Muslims professionals and organizations

As the British Muslim population has grown in size, it has developed a wide range of infrastructures that support religious identity and practice. At the local level, this has involved establishing mosques, Islamic bookshops and publishing houses, food stores, travel agents, colleges and schools, charity shops, and so on.

Muslims are now very well-represented among the professions that support these local community enterprises. A glance at the pages of the Muslim Directory, a kind of ‘yellow pages’ for Islamic organisations and services in Britain, reflects the dynamism and entrepreneurialism to be found in many communities. But these Muslim professionals often play a dual role by connecting local Islamic organisations and networks, to national-level structures.

Despite the internal religious diversity within British Muslim communities, there is recognition of a need to represent the needs and interests of Muslims in public life, especially in relation to local and national government. This need for national representation for Muslims became particularly apparent in the wake of the so-called ‘Rushdie Affair’ in the late 1980s. The publication of The Satanic Verses exposed the relative lack of mobilising power in Muslim communities, and a consequent need to establish a platform to coordinate a response to the book’s publication. More positively, there was recognition of the need to articulate the distinctive social policy needs of British Muslims. It was argued that this could only be done through the establishment of a national level body to which Government departments could turn for advice and consultation.

Modelled along the same lines as the Board of Deputies of British Jews, and with support from both Conservative and New Labour Governments, the Muslim Council of Britain was formally established in November 1997. Although its so-called ‘representative’ role is sometimes disputed and contested, the MCB has nevertheless lobbied effectively on behalf of a wide range of British Muslim interests. For example, the inclusion of a new question on ‘religion’ in the national Census of 2001 was a direct outcome of campaigning efforts by the MCB. They recognised that British Muslims had distinctive social policy needs in relation to schooling, housing, employment, and so on, and that it was only through detailed analysis of Census data that these issues and challenges might be addressed.

Where Muslim men have largely dominated professional religious networks and organisations in Britain, in recent years promising steps have been taken to enable Muslim women to take up elected positions of leadership in a number of civil society organisations. Most recently, this includes the new President of the Islamic Society of Britain, Sughra Ahmed. And as we will see, chaplaincy is providing an important avenue for Muslim women to take up professional religious roles.

Alongside national religious organisations, Muslim professionals are contributing to British public life as lawyers, doctors, dentists, teachers, chaplains, charity workers, and businesspeople, to name just a few professions. They are increasingly well-networked via professional associations and umbrella bodies, such as the Association of Muslim Schools established in 1992, and the Muslim Charities Forum, established in 2007.

Mohamed the prophet of islam

The prophet Mohammed is the inspiring person for all Muslims. Muslim is order to be take him as a Guide in all what he do in the life. Mohamed's manners are the second source after Qur'an for Muslims acts.

The prophet Mohamed was born in 570AD in tribe of Quraish located in Mecca which is settled by the prophet Ishmael son of Abraham. Ishmael and his mother are taken by his father to Mecca to found a community and build the Kayaba, the first place raised for worshipping one God. Quraish people were the protectors for this place so Mohamed was direct descent of the prophet Abraham.

His father, Abdullah was a trader but he died before The prophet Mohammed was born, also his mother died after that and he grown up by wet nurse called Halima.

The prophet Mohammed was known as Al-Amin the trustworthy. First, He was a shepherd then he became a trader and got married the most noble women in Qurish called Khadija bint Khuwaylid.

During the month of Ramadan, The prophet Mohamed used to meditate in a cave called Hira in a mountain in Mecca. He revived the first words from Allah in this cave so it is special place to Muslims. 

Mohamed was 40^th year when he received this word the first word in revelation was "Read" "eqra'a". The revelation lasts next23 hears till The prophet Mohamed died.

the life of the prophet Mohamed was recorded in extra ordinary details, the community around him recorded every thing he did, the way he lived, the way he ate, the way he drank and the way he pray. Muslims today should do what he did.

The prophet Mohammed was described by his wife Aisha as Qur'an walking he personified the Qur'an so we must talk him as an example. For Muslims he is the inspiration of their life.

Abdullah Quilliam the most influential and controversial British Muslim

Abdullah Quilliam was arguably the most influential and controversial British Muslim convert of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, a fact acknowledged by his Muslim contemporaries in the Victorian and Edwardian periods.

William Henry Quilliam converted to Islam in the late 1880s in Morocco in his early 30s whilst travelling for health reasons, this after a lifetime of intense political and religious scrutiny in which he had questioned both the current condition of Christianity, its theology, attitudes towards contemporary moral issues and the various attitudes of the political parties towards equality, social injustice and foreign policies.

On conversion, Abdullah Quilliam was not content to practice his new faith, but immediately began to proselytise in his home city of Liverpool, finding premises to hold meetings for those interested. Abdullah Quilliam brought to his attempts to promote Islam, as the final truth of the Abrahamic monotheistic religion, considerable resources gleaned from his advocacy of temperance, trade unionism, and social equality in the city of Liverpool. As a satirical journalist and a very skilled defence advocate, he was already well-known in his home city as a significant figure who fought for the rights of the less privileged in society.

Always outspoken, he announced his conversion to Islam in the local media, and by 1893 was able to find premises in Brougham Terrace to be used as a mosque and meeting hall. His efforts to publicly promote Islam in the heart of the British Empire brought him to the attention of both the Ottoman Sultan and the Amir of Afghanistan. The former conferred upon him the title of Shaikh al-Islam of Great Britain and the latter sent his son to offer the Shaikh considerable financial resources which were used to expand the premises to include two Muslim schools, an orphanage, a museum of Muslim culture, a library and further education facilities for the city’s working classes.

The Shaykh was to use these facilities to publish a weekly Muslim newspaper and a monthly journal. His newspaper went out to over eighty Muslim nations and brought Abdullah Quilliam to the attention of the wider Muslim world. His efforts to establish Islam in Britain involved the conversion of over 250 individuals and families in Liverpool alone, but he was also the major contributor to the conversion or education of many of the main figures in British Islam of his era. His efforts also extended to assisting Muslim converts and settlers in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the USA. Through his activities Quilliam was able to bring together the various constituents of the nineteenth century Muslim presence in Britain and draw upon the resources of the mosque in Liverpool to create a hub around which all the, often itinerant, foreign Muslim presences in Britain could cohere and created a unique community comprised of converts, Lascars, Muslim students and rich Muslim travellers.

His forthrightness, particularly with regard to British foreign policy and colonial expansion into Muslim territory, would raise issues of loyalty and citizenship. The Shaikh insisted that he was ‘a loyal British subject by birth and a sincere Muslim from conviction’. His challenge was to offset the prevalent view of Islam and to present it as the religion of reason allied to the values of toleration and moderation that public opinion insisted were part of the British worldview. His dilemma remains pertinent to the contemporary political domain and the demands on the children of the mid-twentieth century Muslims in Britain who remain caught between proving their loyalty to their country of birth yet true to the teachings of their religion.

Why not try to find out about other examples of Victorian & Edwardian Muslims? You could share your findings with your fellow learners here.

Islamic prayer how it is preformed

The prayer is the corner stone in Islamic religion. Prayer repeated in Qur'an more than 80 times and the prophet Mohamed called it the mainstay of the Islam.

Muslims preform prayer "salat" 5 times a day. They think that it cleans, purifies their soul and gives them energy to carry on in stressful day. Prayer "salat" consists of many positions like standing up, bowing, prostrating "sojoud" and sitting down, these will teach Muslims some values like humility and submission to god during prostrating. The moment of prostrating is quite and Muslim feel that he is really close to the God. After the last prostrating Muslim sit-down then he finish the salat by turning his head to right then left saying greetings of peace to angels.

"It's a necessity, it takes only five minutes not very long but it's really nice. Only few minutes and you feel rest all day" Khadija said, a Muslim lives in Cardiff.

The time of 5 prayers is determined by the sun movement so the time differs throughout the year. The five are:

• Fajr : the prayer between dawn and sunrise
• Zuhr: should be performed between true noon and the time when objects shadow equals its size
• Asr: prayer the time when an object's shadow equals it in size, to just before sunset.
• Maghrib: Between sunset to the time of twilight disappearance.
• Isha': prayer between the time when the twilight disappears and midnight

There is four stages to prayer of Muslim

• First is Azan: the call for prayer "salat"
• Second is Wudu : ritual cleaning and spiritual purification.
• Third is determination of Qibla direction: Muslim must find the direction to Kaaba in Mecca then turn to it to perform the Salat
• Fourth is prayer itself.

Wudu:
Muslim must do Wudu before the prayer and before other acts of worship, as circulating Kaaba or holding the holy Qur'an. To start Wudu you should has the intention then say " I certify that there is no god but Allah alone with no partner, and I certify that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger" then starts Wudu
Wash your hand three times, during this Muslims sins falls as every drop of water fall.
Wash you mouth three times then you nose also three times then our face ten our forearm up to the elbows three times then our hair, our ear and finally our feet.
Wudu is considered a worship itself because it is related spiritual matters, when Muslim preforms it slowly with reverence, he become in contact with the god. If there is no water, Muslim can perform wudu with soil and mud in this time it is called Tayammum, this is another evidence that Wudu is related to spiritual matters.

Islamic community formation in United kingdom

The ways in which all communities develop, not only in terms of their geographical location but also their demographic make up, is not random. Rather a community develops in and is shaped by the context of a particular history and the resulting social, economic and political milieu.

This can be illustrated by the experience of Muslims who came to Britain from the subcontinent when the government recruited young men to work in burgeoning industries after World War Two. Although we cannot and should not make sweeping generalisations, there are certain patterns that are useful to our understanding of the community formation of this group, a large number of whom came from Azad Kashmir in Pakistan and who currently make up about 1/3 of the Muslim population in Britain today. So lets start with the settlement context before looking more closely at the influence that this context has had on the community’s characteristics.

As we have seen, the first people to arrive were young men who formed transient communities - the membership of which was often temporary - around the areas of industry in which they were employed. Their work was generally semi-skilled and low paid and they carried a responsibility to save money for their families in the mother country. As a result men usually settled in poorer urban areas which were often industrial and/or inner city. As groups of men from similar backgrounds and cultures – often in fact from the same villages and even families - it was practical and desirable to live together, sharing houses or living in close proximity to each other. As such, despite their fluid nature, such communities were close-knit in all senses from the very beginning.

The expansion of the community continued through a process known as ‘chain migration’, in which the men who established themselves facilitated the migration of other male family members and acquaintances. It was however, government policy that speeded up the transition from temporary communities to permanent ones through the introduction of the 1962 Commonwealth Immigration Act, which initiated the system of ‘work permits’ and visas where previously none was needed. Consequently the to-ing and fro-ing of different men for varying periods of time was halted.

The necessity for individuals to obtain residence and permission to work compelled them to make more long-term plans which naturally included the desire for wives and dependents to join them. The 18-month period between the introduction of the Act (1959) and it becoming law (1962) thus witnessed a large migration of workers and their dependants in a ‘beat the ban’ campaign. Communities were transformed, for the first time becoming family-based and truly settled, and through the chain migration process took the shape of urbanized villages whose demographics, cultures and internal relations replicated those of the rural villages in, for example, Azad Kashmir. It was also the first time that the creation of infrastructure became a priority in order to provide for specific cultural and religious needs. As such, mosques, specialist shops and socio-cultural centres promoting community activities were soon established in areas of significant Muslim population.

To further explore issues of family and community formation see the additional resources below.

Fest in Islam

Prayer is performed by doing, Alms by spending but Fasting is performed by food and water abstention. Muslims fast in Ramadan month the 9^th month in Islamic calendar – Hijri calendar, every year.

"30 days without interruption from dawn to sunset we fast every Ramadan. It has a spiritual aspect, it reminds us how poor people suffer and encourage us to help them." Ahmed said

Ramadan is the month of Qur'an as the first Qur'anic verse is revealed to the prophet Mohamed by the angel Gabriel in the month of Ramadan.

Muslims uses the lunar calendar so they must see the new moon which signifies the start of a new lunar month. Also, by using the lunar    calendar Ramadan will start about eleven days earlier each year so it may occur in summer, with long day and short night as nowadays in UK or in winter, with short day what makes fasting easy.

At the end of Ramadan every fasting Muslim should pay for charity called Zakat Al fetr, the Alms of breaking fast, to make the poor celebrating with them in the Feast.

After Ramadan, Muslims celebrating festival of breaking of the fast called eid al-fitr.  The feast day starts with prayer of the feast, Salat al Eid, then Muslims share the happiness.

In Britain, this day is the most important celebration of the year, you can see Muslims with new clothes and joining each other in cieties and towns around our country.

Islamic art of integration

Islam is not a culture. It's a spiritual path, and therefore it has no form. English people
can be Muslims, as well as Arabs or Chinese people, or African people-- it doesn't
have an identity as such.

I've found for the exhibition a group of people who I consider are integrated into this
society but not assimilated.

My heart usually says, yes. I don't like to dissect it too much.

I was quite keen to actually use the flags of the saints. So we used the flag of Saint
David, Saint Andrew, Saint George, and Saint Patrick.

It is a big exhibition, and I'm a bit reluctant to edit it down. It's a big space, and I felt
we needed to be a presence in this place without it being too crammed. So it's getting
there. It's kind of an urban exhibition.

I began the project without really any clues what I was going to photograph.
There are a few people that I met who I felt inspired me. And I felt they were what I
would call integrated.

I'm a great admirer of Peter Sanders' work. I think that he has really opened our eyes,
literally, to the diversity of British Islam.

I wanted to introduce this part of the community that people haven't met before with
my pictures within themselves and with what they do, that was really the idea and
the intention behind it.

The photograph in Peter's exhibition is a photograph of me lying on a grassy knoll, and
in the background is my coal-fired power station with its accusing finger pointing up
in the air.
It's a very clear statement of integration. The way that the scarf is wrapped is very
much as a Muslim woman wears her scarf. It's very clear. It's a very positive image of
integration.

I love the fact that this exhibition is going around the world. And I love the fact that
there's nothing judgmental about it. You can be a Muslim of any type. He's just
interested in portraying that diversity.

I actually had built the exhibition a year and a half ago. And we were looking for
somewhere to launch it in the UK, and then suddenly we got told they want to have it
in Egypt.

But then Bahrain wanted it, so then it went to Bahrain, it went to Kuwait, it
went to Qatar. And the thing started kind of a life of its own as people heard about
it-- even Washington, Tel Aviv, and even Baghdad, I'm told.

Through the work of Peter Sanders that more people can really appreciate the beauty
of Islam, and appreciate the values and see them, understand that they are not
dissimilarly with their own, but we share that morality, we share that value as human
beings. We all want the same.

It was only when Peter said that he was putting this together that I understood the
importance of it. And now when it's being exhibited, and the number of people who've
come back to me to tell me how they've seen it in other countries in a completely
different context.

There's immediate thought when you talk about integration that you're talking about
assimilation, and I was very clear that the two things weren't the same.
It helps us understand how the outside world can see Britain as a place that looks
after the people that are here.

It's really a conversation that we need to have about what does it mean to be British
and be Muslim. And I think it's a conversation that can go on for a long time. Because I
don't know what it means. I'm still working it out.

Five pillars of Islam

The five Pillars of Islam is the main way to Allah, the God of Islam. They considered as religious obligations and spiritual contentment to Muslims. The Prophet Muhammad called them the foundation of the Islam. The consist

• Shehada : to be a Muslim you must say " There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of God" Ash-had an la elah ella allah wa an Mohamed rassol allah – Shehada in Arabic Lang. –
• Prayer "Salat" : Muslim pray five times a day. Salat in Islam is considered a direct connection between the good and Muslim 
• Zakat : to help poor, the rich Muslims must give others from tier money.  This will achieve the Social Solidarity.
• Fast: Muslims fast one month a year called Ramadan from just before sun rise to the sunset every day in this month.
• Pilgrimage "Hajj" : Travelling to Mecca and preforming rites of pilgrimage is a Muslim's hope as the God "Allah" will forgive him after Pilgrimage.

We have discussed a Small summary of the pillars of Islam in next articles we will discuss each one alone. Good bye for now and God bless you.

Assimilation or integration

The ethnically diverse nature of Muslims communities in Britain has been at the centre of debate about what it means to be ‘British’, and the place of Muslims within ‘British’ society. Should people from ‘minority’ communities be expected to assimilate, or integrate? Indeed what is the difference between these terms?

Assimilation can be described as the process whereby outsiders, immigrants, or subordinate groups become indistinguishable within the dominant host society, eventually conforming to the existing cultural norms of society. In contrast, integration involves adding to the existing culture which in turn transforms and enhances society. Many Muslims reject any call for assimilation. For them, assimilation is tantamount to a loss of cultural, religious, ethnic identity, and an expectation of conformity to the norms of the majority. But most British Muslims are enthusiastic about integration in order to live, and to let others live, in a fair and free society. In fact, it can be argued that the majority of young Muslims are already integrated. Most third and fourth generation Muslims were born in Britain, have been to school here, and live and work in local communities that contribute to society at large. Perhaps not surprisingly, Muslims are sometimes critical about calls for their ‘integration’ where the assumption is that ‘they’ will integrate into ‘our’ ways as if ‘our’ ways (whatever they are?!) are somehow ‘better’ or superior.

Instead, many British Muslims are keen to engage in a more dialogical process which sees their religious and cultural traditions contributing to British society. Muslims are often told they need to ‘assimilate’ or ‘integrate’ to become better members of society. But is this call really about religion? Are the thousands of ethnically British people who have converted to Islam similarly asked to assimilate or integrate? Christianity was once itself an imported Middle Eastern religion, so perhaps the pressure on Muslims ‘to fit in’ is aimed more at their cultures, rather than their religion?

Integration is not about losing identity. Rather it is about maintaining identity and belief while being able to celebrate differences and work with others in civic society. This is not to say that it is an easy process; for many Muslims, aspects of British culture are at odds with their own norms and traditions. Integration is perhaps best seen as mutual compromise, a process that requires mutual respect from all parties. We might use a culinary metaphor to make the point. Assimilation is rather like the process of making soup, where the ingredients lose their identity as they are blended together. Integration can be likened to a fruit salad where the individual fruits, with their varying colours and sizes contribute to the beauty of the dish.

In the next part of the course, we will see how the British Muslim photographer Peter Sanders explores the notions of assimilation and integration. Through the lens of his camera, we see a wide range of British Muslims living and working as ‘integrated’ citizens in our society.

Muslims Basic Believe

According to global Census, Muslims are nearly Quarter of global earth population. Nearly 2.7 million of them live with us in England and wales. Islam is usually known as an Abrahamic Religion alongside with Christianity and Judaism. It is also the 2nd followed religion In the world so we must know more about Islam, Muslims and their faith, believes and daily habits.
Islam as a word has to meanings, the first one is the submission to the will of the Allah – God -. Muslim is the one who obey the god and Give himself to God. Second it means Peace, peace with family, friends, neighbors and all people. The prophet Mohamed says " Muslims is the one who others are secured from his tongue and hand"

Islam is the strong believe called Iman and practice called Islam and kindness and tolerance in judging others called Ihssan. Lets talk about Iman and its seven rules:

• The first rule : Strong believe in god (Allah) and he is the creator, the sustainer and unique –there is no god but him 
• The second rule : believing in prophets as Abraham, Moses, Noah and Jesus, sent by the god to all humanity and Muhammad is the best of them the final of them.
• The third rule : Also Muslim must believe in massage of the god to the entire world through the test as  Abraham scriptures the first book given by Allah , then Moses' Torah,the third on is Psalms to David or Dauod in Arabic, then the Gospels of Jesus (Injeel in arabic) and the Qur’an.
• The fourth rule : Believe in the Angles – created by god as man but from light – who execute the orders of God without enquiry.
• The fifth rule: belief in the hereafter and the other life after death to reap the fruits of good labor done by Muslim in the first life. 
• The sixth rule: belief in Judgment day called yom al-Qiama  when God judge all people for their work in the first life.
• The seventh rule: is to believe that all thing is done by the will of the god.

What we have discussed is Iman or strong believes so Practices is good Labor ordered by the God to Muslims as Pray, Fast, Giving charity and pilgrimage to Mecca we will discuss all of these practices in next articles. Goodbye for now and God please you