment on her class, so what she did was that she said Brown eyed people are better than blue eyed people, brown eyed people are smarter, blue eyed people are aggressive. What she witnessed was the brown eyed people felt superior and the blue eyed people felt sad. The next day she flipped it and did the opposite. Whatever the inferior group they performed poorer than the superior group. She repeated the experiment a few years later and with adults this time. What she was trying to prove was that for many years white people were given this idea of black people for many years? If they say anything then they’ll be just reinforcing the idea of the aggression and the stereotypical idea of black people.

4. Should freedom of speech be controlled?

This comes back to the Charlie hepdo situation, the magazine has many cartoons which show Muslims to be savages and people will march and support this magazine.

Do you feel they have the right to do such a thing? Does it endorse racism?

Yes it does

Do you think it’s within a right?

It’s not only offending; we have to think of the wider context. It has wider political economics, it has an effect of black people getting jobs and how children are treated at school. If we lived in a world where you can say what you want then nothing would be a problem. Muslims are seen within this light and seen as irrational. You are mocking our intellect if you portray us in this light. Freedom of speech needs to have limits, when it causes oppression then definitely needs to be limited. In the west it’s always the white person who draws the line.

5. Where can we draw the line? Is there any way we can institutionalise our opinions to inforce anti hate speech?

We have been trying tirelessly for many years, as Muslims we have been falling into sell Islam. Islam has always been the moral high ground. When we have been dealing with people for 100s of years and when we want someone to condemn it. 9/11 happened 10 years ago and from then until now every terrorist attack, we come out and apologise for what happens.

For fourteen years we have been trying to prove to people who have always been sceptical to what Islam is. This collective reaction which Muslims have gotten into the habit of doing We need to look into our community first and we need to say let them do what they want We need to understand and see through what have to see through. For example this discussion has made a platform to discuss it. We need to concentrate on ourselves first before anything else.

6. Does racism exist in the Muslim community? Is it accelerating? Or deteriorating?

Our community is more opening minded. It’s a little subtle now and it’s more dangerous affecting people mentally and deeply. In the khoja community, the interaction between the Asian and the Africans. They gave the Indians a higher status with the regards to the black people. The shade hierarchy was very cleverly created. Post colonialism when shade racism was abolished. Today if we want to speak about the subtle forms of racism in weddings, light skin is better. People are caking themselves to look whiter especially among the women it’s really sad when a girl is light skinned they are happy but if they are dark they are sad. Dark skin was looked down upon, lack of beauty. If we want to look at this religiously, the Imams had African parents for consecutive generations. Imam Mohamed Taqi Al-Jawad (as) for example would have been black in complexion, people would not only become sceptical they take it as an insult. Colour doesn’t matter is another level, which is fine and true, it really shouldn’t matter. When a system has been put in place, or something to accept to be true, for example nobody has an issue with the paintings of the Imams (as). When someone comes out and says no this is inaccurate, they say colour doesn’t matter before when they saw the original paintings. The colour matters now, black skin is seen in a certain way. We need to reverse this problem by bringing forward facts. We’re trying to say there is a difference; we’re saying there is a difference

-The attack in Nigeria, 10, 000 lives was killed by Boko Haram, why are white peoples’ lives more important than the Africans? - Most people have been dehumanised systematically, their life is valued less - If white people die on the same day, they would get more attention than them -

8. Seeing how whites react to Muslims of any race, is it proper to refer to islamophobia as racism as Islam is not a race?

I usually make a differentiation racism comma islamophobia, they are very similar but I’m not going to say they are the same thing but a lot of it is racism.

9. what do you think of the westerners who go on about the Muslims being bad when not recalling their own crimes such as the Spanish inquisition which was done by so called religious people

I agree completely, if you look at the crusade and the amount of bloodshed Britain and America have caused, the issue I’m going on about is that the non-white are seen as sub human so the killing and bloodshed of non-white people will always be less important. Non-whites are not valued. Also seen as a threat and their power are questioned and power has to be over them. A lot of us Muslims are going through amnesia mentality where we look up to westerners; we accept they have a moral high ground. I was watching a documentary of Tommy Robinson, the guy who founded EDL is going round to different mosques and asking the question – asking the sheikhs when will Islam bring itself in line to British values. What annoyed me is that people went on to answer the question, how or why but nobody challenged the premise of the question, which is the Islam is not below British values for it to bring itself up to British values. That isn’t the way this relationship works, I think because of this high ground has been given by white people and we as Muslims have allowed it to not We are ourselves have not given to the thousands who have died due to the western values. When we talk about racism, the point isn’t to make us victims and helpless, the address the issue and is to make us empowered by understanding what is right before our eyes and a lot of people say we blame racism on our downfalls to a certain extent some people do. This doesn’t mean we cannot speak about it as it not only removes our right to exist or our value.

10. what can us as Muslims to solve the issue of racism Yes of course to be willing to understand, for me for example, I always question myself and bring these concerns to family and friends. In Asian communities, whenever you hear a passing comment that comes up has to be questioned. What is it that makes white skin more beautiful? Not comfortable enough to question their own wellbeing. What is the root of it? For example to have this believe that white skin is more beautiful than dark skin. I’m not proposing this as an issue that only affects sisters, when someone considers white supremacy. At least consider this white supremacy and understand and know what the right thing to do. Because as people we know what the right thing is to do, not being able to identify what is wrong is an obstacle that we need to overcome. We need to work to identify what is wrong. 11. Do you feel that elements of Islamic teachings have been misappropriated have become cultural and vice versa that some components of our cultural legacy has been treated as or confused as religion Of course for example the concept of noor, a lot of people will take some sort of an insult if someone says they have a dark complexion. This sort of idea has been created that white skin or fair skin is related to the person’s noor. When Allah speaks about noor in the Quran, he speaks about light on people’s faces and the cultural misinterpretations has led to many Muslims believing that its racism or in fact it’s not racist and it’s a fact that white skin is better than dark. We have blurred the lines of culture which has come from shaytan these ideas of inferiority and infused it in our religion. 12. When the Muslims were massacred in Bosnia they were labelled as people and not Muslims, if a jail worker walks he is mention he is a Muslim jail worked, what do you say for this kind of double standard media? I think if anything, it’s a reminder to us and if it is true, this is the way the media reports. It’s a reminder to us that if we ever forget and we live in a post racial society and what we are up against. If we don’t do anything, our children will grow up to hear this and slowly we might want to leave Islam and religion 13. racism in Shia mosques I guess we can mention it briefly, it’s very subtle but to the extent in south London we have an ahlulbayt revert community it is very sad that this community has been created, the black Shias, when they go to Arab mosques they get funny looks and get treated differently. It is very sad that it is there. The issue gets brushed under the carpet. There is a documentary by turab shah called black and Muslim double jeopardy as it gives a first-hand experiences on the black Shia and a specific community. It even says it on the entrance that the Shia ithna asheri no names mentioned, the ethnicity. Q seeing all these non Muslim white women trying to wear the hijab as if we need to see our struggle with hijab, is this blind racism or islamophobia? I think that it goes back to what I was saying about the white saviour complex and white validation. I do think that for some of the doing the hijab day, Some of them need to understand what they are discriminated against, they got a small taster what these people need to realise when they are doing it is that Muslim sisters live through this everyday not only that the most discriminated combination is a black women in hijab. Even those black women putting the hijab for a day, they shouldn’t convince themselves they have completely got rid of their rights. Some Muslim lives need to be validated by a white person. I can’t speak on behalf of Muslim sisters they can give an account of what they go through. 14. I agree about reverts and other Shia brothers when they attend a mosque and they’ll be treated different therefore why don’t they set up a buddy system so they can feel welcomed to the mosque. Is this a question or a suggestion to tackle racism? Is this a suggestion for the communities? It’s a difficult one, I personally don’t want to feel patronised, and we are designating a buddy system to welcome them. I think it’s very sensitive, I think if our generation is different we won’t have a need to do this in the masjid 15. Many elders in my community will not believe me when I say that the Imams are darker in colour. Are there any books to quote on this? Look up the hadith about the origins of the mothers of the Imams; it’s not even a question if there are any sheikhs. This is something that if we look into the books, then we find it as general knowledge and accepted knowledge and it goes as widely accepted in that community. Have a look in the kitab al irshad to see. Sayed Ammar goes into depth about the origins of the Imams in the biography of the 12 Imams. 16. If the Holy prophet (s) was a mercy on to mankind, what can we do to mankind no matter the race, gender or nation? I like to occupy myself and my energy towards to bring about some type of knowledge and solutions to slowly get rid of the issues worldwide and furthermore it’s not only us what we want to do. On the general note, if we become like the prophet (pbuh) and how he treated people if we do that every day and start at home then we will become a lot closer to God. 17. Can racism just be banter? I think the question is self-answering, if you’re being racist and joking about it, it can’t happen. It’s a joke between you and your family but if you look at society when you label it banter then you can laugh at everything. 18. Is it better to describe someone is black or coloured? Black is alright, a lot of people are proud to be called black. People of colour is widely used and is fine. Black is perfectly fine.

#racism #ringofknowledge #ibrahimsincere #community #muslims #Allah #religion #shia #islam #mercy #ahlulbayt #sunni #unity #muhammad

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ringofknowledge · 11 years ago

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Juma Mubarak!

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ringofknowledge · 11 years ago

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Is celebrating a new year cultural? Should it have a religious bearing? Is it allowed in our faith?

JOIN US TOMORROW at 10:30pm GMT to discuss a prominent issue in our communities:

"Culture vs Religion"

Guest speaker: Dr Rebecca Masterton

‪#‎culturevsreligion‬

#religion #culture #islam #discussion #rebeccamasterton #rok #ringofknowledge

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ringofknowledge · 11 years ago

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The Humanitarian situation in Iraq and Syria

1. Can you give us a brief history of the conflicts of Iraq and Syria?

Jaffer Ladak

The conflict in Syria was as a result of the so called movement which panned across Arabia and North Africa known as the Arab spring in late 2010 and early 2011. The Arab spring was a movement to bring around human rights, democracy, a just government system, a better economy in dozens of countries expand in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Tunisia and certain countries grew in the momentum of their revolution presence. It spread into Syria as well, in around January 2011 and up until March 2011 it was very quiet, a very modest movement in Syria. After a particular demonstration in a city called Dar3a of around 50000 people or more, the government cracked down on that movement and that demonstration was brutal and according to some figures about 20 people died. From there the movement sprang nationwide and many cities started to follow suit and part take in the demonstrations against the present Bashar Al-Assad. One difference between the Syrian movement and the rest of the movements in all the other countries that were moving towards democracy or moving towards better human rights in the country was that Syria had a number of thousands foreign fighters descend into the city into the country itself from the Turkish border, Iraqi border and the Jordanian border. According to statistics for example there is an international study or group called the ICSR international centre for study of radicalisation for violence, they had estimated that more than 11K foreign nationals from more than 70 countries had descended into Syria and the reality was that foreign scholars from around the Islamic world were differentiating this movement in Syria by calling this a Jihad a holy war. While others were secular trying to overthrow the government movements, this one was specifically considered to be a Jihad or a religious war and thus the whole movement in Syria was a sectarian movement, sectarian violence. In order to fight certain sects of Islam, in order to remove Christians from the country. Now because this was a sectarian war, the country descended into a sectarian and civil war. Eventually after a number of months as we know, various different groups had become spawned. You had jabhat al nusra, you had the free Syrian army and so forth. Eventually these either amalgamated or broke off and one was formed known as Da3esh (ISIS) Dowlat al Islamia fi al Iraq w Sham. The Islamic state as it’s famously known. They had decided to set up in the city they had conquered. Which eventually included Iraq and they entered the city of Mosul in around Rajab in the year which has just gone. So those two countries form the IS and those form a brutal barbaric group of Muslims that in the name of religion and the name of Islam, so called Islam have plundered and massacred hundreds of thousands of people from all sects and the reality is from anyone who doesn’t agree with them. There is a mass humanitarian crisis, number one the country of Syria half of the country is destroyed then you have Iraq and the northern third of the country which is destroyed. With that you have a massive displacement of people, you have jobs which have been taken, health care which has been taken, houses and cities have been ransacked plummeted so the reality on the ground now is that there is a humanitarian disaster because of what ISIS have done in terms of killing, in terms of spreading violence and hatred amongst people. So this is a brief history of the conflict. The outcome of all this is that the UN on the 11th of November 2014 released a new report stating that 13.6 million people have been displaced. Created as refugees across these two countries and that is a shocking figure and half of which are children that are living in camps, schools they are living in mosques they are living in tents, in people’s houses and the reality is that we have to come together as a community to be able to assist them on so badly displace by the Islamic state the so called Islamic state.

2. What has been the main role of the UN and various other NGO in the light of this crisis?

Anisa Kanji

Firstly we need to separate the two countries because what is happening in Syria is very different to what’s happening in Iraq. In Syria the conflict has been ongoing for a number of years now and I guess the main role for the UN is really to identify those who have been displaced, find the innocent families and make sure they get the help. The difficulty we are facing is that the reality that given the current situation it is really difficult to go in to Syria and provide that aid there. When you look at a lot of the NGOs they’ll say they’re working in Lebanon or Turkey or Jordan all of the neighbouring areas and its difficult because actually those Syrian families who are able to leave Syria are the lucky ones because they are able to register themselves with the UN and as a result the NGOs are then able to help them. One thing we are finding especially is that it’s really difficult to get on to the list of refugees so we can help them. Some them aren’t on the list so we can’t help them as they are not on the register. The situation in Syria is still quite volatile which means that we are not getting as much aid as we’d like to but generally from other NGOs are looking at the situation. Charity commission are also looking into it.

In Iraq, the situation is slightly different. The conflict is more recent and what we’re finding with the Iraq situation is that the NGO’s are working more in the north of Iraq. And in the north of Iraq, Arbil and Mosul. A lot of the displaced people are moving to the south of Iraq. We’re not getting enough aid for the south of Iraq. So the south like najaf and Karbala anything in between is what we’re looking at. There is not much aid getting in there so we’re working there at the moment. And the plan inshallah we have a big plan in place and we’ll try to move some of the other NGOs to the south. Given the history of Iraq a lot of NGOs are not really focused on the south of Iraq. Which is what we need to do be doing a lot more often?

3. Do you think we should prioritise and spend most of our time supporting NGOs than working individually on a grass roots level?

Jaffer Ladak

I think both of them are meritorious in the way. I think both of them can provide aid in their own ways. So it’s important for us to know how each of us is able to provide. In terms of prioritising, the immediate prioritising a campaign of awareness. In the way of prioritising that our campaign. I believe our immediate community both Shia and the wider community, we haven’t realised how services have been hit, the desperate situation on the ground and in terms of all trauma for children of all ages primarily for children. Millions of Children are now displaced without school and education and no return to proper education, have lack of shelter, food and medical supply. We need to have a global campaign of awareness to the Muslim community to see the tragic situation in the space of these months, one. The reality of the priority is that ISIS will be around and what we’re seeing today is the fruit of the mentality.

Number two, we need to help each other assist with fundraising and that’s really necessary because according to the UN themselves there is a large gap in terms of what is coming in, in terms of funds. They have put up 50 million US dollars just for the winter. In terms of surviving the winter, that’s not in terms of rebuilding the country, not in terms of the long term strategy that is in the billions if not genuinely the trillions that needs to be found. Reality is the country will need to find a way to redevelop their countries and the fact that there are international sanctions against Syria by dozens of countries will not help one bit. The fact that syiras main importers the war on terror has been primarily been bombing, prior to that we didn’t see this. The, the two largest importers of its national products were Saudi and Iraq. Saudi is the creator of this problem and Iraq itself is going through its own turmoil so we have a very short term and long term issue of rebuilding the country. The reality of the priority is that ISIS God forbid will be around for a while. That mentality has been groomed over a period of 150 years and what we’re seeing today is the fruit of that mentality. Since September 2011 since 9/11 and the tragic horrid attacks on the twin towers, the US has responded with the war on terror. The war on terror has been through bombing, invasion or bombing of drones of 30,000 ft and we can obviously tell how unsuccessful that has been. The fact that prior to that we did not see or overlook Islamic terrorism or militarisation in the name of Islam through Wahhabis. The fact that bombing and drones and invasion the defeat of Wahhabism it needs to be education, we need to not drop bombs we need to drop schools, books. We need to work with our Sunni brethren to educate, to work hand in hand with our Sunni, Christian, Jews to overcome this. The prioritisation is that we need to raise awareness, funds, and then we need to go on a massive global campaign in education.

Anisa Kanji

I think awareness is the key, the more organisations that work on this, the bigger the impact will be. One thing we found when one of our members went to Iraq was that when we went on grass roots level to see what they need and they don’t need food they need other stuff. The first thing we think of that they’ll need is food so they’ll need a food basket. What we realised when we went was that they don’t need food. There are certain things that they do need. And I think if we work together with other organisations the impact you can have on other individuals will be far greater. You need to put aside differences like Sunni, Shia and non-muslims. It’s so important to come together on this; we’re all working towards the same goal, humanitarian aid. We put aside the conflict in terms of what our views are on ISIS, what are views on the current politics in Iraq and Syria because we need to think about individuals and how we help them. As an NGO, we need to make a difference to the lives of those in Syria and Iraq. I think sometimes it’s so easy to provide food for a month but what happens after that month? It’s so easy to provide with short term aid. We need to be living far longer and we need to be looking at what exactly needs to be doing so that they come out of this with a good end. You know the kids will be scarred with what they see but we need to make sure there’s a happy ending. We need a plan on how we can help them not just for this month, next month but also for the next 6 months to a year – five years’ time because the aid they need is massive it can only be done if organisations come together otherwise there’s duplication. There is no wholesome approach to being provided.

Jaffer Ladak

When we spoke about the awareness campaign. I think we’re all aware of the reality that the United States of America has admitted they recruited rebels in Saudi Arabia and in Qatar. There was the first western journalist, a German journalist who recently came back from Syria and Iraq and he had spent several days roaming and freely assessing the situation. He reported that every day 100 more fighters joined ISIS. Now the reality is if you think about that in terms of 365 days, everyday a 100 new fighter’s start gathering. Their army is growing. We go to our ministers and say you are actively allowing ISIS to grow and aiding them indirectly. We need to go to the members of Parliament and invite our MPs to ask them what they can do stop the continuous growth of ISIS and the aid of the weapons. We as a Muslim community cannot be lazy in the matter; we need to have a plan. We need to approach especially in the UK we have the Muslim council of Britain and 600 organisations underneath it. What is it doing, what are our Shia organisations doing? We have the Shia council, the Muslim Shia council who just opened up; we have COEJ, council of European Jamaats. We need to start having these mature conversations on how we are going to overcome the root of the cause itself. So these are the next stages of conversation we need to be having is long overdue. These people have been ransacking Syria and we are still at the inception of the conversation. We need to have a plan and I agree with sister Anisa and this forum here needs to say what do we need to do to create a leadership together to lead the way.

4. How did the Winter Appeal campaign start? And tell us a bit about the #TeamGiveBack?

Jaffer Ladak

The three main organisations that commenced this were IUS Aid, COEJ youth desk and who IS Hussain. And WIH are a global organisation that have an organic reach whereby people from around the world are able to take on the who is Hussain tag and whichever way they want to present Imam Hussain (as) message against oppression they do so. Very famously they distribute water, people give out flowers, hadith, they feed the poor and the homeless and so these three organisations came together. At the back of that report that was released by the UN that we mentioned about the 13.6M people who were displaced, these 3 organisations came together on the death anniversary of the Holy Prophet (pbuh). As part of the campaign there was a sponsored fast which was when people can fast for three or five days which was sponsored in order to empathise the tragedy on the ground. Then on the wafat there was fundraiser to raise money. We’ve had a lot of positive feedback and people have asked how they can help.

5. How do you feel the campaign has evolved?

Anisa Kanji

So Syria and Iraq we had to distinguish again because with Syria we had been working with the refugees for a number of years. Iraq have Given the current conflict we launched a new appeal. Both of them are going quite well, with the Syrian refugees we’re working with Shia families in Lebanon and also in Syria and with Iraqi refugees we’re working with the south of Iraq so Najaf, Karbala. At the moment we are providing immediate aid like blankets, shelter and heating. In Iraq we have got a major plan and inshallah will be launched within the next few weeks. Which will provide a wholesome approach and not just providing them with clothing but providing them with everything mean whilst they have been displaced from their homes.

6. What is the plan for the coming years bearing mind we see trauma as a hard hitting fact in Iraq and Syria. How do you think they’ll be able to rebuild their own countries for the future with our help?

Anisa Kanji

No one knows what the future will hold but if we come together and I think different organisations are trying to do different things. However if all these organisations come together we can achieve so much more and we need an approach where we are saving one life at a time than providing immediate aid and making that much of a difference and that’s something that we’re looking at doing.

Jaffer Ladak

So looking at the campaign, the campaign has been divided into two. So those who have gone to Syria, we’re looking to sponsor families. To help them per month to provide for their needs. Then if we look at those in Iraq, we’re looking to distribute blankets because it is a bitingly cold winter. Although this campaign has raised a massive amount of money, the reality is that it is still not enough. We need a response where are providing help and not only aid the people. The refugees in Syria have gone to camps and we want to provide a long term solution for them. To provide the means to those who need help, shelter and clothes.

In terms of the future and where this campaign is going, as we said we need to raise awareness. We need people from our community to go help on the ground and see the human tragedy. Its one thing seeing it on the TV or poster, they need to go to the camps and serve then come back to tell the stories. We need people who are interested in the humanitarian cause. They will empathise so much more, we need ambassadors for this particular mission. This issue will not be resolved within the next few months. This is a number of years we’re talking about redeveloping the countries. We need people who are interested in the humanitarian cause who can go and come back and bring more people back and have the domino effect to get more people on.

7. Do you know any groups that are going to Iraq to help on the camps?

Anisa Kanji

Going out to Syria is not recommended but Iraq is relatively safer and we’re looking into it now so whoever is interested please contact us via Facebook or twitter.

Jaffer Ladak

We have many international groups with doctors and dentists going out. What would be really useful is to get a wide spectrum over our community so not only khoja but Iraqi, Iranian, Sunni, Christian, non-muslim brothers. Our responsibility to humanity is primary. So the more organisations we have on board to helping on the ground with rehabilitation and helping children.

The campaign is divided in to two to raise funds for the blankets and the heaters also to sponsor families. The blankets are £160 or $240. Then there is the sponsorship of families. The sponsorship of a family of four so $100. Which can be once a month, it’s possible we are able to sponsor? £2.33 per day, £70 a month. Everyone on this forum, if you are in a position to post on their social media or at least text on what’s going on and how they can help in their own community. The wider we can spread this more help we can get. One person can inform a 100 people.

Anyone and everyone regardless of profession and career, if you want to take part please give us your details and we’ll tell you how you can help. The £160 will provide one blanket and two kerosene heaters.

NOcial Media Challenge

On the 11th of November 2014, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHRC) announced that Syria and Iraq has suffered displacement of 13.6 million people from their homes as a result of the invasion by ISIS.

In response to this, a number of organisations have teamed together to create a global fundraising campaign. As part of this, Ring of Knowledge invite you to the "NOcial Media Challenge".

You are challenged to give up social media for a whole day - yes, 24 hours! The media outlets include: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, Tumblr, Snapchat and any other of the numerous networks out there! In a time where the luxury of social media has become a necessity, this is a perfect opportunity to make that escape... Can you do it?

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ringofknowledge · 11 years ago

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Juma Mubarak

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ringofknowledge · 11 years ago

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Sajjad Jiyad Isis: A global threat Notes

1. What and who are ISIS or ISIL, Islamic State? What brought them into existence and how were they formed?

In regards to ISIS obviously they’ve changed their name to the Islamic state. The general assembly had the secretary general, Banki Moon speaking at the end of the week and he referred to them as the unislamic numb state. That’s gained some traction likewise last week ISIS were referred to as Daesh which is more known than the Islamic state. We are not acknowledging they are a state and we are not acknowledging that they are Islamic in any way but it has become a common way to refer to them as that. It has been a common way in regards to evolution of the unknown with Isis, they began their operations in Iraq shortly after the invasion of Iraq by the United States and the coalition forces in 2003. They worked in evolution, in terms of the size of the group, their base, the pack of operation they conducted. They grew up from Tawheed Al-Ansar which was the name they used from 2004-2006 under the leadership of Abu musa’ab al Zarqawi and then he pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden and Aimen Al-Dhawahari. Then he reformed them in Iraq, known asAl Qaeda Al Iraq fi bilad al rafidain and since then apparently they have broken their allegiance to Al-Qaeda after being abused by Aimen al Dhawahri. So they began to conduct their campaigns not in co-ordination to other pro Al-Qaeda groups and unfortunately they have become more brutal, more sophisticated and larger in size than Al-Qaeda. Since 2011, the events in Syria, this group the called ISI, Islamic state of Iraq decided to move its operations to Syria so they have faced themselves by the Syria, Iraq border areas and then eventually move themselves to the north western part of Syria and then the northern part they finally reach Raqa, their base and their capital. They are able to make this progress in Syria and support for the ant-govt forces of currently from the gulf and the western countries corrupting the groups, by taking some of their weapons and taking advantage of the fact that everybody wants to take advantage of everyone that seems to be anti-Syrian government, anti-Assad and be supportive of ISIS, the Islamic state of Iraq and Sham which is the name of the Levant of the group in Syria. They would encapsulate Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine, which is why they became known as ISIS. A couple of months ago so the backing they made an advance in the northern part of Iraq, they decided to establish what they call a caliphate and change their name to the Islamic state. They control a large area of land in northern part of Iraq and the eastern part of Syria. Estimates have grown from 5000 to 30, 000 or even 50,000 and they are in control of the major cities where they circulate and have weaponry and it is estimated that they have an income of $3m on daily basis. So they are even to pay families and keep local centres and towns running as if nothing has changed. That is some background on how ISIS came today and what we see in the news they are not to be expected to go away quite quickly. They have been able to recruit from America, Australia and the UK. Europeans, Muslim converts who are willing to die for the course. They are freely able to take territory and make campaigns in different countries like Iraq and Syria and they are very much sophisticated and overestimated capabilities.

2. When we talk about ISIS we have seen in the last two months especially the growth of ISIS supporters in different states. What is it that makes ISIS so attractive?

ISIS have done very well to leverage this ability to attract non-Arab/Iraqi, non-Syrians recruits through the idea of a caliphate and that we can all do something and looking to be part of. They have addressed this powerfully given that Muslims are young and they can be radicalised and they have an identity issue which they have been quite clever with the way they have shown their propaganda, they have given their statements, using social media for example. Globalising what they are doing today. They have also been very keen to show Islam against the rest. Anyone with their opinions and ideologies which are radical and listens to the messages from ISIS and that Islam is under attack and they have to respond and someone like Abu Bakr al Baghdadi as the leader they will follow. They have also to make headway using the Syrian issue and you know what happens on the over ground there to the children suffering and to be able to say look this is a war against Islam itself. Don’t forget the UK government last year were pushed parliament to vote on the action in Syria and did not win and went back to Assad. Listening to that debate and what the government was saying that Assad must go and they wish there was action in Syria. They want to arm and conduct a strike campaign against Assad himself they were even looking at the possibility of sending the armed forces. What the young muslim here in the UK, looking at them thinking what is my specific duty to the government and fight in Syria, also the religious duty to go out and fight in Syria. Even listening to the religious messages will help. So these two components they worked quite well to encourage those living in the UK or Australia to join IS and the fact that they were doing something good. Ignore the fact that they will become radicals and going to fight in Syria.

3. When we talk about the Arabian Gulf states, what sort of relationship do they have with the Islamic state particularly with Saudi, Qatar and the UAE?

Well the gulf state, first you can look back all the way in 2007 to 2009 and see that the markers were quite concerned about how the gulf states were turning a blind eye to funding the preachers and recruit groups like IS, their power and were actively trying to support the groups. I think that position hasn’t changed, a month or two back in the summer, the relationship was that they wanted to be close to these groups rather than distant from them. A bit like keep your friends close and your enemies closer which is the strategy behind that. Also they wanted to know their notions and what which groups they were meeting with, what connections they have so they know the importance to connect. They wanted to know their people and their own populations were thinking in their community and for them the importance of being able to connect. Number three is they wanted the back clash and the populations then decided to stop the groups of IS. The most controversial, concerning issue is controlling people like IS and use them to topple the Syrian regime and to push their agenda in the Middle East and they have become to realise it’s beyond their control. I think and I’ve said it before but other analysts have said IS doesn’t rely on immigrants anymore they haven’t relied on them for months. They are self-sustaining, self-funded, going out and undergoing their operations and fighting, paying salaries and purchasing and conducting with the help of the Islamic state. Well the GCC has realised that the IS has gone beyond their control and some of the danger. They could target some of these regimes themselves they set out leverages and set out to control the borders, they want to control Saudi; they want to control the gulf. They want to control turkey, they want to control Jordan and Lebanon and all the parts of Africa. They have, they really have, an ambition to go all the way. I think they go hard states are now making the decision to stop funding and recruiting for IS.

4. We know yesterday there was a parliamentary debate and a discussion about whether the UK should intervene militarily into Iraq by airstrikes like the US, Gulf States, Iran and so on. What will intervention do for us? Can we afford it? Is it the best option? Is there an alternative? Why are we intervening in Iraq and not other country that has political issues? Why not Nigeria for example with Boko Haram?

First of all, intervention in Iraq is at the request of the Iraqi government to the United Nations and asking for support from the United Nations the Security Council. A letter to the government asking to authority to intervene and similar to the UK and other countries to join the coalition. In terms of guarantee of the action as to why the Iraq and not elsewhere, they probably say the Iraqi government for the intervention. Nigeria or Syria were questioning the legality, if the government at the time were asked for intervention. What they think

That and with regards to our community what is much more clear cut and asked for exemptions for interventions. In terms of coalitions the United Kingdom they had to get parliamentary approval, they are bound by laws to do so. The parliamentary convention and in other words, military action which is not murderous thinking to conduct a military campaign today, you have to seek the approval of parliament and the parliament is quite confident of winning their approval and that’s why militaries advanced, which is strong as a military kind of attacking part of the coalition rather than filling the co

The military action in Iraq and the primary risk is to several times saying that he wishes the action in Syria and will not get the united nations solutions to do so wishes to do so and he might come back to parliament and he might not and if he believes that an emergency in Syria then he has to get parliamentary approval obviously its bit more and the institution is a bit more difficult to cage. In Iraq you have the ground troops so have also fought a campaign the central government and the security forces, the army and other units, volunteer units and so on. You have the COG the coalition government, the troops, the pesh men they are also supporting the campaign against IS. So the airstrikes next they will be followed up with action on the ground by local mosques and in Syria, there is no such partner or at least it’s not clear to see who the partner is. To see who is part of the team and if you want to find a reliable or a moderate who is increasingly clear they are against the air strike in Syria. It becomes even more difficult who will begin an air strike campaign in Syria but who is reading on the ground? Air strikes are very limited effectiveness because once we will begin, they will tend to go underground and hide their weaponry. Tend to gathering urban senses, reducing the likelihood of air strikes due to the collateral damage of air strikes and they become quite stupid being able to move around at the right time, they begin to operate the underground tunnel, reducing their movements then that will reduce the airstrikes, without the forces on the ground, here the situation becomes much more difficult for Iraq. For Iraq its much more clear cut and then in terms of... 20 mins

5. In recent days, intervention in Iraq has increased; how is intervention now different to intervention in 2003, is it the right thing to do 9 months before the general election?

Overwhelming number of MPs that supported action in Iraq - much higher % than in 2003, 524 mps in support vs 43 in 2003. Majority of people are pro intervention in Iraq now, no media campaigns today in comparison to 2003

Regime change, british troops on the ground, alot of change; here elected government is asking the UK for help to fight an extreme terrorist group. Threat of genocide exists – therefore justification there is less trepidation about todays intervention in Iraq

6. Do you feel air strikes is the right way to intervene in Iraq, since US has intervened, there has been 6000 trrops in Iraq

No they are the way to defeat IS in the long term – not the solution to defeat them – tool to stall IS and to contain the threat to stop them advancing. They are there to provide air cover to the Iraqi army who don’t have that capability. To defeat them, a different effort is required i.e. a military campaign, involve local Iraqis – training, cut off finance – stop control of oil refineries and also stop funding, Stop peoples passageways into Iraq from the outside, stop their ideology – talk to scholars who are reluctant to condemn IS and get them to speak out against them.

7. What is our end goal? Kurdistan own independence? Any changes to Iraq?

The Coalition have made it clear that they will not allow for independence of Iraq and for it to be split up – everything must go through central government. Kurds have long held an ambition for independence. They feel they have not received enough support from the government – they give the most to the government but this is not reciprocated. So unhappiness – but it will not cause disintegration of Iraq. There may be greater federal powers for regions. Currently Iraq will stay as it is.

Do you feel Haider Al Abadi and his government will be able to bring political stability to Iraq and if not what do you feel they will need from other states?

He has just started creating his new government, so we have yet to determine his ability in defeating IS on the ground. Though he has received widespread support from the international community so the conditions are there hopefully to make the government successful. Though we cannot pin our hopes on one person – its more a question of, does the system work? Is democracy right for Iraq and will that bring security and prosperity to the Iraqi people. There are a lot of factors to consider – have to see the conditions on the ground, economy and security. We need to assess Iraq in a few months but the conditions are there for the government to be successful.

8.What can we do as individuals in our communities to tackle the issues facing Iraq, from a grassroots level?

Must educate ourselves and read as much as we can about ISIS who they are and what are they after -we can then educate those around us. We can then use this to counter their propaganda and use social media and report all the accounts to stop them from getting their message out. We have to help fight the propaganda, we must stop people becoming desensitised to beheadings and reduce our value of a human life. Thirdly, support aid agencies and charities – to support the people and aid them. We must decide which charities to support – which ones are the best. Not just financial support, we can assist with our skills – medical skills, IT skills, Administrative skills. ISIS situation dubbed as a muslim issue, and we are all being scrutinised for our faith. We need to publicly condemn their actions. Educating ourselves about the situation becomes crucial, else we could find ourselves under increasingly tough situation in the west

9. What is the future of the minorities?

Some communities won’t be able to back home. Physical issue of taking them back to their home. Losing books, shrines etc means that these minorities lose some of their heritage and it is almost impossible to allow them to come back to life the way things were.

10. What can we do to prevent young people joining ISIS?

Difficult to judge whether they are being serious or doing it just to make some noise. We need to have good grounds before approaching them – it’s actually a crime to join IS. Need to be aware of the laws in the country. Why and how have they taken this decision to join IS? We need to be more aware in our communities – are we asking about each other, making sure everyone is okay?

11. What is the relationship between Al –Qaida and ISIS and do Al-Qaida believe ISIS to be the most extreme group?

A few years ago, they broke off from Al Qaida and renamed themselves IS – they are not under or a part of Al Qaida. The danger of IS is now greater than Al-Qaida. Unwise to make a link between the two because they have become two separate entities, and IS are growing in popularity and stature.

12. Is anyone actually benefitting from the presence of IS in Iraq? If so, who?

On the ground in Iraq, IS allied with another regime, who were happy to be under the rings of IS. IS are trying to dominate everyone else and some groups were happy with the way IS run things but recently have become resentful. Other groups who initially backed IS have now become fed up with the regime.

13. Should the UK not be more concerned with making sure Brits don’t join ISIS, and is there a way in making sure they don’t support IS ideologies?

We can pressure speakers at universities etc, but to tackle people’s ideologies, becomes very difficult. Some ideologies go back to Abdul Wahab etc and other such influential people. We have a duty to make sure that the name of Islam is distanced from this group and look at how we can stifle IS, and propagate this. Our responsibility is to ensure true Islam is exhibited.

14. What is Iran’s role in the coalition against ISIS, and is Iran’s relationship with the UK a platform to develop new relations in the future?

Agreement that there will be no violence between the west and Iran.This will improve communications and relations between UK and Iran. What is happening in Iraq will improve relations between UK and Iran – provided military trainers, expertise, weaponry. Iran is crucial for Iraq’s defence and that’s the just the main process and the United States and Egypt and everyone else who also want to because Iraq is a very important piece of land and it is very valuable in terms of potential for its economy, its very valuable in terms of, it connects you know, the rest of Asia to Europe which is part of Turkey and it you know is not separated Iran from the Arab world. It is what we’ve heard through history, you know, Iraq producing scholars, and great figures, and um you know it has a large population, it has you know 45 million people for a relatively small country. So, um everybody is buying some influence in Iraq and I think Iran is just the same as well as all the other countries. It might be more effective but you know it’s no different from the other states trying to gain more geopolitical influence in Iraq.

15. “What is the role of religious leaders in Iraq, specifically marjas, and the muftis?”

Well with regards to uh to some of the sunni scholars, they’ve come out and preached against what ISIS is doing and the first people to join the forces and to fight back against IS. So basically in a positive role, some unfortunately have played a negative role but most of them are from outside the country than inside Iraq. With regards to the Shi’a scholars, I think um some ways their contribution in terms of what Ayatullah Sistani has done through his speeches, in Kerbala through his representative, fatwa that obliged the people of Iraq as much as they can to join the security forces that helped them tie against IS and stand the flow of, you know, um, the momentum that IS had gained after the fall of Mosul. Syed Sistani was very, uh you know, uh his message was very unifying and he’s pushed for the defense of Iraq as a country which means every single minority that’s been effected, all religions all parts of Iraq. He’s also been one of the key supporters of having a quick formation of a new Iraqi government making sure that the constitution is abided by. He’s been very clear on the instructions to the Iraqi security forces, to be careful not to target any civilians, um they should be weary of corruption and to be weary of sectarian fighting and hatred. So um again very very positive very influential as well in Iraq and now hopefully once we’re able to see a change in terms of the security situation then we will be able to help with the reconciliation. They will have a huge role to play in terms of the, as I said the healing that needs to occur between communities and between religions and between minorities. And I think Syed Sistani is definitely capable that with his efforts and the efforts from the Shi’a scholars and the Sunni scholars and others as well to try.

16. What is it that’s making the Iraqi government and Shi’a militia news ground in Iraq?

So I think that’s several factors. Number 1 was that groups such as IS religion is very well planned has got strategy, they were targeting Mosul for a year before it actually fell, they were taking out bridges, they were killing local commanders they were attacking and detonating fear. Their game plan is they did that over many months and in terms of the, you know, the Iraqi side that’s obviously a bit, there’s corruption in security forces, there’s corruption in you know um in the government itself. And unfortunately some of the local politicians themselves have been um attacking the Iraqi security forces. They’ve been pushing people against central government. They work with Sunni government ____ foreign aid(?). So that played a role and I think part of it was that the Iraqi security forces generally and genuinely need better training and more equipment you know better intelligence forces, air cover. If they had some of the air force capabilities then IS wouldn’t have been able to make the progress they did. But the fact was that Iraq has been trying to build its air force for 11 years and you know they haven’t had one. So um there’s several components. Um ultimately the responsibility lies with Iraqis themselves, with the Iraq security forces – can’t deny that. And they need to address those failings otherwise it could happen again. But um you know there were other circumstances that led to IS being able to make this progress. Part of it is that IS has the strength and has the good strategy. But part of it is also that the Iraqis themselves need to make more progress they are underpowered and they need some international support. So you know to fight of groups like IS.

17. What is the role of the Peshmerga, i.e. the Kurdish militia in the battle against ISIS in Iraq and how effective can they be in the future?

Peshmerga’s job is really to police – they’re not an army they’re their to police, their job is to police the KRG – the Kurdish Regional Government in the provinces of Northern Iraq - Arbil, Duhok, Sulaymaniyyah. And after the collapse of Iraq security forces in Mosul they found themselves having to step into areas where Iraqi Security Forces withdrew and so they you know moved into areas outside of KRG but so they’ve gone back because of IS retreat because they were not able to stand up to ISIS in terms of being able to defend themselves in the areas or to even push themselves against ISIS so they retreated and um they needed a system on both, Iraqis and the United States in terms of preventing IS from entering through KRG. And so the Peshmerga are trained effectively to police the KRG and to maintain the borders there. And to not allow groups like IS or you know allow their borders to be infiltrated easily and allow smuggling that we see in the media we read about all the smuggling that takes place across the northern part of Iraq with Turkey and so on so the Peshmerga’s role then is to be able to sort of police those areas effectively. And as I said earlier they are part of the ground troops in Iraq and so air strikes will only stall ISIS and the Iraqi army and the ISIS military in Iraq and the pershmerga have an important role. So at the moment they don’t have the abilities and the right facilities the right training and the right equipment to cover the borders.

18. How can we protect the shrines in Najaf and Kerbala and what is being done to protect the safety of the shrines?

The shrines are well protected, a lot of the checkpoints lead up to the front and inside Najaf the shrines are very well protected. I can’t see IS or anyone else for that matter getting to the shrines. Yes there’s a danger from, from you know car bombs, from mortar attacks, but hopefully Iraq’s, their capabilities are up to speed and you know that should be able to detect the threats and stop the shrines from mortar attacks. And then the issue of car bombs you know is they just need improved equipment, it needs training and it needs less corruption. And you know after what’s happened in Mosul I think now there’s been a definite effort to make sure that the major cities in Iraq are well defended and also inside the cities the key issues are well protected. Honestly I think there’s no danger to Najaf and Kerbala the immediate danger; I think the danger is in terms of the ideology of wanting to destroy the shrines, the ideology of wanting to destroy tourists, that’s where the danger is because you know you can go to all the great lengths to defend those shrines but if someone intends on destroying them, that idea spreads then you know that could have dangerous consequences as we see what happened in Samarra

19. what can we do in terms of long-term aid and are there any specific charities or relief aid agencies in which we can trust?”

So like I said, I think that was one of the first things that I mentioned is that definitely support the Syed. I mentioned some of these organisations and then by looking for which groups will be able to make use of specific skills and volunteer. I personally I’m unable to recommend any one particular charity of the hand; not because they don’t do any work but just because I believe that it is unfair to single out any organisation. Um I would definitely encourage each person that’s interested to know and make enquiries and find out if these organisations that do have are either giving aid themselves or subcontracting; if they’re giving financial aid or benefits in kind, are they able to um are they able to build infrastructure, are they working with specific groups, are they assisting minorities, or ethnicities, are they working in specific parts of Iraq, or are they find out if they are able to take them medicines and clothes rather than strictly financial donations. Do they need man power, do they need the systems here in the UK or whether it is in Iraq itself? You know whatever it is, so investigate, educate yourself, um there are different groups instrumental with little work and it is unfair to single any one out. You know even the smallest charities is quite effective, um but definitely you know it isn’t just about giving financial support, there definitely needs to be an investigation into what other methods of aid would you give.

20. Why are the Iraqi government and the Iraqi officials fighting for power whilst people are dying as a result of ISIS in Iraq?

Well, that’s an issue of politics within the country um the politicians trouble...they have to compete with each other they’re rivals, they um it’s difficult to say why in terms of in the time of crisis, you’d expect a bit more unity, but unfortunately its just the nature of Iraq’s politics. The fact that post 2003 the system was divided in which the Iraq was set up on a sectarian quarter basis. These parties you know some of them they put forth candidates who are not so capable but yet people have no chance but to vote for them because that’s who’s available. That’s who’s presented. To think there’s been two generations, forty years worth um of fear, of hatred, of killing, of brutalisation by Saddam so it needs time for the right generations to come along, for the right politicians to come along, and that you know that hasn’t occurred yet. But um unfortunately you know uh it’s the nature of the politics in Iraq at the moment. You know even when there is a great danger and crisis as it is, then the politicians continue to fight with each other even though it’s sectarian (?) (1:15:36) and some of it is purely just for influence and power. Um and it’s not good enough and uh the people of Iraq realise that, they want to change, but it doesn’t come about easy, you know it uh takes time, and Iraq is a new democracy. Don’t forget it was set up after a regime like Saddam, you know who had a police state to control things very tightly. So you got to remember that things take time to sort themselves out and and you know sectarian issue is an immediate thing to deal with. So you know once this crisis is managed, then people will have more expectations from the politicians and hopefully they they’ll prove that at the moment they are unhappy with the politicians in Baghdad.

21. so those of us who are active on social media, what can we do to cripple ISIS progression on social media, i.e. Twitter and Facebook?”

You come across a proactive account, and you report it. You know on Facebook and Twitter they ask you about the specific post and there’s some organisations there you don’t report but they ask in terms of you know giving them the name of the account. So number 1 is to definitely report those accounts. Number 2 is I think um reach out with the positive messages. So when you do have scholars condemning ISIS, when you do have a show of unity, or you do have a show of solidarity that IS is putting up. Number 3 just avoid the images and you know videos that ISIS puts out because that there’s a strategy behind that. So avoid posting that, avoid you know showing people what ISIS is doing, then they can really show us what they want us to see. I do make a point that we become desensitised and putting all these three things together is going to stop ISIS from getting there, sending out the right messages, and avoiding images and videos of the atrocities that ISIS carries out. These three together will you know make social media less hospitable and less accessible for IS.

22. Is reporting social media enough, is there anything else we can do, on social media to stop the progression?

So like I said number 2 would be to promote the positive images and number 3 would be to avoid too much attention to the images and videos that IS puts out. Unfortunately on social media you know you’re not able to control platforms so beyond purporting, there’s not much we can do because these platforms are meant to be accessible by people, they’re meant to be open to all so you know aside from you know taking down a post on Facebook or Twitter, you know putting up a status on Twitter or Facebook, there’s not much you can do apart from trying to you know, stop these accounts from otherwise you’ll just have to interest so we’ve got to make sure that we stop ISIS from abusing social media. So um apart from these other things I would say we shouldn’t be asking is there anything else, without even doing anything. Reporting and stopping those accounts is a large enough task.

And on that note, we’d like to thank Brother Sajad Jiyad for his amazing contribution tonight and we thank you…

Please remember us in your duas on these holy nights

#politics #isis #sajadjiyad #rok #educate #discussion #tinychat #discuss #news #world #worldpolitics #iraq #syria #sham #isl #is #no2isis

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ringofknowledge · 11 years ago

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What is wrong with our communities? Ali Gokal & Mukhtar Karim

Since you have been involved in the community, how do you think it’s progressed?

Ali Gokal ~

I am very proud of the community I am part of. Each pressing day there is a plethora of events to take part in. I think there has always been involvement in our community. When you walk down the street or you go to the tube you see Imam Hussain (pbuh) banners. Surely but greatly we are temporary as a community. Although there has been a lot of development and inshAllah there is more to come.

Mukhtar Karim ~

We need to recognise the value of the community which gives us sustainability.

2. How do you think the community will progress?

We’re so lucky to practice in the community; we have a safe haven to be in the country. As Muslims with the best skills and humility of Imam Ali and Zeineb (pbut) as our role models, we need to advocate. We need to be at the fore front to assist our weak needs platform and share these practices. We need to be efficient to be for example, appeal with the right skills to stand with the Imam Mehdi (atfs).

3. How can we as a community progress?

We need to remind ourselves of our obligation. How we best need to evaluate ourselves. Starting with our families and our friends.

4. You mentioned how we can serve our Imam, how we can come together as a community to face oppression found in the world. How can we use the privileges we have in the west to overcome these issues?

Ali Gokal ~

Long term-

1) We need to build relationships with local politicians and local decision makers so that when the time comes to use those relationships we can use them well. To work with them in the long term, we stand side by side to tackle the issues.

2) We need to build a record of credibility addressing issues affecting society, for which has no benefit in serving; you need to be completely selfless. Societal problems like homelessness, single parenting, and the elderly who have no choice between eating.

Short term

To tackle oppression in other countries we need to get communities together and see leadership, one leader brings together three or four communities. Slice the pile of work between them, one leader does humanitarian things, so for example the situation of Palestine, sort out a big food drive and other needed items to be shipped to Gaza. Another leader can sort out a political response; prepare a letter that can be sent to all our MPs, council, British and commonwealth offices and our minister. You always get a response and if you do that a few times, another community sorts out a petition, contacts the local temple/synagogue. After doing all that you have created a cross practice approach. Create a tsunami and you will execute change.

5. Is it worth spending approximately £2000 on iftar each day serving our community, to people who can afford to buy three courses of meals a day outside the month Ramadhan? Should we abide by the saying Charity starts at home.

Ali Gokal ~

I wonder why you can’t do both? Feed our community and others. One of the reasons why we fast is to understand the plight of those who are destitute who don’t have 3 full meals a day and what they have to go through. If we come out of 30 days of fasting for 20 hrs in relatively hot conditions and we all lead high lifestyles and don’t feel an iota of compassion for those who are hungry every single day then I question our humanity.

I find it concerning that when we are breaking our fast in our mosques, within a square Kilometre from where we are sitting there’ll be kids and elderly who are hungry and thirsty that we don’t even know about their issues let alone do anything for them. So why don’t we do this, once a week, how about we eat a meal on the weekend and our communities go down our local roads and traverses, go to our local roads and food bank and say we will tell the food banks we will guarantee, we will provide 4 square meals for the people who are hungry and thirsty on your list. We talk about how we will help the poor and destitute. I recommend you all to check out the Big Iftar, Sufra and Al-Mizan.

6. What are your views on helping the wider community over helping our local community? Should there be priorities where do we draw the line?

Mukhtar Karim ~

I look at it in a way that when we sit down to eat as a family we don’t look at each other like we want to be somewhere else, we want to sit there talking to each other, telling our stories and celebrate. There is a place for the community to eat together and share each other’s stories. It’s a very strong constitution gratitude goes to our Imams (pbut). I feel it’s important that we carry on this tradition. There are a number of iftars that have had benefit, for example the Ramadhan Tent in SOAS. Other initiatives are opening your doors to your neighbour where you are able to exchange ideas and build relationships. Anything that unites our community, sitting down sharing that plate, exchanging dialogue, changing the way the Muslim ummah is perceived, engage in debate, what happens in the Muslim communities in the west, that way overcome the surge of the media. Do it for our children and society and show that we are not those different human beings.

Ali Gokal ~

Worth noting that Muslims give to charity per individual than any other community, as far as I understand that charity starts at home, there is no point feeding someone 150Kms away when someone in your home is starving. If two people ask you for food you shouldn’t do a disservice. You owe a duty to feed your brothers; this shouldn’t be confined to Ramadhan.

7. How can we balance the trade-off between integrating in our community and holding to our culture and religion? They feel important aspects in western culture like shaking hands with the opposite sex or drinking Alcohol. How can we stick to our religion and culture without separating from the western culture too much?

Ali Gokal ~

We need to remember the main purpose of our existence and it’s to enter Allah (swt) servitude and nothing else not for this world but for the hereafter. That very sharply aligns the objectives; it is very easy to work in this environment without compromising. There are difficulties however I don’t think we face difficulties is unusual, if we worked in the east or lived in the east we face different difficulties that way it shouldn’t be an easy environment in which we live. We need to remember several things, number one people are understanding, British people are phenomenally understanding and very open to people’s values that separate to theirs. Number two we need to have the courage of our convictions, don’t be scared or ashamed of saying that I don’t shake women’s hands, I don’t drink alcohol and I don’t go to clubs. I think we should have the most pride and we have had the great fortune of being born in the greatest madh’hab (school of thought) of the most perfect people who have ever lived and their values are the most pristine and perfect. I think sometimes we forget that. Number three, we shouldn’t be scared to ask for help, when I started working I found it difficult because at work in the city people work and drink a lot. Most business discussions happen over a pint. Ask your scholars, ask your friends for advice who are older than you and wiser than you. A friend once said, I’m the one who organises the meetings so I make sure the meeting is in a café or elsewhere. Others have told me they make it clear from the start that they don’t drink etc. there are many many ways to deal with these issues. Being courageous, having pride in your values, don’t be scared to tell people that those are your values, if they don’t get along with you, that are their problem not yours. That’s how I deal with it, my modest way of dealing with it.

Mukhtar Karim~

We have to know how to put our values across. It may turn into a small discussion, a conversation. I found it quite easy to deal with to show where the actual boundaries are and to show what my religion permits me to do. There is sometimes a bit of a discussion about how you maybe not shaking hands with a woman because she is inferior is there a more complex reason? Are you not interacting with non-Muslims? You need to explain within our faith. Society does socialise over alcohol but you can engage in discussion and have a good time. We can look at issues we want to have a discussion about. We bring the discussion around and explain our religion.

8. I find it difficult as a hijabi to serve my community, how can I find an easier way to serve without facing some difficulty?

Ali Gokal ~

We have a number of divisions at Stanmore Jaffery’s, we have a range of activities available. We have charity tube collection, we have a badminton tournament, we have girls who have seminars with scholars, we have plays, and we have Eid events. We also have planned an Eid carnival. In the past the community was very male dominated but this isn’t the case anymore. Be confident, the girls often have much better ideas, much more clarity of thought, be frank, be open, be more creative, come up with ideas, be innovative, they have a lot to contribute and all our communities are suffering because the sisters don’t feel comfortable to do so.

Mukhtar Karim ~

I think he hit the nail on the head, there is no reason why we can’t have equal female contribution, there are our brothers and sisters there are thousands of things to contribute. The usual notion of youth presence and female presence where we tell the youth and females how the program should be arranged. To add value and they have a great deal to contribute. There is a jama'at in the UK where a lot of them are female and it allows the women to contribute and hear the female voice. In London there are some issues faced by our female members being harassed by the wider community and to tackle them we need to face them as a community. We need to ask ourselves what the issues are that our females face. The holy Prophet (pbuh) said mother, mother, mother then your father; the community are the greatest users of the centres.

9. Where do you see our community going in 20yrs time, what do you think the role of the youth is in our community? What do you think is the role of the elders in our community?

Ali Gokal ~

The youth community first, my limited experience, two words trust and respect, I find often that the youth lack requisite. We forget the number of years they have worked, sacrificed work commitments, family commitments. The youth need to respect the elders; sometimes we may see their ideas as outdated and may be out of touch with the youth. The elders sometimes need to trust the youth and not write them off as hot headed and reckless, being prone to error, it’s only through these experiences you learn and you’re in that position to serve otherwise you have a vicious cycle of not trusting the youth. Sometimes excel yourself with that comes sharing of resources. Some people think the youth should be running the jamaat, I don’t necessarily agree, just like the biggest companies in Britain are run by people who are middle aged or older, its right that the elders or seniors who have had a significant life experience have leadership of our communities. A massive amount of things to consider and needs a lot of wisdom. There should always be an element of youth engagement. Youth mentorship and youth presence in the executive committee so you have wisdom mixed with ideas and dynamism. So that’s the relationship with our youth and elders.

Where I see our community going in twenty years, it can go in two ways, if we take our destiny in our own hands, that’s the crucial factor, the crucial thing we need to do. I’m worried about islamophobia, I really am, and I am worried about a society that is increasingly caring about what Muslims are about. Are Muslim people, we need to worry about; we need to watch out for? I have friends in France telling me about the situation they face. I don’t want our community to be susceptible to that. I also don’t want there to be a split between Sunnis and Shias nor do I want there to be cultural problems between Shias. If we want to take the destiny into our own hands then we can decide the future we want of British Muslims who both interact and integrate in society without assimilating to them. You’re Muslim you recognise where you came from, you fight islamapobia we look forward to a very healthy future. Our youth will go on to have top jobs and giving back to their communities by volunteering, helping charities. These are all things we are proud of and may it long continue.

Mukhtar Karim ~

Our community are more able to lead long lives and go back home and into the work place. We need meaningful contributors to mainstream professions. Like journalism, politics and media. They will need to be able to share with their wider community at large. The most comfortable way to lead our lives is to share with others. As long as we do not conflict with our faith, we see the most comfortable way of leading our lives. Are we going to bring it into debate? The values of Islam brought into the wider society, our organic values. We oversimplify the issues present in society; we aren’t able to sit around. We need to take our community forward with the practical values. We don’t shy away from issues. Do we care about student loans, not scared about facing the next step in education? We can’t abandon these issues faced in our community.

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