Mainstreaming the Muslim presence in Britain through creative activism 
Whether it is extremism, immigration, integration or crime, Muslims are usually at the centre of discussion in Europe. Post 7/7 Britain is no exception with Islam and Muslims appearing in headlines almost daily and the focus on particularly young Muslims for mostly negative reasons continues unabated. Despite Britain being considerably better in integrating the Muslim community compared to its European neighbours, the scrutiny on them has become a normal part of life now. In <a href="https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-british-muslims.html">British Muslims: New Directions in Islamic Thought, Creativity and Activism</a>, Philip Lewis and Sadek Hamid have made painstaking efforts to show the complexity and dynamics of these exceptionally diverse Muslims as they craft their place in Britain. Both have written extensively on Islam and possess huge background knowledge on Muslim issues. 
The authors have pulled no punches in discussing sensitive Muslim issues within the context of 21st century, multi-faith Britain. They have highlighted the fact that British Muslims constitute the microcosm of the global Muslim ummah with numerous ethnicities and languages as well as religious and cultural traditions; making the idea of a monolithic Muslim community pointless. Most live in deprived inner city conurbations. With a higher proportion of youth in their midst, still less than half UK-born, more than two-thirds have their roots in south Asia. 
Philip Lewis and Sadek Hamid highlight the changing nature of British Muslims in recent decades, their educational progress, cultural gaps due to the intergenerational shift, disproportionate prison populations or engagement with the wider society are still fluid. They have been facing challenges, but their success in some sectors of life such as charity, health, business and entrepreneurship is significant. The authors have ably, and with some empathy, discussed the emerging dynamics within the communities – occasionally bringing in religious or theological points of view but without being explicitly judgmental. 
A book of this nature, especially after 7/7, cannot ignore discussing topical issues such as, Muslim leadership, radicalisation and extremism or youth lifestyles. The topics in the book are wide-ranging with some very topical themes such as women in the mosques; public life and youth activism; changing lifestyles from the perspectives of varying Islamic traditions have been highlighted prominently. 
Modern Britain has seen cultural trends that are bringing rapid changes in people’s values and lifestyles, due to influential external factors such as technology and social media. While organised religions, as a whole have taken a back seat in people’s personal and social life, the religion of Islam has still a big influence on the life of its followers – in their internal behaviour and external social engagement. To many Muslims, modernity and their faith are not exclusive or inimical. This is another area that confuses many people, including Muslims, with superficial knowledge of Islam. 
The presence and representation of <a href="https://mcb.org.uk/project/women-in-mosques/">women in mosques</a> is now being widely discussed within communities as essential to securing the future of the faith. Mosques are at the heart of not only Muslim religious and spiritual well-being, but also of their community life as historically, ‘people’ were always at the heart of the mosques. The first individual who embraced Islam was Prophet Muhammad’s (peace and blessings be upon him) own beloved wife and the first martyr was one of his prominent woman companions in Makkah. In the Prophet’s mosque in Madinah women used to pray in the same hall behind men’s rows without having any physical barrier between them. 
The authors have highlighted the changing dynamics of British Muslim communities, particularly the younger generations and examined good practices and innovative projects. This focus particularly on the younger generations strikes a special chord with me, as I have been working on this for over three decades. Young people, wherever they come from, are an asset of any society. However, they are generally driven by idealism and impatience in their passion to bring swift results. This will only happen if done within the core principles and universal but inclusive teachings of Islam. 
Continuous renewal of Islam and reform of the Muslim society has always been at the heart of Islam’s teachings. Scholars and social leaders since Islam’s early days have been advocating for this rejuvenation and advancement. British Muslims cannot be an exception, especially in an intellectually rigorous and socially challenging environment. They are still going through the teething problems and the slow progress may be frustrating to the younger generations, but the signs of changes are in sight. 
In writing this book, the authors have taken a significant step forward along this path. Readers will gain an understanding of how the Muslim community, particularly its younger section, is going through an internal introspection and trying to navigate its way into mainstreaming its presence in Britain. 
You can purchase a copy of British Muslims: New Directions in Islamic Thought, Creativity and Activism, Philip Lewis and Sadek Hamid, from <a href="https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-british-muslims.html">Edinburgh University Press</a>.<a href="http://www.the-platform.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/British-Muslims-Philip-Lewis-Sadek-Hamed-large.jpg"><img loading="lazy" class="aligncenter wp-image-13302" src="http://www.the-platform.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/British-Muslims-Philip-Lewis-Sadek-Hamed-large.jpg" alt="British Muslims Philip Lewis Sadek Hamed - large" width="350" height="525" /></a>

British-Muslims-Philip-Lewis-Sadek-Hamid

Exploring British Muslims through the Lens of Youth, Creativity and Activism

The bank accounts of British Muslim charities are being shut down without notice or negotiation 
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The fact that Britain is <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/britain--the-most-charitable-developed-nation-in-the-world-8978545.html">the most charitable</a> developed nation in the world and Muslims are &#8220;its top charity givers&#8221; has been well established for some time. Prime Minister David Cameron acknowledged this reality in his Ramadan 2014 message, &#8220;Here in Britain, Muslims are our biggest donors &#8211; they give more to charity than any other faith group.&#8221; 
The impulse of charity giving is embedded in human nature. For many Muslims the prime mover is the teachings of their religion to help fellow human beings in distress or in need, irrespective of their background. This has contributed to the emergence of a strong Muslim charity sector that has employed thousands of dedicated professionals. Many new charities have appeared in recent years and are attracting young, talented university students and graduates as volunteers. Some are known for their highly entrepreneurial and specialised work. 
But in recent years, the new menace haunting Muslim charities is the fear of their bank accounts&#8217; closure. The first that came to be widely known was HSBC&#8217;s notification to a few charities announcing that their accounts would be closed in just two months&#8217; time as they were outside the bank&#8217;s &#8220;risk appetite&#8221;. This irreversible decision came without any previous notice and as a shock to the affected charities. HSBC&#8217;s failure to provide any warnings or appropriate evidence for its actions has been a real worry. 
Risk appetite 
Since then, a few other banks such as Barclays and the Co-operative Bank have followed suit. 
Early in 2015, HSBC closed the Muslim Aid account. More recently, they also closed down the <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/01/hsbc-bank-cuts-services-islamic-relief-charity-160104152429151.html">account of Islamic Relief</a>, the largest Muslim charity in the UK. On 15 December 2015, the Co-operative Bank informed <a href="http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/palestinian-campaign-groups-uk-bank-account-shut-down-1433404383">Friends of Al-Aqsa</a> that it would close their bank account. No reasons were provided, apart from mentioning the same &#8220;risk appetite&#8221; issue. The Co-op has refused to engage in any negotiations and has called this &#8220;a business decision&#8221;. 
Bigger charities like Islamic Relief UK and Muslim Aid use multiple bank accounts; for them, the main issue is serious damage to their reputation as opposed to practicality. But smaller charities do not have the luxury of doing this, so closure of their main account becomes a survival issue for them. 
For a community undergoing disproportionate scrutiny from the counter-productive Prevent agenda of successive governments, bank closures of its charities without proper explanation is an additional worry. When an organisation such as the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, which has supported Palestinian rights for decades, found that its account with the Co-operative Bank was also closed last July, naturally it raised the spectre of fear among many. 
Bank closures undermine the great work done by Muslim charities abroad and within our own shores, including the relief efforts during recent and past floods. Many feel that the <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/wfd/tom-barns/threat-to-whom-some-implications-of-rise-of-extremist-rhetoric">rhetoric of &#8220;extremism&#8221;</a> and &#8220;protecting British values&#8221; vis-a-vis Muslims is creating a climate in which Muslim NGOs are seen as a fair game. One is not sure whether this selective bank closure affecting only Muslim charities is because of the political climate of judging the community through a prism of security. 
Reliable partners 
Of course it is understood that there would be greater scrutiny of charity finances, as prompted by international money-laundering concerns and tougher UK counter-terrorism laws. But in a rights-based society renowned for its principle of innocence until proven guilty, if a community is made to feel out of place, it does not bode well for Britain. 
The Muslim charity sector has been the jewel in the Muslim community&#8217;s crown in serving humanity in recent decades; without a way out, this may one day be reduced to insignificance. Almost all charities in Britain are now regulated by Charity Commission (CC), so charities are duty-bound to maintain due diligence while transferring money directly to the recipients or through reliable partners acceptable to the CC. Access to banking facilities is vital for transparency and good governance, and there are fears that fundraising and aid work in Muslim communities could collapse or even be driven underground. 
The confidence of Muslim charities in British banks is obviously at an all-time low. The community is deeply worried about this development. Although banks are denying that their motives are religious, many believe this is the penalty of bearing any &#8220;Islamic&#8221; name in the current political climate. 
David Anderson, the UK&#8217;s reviewer of terrorism legislation, called for dialogue between policymakers and NGOs on the issue of bank closures. It is time the government steps in to assure that Muslim charities are not victimised for political reasons. 
An earlier version of this article appeared on <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2016/01/menace-haunting-muslim-charities-160107110210362.html">Al Jazeera</a>. 
<pre>Image from: http://www.islamic-relief.org/category/appeals/emergencies/iraq-emergency-appeal/ </pre>

The Unhealthy Risk Appetites of British Banks

In a world increasingly troubled by greed and intolerance, the deep spiritual training of Ramadan can offer healing  
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In this year&#8217;s month of Ramadan, which is only a few days away, Muslims in the northern hemisphere will have very long days of fasting. In London it is expected to be around 19 hours of voluntary &#8216;starvation&#8217; from food, drink and physical intimacy. This annual month-long fasting is one of the five pillars of Islam aimed to create &#8216;God-consciousness&#8217; (taqwa in Arabic) among believers. 
Taqwa has a deeper meaning of incessant introspection of one&#8217;s inner thoughts and behaviours; that is, to always be on the religious &#8216;middle way&#8217; and social &#8216;centre-ground&#8217;, away from extremism in all aspects. This 24/7 soul-searching has the potential to guide and propel believers towards living a morally upright life and developing key inner qualities, such as integrity and self-discipline as well as good manners. It has the ability to shape their lives and transform their character towards one with a positive drive for action, for the good of all. 
Behind the disciplining of natural thirst, hunger and base desires, fasting prepares believers to contemplate the mystery of our life &#8211; our fleeting existence on earth, connection with God, relationships with fellow human beings and obligation to the well-being of our environment. This has a direct impact on our behaviour &#8211; humility, patience, fortitude, care and love. Ramadan teaches Muslims the ethos of sharing and caring, extra generosity, respect and giving preference to fellow human beings; these are the values that are greatly needed now, more than ever, in our unequal society and fractured world. 
The physically challenging and spiritually intense fasting from dawn to dusk is thus a divine gift to Muslims so they can become harbingers of good to all mankind. 
The question is how real is this now? 
When it comes to the public expression of religious rituals, Muslims are one of the strongest among faith communities. Whether practicing or cultural, they have a special affinity for fasting during Ramadan; many thoroughly transform their attitude, behaviour and lifestyle for a whole month, in accordance to a Prophetic tradition that says &#8216;Whoever does not give up forged speech and evil actions, Allah is not in need of his leaving food and drink.&#8217; 
Ramadan also harvests a unique festivity in Muslim life. Many multiply their charity giving during Ramadan (British Muslims are known as the <a href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/faith/article3820522.ece">top charity givers</a>). Recitation and memorisation of the Qur&#8217;an are commonplace and some strive to gain an understanding of the text and context. 
Being true to Islam means being a good citizen and human being. In fact, the essence of Muslim morality is to be good to others, without being judgemental. It demands from them positive and ethical action, a unilateral undertaking to create a better society. 
While other Islamic rituals are noticeable to people around, fasting is not; it represents a unique self-surrender to God. Fasting &#8216;burns out&#8217; one&#8217;s desires and helps to conquer base instincts, such as self-gratification and arrogance. Apart from health and other benefits, it is the most effective way for one&#8217;s inner purification. 
In the unprecedented commercialisation and sexualisation of our world today, it is easier to fatten our egos, nurture our greed, increase our impatience and succumb to intolerance and hatred of others. The easy accessibility of social media that shrinks the world can enslave us to ever-new technological gadgets. We have very little time to think, reflect and relax, still less time to spend with our near and dear ones &#8211; even the treasured children and beloved elders in our own families. We live fast-paced lives; we want to be in life&#8217;s fastest lane and beat others, yet we do not foresee the possibility of a potential crash. 
Much of the modern way of life is eating away at our souls; we are involuntarily turning into human robots. We avoid discussing tough issues such as morality and ethics, lest we are seen as dogmatic or extremist by others. We have become too rights-based, but expect a higher level of responsibility from others &#8211; our elected representatives, governments, the police and public servants. 
Fasting is thus an antidote to selfishness and the extreme materialism in our lives. It is a &#8216;shield against evil&#8217; to survive and succeed in our highly asymmetric world. It reminds believers that real success is not just in our wealth, power and fame but in striving for a better world for all. 
A society needs people who strongly feel a sense of duty to all people, a natural civic responsibility &#8211; not just for political and social unity but to address our human cravings for peace. 
Every year Ramadan brings this unique opportunity to &#8216;train&#8217; Muslims to find their inner selves, recharge their energy, revitalise their lives and work for common good. Alas, many among them have big contradictions in real life. 
In these turbulent days of materialism and individual self gratification, with religious extremism and secular-irreligious backlash in our public life, we need a spiritual regeneration to make our world safer and more humane.
<pre>Image from: http://riyadhconnect.com/fasting-day-in-ramadan-around-14-hours-in-saudi/</pre>

Ramadan Spirit Can Heal Our Fractured World

The CIA torture report revealed this week lays bare the dark excesses of the War on Terror and its continuing impact on the Middle East 
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With the publication of the <a href="http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/study2014/sscistudy1.pdf" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">Executive Summary</a> of the CIA&#8217;s Detention and Interrogation Program this week, the US Senate Intelligence Committee has acknowledged that the CIA&#8217;s actions have been <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-30401100" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">a stain on US history</a>. The UN, human rights groups and legal experts are now asking the Obama administration to prosecute US officials responsible for the torture programme. 
This is just one aspect of the story. In many ways the world&#8217;s sole super power has lost its moral compass post 9/11. Rather than behaving like a global lion America, in the years immediately after 9/11, behaved like Godzilla and lashed out against an undefined enemy. The irony is that the enemy is mutating and resurfacing in ever-more complex forms. 
In the last 13 years the world has hit reverse in terms of respect for the rule of law, human rights and dignity. For much of the globe, deference for America has been replaced by fear. Some critics have described the US as <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-engelhardt/a-rogue-superpower_b_4174080.html" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">a rogue superpower</a>. 
9/11 was unprecedented in terms of ingenious cruelty and the whole world poured out its sympathy. But the neocon-influenced Administration mistook this as its right to unleash unprecedented invasions of two sovereign countries, Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003, all as part of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_on_Terror" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">War on Terror</a>. This has left a dangerous legacy of death, destruction and violence of historic proportions in those two ancient lands, legacies that are now affecting our lives almost everywhere. How long this will continue is anybody&#8217;s guess. 
The vicious circle of terrorism and counter-terrorism, by disparate Muslim nihilists such as al-Qaeda and the ISIL, and by powerful countries with massive military might, has been shaping the early 21st century. This war seems unending and through this the military industrial complex in developed countries has fattened, the torture industry has become more innovative, hawkish think tanks have flourished and narratives on Muslims have spun out of control. 
Wars are not cost-free, in terms of human and material resources. The two above wars have cost thousands of American lives and trillions of dollars, not to mention the lives lost by innocent civilians and the chaos that has been left in their wake. The massive drain on the US Treasury might have had an impact on the 2008 collapse of its economy, which then spiralled out across the developed world. 
President Obama came to the White House with high expectations and noble promises. But instead he changed the nature of the wars America was fighting and expanded them to such an extent that his presidency will forever be tainted with &#8216;<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/michael-gerson-combating-the-islamic-state-is-a-resumption-of-the-long-war/2014/09/08/5686f4b4-377f-11e4-9c9f-ebb47272e40e_story.html" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">long war</a>&#8216;. With its particular focus on targeted assassinations worldwide (including of its own citizens), Obama&#8217;s administration has truly opened Pandora&#8217;s Box. 
The emergence of ISIL in Iraq and Syria, a clear by-product of the war on terror, is now tearing apart the already-fractured Middle East. With Syria and Iraq becoming the killing fields, the intractable Palestinian crisis around the corner is all but forgotten. With over 200,000 dead, millions displaced and cities turning into ghost towns, the Syrian tragedy has come to a tipping point. A generation of disaffected, impoverished and angry children is growing up in the Middle East with the frightening potential of turning to nihilism and terrorism. 
The dark politics played by the region&#8217;s mainly despotic regimes, with sectarian agendas (as well as that played by some military powers in the West) is getting darker. Russia and China are playing their own games here as well. A bloody proxy war and the brutality of ISIL has made US-led military intervention inevitable, again. But this is a cycle and the Middle East will mostly be living with a new phase of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_creep" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">mission creep</a> for generations. 
For decades the Middle East has been run by tin-pot dictators. The current breed of leaders, in the garb of secularism or nationalism, appeared during the Franco-British colonial era from the ashes of a long Arab stagnation. Far removed from Islam&#8217;s egalitarian concept of running public affairs, they resorted to pre-Islamic tribalism. In the absence of an established strong civil society these rulers ran the region like a fiefdom. Some were later replaced by military dictators with the same politics &#8211; incompetent, corrupt and repressive &#8211; and with similar complicity or downright support from western powers. 
Worse than the Soviet-era Communist rulers, these family or military dictators often used the majority religion, Islam, to legitimise their stay in power. At the same time, they promoted themselves as indispensable stooges to their foreign masters. Global powers have been milking these regimes for decades. 
Some among Islamic scholars, rather than standing for the people and Islamic values of truth and justice, have sided with these regimes. This has created a dangerous social division in the region, which has exacerbated the rise of hardcore secularists and their nemesis, the Islamists. With a prison-like political environment there is no public space for open debate and discussion. 
The result, so far, is the creation of generations of angry and impoverished people with their backs against the wall. With nowhere to go they grabbed the opportunity of the Arab Spring that started in Tunisia at the end of 2010. But this proved too much for the dictators. Some Gulf states poured unlimited money to sabotage these democratic gains, to nip the Arab Spring in the bud. The democratic West, being initially ambivalent, threw its hat in with the old guard for reasons of &#8216;national interest&#8217;. This is the game being played in front of our eyes. 
If a drastic change in policy towards the Middle East and the wider War on Terror is not made by America and its allies the world is going to be dragged into deeper and deeper crisis. Post-9/11 world has become more unsafe and we are now at a tipping point of further catastrophe. It is time we build bridges, not create walls of hatred.
<pre> Image from: http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2014/dec/09/cia-torture-report-released </pre>

Where Is the End To This Cycle of Tyranny, Terrorism and War?

Knee-jerk bombing of ISIL is not a long term solution to their atrocities; a more human politics is needed 
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The beheading of British aid worker David Haines on September 13 was the latest monstrosity carried out by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). For British Muslims, it was doubly distressing that this evil act was carried out, apparently, by a British Muslim. The Muslim community here unanimously condemned this barbarism. 
From a moral and theological point of view, an entire community or religion should not be blamed for the actions of a crazy few. But all too often, when people see evil emanating from some Muslims, the potential is there to unfairly put the whole community in the dock. 
There are now fears that ISIL&#8217;s extremism is <a class="InternalLink" href="http://rt.com/uk/188672-isis-right-extremism-uk/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">fuelling Islamophobia and a far-right backlash </a>in the UK. While others have denied there is a growth in the actual number of far-right activists, most observers seem to agree that there is a rise in anti-Muslim sentiment across the UK. This is a big worry for Muslims and a huge burden on our social and political leadership. And of course ISIL&#8217;s rise also re-emphasises the danger of sectarian tensions within the Muslim community. Thankfully, David Haines&#8217; brother, Mike Haines, quoted verses from the Quran and made it clear by saying: &#8220;The <a class="InternalLink" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/11095810/The-Muslim-faith-is-not-to-blame-for-Islamic-States-brutal-murder-of-my-brother-says-Mike-Haines.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Muslim faith is not to blame for ISIL</a>, nor is it the fault of people of Middle Eastern descent.&#8221; 
Global crisis 
ISIL has, in fact, created a global crisis and presented world leaders with a challenge they cannot afford to ignore: They must hold their nerve and the civilised world needs to find creative, political, and more importantly, human ways of solving this problem of nihilism in our midst. For that is what ISIL is: a nihilistic movement that is the enemy of hope and togetherness. 
How the global community handles this barbarity is a big question. Certainly Muslims worldwide have unanimously rejected ISIL&#8217;s publicity-seeking terror antics, endlessly repeating that it is a million miles away from Islam&#8217;s teachings. 
The easiest option for some trigger-happy leaders would be to bomb ISIL into the stone age. This may temporarily halt or reduce its power, but it will come back again or re-emerge in another name. 
Violence in the Middle East will not simply go away without ethical politics in the region. We must not forget how al-Qaeda emerged in the 1990s, due in part to a political vacuum in Afghanistan; the result was the Taliban regime that gave shelter to the terrorist group. 
It is now clear that the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003 was a recipe for the influx of al-Qaeda into Iraq that has now morphed into the more vicious ISIL. With swaths of land in Iraq and Syria under its control, it has plunged the Middle East into an even more serious predicament than before &#8211; one in which the viciousness of al-Qaeda and the Assad regime is all too easy to forget. 
Common sense 
Common sense and natural wisdom suggest that a replay of the post-9/11 knee-jerk reactions, and another display of &#8220;shock and awe&#8221; firepower by the US and its allies, would be the worst step: This will give ISIL the propaganda coup it needs and deepen the crisis for all involved. 
US President Barack Obama has at least grasped that reality and said that <a class="InternalLink" href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/09/obama-us-will-not-fight-ground-war-iraq-2014917152136499184.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">US forces will not fight another ground war </a>in Iraq. This is a welcome declaration, but there are big holes in the US-led strategy in the current crisis. With the United States&#8217; resumption of &#8220;the long war&#8221; in Iraq and possibly in Syria, a new open-ended &#8220;war on terror&#8221; (WoT) appears to have started. 
By waging this endless war, the US appears to be digging its heels in the Middle East sand. Gone are the days when the world sighed with relief at Obama&#8217;s declaration in 2010 that the<a class="InternalLink" href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/barackobama/7772598/Barack-Obama-declares-the-War-on-Terror-is-over.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> &#8220;war on terror&#8221; was over</a>. Very few people now believe him. 
The Middle East needs some respite from violence. The US can be a catalyst for this if it decides to become a fair player in the region, with a consistent people-friendly policy. By siding with authoritarian regimes depending on military might alone, the US has so far made things worse in this region. It is an irony that western democracies have one rule, a robust democracy, for their own people but different ones for others. 
You can kill terrorists through fire power, but slaying the demons of terrorism needs something more &#8211; a human dimension in politics, as well as accountability, and allowing local citizens a stake in their public affairs. 
Limitless injustice 
When citizens see only limitless injustice orchestrated by their corrupt and incompetent leaders, sustained by foreign players, the result is a vicious circle of despotism and violence. In an inter-connected global village with instant communication, no country can remain insulated from another. By ignoring others&#8217; peril, we sow the seeds of our own peril at a future stage. 
There are positive examples of global cooperation. Powerful and rich countries &#8211; governments and private citizens alike &#8211; have dug deep to help fellow human beings in developing countries. Britain leads in this area, devoting up to 0.7 percent of its GDP to foreign aid. 
Why can&#8217;t this happen in the political field of weaker countries? Why do the powerful nations often go &#8220;fishing in the muddy waters&#8221; in other parts of the world? The rise of ISIL could have been thwarted if the US had insisted earlier on a non-sectarian inclusive government in Iraq and if mainstream political opposition to Syria&#8217;s brutal regime had received timely support. No wonder some cynics and conspiracy theorists can feel free to accuse the US and its allies of giving ISIL a free hand, so that the terror group can then be used as a bogeyman to continue a long war in the Middle East. 
The emergence of violent extremism and nihilism in some parts of the Muslim world is primarily due to the failure of politics, exacerbated by the harmful influence of foreign powers. Although al-Qaeda, al-Shabab, Boko Haram and ISIL speak in the language of Islam, they have emerged in an authoritarian, corrupt, and incompetent political system. 
We are in the midst of a generational and geopolitical crisis in the Middle East. Until the Arab world can institute minimum democratic accountability and establish basic rights for its people, the region will remain unstable and a breeding ground for violence. As it stands, this will not happen until the US and its close allies stop supporting or propping up brutal regimes. 
Image: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/10892898/Iraq-crisis-Q-and-A-Who-or-what-is-ISIS-Is-it-part-of-al-Qaeda.html

Countering the Demon of Terrorism

ISIS is yet another addition to decades of cruelty suffered by the Middle East; the West cannot ignore its role in the crises 
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The Arab world, the heart of ancient civilisation and birthplace of the three Abrahamic faiths, is now haunted by a mounting monstrosity: the so-called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_State_of_Iraq_and_the_Levant" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">Islamic State</a> (IS). Their <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-28862268" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">latest online video release</a> purporting to show the beheading of US journalist James Foley by a killer with a British accent is shocking. Muslims across the world have expressed their abhorrence to this group; the main British Muslim umbrella group, the MCB, has called their actions <a href="http://www.mcb.org.uk/not-in-our-name-british-muslims-condemn-the-barbarity-of-isis/" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">psychopathic violence</a>. 
IS&#8217;s atrocities are just a horrible addition to many years of cruelty in the region. For decades tin pot dictators, power-hungry militaries and monarchical autocrats have played havoc with their own people &#8211; killing opponents, bulldozing cities, gassing villages, pilfering state wealth, and above all, allowing foreign powers to turn the region into a theatre of war and anarchy. Some did this in the name of Arab nationalism and others used religion as a political ploy. 
All this started with the dismal social degeneration of the once powerful Ottoman Empire and its disastrous support for Germany in WW1 a century ago. The political naivety of the collapsing Ottomans and mindboggling Arab opportunism was then used by the British Empire to orchestrate an anti-Ottoman revolt from its Arab provinces. In a secret <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sykes%E2%80%93Picot_Agreement" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">Sykes-Picot Agreement</a> Britain and France decided to bring strategically important Ottoman Arab territories into their sphere of influence; with artificial boundaries they created pliant Arab states. 
<a href="http://www.the-platform.org.uk/2014/07/15/world-war-i-and-the-arab-revolts/">WW1</a> caused death and destruction on an industrial scale; most deceitfully it sowed the seed of long term enmity between the Arab people. The worst case was in historic Palestine which, because of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balfour_Declaration,_1917" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">Balfour Declaration</a>, created a generational conflict between two people &#8211; the Jews and Muslims. 
Fast forward: today the Middle East is reaping what was sown 100 years ago. The reign of terror in Baathist Syria and Iraq, military autocracy sapping the energy of Egyptian people and depravity of Gulf monarchies (with varying degrees) have some links with European colonial enterprise designed to milk Arab wealth. 
The continuous brutalisation of the Palestinian people and Israeli illegal settlement expansion &#8211; with direct or indirect support from the US and its allies &#8211; has proved long term lethal. <a href="http://www.the-platform.org.uk/2014/07/20/palestines-mountains-of-blood-and-shattered-bones/">Gaza carnages</a> by the Israeli military machine every few years is one such example. 
However, the latest nail in the fractured Arab body came from the illegal US invasion of Iraq in 2003, which took place in spite of international outcry. Driven by a neoconservative agenda and with breathtaking arrogance, the US jettisoned all international legality in Iraq; it was imperial hubris at its worst. Under a US &#8216;shock and awe&#8217; barbarity Iraq, once a centre of Muslim civilisation, saw a replay of Mongol savagery of 1258. The Geneva Convention was thrown out of the window and the world witnessed the death, destruction and humiliation of a people by an occupying power. 
When the world&#8217;s sole superpower adopts a &#8216;might is right&#8217; policy, autocratic forces elsewhere find cues to do the same to their adversaries; the result is a &#8216;Law of the Jungle&#8217; and loss of moral compass that we see now in many parts of the world. 
The demonic evils of the IS, which is neither Islamic nor a state, has horrified us all. By terrorising and killing ordinary people and posting revolting images online, the group is handing over massive propaganda weapons to Islamophobes everywhere. 
We must not forget the fact that IS is, in-part, a by-product of a brutal and immoral invasion of an independent Iraq by America, not dissimilar to the way Al-Qaeda emerged after Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. 
Dangerous proxy wars are now haunting Iraq and Syria, following sectarian lines In spite of historic theological and political differences between Sunni and Shia Islam, the Muslim world was spared from a bloodletting that Europe saw between the two branches of Christianity in the Middle Ages. The current Sunni-Shia violence, though a sign of extreme degeneration within today&#8217;s Arabs, has something sinister behind it &#8211; the impact of foreign domination. 
Nobody expects the US and its close allies to come and rescue the Arabs from their current misery; but it is for their own &#8216;national interest&#8217; in an inter-connected world that these global powers avoid replicating their past misdeeds. Beggaring the neighbour is not only unethical, but also counter-productive in the long run. The Arabs expect some degree of ethics in the Middle East policy from the US and its allies; but what they see now is double standard. Is the blood of ordinary people killed by IS&#8217;s cruelty in Iraq different from the blood of innocent people in Cairo&#8217;s <a href="http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/08/12/egypt-rab-killings-likely-crimes-against-humanity" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rab&#8217;a massacre</a> last year? 
Iraq is trying to form a <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/08/iraq-new-pm-urges-country-unite-2014815111338737983.html" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">unity government</a> under domestic and international pressure, it is vital America and its allies make sure their humanitarian assistance does not end up in another &#8216;<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_creep" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">mission creep</a>&#8216;. 
America, still an <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21601535-no-other-country-comes-close-americas-hard-power-its-lead-slipping-unrivalled" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">unrivalled global military force</a>, has an extra obligation to be fair for the sake of world peace. Like a wheel global power rotates, the US will one day lose its supremacy; common wisdom demands it does not remain on the wrong side of history for so long. 
Meanwhile the Arabs will not be in such a perilous state forever. They have a uniquely rich religious heritage to stand up and have also a history of shaping destiny themselves when they are at their worst. What they probably most need now is a new breed of trusted leadership with vision, wisdom and political acumen. They have missed a golden opportunity of the 2011 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_Spring" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">Arab Spring</a> due to the dearth of this political leadership, and also because of conspiratorial vested interests. But one day, hopefully not too long in future, they will rise up again and unshackle themselves from this continuing humiliation. 
No light may now be visible at the end of the Middle East tunnel, but it is just a matter of time when this new force will rise from the ashes.
<pre>Image from: http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/iraq-turmoil/isis-scud-dud-missile-likely-not-operational-us-officials-say-n145916</pre>

The &#039;Islamic State&#039; Monstrosity: Can the Middle East Rise Up From the Ashes?

Hysteria over this Trojan Horse threatens British Muslim children&#8217;s educational achievements 
&nbsp; 
In recent weeks and months the breathtaking <a href="http://www.opendemocracy.net/ourkingdom/mg-khan/trojan-horse-%E2%80%93-conjuring-slave-witch-and-grand-inquisitor" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">&#8216;Trojan Horse&#8217;</a> news that &#8216;Islamic extremists&#8217; in Birmingham and a few other cities are &#8216;taking over&#8217; British schools is all over the place. Many call this a <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/mar/13/alleged-islamic-plot-birmingham-schools-possible-hoax" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">hoax</a>. Being a well-informed member of the British Muslim community (in fact, community of communities) and quite aware of its dynamics and weaknesses, I find this mind-boggling. 
Fertile ideas and accusations are now flying around as Muslim-bashing has become a popular trend in sections of our post-7/7 and post-Woolwich media. Muslims are being seen as a <a href="http://www.city.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/96287/suspect-communities-report-july2011.pdf" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">suspect community</a> and subjected to unabashed McCarthysm by some media inquisitors at every opportunity. No community should be above criticism, but continuation of this relentless witch hunt that has increased significantly after the Lee Rigby murder last year, has the potential of reversing the good progress made by Muslims in the public sphere. The fallout from this Trojan Horse saga could damage our education, particularly the attainment of Muslim children achieved over the last two decades. 
We all want decent education for our children and the last thing we need is educational standards failing and our children suffering. A speedy outcome of the investigations that are being carried out by the Birmingham City Council, the Department for Education (DfE) and the Ofsted is thus crucial. A <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/muhammad-abdul-bari/trojan-horse-plot_b_5165619.html" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">Public Inquiry</a> on this should not be ruled out. 
A wild idea has now been thrown out by right wing broadsheets, such as <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/10804289/Head-teachers-raise-serious-concerns-over-Islamic-school-take-over.html" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Telegraph</a> and <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/10790441/Guide-to-school-Islamisation-by-ringleader-of-Trojan-Horse-plot.html" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Sunday Telegraph</a>, that a handbook (Towards Greater Understanding: Meeting the needs of Muslim pupils in state schools) published by the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) in 2007 could be behind this alleged Trojan Horse plot. This is extremely inaccurate and misleading. I was at the helm of the MCB in 2007 and I do not recognise this. I cannot recall anyone from the MCB that would prepare a &#8216;Communist Manifesto&#8217; type agenda for some future &#8216;Islamists&#8217; to take over British schools after seven years! The idea that that MCB document was a Communist or Trostkyite-type plot to takeover all Birmingham or UK schools is laughable. This feeds into a wider &#8216;counter-jihadist&#8217; narrative, witnessed in particularly alarming ways from Breivik, the EDL, and others, that Muslims want to &#8220;takeover&#8221;. 
To describe the handbook as &#8216;a document on manipulating teachers and curriculum&#8217; or &#8216;a detailed blueprint for the radical &#8220;Islamisation&#8221; of secular state schools&#8217;, as The Sunday Telegraph puts it, is an insult to the many thousands of professionals and lay people who have been involved over the last ten years in the massive improvements in the educational achievement of young Muslim people. 
There is a level of hysteria building which is not justified, we need to take the temperature down and politicians must not play with these issues or else face a potential backlash, possibly in community cohesion. 
The handbook was a very public document and summation of practices which had already been developed in schools and local authorities throughout Britain in the preceding two decades. It was compiled in close consultation with headteachers and other educationists (Muslims and others) from the mainstream education sector. It was launched by Professor Tim Brighouse, the then Schools Commissioner for London, and, although there was usual disparagement from right wing tabloids such as the Daily Express, it was welcomed as useful and helpful by many teachers and some LEAs. BBC&#8217;s Education Correspondent, Mike Baker, gave a <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6391271.stm" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">balanced critique</a> of the handbook and the National Association of Head Teachers posted a statement after its publication welcoming the document as &#8220;helpful and useful&#8221;, although its leader expressed some concerns. 
Based on parental rights given by preceding Education Acts, and by no means prescriptive, the handbook highlighted the needs of many Muslim children in the state sector so that teachers are aware of conservative Muslim traditions and can adopt them, if they so wish, in accordance with the school&#8217;s governance protocol. 
As many Muslim parents were new to the British education system and there were prevailing gaps in understanding between parents and teaching establishments, it was meant to help all to understand the needs of Muslim children from traditional Islamic perspectives. Disagreement on some of the elements or the tone of the Guide was natural. 
Having been encouraged by successive governments, the Muslim community has come a long way in making significant progress in children&#8217;s statutory education. A significant part was also played by various government funded programmes on the achievement of Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Somali and Turkish pupils &#8211; mostly Muslims. The bulk of the community started their journey in Britain at a relatively lower level-playing-field, but many talented Muslim professionals have now adopted teaching as their career and are becoming better involved with the education system. 
Government statistics show that nationally pupils of Muslim heritage are achieving results which are the same as, or higher than, the average for all pupils. This remarkable progress is due in large part to the expertise and leadership of the nation&#8217;s headteachers and their staffs, working in partnership and consultation with parents, governors, local authorities and communities. 
There are of course challenges that need to be addressed, but political point scoring or sensational media descriptions should be kept out of our children&#8217;s education.
<pre>Image from: http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/apr/15/police-chief-counter-terror-officer-islamic-schools-plot-birmingham</pre>

Politicisation of Alleged &#039;Islamist Plot&#039; to Take Over British Schools Is Dangerous

The former Prime Minister&#8217;s misguided speeches continue to create division and promote conflict 
&nbsp; 
Muslims as well as many people in the civil liberty and anti-war camps across the world have condemned the former British Prime Minister Tony Blair for his <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2014/04/tony-blairs-speech-middle-east-full-text" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">speech</a> at Bloomberg London HQ on April 23, 2014. In his speech he said &#8220;The threat of this radical Islam is not abating. It is growing. It is spreading across the world. It is destabilising communities and even nations. It is undermining the possibility of peaceful co-existence in an era of globalisation.&#8221; 
One British commentator called him the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/mehdi-hasan/tony-blair-islamist-speech_b_5196663.html?1398254809&amp;ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000067" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">violent Islamist&#8217;s best friend</a>. But disgraced former Labour MP and ex-Minister Denis MacShane compared Blair&#8217;s speech to Winston Churchill&#8217;s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2PUIQpAEAQ" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">&#8220;Iron Curtain&#8221; Speech</a>. 
Tony Blair knows how to attract public attention. From British Muslim point of view the former Prime Minister has been a disaster, not only for demonising the Muslim communities but also for weakening the harmony between Muslims and others. Ever since he subscribed to a neocon ideology and decided to invade Iraq with Messianic zeal, Blair has been obsessed with &#8216;Islamic extremism&#8217;. With his warped mind and coloured eyes he sees the demon of &#8216;radical Islam&#8217; everywhere and in the process of taking over the whole world. 
There is no denying the fact that violent extremism and terrorism &#8211; caused by a tiny section of extremists &#8211; has been a blight on Muslims in recent times. Their actions are totally unacceptable and have been rejected by the overwhelming number of Muslims here, from all traditions of the faith. These faceless and nameless violent extremists are a major thorn to Muslims worldwide. 
Yet Blair&#8217;s hardened soul fails to recognise key facts. Along with his &#8216;partner-in-crime&#8217;, George W Bush, he was the key architect of an illegal invasion of a sovereign country in 2003, undertaken without a UN mandate and against the will of the international community. The US-led invasion, dubbed as &#8216;shock and awe&#8217; in military parlance, plunged the already fractured Middle East into paralysis. The historic land of Iraq saw, under the world&#8217;s media lens, a massacre and destruction that could only be compared with the Mongol invasion in 1258. Death, destruction and pillage that visited this once seat of learning and capital of the Abbasid Muslim civilisation is still haunting Iraq and the Middle East today. The US-led war claimed the lives of <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/15/iraq-death-toll_n_4102855.html" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">500,000 Iraqi people</a> and 4,486 U.S. soldiers; it <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/14/us-iraq-war-anniversary-idUSBRE92D0PG20130314" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">cost more than $2 trillion</a> to the US economy. No wonder why some want Blair to be in the dock of the International Criminal Court (ICC). 
Tony Blair came to power with much energy and hope. His 1997 election slogan was the empowering watchword &#8216;education, education, education&#8217;. He won three successive general elections. But the illegal Iraq war and internal party squabbles ended his career in British politics in 2007. 
Ever since, he has doggedly issued his battle cry against a perceived &#8220;enemy&#8221; within Islam. He used the dodgy dossier on &#8220;Iraq&#8217;s Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD): The Assessment of the British Government&#8221; to attack the country. The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/September_Dossier" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">September Dossier</a>, as it was called, contained a number of false allegations such as that Iraq possessed WMDs, including chemical and biological weapons. The dossier even alleged that Iraq had reconstituted its nuclear weapons programme. Yet &#8220;without exception, all of the allegations included within the September Dossier were false.&#8221; 
Opposition to the Iraq War was intense and worldwide. February 15, 2003 saw a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/February_15,_2003_anti-war_protest" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">coordinated day of protests</a> in which more than 600 world cities took part; this was &#8220;the largest protest event in human history&#8221;. In London one million people (some say even two million) <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1422228/One-million-march-against-war.html" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">marched against war</a> and central London was paralysed by sombre and peaceful protesters from all spectrum of life. 
But Blair was hell-bent on joining Bush&#8217;s war. He was able to convince the MPs for the war with a knife-edge majority in the House of Commons. The former International Development Secretary, Clare Short, who resigned on May 12, 2003, accused Blair saying &#8220;<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iraq/1431645/Short-Blair-duped-us-all-along.-We-were-misled.-We-were-deceived.html" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">Blair duped us all along</a>. We were misled. We were deceived.&#8221; 
This was a grave political mistake that has changed the shape of the Middle East. 
The 7/7 atrocities in London by four Muslim terrorists also changed the political landscape of Britain, particularly for Muslims. Blair came up with his now-infamous phrase: &#8220;Let no one be in any doubt that <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/aug/05/july7.uksecurity5" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">the rules of the game are changing</a>.&#8221; He threatened to close &#8216;places of worship&#8217; and proscribe (more hardline) Muslim groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir. The Muslim community suddenly found itself under a blitz from the neocon Right, from both politicians and the media. This mantle has continued under other guises and been taken up by the wider &#8220;counter-jihadism&#8221; movement, of which the Norwegian killer Anders Breivik and the English Defence League are but two of the more violent parts. 
Blair government&#8217;s reaction to 7/7 was to introduce the <a href="http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmcomloc/65/6504.htm" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">Prevent</a> agenda that heavily conflated community cohesion and security. The &#8216;securitisation&#8217; of the Muslim community has, over the years, created a depressing situation where Muslims are now seen as a &#8216;suspect community&#8217;. In a wider review under a parliamentary committee, led by ex-MP Dr Phyllis Starkey, Prevent was found to be <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-archive/clg/clgpn100330/" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">counter-productive</a> towards the end of Gordon Brown&#8217;s government. But the Coalition government tightened it further; the Muslim community is paying a heavy price. 
Ironically, Tony Blair was appointed as the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/tony-blair/8795178/Analysis-Why-Blair-has-struggled-for-airtime-in-Quartet-role.html" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">world&#8217;s ambassador to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict</a> after he left Downing Street in 2007. But he dismally failed in his job and openly sided with autocratic regimes in the Middle East. This has made him totally unfit to make any comment on the Middle East. 
President George W Bush, the main architect of the Iraq war and Blair&#8217;s close friend, has gone from the political scene and kept quiet after leaving the White House. It is time Tony Blair does the same and stops dividing the world by beating the drums of war.
<pre>Image from: http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/coffeehouse/2010/07/tony-blair-everywhere/</pre>

When Will Tony Blair Stop Beating the War Drum?

Britain&#8217;s soaring Muslim prison population is a blight on the community 
&nbsp; 
The shadow Justice Secretary Sadiq Khan has rightly <a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/news/uk/calls-for-inquiry-as-figures-show-27-of-londons-prisoners-are-muslim-9221167.html" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">called for an inquiry</a> on rising prison populations from the Muslim community in London prisons. Figures show that 27% of London prisoners are Muslims; double the rate of the overall Muslim population in the city. 
Ministry of Justice figures show that the number of Muslims in the prisons of England and Wales has <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/number-of-muslims-in-prison-doubles-in-decade-to-12000-9222237.html" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">more than doubled to nearly 12,000 in a decade</a>. &#8220;This dramatic rise prompted calls for ministers to investigate whether police and the courts are treating Muslims more harshly, with some suggesting the rise is due to Islamophobia.&#8221; 
In some jails the proportion of inmates of Islamic faith is more than one-third. In Whitemoor, a Category A men&#8217;s prison in Cambridgeshire, it is as high as 43 per cent. A prison inspection report expressed a <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7662525.stm" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">&#8216;fear that increasing numbers of prisoners were converting to Islam and being radicalised&#8217;</a>. The report also mentioned that &#8220;officers tended to treat Muslim prisoners as extremists and potential security risks, even though only eight of them had been convicted of terrorist offences.&#8221; 
It is feared that the number will rise because of the increasing numbers of Muslim teenagers in youth jails; a large number of teenagers and young men of Pakistani and Bangladeshi origin are known to end up in prison from the age of 15 to 25 in recent times. 
It is also an unpalatable reality that young British Muslim prison leavers are more likely to reoffend. They find themselves <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/nabila-pathan/is-a-rethink-required-to-_b_2287153.html" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">ostracised and shunned by the community </a>and therefore &#8220;more likely to turn to their old friends and networks that led to the cycle of crime in the first place.&#8221; <a href="http://www.mosaicnetwork.co.uk/en_gb/portal" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">MOSAIC</a> and <a href="http://www.myh.org.uk/" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">Muslim Youth Helpline</a> have been working to raise awareness of the challenges faced by young Muslims ex-offenders who need additional support from their probation officer, prison staff member or someone from their own community so that they can stay away from reoffending. 
Due to Islam&#8217;s aversion to criminality the Muslim community is generally known to be law abiding. Why then is its prison population consistently and disproportionately increasing year on year, bringing embarrassment and shame to their families and community? 
Analysts point fingers to many reasons &#8211; some internal to the community itself and others external. 
There are some inevitable social factors that one needs to keep in mind &#8211; such as lower educational performance, higher unemployment, poor housing conditions for decades that have given rise to social exclusion of many Muslims. As Muslims mostly live in inner city areas affected by multiple social problems such as drugs and gang issues, they appear to exacerbate the problem. Poor parenting in sections of the community and less-than-satisfactory involvement of young people in mosques and community organisations are some factors that create a disconnection between generations. For impressionable youth this creates a vacuum in their aspiration and hole in their motivation to sail through today&#8217;s complex post-modern and highly secular life. 
On the other hand, it is a stark reality that Black and Asian people remain far more likely than white people to be stopped and searched by the police on the street, arrested and sent to prison. <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/nov/14/muslim-prisoners-double-england-wales-ministry-justice" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">In spite of a reduced use of stop and search powers by the police</a> black people remain six times more likely to be stopped; it is twice for Asian or mixed race people. Muslims being a large community within these categories fall victim of this exercise. 
The continuous negative media portrayal of the Muslim community that started with tabloid newspapers post-7/7, and has now spread widely into mainstream media after the Lee Rigby murder last year, is draining Muslim confidence. Racialisation, or rather &#8216;Islamisation&#8217;, of criminality and amplification of anything to do with Muslim and Islam are negatively affecting young Muslims who are at the sharp end of this &#8216;visibly&#8217; unfair public discourse. 
The <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/229211/1454.pdf" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">Annual report 2010-11</a> by the HM Chief Inspector of Prisons for England and Wales observed, &#8220;Our thematic report on Muslim prisoners warned that an exclusive emphasis on combating extremism, combined with the wider media portrayals of Islam, encouraged staff to associate all Muslim prisoners with terrorism.&#8221; 
How do we stop this waste of human talent and a huge drain on our national economy? This needs a community approach as well as a wider social agenda, both from the top and from the bottom. The Muslim community, for its part, must take this as a priority and use all its resources &#8211; mosques, community and youth centres, educational and business establishments, charity sectors, etc &#8211; to combat the problem with full force. 
Support groups specialised in advice and counselling should engage with young vulnerable people to improve their quality of life and self-esteem, before they engage in criminality in the first place. They should strengthen collaboration and work with mosques and other community bodies to ease ex-offenders&#8217; transition from custody back into British society. 
Prisons chaplains should not only provide religious and spiritual service to the prisoners, but also take steps to rehabilitate and reintegrate them within wider society. 
No less important now is a need for the government to review its pervasive <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/97976/prevent-strategy-review.pdf" target="_hplink" rel="noopener noreferrer">Prevent Strategy</a> vis-a-vis Muslims and give the community a space for their civil and political dissent. Responsible journalism is needed to curb sensational media headlines on Muslims, as they create a siege atmosphere for Muslims and much angst in the wider society. 
It is time we join hands and take effective measures to beat the soaring Muslim prison population.
<pre>Image from: http://soerenkern.com/?p=4459</pre>

The Troubling Increase in Britain&#039;s Muslim Prisoners

The victory of the AKP in local elections must be followed by a commitment on all sides for building on Turkey&#8217;s successes  
&nbsp; 
The local elections in Turkey have given the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) a comfortable majority. In effect, this was seen as a referendum on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The AKP took more than <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2014/03/turkish-pm-claims-landslide-election-win-201433072930325489.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">45 percent</a> of all votes cast and the main opposition Republican People&#8217;s Party (CHP) had 28 percent. Erdogan has called results a &#8220;<a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2014/03/erdogan-poll-win-blow-immoral-politics-2014330223514674523.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">victory for democracy</a>&#8221; and a blow to the &#8220;immoral, aimless politics&#8221; of his rivals. 
Turkey should now heal its recent political fractures. 
In the midst of a political desert, Turkish politics has shown resilience, absent from the political arena in most of its neighbours. The economy multiplied three-fold in just a decade and Turkey is now the world&#8217;s <a href="http://www.foreignaffairs.com/about-us/sponsors/turkey-a-landmark-decade-vision-2023" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">16th largest economy</a> by gross domestic product (GDP). Its military was brought under civilian control and social cohesion improved significantly. Given the post-Kemalist, ultra-secular nationalist stranglehold, with the military as the absolute arbiter of power and presiding over socio-economic and political stagnation, this economic and political success has been quite significant. 
However, since last summer Turkey has been beset by political violence and rumours. The problem started with a protest to contest the urban development plan for Istanbul&#8217;s Taksim Gezi Park. Protests turned violent and Erdogan&#8217;s leadership was targeted. This then escalated further with allegations of a <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/12/lawmakers-resign-amid-turkey-fraud-scandal-201312271460679884.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">corruption scandal</a> in the AKP leadership in December. 
It shot up again with the recent banning of Twitter and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/27/google-youtube-ban-turkey-erdogan" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">blocking</a> of You Tube amid &#8220;national security&#8221; concerns. Erdogan blames followers of his onetime ally, US-based <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-13503361" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Fethullah Gulen</a>, in the police and the judiciary, for orchestrating a graft probe and leaking intelligence information (in the form of alleged phone calls) to YouTube to damage his government. Gulen denies this. 
A democratic country ruled by law and accountability would understandably be under severe scrutiny, from both inside and the world outside. However, one should keep in mind that Turkish democracy is nascent and is only taking foothold in the last decade after a lengthy period of political volatility, including military coups. It has a long way to go and constructive politics must win. 
This week&#8217;s local election victory gives the AKP space to reflect from a position of strength. Dark politics, if any, must be unearthed but through undisturbed judicious processes. The ruling party has shown its political astuteness and it has to show similar wisdom in winning the trust of those who have not voted for it. The main reason for the AKP&#8217;s continuous success in the polls is its economic success and this should continue to be its priority. 
Now that Erdogan has got what he wanted in the polls, he is in a position to show more magnanimity and humility. The political opposition should gracefully accept the verdict of the people with generosity of spirit and work constructively with the government to continue to build a modern Turkey. Stable and matured democracy needs contrasting qualities from both ruling and opposition parties. 
Turkey&#8217;s political model is being watched not only across the Muslim world but in many developing countries. The model based on democracy, rule of law and accountability needs political moderation from all &#8211; be they nationalist, secularists or Islamist. Coexistence, tolerance and alliance of political moderates in the developing world are the only guarantee against extremism of political fanatics. The Middle East and other developing countries cannot remain perpetually dependent on the hegemonic powers of the West. 
The post-independent Arab world has, until recently, mostly been run by absolute monarchies or military dictatorships. Political space was systematically denied to the opponents demanding democratic process, rule of law, freedom of speech and dignity. The Arab Spring, initiated in Tunisia a few years ago, gave people an opportunity to rule themselves. But Syria&#8217;s self-destructive path and Egypt&#8217;s counter-revolution by its military are proving thorns for Arab progress. The ambivalence or lack of principled stance from the West has exacerbated the situation. 
There is too much polarisation, intolerance, death and destruction in this region which was once a cradle of civilisation. The ongoing sufferings in Palestine have all but been forgotten by the world community because of self-inflicted bloodletting in Iraq, Syria and Egypt. In the midst of this anarchy, the Turkish political journey cannot afford to falter. 
Turkey needs strong and responsible opposition for a strong democracy. Their continuous defeat in electoral politics can only be overcome through connection with the people and ethos of serving them. Their dislike for the government should only be overcome through strengthening their political base and challenging the government in a responsible manner, not by resorting to violence. Politics should be transparent, dignified and livelier to achieve stability and permanence.
<pre>Image from: Reuters</pre>

Dr Muhammad Abdul Bari