altmuslim - global perspectives on Muslim life, politics, and culture

Zahed, any reflections on the recent meeting with British "Muslim Leaders" and the government?

Even before the attacks, there were divisions within the Muslim Council of Britain and the smaller Muslim Association of Britain regarding their relationships with the government.

Even Sacranie (MCB) has rejected a call for Muslims to root out extremists with a special hotline (saying all citizens have equal responsibility) and Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammad has crawled out from under his rock to blame British voters for the bombings.

As for the meetings, many are wondering what could be said that hasn't been said in the past. In this circumstance, neither imams nor immediate family members had any inkling of the plot, nor were the imams involved in "hateful preaching," leaving the impression (among Muslims and non-Muslims) that it is a PR exercise.

Great podcast guys. I wonder if you've ever visited free-minds.org & what you think of their attempt at re-discovering Islam? This post isnt a spam-riddled ad for that site, but just my immediate impression of the topics you've covered. We know the 'Islamic' world is in shambles & that the wise thing to do would be to go to the root of the problem: why 'Islamic' countries are in a poor state & why atrocities are carried out in Islam's name. The basic answer, I think, would be a lack of education & a lack of taking responsibility for actions. Exterior events are a cause also, such as various governments foreign and domestic policy, but as muslims we have a path to stick to in order to remain muslims. And as muslims to make others trust and respect us as decent human beings, we have to lead by example. I dislike people that accost me in the street, yelling in my face to follow their way or I'll go to hell. I'm obviously going to ignore that type of person. I hardly ever tell anyone I'm a muslim, I go about my life normally & whenever I am asked what I believe in, the person who asked is surprised & their personal opinion is suddenly changed for the better.

Speaking personally, after alot of soul searching these past 4 years, I decided to reject the manmade hadith & follow the Quran alone, I think the reason the above mentioned global problems are occurring is because of alot of misinformation & misunderstanding in Islam. People are confused, they're born or swayed into various sects of Islam: Sunni, Shia, Wahabi, whatever, (sects are forbidden by God incidentally) rather than following a plain and clear system outlined in one book. They look to fallible leaders for guidance and permission in spiritual affairs, not realising there is no hierarchy in Islam, that Islam is not a religion of meaningless rituals & self-proclaimed scholars but an individualistic way of life, & end up off the straight path. George Clooney's 'Syriana' has a great story arc about two muslims who are brainwashed by a terrorist into blowing themselves up. Its sad & tragic & it happens everyday now, all I can think of is a verse from the Quran that is ignored alot: "Repel evil with good"

Anyway, enough of my rant. We're all subjective beings, right? Keep up the good work & thank you for the humour displayed in the website. There's so many muslim related media out there thats too serious & po-faced, its not really representative of muslims, so thanks. Peace.