integration

On non-Muslims

“What if you’re cycling and accidently eat a fly?”

That was one of the questions I received about fasting, among others, some equally as silly. I did my best to answer them because I knew  the person enough to know they were genuinely interested - “it’s nice to be able to talk about this stuff, I never really learnt about it at school and if this had been school I’d have been given detention ages ago for all these questions”.

BBC Radio 4 Documentary: "The Deobandis"

The Deobandis are virtually unknown to most British people, yet their influence is huge. As the largest Islamic group in the UK, they control over 40% of mosques and have a near monopoly on Islamic seminaries, which propagate a back-to-basics, orthodox interpretation of Islam...

The first episode was aired on BBC Radio 4 on 5 April 2016, with episode 2 to air on 12 April 2016.

I havent listened to it yet, but someone who has said it was quite damaging to the Muslim community as a whole.

Manchester girl, 16, pleads guilty to terror charges

The Anarchist's Cookbook

BBC News reports that an unnamed has pled guilty to 2 counts of terrorism charges related to posessing documents that were likely to be of use to a person preparing or committing an act of terrorism.

This is linked to the arrest of a who had previously pleaded guilty to terrorism charges.

US Christian wears hijab for 40 days

">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRFhCn72G4o]

Jessey Eagan is a Christian and a mother of two, who works as a children's director at Imago Dei Church in Peoria, Illinois. This year during Lent, she decided to wear a hijab. She kept a diary of her experience in a blog called #40DaysOfHijab, which is sparkling a debate both in the Christian and Muslim community.

"I wanted to put myself in someone else's shoes", says Eagan who hopes her practice of solidarity and empathy with the Muslim community will foster interfaith dialogue.

The BBC spoke with Eagan about her experience and her faith.

Germany - Anti Muslim rallies and counter rallies

PEGIDA anti-Islam Rally

I've got a quiet admiration for Germany - they seem to be a hard working, productive no nonsense type of nation that doesn't fall for the normal marketing tricks.

However recently there has been a phenomenon of large rallies taking place across Germany:

Germany PEGIDA protests: Rallies over 'Islamisation'

Supporters and opponents of a group campaigning against what it sees as the "Islamisation" of Europe have held rival rallies across Germany.

There have been weekly protests by the Patriotic Europeans against the Islamisation of the West (Pegida) since October.

A record 18,000 people turned out on Monday at one rally in Dresden.

Boohoo - Santa never stopped at my house as a child.

Santa Claus Sugar Plums. Confection label, showing Santa Claus on sleigh with reindeer. From 1868

I just came across in the Guardian comment is free section.

I enjoy the free time voer christmas as much as the next person, but its important to not forget our faith and that Christmas - as indicated by the name - is a Christian festival.

You don't see people of other faiths falling over themselves for the need to fit in, so why do Muslims have this inferiority complex?

Have some backbone!

(PS Santa was Turkish)

Political Assassination of Muslim attempts to stop schools failing Muslim children

New leaks in suggest that 6 schools in Birmingham will face censure, and two previously considered to be outstanding schools will be rated as "inadequate" - a rating that allowed the government to place the schools under special measures and force changes including replacing of school governors.

These schools were among 21 investigated as part of a "Trojan Horse" plot, where the leaks suggest that nothing has been found:

Al Jazeera: UK hysteria over 'Islamist' threat is fuelling race hate

UK hysteria over 'Islamist' threat is fuelling race hate

Britain's panicked take on 'Islamists' has enabled the spread of racism and emboldened the far-right UKIP party

Once again, the British press is panicking over the "Islamists" that are apparently lurking with malicious intent on every street corner in the UK.

Pages