Make Me a Muslim
Episode 1
Channel 4 Sunday 16 December at 8pm
Can Islam help repair the moral fabric of British society? To test it out, Imam Ajmal Masroor asks six non-Muslims and one lapsed Muslim to follow Islamic teachings for three weeks. The six come from Harrogate, in Yorkshire, a town with very few ethnic minority inhabitants.
How will the six volunteers cope with living according to the laws of the Qur'an? The group finds it difficult to accept the principle tenets of Islam and, for some, the implications of the experiment are far-reaching. Karla, a white British Christian and her boyfriend Ash, a lapsed Muslim, have been dating for two years. So far Ash's conservative Muslim family have refused to meet Karla but she hopes that by immersing herself in their way of life she may convince them to accept her.
The process starts with a sweep of the group’s homes for items that are haram – forbidden by Islam – such as alcohol, pork, inappropriate clothing, lads’ mags… The next stage is to add a schedule of praying five times a day. The rebellion begins almost immediately. Taxi driver Phil retreats to his local pub for pork pies and beer; others object to the rigid dress codes and say that they disagree with many aspects of the faith.
To Ajmal’s disappointment, only three turn up for Friday prayers at the end of the first week. The group are more resistant to Muslim teaching than he had imagined. So will he and his team of mentors be able to convince the wayward group that Islam really does have something to offer them?
http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/C/can_you_believe_it/debates…
Make Me a Muslim
Make Me a Muslim
having only seen the 1st episode, i have to say it felt like it was made by the same production team as 'wife-swap'
Make Me a Muslim
The 2nd and 3rd weren't much different unfortunately.
Re: Make Me a Muslim
[quote=TheRevivalEditor]as imam shafi said (rough translation):
Islam without tasawwuf is incomplete
Tassawuf without islam is misguidance
The combination of the two is complete Islam
So u cant deny tasawuf but u cant just follow tasawuf and ignore othere tenents of islam.[/quote]
It was Imam Malik r.a who said:
"whoever studies Jurisprudence [tafaqaha] and didn't study Sufism [tasawwaf] will be corrupted; and whoever studied Sufism and didn't study Jurisprudence will become a heretic; and whoever combined both will reach the Truth."
['Ali al-Adawi , vol. 2, p 195.]
Imam Shafi'i r.a said:
"I accompanied the Sufi people and I received from them three knowledges: ...how to speak; how to treat people with leniency and a soft heart... and they... guided me in the ways of Sufism."
[Kashf al-Khafa, 'Ajluni, vol. 1, p 341.]
Imam Ahmed bin Hanbal r.a said:
"O my son, you have to sit with the People of Sufism, because they are like a fountain of knowledge and they keep the Remembrance of Allah in their hearts. they are the ascetics and they have the most spiritual power."
[Tanwir al-Qulub p. 405]
Imam Ghazzali r.a:
"I knew verily that Sufis are the seekers in Allah's Way, and their conduct is the best conduct, and their way is the best way, and their manners are the most sanctified. They have cleaned their hearts from other than Allah and they have made them as pathways for rivers to run receiving knowledge of the Divine Presence."
[al-Munqidh, p. 131].
I thought this episode was better, but still there was so much strange stuff in it like the swimming bit, and the niqab bit. I think even I would have felt uncomfortable about some of that. I too couldn't understand the reasons behind that other than entertainment value. It was just throwing people in at the deep end before they even had an understanding of the basic stuff. I was looking forward to it when they said they were going to try to highlight the high status of women in islam and they did that by telling the women to wear niqab, which I don't think was the best way at all.
The comments of that taxi driver re. asylum seekers was frightening, soooo many people think like that! And the arrogance and ignorance displayed by some of the public is just so shocking and disheartening. And shows like this don't really do much about it.
The end show was alright, but in this climate I don't think alright is good enough at all. Islam still came across as strange and extreme so not what it really is. Therefore this show has probably just caused more confusion.