Blogistan

Abu Eesa: memories of Ambrose

2005-12-22T17:13:51Z

This is a post I reproduced, with the author's permission, from IslamiBlog; I thought it relevant as it seems symptomatic of the "squeeze" being put on Muslims in some places even here in the UK. The original, with comments, can be found here, insha Allah.

Picking up from a comment on the last post, I'd like to briefly share my thoughts on 'Ambrose', the University of Manchester Islamic Society's Mosque for the last 10 odd years. It closed down today for building work around it and although it will reopen in 6 odd weeks time, it is widely believed that this is the final move from the University in reclaiming their land.

]]> Ambrose has been the envy of Muslim students up and down the country for years and years - and for good reason masha'Allah. It's size and premier central location have made it easy to access and possible to cater (just) for a huge Muslim population. Having personally seen many of the Prayer Rooms in the English Universities, there was simply no comparison.

Personally, I loved Ambrose - in fact I reckon that I spent more of my day there than I would in lectures, absolutely no doubt about it. So:

whether waiting around for fellow mates or just making new ones from all the Freshers;

whether having lunch (back in the day, the Malaysians used to sell the most gorgeous sweet and sour chicken and rice just outside) or just catching a quick tea and biscuit from the 'tea corner';

whether spending the night there whilst travelling through after my student days or spending the day and night there revising for our exams;

whether wrestling with the lads or being almost beaten by the (very fiery) resident Khateeb (who gave many a Mojo a few black eyes back in the day);

whether praying outside on the sheets or praying inside on new carpets donated by foreign students;

whether spending the day reading the free English Islamic literature or whether studying from the full Arabic library donated by some of the foreign tullab al-'ilm that we knew;

whether sitting there arguing with pseudo-Muslims or whether witnessing the countless shahadahs in our more informal da'wah sittings...

I could just go on and on, in fact every student could wax lyrical about their student days and there'll always be loads of time and space for their own beloved student prayer room.

Over the last ten years in Ambrose, we've seen the tears and the laughter, from sublime speeches of the scholars to the absolute farce of the extremists trying to teach us Islam. We've seen the gentle disagreements to the disgrace of punches and police.

Yes, Ambrose the old boy has seen it all.

In any case, Ambrose was always living on borrowed time. It has always been understood that it was on 'lease' to Man Uni ISOC yet the Uni paid for all of its costs and upkeep. The problem that Ambrose was on a multi-million pound piece of real estate was never going to go away and the move to another place was inevitable.

To be honest, the new temporary place, which I understand will become the permanent one insha'Allah will be set up in the old squash courts of the Mcdougall Sports Centre, which although is a bit further away for some, will actually be the same for the Dentistry, Medicine, Pharmacy and Art students. Also, there are stack loads of car parking places which was always a huge problem in Ambrose (and a very expensive one for the Khatibs I can tell you!) so there are many benefits to be gained insha'Allah. I also understand that the refurbishing process and costs (that could stretch to the million mark) will be covered by the Council and Student Union etc which is fantastic news.

So no need to despair folks; we've all got very very fond memories of Ambrose and it's very sad to see it close down, but you can never keep the Sahwah and the Manchester Muslims down - they are indeed a force to be reckoned with.

Long live the Da'wah!

Post all final tributes below...

:-)

Zia Sardar has a go at emel

2005-10-21T15:39:08Z

Did anyone else see Ziauddin Sardar on BBC2's Culture Show in the feature on emel magazine last night? He had the gall to criticise "emel" for being too "orthodox", something he's not too keen on, judging by the article they printed by him in which he welcomed the "bogus Jumu'ah" led by Amina Wadud in New York a few months ago, pouring scorn in a style distinctly similar to that of Muslim WakeUp! on those who opposed the event. I don't know about anyone else, but I think it speaks volumes that he thinks emel's orthodoxy is something to criticise, even as it has features on musicians like Sami Yusuf and the boxer Danny Williams - and his own article! There's gratitude for you.

Guide for contributors and visitors

2005-10-20T22:25:13Z

Thanks to everyone who has signed up to write for Blogistan - I'm still looking for more contributors. I'd like to lay down some guidelines in order to improve the usefulness of the blog and the experience of the visitor, insha Allah.

]]>

Please use Markdown. Markdown is a very simple HTML shorthand which makes it more difficult to make formatting mistakes such as forgetting to close tags. The full syntax can be found here, but the most important elements you'll need are **bold**, *italic* and [links](http://www.somewhere.org/), and block quotes are started by a greater-than symbol > in front of each line (line meaning after each return, not each physical line). You'll agree, I'm sure, that it's easier to write than HTML tags, particularly if, like me, you often use browsers which can't handle the formatting buttons (Konqueror, Safari and family).

Please don't repeat paragraphs. Don't put the first paragraph or so in the Entry Body box and the whole article in the Extended Entry - what will happen then is that if someone comes in via a link from outside (as when a trackback is issued), they will end up reading your first paragraph twice.

The same rules that apply on Indigo Jo Blogs apply here. Such practices as insulting people, insulting Islam, or repeating the falsehoods you can find by the dozen on the comments pages of Jihad Watch will not be accepted here; you can expect that your comments will be refused or deleted.

Please don't post the things which were explicitly mentioned in my initial announcement; in addition, please do not post rumours, like the food scares which periodically appear on Muslim web forums, or use slander or offensive language.

Please get a TypeKey identity. TypeKey is an authentication service run by Six Apart, the authors of Movable Type. This will allow you to get your posts displayed without moderation.

If you submit an entry and it leads to an "Internal Server Error", use the back button to the screen before that you used to build the entry, and rebuild the site (click "Rebuild Site" from the menu on the left). Don't submit it twice as you will end up adding multiple copies of the entry to the blog.

If we all abide by these rules, insha Allah Blogistan will become a useful and respected resource on Islam and on, and for, the Muslim community.

Comments now active

2005-10-18T23:55:12Z

The problem which had been affecting comments at this site has now been rectified, al-hamdu lillah; your comments and contributions can now be taken.

Calling West Midlands Muslim artists

2005-10-17T19:44:48Z

Reposted from Izzy Mo's blog:

Following the success of the Illuminating Faith project in 2005, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery is organising a series of exhibitions from April 2006 to March 2007 that celebrate artistic talent in the region. BM&AG is inviting visual artists from across the West Midlands to submit applications to exhibit if they meet all of the following criteria:Â·

The artist is either a Muslim, or their artwork is inspired by Muslim culture. The artist currently lives in the West Midlands. The artist is available to exhibit their work at BM&AG between April 2006 and March 2007.

]]> This invitation is open to artists of any background who meet the above criteria and is open to both amateur and professional artists. The exhibitions will take place in Gallery 28 at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery and also at Blakesley Hall and Soho House museums in Birmingham.

For further information please email Toby Watley (Curator of Art, Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery) at: toby_watley@birmingham.gov.uk and title the email `G28 Artists Information'. Alternatively, please call Toby on 0121 464 6614. We look forward to hearing from you!

"Honour" Killings

2005-10-17T10:44:07Z

Why oh why oh why?

Both The Times and the BBC have recently reported on another "honour" killing in the British Muslim community. A disgusting remnant of Indo-Pak life that has sadly been brought over to the "west". The alleged perpetrators in this case are Bangladeshi Muslims.

Non Muslims and non Indo-Pak Muslims fail to grasp the stranglehold such a dim-witted and senseless "back-homelandia" (a phrase coined by Sunni Sister) attitude has on first, and some second, generation, Muslims in the "west".

]]> The father, its usually the elder of the household but never limited to him, perceive a huge pressure from their egos to right the "wrong" that has been brought upon their family, more often than not, by a member of their immediate family.

Further pressure is heaped on by their Indo-Pak family, friends and neighbours. A small minority of these crazy fools play a hand in perpetuating this dim-witted and senseless attitude. The dirty looks in the street and the back biting in the community. Some even have a morbid love to turn up at the house for the sole purpose of constantly bringing up the "transgression" and asking what action they will taking. Worse of all are the idiots who offer their "expert" services.

All this coupled with living with such a shocking attitude all their life, (knowing of no other way to resolve such an issue), and in some instances been witnesses to some of the "retribution" meted out "back home" is enough to turn a seemingly sane person, (this isn't limited to the male of the species) into a cold murderer or become a party to the killing(s).

Note:To explain isn't to justify or condone.
Note 2:The analysis above is from my own take on things that I have seen or heard but not related to the case in question.

Too busy fasting for jihad?

2005-10-13T11:54:16Z

As a fairly good example of the certain hysterical websites run by immature Muslims I've alluded to in posts announcing the establishment of Blogistan, I found on the MPACUK website this morning a good example of what software developers call a "regression": an old bug which was squashed but which reappeared again. In this case, they seemed to have learned that attacking Muslims, calling them useless and lazy etc., isn't a really effective method of da'wah. In response to a piece in today's Independent, however, they've gone back into hand-wringing and mud-flinging mode. We're too busy fasting to respond to this latest "attack on Islam".

]]> The article, entitled Independent Brands The Qur'an A 'Hate Book' - 2000 Mosque Leaders Too Busy Fasting To Stop It! is inaccurate from the start. When a newspaper says something, it means it appears in the editorial or "leader" column, explicitly as a comment from the editor or the owner or in a press release. In this case, the comments came from a well-known secular feminist, Joan Smith, of whom not much more is expected. Secular feminists have generally always been suspicious of religion, and particularly Islam.

I've not read the article as it's under the paper's "portfolio" scheme in which you have to pay more for one day's access to one article than you do for the whole paper (I intend to visit Kingston library later today, insha Allah, to actually read yesterday's edition if they have it). But it looks like same old, same old.

What's most offensive about MPACUK's piece is the general attack on Muslim leaders "too busy fasting" to write a letter to the Independent. The obvious reason why they don't have the latest waffling from Joan Smith on their minds is because there has actually been a disaster, an earthquake which has claimed tens of thousands of lives, mostly lives of Muslims, as it happens. (And just days after the disaster, MPACUK found a way to blame the same mosque leaders for the low level of aid the British government has given to the affected region.) Perhaps some people will find time to write a response to an article in the weakest of Britain's four "quality" papers whose comment pages are not even open to ready viewing; perhaps Asghar and the gang might take some time out from attacking Muslims to do this themselves.

Blogistan announcement

2005-10-09T01:54:41Z

Thank you for visiting Blogistan. This is what I intend will be a Muslim group blog for mainstream, orthodox Muslims, offering commentary on both religious and social issues from a Muslim point of view. I also intend that the blog would have a British focus, although not exclusively so. I would like this blog to represent the true, moderate face of Islam in Britain, and be a counterweight not only to unfair representations in the media, but also to certain media monitoring sites run by immature people who (probably unintentionally) regularly show us in a bad light. I also intend that the site would be free of overheated rhetoric, conspiracy theories, and sectarian propaganda.

This is a call for volunteers; I would particularly like to attract people who are infrequent bloggers (Mas'ud!) and ex-bloggers (br Ahmed!), and people who could offer original commentary within the criteria already mentioned. Please email me at indigojo_uk [at] yahoo [dot] co [dot] uk.