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[Big_Bird]

Since this seems to be very topical on the CE Forum at the moment:

Muslims: how to win hearts and minds


Sacrifices will have to be made by British Muslims in order to engender trust. Here is an eight-point plan, a statement of intent.
Ajmal Masroor


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July 12, 2007 9:00 PM

Too often headlines appear along the lines of "politicians try to win the hearts and minds of British Muslim community" in the British media. It is now time for the Muslim community to tell everyone else what they intend to do to win the hearts of non-Muslims.

Muslims must explain in a clear and unambiguous manner about their plans to deal with some of the misunderstanding and misinformation that has become part and parcel of their everyday lives. It must start from a statement of intent and followed by clear and comprehensive programmes that would engender confidence and trust in the hearts and minds of non-Muslims.

As a Muslim I have been horrified to see some things that have been done and carried out in the name of my faith. Here is a plan that I would like the Muslim community to consider as a statement of intent. I have used "we" to include myself in the statement:

1. We must stop thinking this is not our home and the people of this country are not our people. We must demonstrate in our actions that Britain is our home. We must do everything for this country's wellbeing. This is the hardest task, as this will require some serious personal sacrifice and willingness to embrace others. This means Muslims will need to integrate fully and be part of the civil and social fabric of the British society. One can be a very good Muslim and be a very good British citizen - they are not mutually exclusive.

2. We must use a consistent language. There are some Muslims who use one language when addressing other Muslims and another for non-Muslims. I think this is most unacceptable. What we cannot say in public should not be said in the first place. It is one clear language we must use at all times.

3. We must do all our activities openly. Our mosques and centres should be open to all people. We must invite people of all communities to take part in our social and religious activities, especially those that are open to public. This includes inviting non-Muslims in our mosques; allow them to join with us in our prayers, fast with us in the month of Ramadan and adopt a Muslim lifestyle, even if it is only for few hours or days. This will help them experience Islam and see for themselves what we Muslims really do, and what kinds of things we get up to in our mosques and centres.

4. We should only speak about what we know and not fall victims of conspiracy theories. Some Muslims believe that 9/11 was a conspiracy and the London bombing was actually staged by some shadowy secret agents working for some global secret empire. This is too far-fetched and borders on paranoia in view. Let me put it simply, "if you cannot speak the truth it is better for you to stay silent".

5. We must stand firm for justice even if it means we go against ourselves, our families and friends. Injustice is simply wrong no matter who perpetrates it and anyone who suffers injustice deserves our sympathy and support. We must do everything possible to prevent violence and indiscriminate killing of innocent people, whether it is done by NATO forces in Afghanistan or Palestinians in Israel. Our cause must be uncompromising when it comes to fighting against injustice.

6. We must create a new Islamic intellectual discourse. Muslim scholars in the Muslim world are not always free to express their views and the views that they express are often censored or politically loaded. We must develop a new discourse based on our own realities here in Britain and not rely on importing fatwas that come out of conditions that are not conducive to the current climate.

7. We must end the fatwa dependency culture. Fatwa dependency has crippled the Muslim mind; it has made the Muslims unable to take responsibility for their decisions and has given rise to ill-educated masses. We must develop our own capacity to be able to engage in and take active steps towards an intellectually sound British Muslim community. We have to raise our standard.

8. We must distance ourselves from the emotionally charged angry rhetoric of the Muslim world. Many Muslims are very angry because of the socio-political conditions under which they live, they are victims of many problems, some self-imposed and some externally imposed on them. Their angry rhetoric is also due to the lack of freedom, democratic reform and opportunities for education and economic prosperity. In Britain we are not living under such conditions. Why should we be angry? We certainly feel for them but our response must be rational, measured and proportionate. If we want to help them out of their predicament we must distance ourselves from their anger.

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/ajmal_masroor/2007/07/muslims_how_to_win_hearts_and_mind.html

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[stevemcgarrett]

BJWD:

You get my vote for photo of the month.

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[jkelly80]

Muslims spice their food perfectly.