Mohammed.Amin.com
Fresh thinking from a British Muslim

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Religion and community issues

Over the last 50 years, Britain has changed significantly and is a much richer and more diverse country. Muslims living in Britain have more freedom to practice their religion than almost anywhere else in the world.

A perspective on shechita and halal slaughter

Animal welfare campaigners regularly allege that shechita and halal slaughter are cruel. I briefly review scientific evidence which contradicts the cruelty claim, and discuss the religious freedom issues.

A Curriculum for Cohesion

Muslim children perform worse in school than any other religious group. Many young non-Muslim Britons grow up hostile towards Islam. I am supporting an appeal for a project which can address both issues.

Shariah is more than a set of legal rules

Many people use the term "Shariah" as if it were interchangeable with "Islamic law." However Shariah which means "the path to salvation" is much more than that. It encapsulates all of the doctrines of Islam.

Reflections on the death of Svetlana Alliluyeva

Svetlana always bore the burden of being Stalin's daughter. While we are commonly judgemental about the children of "bad" parents, God never judges us except by our own actions and inactions.

Reflections on 9/11

It is hard to believe that 10 years have gone by. As well as reminiscing, I assess Al Qaeda's goals and conclude that it has failed and that its time has passed.

Reflections on the killings in Norway

Anders Breivik's mass murder defies understanding. However I have found reading his manifesto helpful.

BBC Radio Manchester interview about the London Bombings

I was interviewed for seven minutes alongside Dr Joel Hayward, Dean of the Royal Air Force Academy.

Preventing people becoming terrorists

Preventing people becoming terrorists is as important as arresting terrorists. While Muslim organisations have been queing up to criticise the revised Prevent strategy announced by the Government on 7 June 2011, I believe they are wrong to do so.

Why are Muslim majority countries more corrupt?

When you itemise OIC members states on the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions index, they cluster towards the bottom. I have been thinking about the reasons.

BBC Radio Manchester discussion about the death of Osama Bin Laden

I took part in a half hour discussion along with a rabbi and two Christian reverends. The BBC have given me the sound files and permitted me to post them on the internet.

The difference between "multiculturalism" and "state multiculturalism"

David Cameron has criticises "state multiculturalism" on at least two occasions. Unfortunately many misunderstand that as criticism of multiculturalism. I have tried to explain the difference.

We all need to prevent violent extremism – nobody can stand idly by

The Prime Minister's speech in Munich on 5 February 2011 and Baroness Neville-Jones's speech in Washington DC on 1 April 2011 outline the Government's new approach to preventing violent extremism. This page summarises the speeches and outlines what individual British Muslims can do to help.

Reflections on visiting Yad Vashem

Yad Vashem is the most important centre documenting and commemorating the Jews who died during the Holocaust. I visited it at the beginning of 2010, and found it very moving.

Statement regarding death threats made against Dr Usama Hasan

Usama Hasan has been threatened with death for sharing his views about evolution and whether hair covering is mandatory for Muslim women. Such threats seek to close down freedom of thought and discussion, and must be resisted by all right-thinking Muslims.

Why I wear a Union Jack lapel pin

It changes the way strangers see me, by silently asserting my patriotism.

A brief introduction to Islam for non-Muslims

For many years non-Muslims have asked my wife and me for a simple and short introduction to Islam. Unable to find anything quite suitable for them, I eventually decided to write it myself.

The Muslim Council of Britain’s Need for Constitutional Reform

The MCB has announced that it is reviewing its constitution. I have made a written submission to the review committee which I am sharing on this website.

Review of a report on Muslim converts in the UK

At the end of 2010, Faith Matters published a 40 page report "A Minority within a Minority: a report on converts to Islam in the United Kingdom". I consider it well worth reading.

Is the correct usage Koran, Qur’an or Quran?

I explain why "Qur'an" is the most correct form, even though I choose to use "Quran". I have also noticed that obsolete usage such as "Koran" and "Moslem" is often associated with anti-Muslim views.

Conference address on the Muslim Jewish Forum of Greater Manchester

I spoke about why and how the Forum was set up and what it has achieved.

Is Israel criticised unfairly?

Israelis often complain that their country is criticised while other countries which behave much worse are not, and that this is unfair.

The European Union threat to halal and kosher food

Muslims, Jews and their friends need to act now to get rid of proposed EU legislation which will make halal and kosher food more expensive, and which could eventually lead to it being banned.

Playing Russian roulette with my baby's health

Many people are unaware of the extent to which marrying your first cousin increases the risk of your children having a serious genetic disorder. As well as discussing the risks, I link a number of scientific papers, so that readers are not left in any doubt regarding the facts.

Reading the Quran

If you want to understand the Quran and don't speak Arabic, you need a translation, but where do you start? There are three translations that I generally recommend.

A response to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach regarding suicide bombers and hell

Muslims believe that only God decides who goes to heaven or to hell. However, this can easily be misinterpreted as moral ambivalence, which Rabbi Boteach has done.

Triangulating the Abrahamic faiths

How do you measure the relative closeness of Judaism, Christianity and Islam?

 Anti-Semitism amongst Muslims – a personal view

I feel strongly about anti-Semitism, but it grieves me most when find it amongst fellow Muslims because I believe that we should be "the best of people."

Suicide by samosa? Stopping the Asian diet from killing us

I feel very angry about the ill health that plagues Britons of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin.

7/7: Muslim Perspectives

I have assisted a friend in putting together a book where 25 Muslims, including me and him, have shared our thoughts about the London bombings of 7 July 2005.

Letter to Israeli ambassador about the Gaza flotilla and blockade

There were been demonstrations in London about Israel's attack on 31 May 2010 on the flotilla carrying supplies to Gaza. I have never been on a demonstration, and prefer to work by other means. In that regard, I wrote an open letter to the Israeli ambassador in London

'I'd invite Melanie Phillips to dinner'

The journalist Chaminda Jayanetti who interviewed me for the Samosa website was clearly taken by my approach as he used it for the title of his wide ranging interview.

Why we need to stop using the word “Islamism”

I originally wrote about this on my Telegraph blog as listed below. I decided to write about it again on the Pickled Politics website, as a point often has to be made repeatedly before it gets accepted.

Tortured by algebra? Who can you blame?

Not many people are aware that it was Muslims who are to blame for inventing algebra. While for some this just brings back painful memories of school, algebra is of course indispensible in the modern world.

The university and modern civilisation

I can think of no institution that is more central to modern civilisation than a unversity. Most people, Muslims and non-Muslims, don't know that universities were invented by Muslims. Accordingly, I have written a short history tracing back to the oldest university in the world.

Time to retire Islamism?

For some time, I have believed that the word "Islamism" has ceased to mean anything useful. Worse still, most Muslims see and hear only the first five letters, and see an attack on "Islamism" as an attack on Islam. This was originally published on my Telegraph blog.

Powerful or powerless?

I was asked to contribute a piece to the newly launched MCB Youth Committee blog. I chose to write about the critical importance of political participation, which I regard as essential to the future of the Muslim community in the UK.

Another charge of reds (sorry, Islamists) under the bed!

Andrew Gilligan’s Channel 4 Dispatches programme “Britain’s Islamic Republic” on 1 March 2010 caused significant concerns amongst the Muslim community. It reminded me very much of the anti-communist witch hunts led by Senator Joe McCarthy.

A poor article comprising mainly innuendo

I was annoyed by a Sunday Telegraph article “Sir Ian Blair’s deal with Islamic radical” which implied that Sir Ian Blair had cooked up some kind of secret deal with Azad Ali, when the reality was a formal cooperation agreement between the Metropolitan Police and the Muslim Safety Forum. Repeating my approach of "taking the fight to the enemy" I began a blog on the My Telegraph website.

Dammed if you do and dammed if you don't!

After regularly complaining about the MCB's absence from the Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration, after the 2010 event the Jewish Chronicle complained that the MCB representative was not important enough. My annoyance is evident from the title.

Board [of Deputies of British Jews]: Muslim Council of Britain must be boycotted until reform

Like most Muslims, I was very annoyed by the submission that the Board of Deputies made recommending this. I decided to "take the fight to the enemy" by creating a blog on the website of the Jewish Chronicle.

Are Islamic banks Islamic enough?

In one form or another, this question often crops up at conferences on Islamic finance. In my view, the answer depends upon the personal religious views of each Muslim, and I have therefore not sought to address it in any of my published writings on Islamic finance. However, the receipt by the MCB of an open letter required me to address it when composing the response.

No Muslim should deny Holocaust

Holocaust denial amongst Muslims makes me very angry. Accordingly, when the editor of the Jewish Chronicle asked if he could convert my City Circle blog about visiting Auschwitz into a newspaper article and change the title, I agreed readily. It was my first piece in the Jewish Chronicle.

Reflections on visiting Auschwitz

I regard the Holocaust as the ultimate in human depravity. In 2009 with some other Muslims and Jews I visited Auschwitz, and wrote this afterwards to share how I felt about it.

"The Israel lobby and US foreign policy" - a blueprint for British Muslims

British Muslims often complain about the influence of the Israel lobby in the USA and the UK. However, for me the key message is that instead of complaining, we need to learn from their commitment to political engagement.

Gaza and the need for peace now

This was written the day after Israel started bombing Gaza at the end of 2008, before the ground invasion in January 2009. I was outraged, but decided to focus on the future and the urgent need for a permanent peace.

Why engage in interfaith dialogue?

I was asked to set down my thoughts on interfaith dialogue and how it should be conducted, if at all. Having done so, I thought it might be worth sharing with a wider audience and published them on the City Circle website.

Seek extremism and you will find it

The Centre for Social Cohesion published a report alleging high levels of extremism within student Islamic societies. After reading the report closely, I concluded that its methodology was fundamentall flawed.

Muslims misguided enough to abandon Islam are free to do so

Apostasy is a controversial subject, and this item generated more comments than any other blog I have written on the City Circle website.

Terrorist + Muslim = "Muslim terrorist"?

This piece tackled another controversial subject. What should we call people who themselves proclaim that their terrorist activities are inspired by Islam?

Better words mean better thinking

This was sparked by a speech David Cameron made. I suddenly realised how using better words results in clearer thinking. As an example, once "forced marriage" entered common usage, I no longer needed to explain that having an "arranged marriage" involved free choice.

Rowan Williams and people's unwillingness to read

The Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams managed to create a firestorm of protest about the supposed introduction of Shariah law into Britain. In reality, people were simply not reading his speech properly. However, they had some excuse from the complexity of his writing, which I analysed.

Look back and learn

Muslims regularly look back to the "golden age" when the Islamic civilisation created by the Arabs was the leading civilisation in the world. However, I believe that many fail to understand what made that civilisation successful.