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Format: Discussion
Speakers: Saleema Abdul-Ghafur, Su’ad Abdul-Khabeer, Precious Muhammad
Other Panellists: Fiyaz Mughal (Faith Matters), Sophia Ahmed (Muslim Writers Awards)
Date: 12-06-2009
This event was organised by City Circle and Faith Matters. It brought over 3 popular Muslim female activists from the USA. The event was well attended, overwhelmingly by women. However, there was more of a focus on civic and political participation rather than looking at women specifically.
The speakers profiles can be seen at the Living Islam Out Loud website. I was impressed with Sister Su’ad, a Princeton doctoral candidate, fluent in Arabic having lived in many Middle Eastern countries. She was definitely an example of urban Muslim meeting classical Islam, with her American urban lingo and then her gracious Arabic.
All three speakers spoke about the many institutions in the USA which try to protect Muslim civic life by responding to negative portrayals of Islam and Muslims and they were shocked at the fact that in the UK there aren’t any similar organisations such as their Islamic Supreme Council of America, Council of American and Muslim Relations, Muslim Public Affairs Committee...though I did point out we have our own MPAC which is completely unrelated to their namesake.
I was also impressed with Sister Precious Muhammad’s insight into American Islamic history with the first Muslim who started schools a Nicholas Saee? Then there was the founder of the first Islamic press by Mohammed Alexander Russell an American-Muslim convert.
Prior to my departure Sophia Ahmed made a comment regarding the need for Muslims in Britain to establish a British Muslim identity which I found a little strange. I responded by saying that you can’t just establish culture, it is something that evolves and is evolving. Muslims have many identities and you can’t ignore their ethnic backgrounds. I was supported by Sister Su’ad eloquently as well as other members of the audience who had also taken issue with Sister Sophia’s comments.
What do we mean by British Muslim culture? What is it?
varied races, palestinan scarf donned for solidarity and a rich British accent, talking about their Islamic Identity! Now thats Diversity! (in reference to the thought provoking short clip above)
View the video attached as way of comment by the sis who makes a very valid point. Our identities are a reflection of many things including our environment and culture, they work in tandem with our deen. We dont have to compromise one or the other.