IS IT A BAD INFLUENCE ON THE MUSLIM YOUTH AND SHOULD THEY BE ENCOURAGED TO AVOID IT?

We live in a Facebook generation where using social networking sites is an everyday necessity! Some say it’s a fantastic tool to communicate, interact and learn whilst others argue it’s nothing but a dating platform where the youth can go astray and simply waste their time.

Shazad Rehman and Abid Iqbal argue NO there is nothing wrong with Facebook; it’s how you use it. Adam Patel and Suhail Jamil argue YES and state why Facebook has more negatives than positives and therefore should be avoided altogether.

Do young Muslims today like to mix and integrate with non-Muslims at college/uni, work and especially in their everyday life? Do young Muslims actually have close friends who are non-Muslims? Or do they prefer segregation? Do Muslims believe that non-Muslims don’t want to mix with them? Or do they have the view that most non-Muslims are racist/Islamophobic?

The Revival spoke to young Muslims across the UK to hear their views:

Mohib Ali, 25, High Wycombe

Do Muslims integrate with non-Muslims? Probably not as much as they should- apart from the ones who like to go for a good drink once in a while and can't really do that with Muslims!

In part 1 I chronicled the first half of my journey. Now read on for the rest.

Arrival in Makkah

After a short interlude to drop our bags off at the hotel and decipher the a/c controls, we hurried along the crowded streets to the holiest site in Islam. When I try to remember it, the whole experience feels like a vivid dream.

Excitement had returned to my party, and brought with it shortness of breath and a slight tightening of the throat. We were all grinning like idiots, and were doing all we could to stop ourselves pushing and running towards our ultimate target.

We've all heard of Somalia and most of us will also have heard about the occasional pirate ship hijacking that happens off its coast. Everyone is also united in condemning the pirates for their piracy. Yes people, there are people off the coast of somalia, the pirates hijack the oil tankers and more, but is that the whole of it or is there more to it all?

Why are there are pirates in Somalia? What makes it the type of place where piracy can before rife?

Somalia is a place that has been without a functioning government for the best part of 20 years now and has been locked into almost constant conflict and violence between communities that live there.

By Shaykh Salim Ghisa

1.When I fast I just get headaches and feel really rough; I thought fasting was suppose to make me get closer to God?

Fasting is a virtue which in physical terms means abstaining from food, drink and conjugal relations. As Allah says in the Quran ‘Oh Believers fasting has been prescribed for you as it was prescribed to those before you so that you may become pious’ (Quran - 2,183)

Green Banana Curry

Yes, you heard it right… a BANANA Curry
Why not try a recipe of savoury bananas in a spiced coconut sauce for your Iftari?

Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 30 min
Serves: 4

Ingredients

5 green (under ripe) bananas
2-3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, finely sliced
1 tbsp curry paste
400 ml coconut milk
3 tbsp chopped coriander

Method

1. Slice the bananas into slices 2.5cm thick.

2. Heat the oil in a deep frying pan and fry the banana slices in batches, until lightly browned on each side. Drain on kitchen paper.

3. Add the onion to the pan and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft.

White Chocolate and Berry Pavlova

The crisp meringue has a soft chewy interior and is topped with white chocolate, whipped cream and luscious selection of berries. Will go down a treat after a long hard fast.

Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 6 hrs, to 8 hours, leaving the meringue in the oven overnight
Serves: 8

Ingredients

For the meringue:
6 egg whites
200 g caster sugar
1 tsp corn flour

For the filling:
600 ml double cream
100 g white chocolate
125 g raspberries
50 g strawberries
50 g redcurrants
50 g mixed summer berries
25 g blueberries

There is no other man who has influenced life for all times. There is no other man who is a perfect role model for all humans for all times. There is no other man who has given rights to people of every society for all times.
So who is it then?

Einstein, Darwin, Marx, Socrates, Newton, Plato, Freud… (who?).
OK, is it Jesus, Moses, Napoleon, Julius Caesar, Gandhi, Buddha, Lenin, Mussolini, Stalin, Churchill, Martin Luther King, Shakespeare, Princess Diana or Abraham Lincoln? Or even (God forbid) Ali G, Tu Pac, Michael Jackson or David Beckam?