Media Blog - January 2008

In the name of Allah, the Mose Beneficient, the Most Merciful.

As-salâmu 'alaykum wa rahmatuAllâhi wa barakâtuhu,

Brothers and Sisters, I start by praising Allah (SWT) and then sending peace and blessings upon His messenger Muhammad (SAW), the Companions and all the righteous believers until the Day of Judgement.

I pray that this finds you all in the best of health and emaan.

It seems like years since I last wrote my blog and for that I sincerely apologise. It is amazing how one can procrastinate, tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow, forgive me inshaAllah for my weakness, but alhamdullilah I’ve finally managed to get it done.

Most significantly this month has been the release by the Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell of a revised set of guidelines to tackle the issue of ‘Al-Qae’eda inspired’ extremism on university campuses. While broadly supporting some of what is in the document it is important to reiterate our stance regarding extremism on campus, which is simply there is no evidence of any. None of the individuals arrested under the anti-terror legislation, and those subsequently charged were ever proven to have been recruited or ‘radicalised’ (whatever that means!) on university campuses. While maintaining that stance naturally we cannot become complacent and to that extent we remain proactive and vigilant. We would strongly urge Islamic Societies to contact their university authorities to discuss how these guidelines will be implemented. For more information or if you have any questions, problems or queries please contact me on faisal@fosis.org.uk

This month we’ve seen more of Israeli brutality in the Occupied Territories. How the whole world can stand and watch while the people of Gaza are starved is simply beyond me. The International Court, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Interpal and others have all historically documents much of the abuse of human rights that take place under the occupation of Israel. So it is there, clear for all to see. Please don’t forget the Palestinian people and the rest of the ummah in your du’a.

Issues around anti-terror continue to dominate the political agenda. With calls for the extension of pre-trial detention from current 28 days up to 42 days, it is important that everyone, Muslim or non-Muslim take a stand and oppose this fundamental erosion of our civil liberties. Liberty, the human rights organisation are running a campaign which you can all help and support:

http://www.liberty-human-rights.org.uk/issues/2-terrorism/index.shtml

Finally, as I’ve mentioned in previous blogs and comments, it has been brought to our attention numerous times of Muslim students being approached by the security services to spy on other students, if you’ve been approached, feel like you’ve been harassed or are just concerned, please get in contact: faisal@fosis.org.uk Please spread the word and encourage others, that if they are suffering, to not suffer by themselves or in silence. For your information we are in contact with representatives from the security services, voicing our concerns and seeing how best to deal with this issue.

That’s all for the last month inshaAllah, please do get in touch if you have any concerns, however little or big.

And remember us in your du’a. And we conclude by praising Allah, the Most High.

Faisal Hanjra