Thanks for all the du’as and greetings for my new born baby. It truly is an exhilarating experience when seeing your child being born. No other experience can come close to such an occasion which Allah (swt) truly gifts to his servants. May Allah (swt) protect our children from the fitna of this world. Ameen.

When blessed with a baby, a new parent will immediately start thinking about the responsibility they have towards their child. Thoughts about care, affection, protection (both physical and mental), and also greater aspirations come to mind. So naturally when we see, hear and sense the obstacles in society we become very defensive and prepare for the eventuality when our offspring will face the “real” world.

Instilling Islamic values is core to this process. So yes, I am proud to say I will teach my child the Qur’an (the so-called bastions of ‘freedom of speech’ think is a “fascist” book), to read, understand and most importantly implement every word to the letter. I hope to teach the idea that Shari’ah is the most superior system when compared to any other system on earth whether it is spiritual, social or political. Values of being honest, chaste, respecting women as opposed to objectifying them, being obedient to his/her superiors, to speak out against injustice, to be sincere in every interaction with human beings and most important of all that Allah (swt) will be watching and accounting us on the Day of Judgement.

Alongside these values, I hope to encourage deep thinking and a balanced Islamic personality who questions and probes before accepting the norms in a society – whether that’s a Muslim or non-Muslim society.

Now what can be an obstacle in making sure these values are maintained and passed on to the next generation? Well, fundamentally, the process of education (by whom and where) will be the single greatest factor in influencing this plan.

Imagine the horror of parents that will watch the program “To Sir with Love” on ITV tonight. I’ve just read the BBC news article informing us about this program in relation to the NASUWT and General Secretary Chris Keates said it was an “anomaly” that a teacher who had sex with a pupil aged over 16 could go on the sex offenders register. In other words, implying that it’s ok have sex with a pupil as long as they’re above 16 years old! This is not an eccentric teacher or an isolated person saying this filth; it is the Teachers’ Union chief!

Even then, I’m sure this is not even the pinnacle of an already decrepit and dilapidated system, where I am sure we can look forward to more sickening acts and laws are to be passed in the near future. Yes, the child protection professionals will criticize it since it interferes with their turf but how on earth can a civil human being come up with such statements? The answer becomes clear when we ponder on the values that most people in this society have.

The values of free speech and personal sexual freedom. Would it not be fair to say that this idea that ‘we are free to do as we please’ is to blame? There is a focus on the individual in this capitalistic society, and hence, every act is viewed through this prism. Thus the inevitable clash and misery that follows within interest groups and with the community at large. Imagine your 16 year old son or daughter having a relationship with a teacher because society permits it whether open or illicit!

The incident of teacher-student relations in this society is so demoralizing, you fear sending your kid to any of these schools. Since 1991, 129 teachers have been prosecuted for relationships with pupils but a Sheffield University study suggested as many as 1,500 intimate relationships develop every year. What is even more strange is that the British government and the Justice system of this country in the 21st century felt that a teacher having a relationship with a person under the age of 18 yrs old should be illegal. In 2001, the law was changed to make it illegal for teachers to engage in sexual activity with pupils at their school aged under 18.

This is yet another example of the plethora of problems this society faces due its corrupting values and yet its representatives have the gaul to criticize how Islam treats the institution of marriage with young women, where proper consent and a safe environment is set up before engaging in family life.

I’m being radicalized.  I’m slowly becoming an extremist, and it is because of the people around me.  Yes, I’m a young Muslim.

I regularly visit my local mosque, and I carry a copy of the Qur’an in my car.  I live in a community that surrounds me with people who were not born in Britain, and who feel aggrieved by the government.  I have a beard.  I often watch Al-Jazeera.  I perform Islamic prayers on aircraft and trains.

My statements may just be enough to scare you, and with good reason, because I’m also angry.

I’m exactly the kind of person that the government wants to warn you about.

I’m becoming an extremist.

There was a time not long ago when I would have been considered normal, and middle of the road. I support the idea of marriage.  I think that it is bad to steal and that murder is always wrong.  I think that people should repay their loans, not use drugs, not rape, not get drunk.  I don’t believe I should be able to walk around topless (or worse).  I don’t think we should dispose of the elderly. These were once normal values!

Without changing a single thing, I’m now an extremist. It is clear that the British government has a relativist agenda that opposes the values of its people.

A perfect example of this principle is the recent comment by influential government adviser Baroness Warnock.  She sits in the House of Lords, and was in charge of the Commission on Human Fertility and Embryo Research.  She has decided that the elderly have a duty to die.  Note that she isn’t talking about rights, but a moral obligation to die.  This type of view is a slippery slope that devalues a human life.  Her argument is that an old person is of no use to anyone, and is just too costly to keep around.  Her disgusting, brazen statement was

“If you’re demented, you’re wasting people’s lives – your family’s lives – and you’re wasting the resources of the National Health Service.”

Try as they might to deny it, people like Warnock do have a prism through which they view the world, and they are doing their best to apply it to us.  The brash nature of insisting on the large-scale genocide of the elderly is designed to desensitize us.  The government would have us believe that there is nothing - including life itself - that is sacred.

Suddenly it is your relative burden on services that determines your worth.  This is the classic slippery slope.  Anyone who is born with a disability, anyone injured at work, would simply be a waste of space.  Warnock isn’t just a random nobody, she’s a part of the government, described as “the philosopher queen” and has famously influenced policy.  Her point of view is shocking, but honestly, it isn’t as shocking as it ought to be.  Given time, just as with drugs and marriage, the political and ethical policy will shift, making extremists out of those with reasonable, normal values.

Being Muslim - an “Islamist” - isn’t a fast-track to radicalization.  Simply doing nothing is good enough.

One of our contributors has been moonlighting elsewhere, tut tut.

The extraordinary demise of two the largest investment banks in the world, the nationalisation of insurer AIG and the shotgun marriage of HBOS and Lloyds TSB, in all has brought the number of banks and lenders that have fallen victim to the sub-prime crash to a staggering 284 worldwide.

Even though markets have been buoyed by huge bailouts on both side of the Atlantic, and a massive assault by global regulators on short selling has partially helped to calm the turmoil, the crisis is far from over. Neither tax rebates, nor low interest rates, nor higher or lower exchange rates can do the job of reviving economies that are burdened by debt loads that are too high.

The effect of hamstrung economies is actively leading commentators and thinkers to seriously search for clues to the way forward. After all, if a seemingly innocuous clutch of dud mortgages in the American Midwest can rollover to the become a ‘once in a century event’, then something must be amiss in the apparent understanding of how the markets operate.

More than being amiss, its clear that there is something terrifyingly wrong with the system. Calls for action though, have availed a different manner of propriety. The short sighted are simply baying for blood, hoping that buccaneering speculators will take the noose. Others rest their hopes on new global policing that would prevent the likes of junk bonds, ninja loans and toxic assets from ever again attesting their pervasiveness in the markets.

Amongst the more astute have been those hoping to rip it all up and start again. Critically, it is the loss of confidence in the Free Market ideology that is helping to inspire such notions. At its best, laissez-faire has been the excuse for speculative bubbles, unfettered capitalism and post-script colonialism. Now at its most embarrassing, it has unceremoniously subsumed itself to its most dreaded opposite - government intervention.

With eyes now wide open, and minds keenly attentive, proposals of alternative solutions will in the least have captive audiences. There are rumours of banking based on nationalist interests, as well those proposing collectivist models. None though, are truly as radical a change as that which is the proposition of the Islamic Economic System, implemented through the example of a Caliphate State. The trillion dollar question that really remains is how leadership can be given to the notion of Islamic Economics?

Allahumma ‘j’alhu barran taqiyyaw wa ambit-hu fii ‘l-Islaami nabaatan Hasanan

O Allah, make him obedient and God fearing, and give him an excellent upbringing in Islam

Contributor to this blog, Brother Ande ka phanda’s (obviously not his real name) wife today at 1 AM has given birth to a healthy baby boy!

What wonderful news and in such an auspicious month!

I request all brothers and sisters to please make dua for the baby and mother Insha’Allah.

I dearly love the brother. We first met, so many years ago, as 1st year students at university. Him the medic and me as a budding physics student. Mash’Allah he is now an endearing and well respected doctor (now a father too), and still has time to write for this blog. Me, well, I’m just a layabout who has forgotten all his physics knowledge, then laid waste his time in the City. Jeez, man, I need to get married. I will get by in the mean time being a surrogate uncle to all these cute babies.

Akhi, please do update us more!

This term is not commonly used nor acted upon. In actual fact it is something perceived to be as restricting freedom and backwards. It’s an act of a bygone era that is attached to enslavement and oppression. Indeed it is rare nowadays to observe someone doing this action as it is something not taught at school or at home. Bosses, teachers, managers and people of authority in their appraisal of other colleagues will not use the term obedient, to describe their positive characteristic of following orders and being effective team members. Actually this term is intimately associated with dogs!

The definition of obedience is the act of obeying; dutiful or submissive behavior with respect to another person. If one was to imagine scenarios of where this can take place, schools, office, military and more obviously at home with the parents would be your best bet. However in reality this act is done based only on financial or material incentive, otherwise you would be considered a fool to continue to act like this. So if Alan Sugar was bossing you around and you were not getting paid, your act of “obedience” would be futile.

The lack of the concept of obedience in this society has manifested in many ways. For example, the high school student being disrespectful to his female teacher, by not listening to her as well as making lewd jokes. The son that swears at his parents and goes terrorizes his elderly neighbours. The younger brother being rude and argumentative with his older siblings. The citizen not listening to the police officer and in turn not listening to the government. The manifestation of disobedience as a trait in this society is rife.

When a team leader is appointed or nominated, there is always someone trying to trigger off a leadership change (read David Milliband’s article in The Guardian), this is because they are after their own progression and benefit. Being obedient is a sign of weakness and insignificant trait that will never allow one to climb the ladder of victory.

Why am I writing about this? The reason being is that it is one of the fundamental traits a mu’min (believer) must possess to be on the right path. Islam means submission to Allah (swt). Thus having to obey each and every law prescribed on to us by our Lord is a cardinal duty. Any signs of disobeying can be cause of abject misery in the hereafter. One might think just doing the Five Daily Prayers, observing fast, paying Zakat and going Hajj once in a lifetime is sufficient, but actually this concept goes much, much further than that.

The ever presenting test of obeying your parents in matters which you might find trivial is a common pitfall for many of us. Delaying what they have requested or ignoring their plea on issues which will affect you in the future (i.e studies, marriage etc). Not sitting with them in your spare time as they get older and you get burdened with modern day life responsibilities. Having less time to reflect as to how to keep your parents happy and content in their later years.

Other areas are when there is a task at hand and there is a group of you to deal with it. Once an ameer has been designated, we would be obliged to follow his instructions no matter how irrational we might think it might be. Disobeying him or ridiculing his commands would be tantamount to disobeying Allah (swt). In married life, it is well known and undisputed that the husband is in charge of the family and the household. With this lie heavy responsibilities that which requires everyone in the family to help him with and follow suit.

Ramadhan should be a time where this feature of obedience should be polished and reinvigorated. Bettering your relationship with your parents, obeying your boss through sincerity, giving more importance to what your ustadh says, listening to a brother who is in charge of the task and lastly being more submissive to Allah (swt)’s commands through actively seeking out knowledge about your life’s circumstances.

O you who believe! Obey Allah and obey the Messenger (saw) and those of you (Muslims) who are in authority. (And) if you differ in anything amongst yourself, refer it to Allah (swt) and his Messenger (saw), if you believe in Allah (swt) and The Last Day. That is better and more suitable for final determination. [TMQ Surah 4 verse 59.]

Imagine being stuck in your bedroom or a flat with absolutely no one to look after you or lend a helping hand. Nobody to care about how you’re coping with life. There’s nobody around to confide in about things that matter to you. No signs of anyone inviting you to share a happy moment. Having to do your shopping alone or enduring broken bones due to old age and osteoporosis but still no family help. Then living with the knowledge that when the curtains finally fall, no one will be attending your funeral. Where on earth in the 21st century could such human misery exist? At Tom Hanks’ Cast Away Island? Nope, it’s right here in Britain!

In a Guardian article (which I recommend reading before continuing), it exposes the true cruelty of loneliness and despair on its victims. The endless and constant mental bondage that these people go through is mortifying for any reader. Attention is only given to those people if they haven’t paid their bills or discovered dead incidentally, only after the door is broken down for collection of bills. When trying to understand what has gone wrong and wonder where the human traits of kindness, love, politeness, charity, brotherhood, sharing, helpfulness, sympathy and humanity have disappeared, it makes me wonder whether the authorities will ever sincerely look into this.

However, as with everything in the world today, apparently throwing money at the problem for a limited amount of time is going to slow down the problem and keep the public happy. The main cause of this is that nobody seems to care anymore and just want to pass on the buck to the next administration. David Cameron can talk about “Broken Society” to get elected but when in power all these policies and fancy ideas go down the drain. They might be very eloquent in identifying a problem in the society but deliver third class concepts to handle the problem. Does anyone remember the idea: “hug the hoody?”

So what is it in this society that allows people to become so marginalised and isolated? What is it that causes them to regress from society and abandon everything around them? It’s not something new that I will be stating here, everyone feels it but unfortunately have accepted it as the norm. People worry too much about themselves and their progress to the detriment of others, even if it is their own blood. “Peoples’ problems, wishes and concerns are NOT my concern” is the attitude. This concept is galvanised right from childhood to adulthood.

From primary school you are to evaluate your own educational progress, at college you are to select your career paths, at University you are to apply for your jobs and stay focussed on achieving your first class degree! Or if you’ve grown up alternatively to the educational pathway i.e. on the streets, where you are demanded to be part of a gang, build your rep, show your marks to be accepted and eventually graduate from one of the many HMS Prisons. Now what I’ve just stated is not always a bad thing (except the gang part), but visualise what it builds in the new generation. Where in the “growing up” period have they obtained the clear instruction on what it means to be a good human being?

The thought process, the likes and dislikes, attitudes, personality all get heavily influenced by what surroundings are around the child and teenage years. Now since here in Britain we have such a “progressive” attitude towards religion, the government can rely on the Sunday schools and parents of ethnic minorities to deal with this aspect of “creating” good humans and citizens while they work non – stop to pay bills and taxes. Then again, can such a thorough, vigorous process used to make us so individualistic be used to make us good human beings, or does even one have time to implement such a process?

So the final question is: Is it all gloom and doom for all of us when we get old or alone? No, I reject such a notion. That’s because I am aware of a group of people that won’t allow it. I am aware of a set of ideas and concepts that have been instilled in people from childhood which incidentally form the basis for their life. Where the ideals I hear about I see implemented in communities. Old parents are not allowed to be abandoned by their children after the age of 65. It is mandatory to look after them until their dying days. Neighbours, where there has been a death in the family, would not only provide comfort and a shoulder to lean on but also provide the food and water for next couple of days. If there has been a death in the community, it would be mandatory for a section of the community to come and attend the funeral

Every once a week, no matter who you are and if nobody knows you, you can attend a gathering and make “instant” friends. Friends that without question or alternative interests would help you out or come visit you during the week. If you are going thorough hardship financially, a person you can trust will help you out with no financial incentive as a goal. If a person has no family members then the state would assign someone to look after you. Ideals such as “want for your brother what you want for yourself”, sacrifice, forgiving, and helping all underpinned by one ultimate objective in life; that of pleasing the Creator. This is what will guarantee that dying alone becomes a rarity rather than the norm.

Where are these people, where do such ideals exist?

It’s from Islam. Come and have a look.