FIRST PERSON: A FEAST WHICH FOLLOWS A FAST IS NOT IN SPIRIT

Manzoor Moghal has written the First Person column in today's Leicester Mercury:

A feast which follows a fast is not in spirit

The month of Ramadan is once again upon us and Muslims everywhere are fasting. It is obligatory for Muslims to fast during this month, as laid down in the Qu'ran, and they refrain from food, drink and tobacco from dawn to sunset, which at this time of year would be an average of 19 hours a day in Britain.

Before the advent of Islam, fasting was also prescribed for other religions but, with the passage of time, their fasting practices became truncated, distorted and were tailored to the convenience of their followers, with the result that the whole concept of fasting in these religions became totally corrupted.

In one of these religions, a whole month designated for fasting allows its people to eat and drink everything except cooked food and a few other items during the fasting period from morning to evening.In another religion where fasting stretches beyond 30 days, its adherents have to give up one item of their daily favourite food, while allowing them to eat and drink everything else at any time.

In yet another religion, two separate fasting days are extended to 24 hours of total refrain from any eating or drinking, and it has four other days which are somewhat similar to the Islamic way of fasting.

Other minor faiths have some variations, but none of these are anywhere near the Muslim way, which has remained in its pristine purity since its inception some 1,400 years ago.

However, there is a worrying trend which has recently crept into the Islamic way of fasting and it has begun to undermine both the spirit and the letter of fasting.

The time of breaking the Muslim fast at sunset is called iftar, and Muslims do this generally by eating a couple of dates and drinking tea or a glass of milk or water, followed by the fourth obligatory prayer of the day called maghrib.

After this, they disburse to their homes where they eat a modest meal before they go into the long night prayers at their mosques.

Unfortunately, the breaking of the fast time iftar is being turned into feasting by well-heeled Muslims – and it is becoming fashionable practice among many Muslims in some countries, including Britain.

Arab Muslims in the Middle East gorge themselves routinely with large quantities of food every evening after breaking their fast, and Muslims in places such as Pakistan have big iftar parties in restaurants, hotels and community centres.

Of late, a national Muslim organisation is encouraging Muslims in Britain to organise such iftar parties, inviting non-Muslims to participate in order to socialise and promote better understanding between different faiths.

The month of Ramadan is for fasting and not feasting!

Manzoor Moghal is an author and social commentator

AUSTERITY DRIVE COULD LEAD TO WELFARE STATE'S COLLAPSE

This letter is published in today's Leicester Mercury:

Austerity drive could lead to welfare state collapse

Under the Government's austerity programme, welfare benefits have begun to be hit across the board, especially since the introduction of the recently-announced changes.

The cuts which are being arbitrarily applied will become progressively deeper as time goes by.

The heydays of Britain's economic prosperity are now receding into history and it is unlikely that we shall regain the bygone peaks of our strength in the foreseeable future. After periods of intense activity and prosperity, nations enter into a phase of fatigue, and we in Britain are now experiencing this phenomenon, leading to our decline. Britain's much-lauded welfare state, which came into place after the end of the Second World War, is now just over 67 years old and history tells us that having become weak already, it could enter a state of collapse in a few years and then unravel altogether.

What we have to remind ourselves is that our highly successful welfare state is not something that is unique in the history of the world, although the perception is that we were the pioneers in introducing such a programme.

In the 10th century in Baghdad under Muslim rule, there was a highly developed and very successful welfare state in place which provided free education at all levels, free medical treatment including hospitalisation, care for the elderly, and many other benefits that are the attributes of a modern welfare state.

This model after a very successful period came to an end because the state was no longer able to fund it.

Our situation in Britain is now somewhat similar with the added burden of the massive abuse of the system through the laxity of our rules and the unscrupulous behaviour of thousands of claimants.

In addition, the Government is now set on a path of increasing privatisation of all services which will inevitably result in a poorer and less efficient levels of service.

All the service sectors are now going through a metamorphosis which will invariably change the face of Britain.

Already there is significant food poverty in the country which is being catered for by more than 200 food banks run by charity organisations.

Coincidentally, in this era of food poverty, the contribution of the Sikh community is proving very helpful. Many Sikh temples run daily open kitchens and distribute free food to all, irrespective of their caste, creed or colour.

The public outcry against the dwindling benefits and services face the juggernaut of the coalition Government which is determined to push through the changes at any cost.

We are indeed in a sorry state of affairs and no alternative seems to be on the horizon.

Manzoor Moghal, Leicester

LEARNING THE LESSONS OF HISTORY

This letter appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Learning the lessons of history

I agree with Manzoor Moghal (First Person, December 13) that learning from the past is a logical pre-requisite for future peace.

The Africans correctly identified the problem with history when they coined the proverb "Until the lions write their own story, the hunters will be always be the heroes" and it is in this spirit that I am compelled to expand on Mr Moghul's assertion that India owes pluralism to the "Mughal Emperors of India who ruled for over 300 years and mostly treated Hindus as equal partners.

Some of the 22 Mughal Emperors were largely benevolent and inclusive. However, others did not consider Hindus as their equals.

On the contrary, they massacred thousands of Shi'a Muslims and non-Muslims and tore down their places of worship.

Prominent Sikh Gurus were killed by Mughals for opposing Mughal persecution of minority religious communities. Subsequently, Sikhism militarised to oppose Mughal hegemony. The "bad" Mughal leaders were Muslims merely in name but far from Islamic in their actions.

Islam's fundamental peace message is often hijacked by zealots.The death of the last Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb led to the emergence of the secular Sikh Kingdom from 1799 to 1849.

I agree, in part, with Mr Moghal's assertion that British Imperialism destroyed the mutual respect shared among Muslims, Sikhs and Hindus but it would be wrong to put all the blame on the British.

Sectarianism replaced secularism and Jinnah's egotistical desire to be the first premier of Pakistan was spurred on by emerging right-wing Hindu nationalism.

I too lament the partition of my beloved Punjab – a place where once all religious festivals were celebrated by all with equal gusto.

Western foreign policy is always mooted as the scapegoat for religious conflict, but the Russian retreat from Afghanistan left a power vacuum. A Mujahidin army of young guerrilla soldiers, armed with CIA supplied AK-47s and anti-tank missiles were left with no jobs. America failed to intervene with meaningful aid to help the Afghans to rebuild their state and the Taliban emerged.

To understand this crucible, in which terrorism is bred, one must take into account the much stronger influence of a strand of Islam called Salafism and Wahabism which both originated in Arab countries in the 19th century.

Al Qaida and its offshoots all adhere to this strict brand of Islam which later gave birth to Deobandism. The Arab countries have failed to utilise their huge petroleum profits to build up their own "United States of Arabia" – they had an opportunity to become an economic super power but instead squandered their wealth on lavish lifestyles and religious intolerance.

Rather than the West, the Arab League is now intervening in Syria and there is hope for a self-determined Arab future. This is tempered by US foreign policy, propped up by the Bible Belt Protestant belief that Jerusalem must be occupied by Jews converted to Christianity for the second coming of the Messiah.

Until nations become truly secular and religion is treated as progressive moral framework rather than a literal theological blueprint and, moreover, until compromise is found in the perennial Arab-Israeli conflict the world will always be distracted from the human race's biggest challenge – Africa.

Can we hope that the foreign policies and billionaires of all nations, including India, China, Russia, Indonesia, Thailand, Qatar and Saudi Arabia, will play a positive role in providing solutions for the Aids, corruption and hunger epidemics that ravish this beautiful continent?As Plato said: "The penalty good men pay for indifference is to be ruled by evil men."

Mr Raj Mann, Guru Arjan Dev Mission, Leamington Spa

DANGER OF SENSATIONALIST CLAIMS

This letter from Suleman Nagdi appears in today's Leicester Mercury, responding to Manzoor Moghal's First Person column, published in the Mercury on 13 December (and posted in full on this blog).

Danger of sensationalist claims

I write in relation to the article 'Understanding the history of religious conflict' (Mailbox, December 13) by Manzoor Moghal.

Brother Manzoor makes certain claims; I ask from whose history is he writing from? If we learn anything from history, it's that history portrays nothing in a positive light, only that it reports what was depending on which side you were on. Both religion and race have played important and sometimes deeply interconnected roles in Indian history for that matter worldwide. Religion was used to justify both segregation and desegregation.

The writer makes a number of charges against the Deobandi school of thought which require closer examination. The link to the Taliban is an interesting one especially when the vast majority of Taliban foot soldiers as well as the leadership have never set foot in India, let alone Deoband. To simply associate orthodoxy in practice with violent extremism is a very dangerous claim. Most of Al Qaeda's ideology and origins are not in imperialist India but developments in Arabia and parts of Africa in the 20th century.

The author unfortunately makes the sensationalist claim that "Historically Islam and the West have been locked in conflict for centuries". He is locked in a mind-set. For example, nearly three million Muslims perished during the first and second world wars. The recent Remembrance Day commemorations reminded us of their efforts. Islam through science and the arts has contributed a great deal towards enriching the very societies we now live in.

In relation to the division of Islam with Hinduism and Sikhism, the writer is short-sighted because members of these three faiths have lived together, migrated together, worked together and celebrated together for centuries in the Asian sub-continent and Africa.

To do justice to the subject we need to create an unbiased approach at the same time recognising that alternative views exist, it is very easy to blame the "Wahabist founded Deobandi school of thought" or for that matter any other school of thought.

We are already aware that extremists in all their ugly disguises come from many sources, in many cases through vulnerability, be it mental health, environment, change of circumstances or a journey an individual takes. We should be spending our energy in creating an atmosphere of working together to root out extremism in whatever disguise it comes from rather than making sensationalist claims.

Suleman Nagdi, Leicester

UNDERSTANDING THE HISTORY OF RELIGIOUS CONFLICT

This is Manzoor Moghal's First Person column in today's Leicester Mercury:

Understanding the history of religious conflict 

A lack of knowledge will hinder peace efforts, believes Manzoor Moghal 

The extremists in the world of Islam spring from the school of thought that emerged in India after the Great Indian Mutiny of 1857 known to Indian Nationalists as the first war of Indian Independence. 

The Mughal Emperors of India who ruled for over 300 years mostly treated Hindus as equal partners in their governance of the country, which evolved a strong bond between their Hindu and Muslim subjects in their loyalty to the Emperors. 

The British systematically destroyed this pluralism and successfully used the strategy of divide and rule by pitching Muslims against Hindus and Sikhs and vice versa. 

After putting down the uprising they slaughtered thousands of Indian Muslims. As a consequence the Muslims became disillusioned with the whole concept of Pluralism and broadly divided into two groups. 

The Anglophile Sir Syed Ahmed Khan believed that the best way for the advancement of Muslims in India was for them to acquire Western education, and founded the Aligarh Anglo Mohammedan Oriental College later known as Aligarh Muslim University. 

The other group who were the followers of Shah Waliullah, a Wahabist founded the Deobandi school of thought in 1866 in Deoband. 

Their principle ethos was to create a pure Islamic society unadulterated by any Hindu and Western practices. They believed that it was the dilution of Islam with Hindu and Western values that had resulted in the demise of Muslim rule in India. 

It is from Deoband that Madrasahs across Pakistan and Afghanistan sprang up, teaching their extremist brand of Islam. From this erupted the repressive regime of the Taliban in 1996. Afghanistan then became the crucible for Al Qaeda who unleashed a most ferocious attack against the West in retaliation of their invasion of Muslim countries. 

Historically Islam and the West have been locked in conflict for centuries. The West continues its aggression by attacking and invading Muslim countries and treating Muslims as fiends because of the violent extremism from the likes of Al Qaida. Western foreign policy towards Muslim countries provides fertile breeding ground for violent Muslim extremism. American and European foreign policies in dealing with Muslim countries are seen by Muslims as deliberately provocative and anti-Islam. Unfortunately, Western actions backfire and continue to aggravate matters between the two opposing camps. 

Unless the phenomena of extremism is fully understood in its true historical contacts and genuine efforts are made for rapprochement between the two sides, there seems to be little hope of any solution.

TIME TO CHANGE OUR ATTITUDE TO MULTICULTURALISM

Manzoor Moghal has written the First Person column in today's Leicester Mercury. 

 

Time to change our attitude to multiculturalism

Chairman of the Muslim Forum Manzoor Moghal speaks out over David Cameron's recent speech

Our Prime Minister's recent salvo at the Muslim community and multiculturalism at the Munich Security Conference seemed to be somewhat gratuitous and very disingenuous. Multiculturalism as a policy supported by the state for several years has indeed been showing signs of fatigue and failure because of the way previous governments have been imposing their will on the communities through large amounts of funding which was misspent.

The recipients of such funding, who were encouraged to promote multiculturalism, were in turn expected to provide political support in electoral terms for the government. This has been the main weakness of the government's misguided policies on multiculturalism, but that does not mean that multiculturalism should cease to exist in the United Kingdom.

It is an undeniable fact that we are a multicultural society and will continue to be so, as indeed are many other countries in the world. What needs to change is the government's and society's attitude towards it. Our multicultural society should be allowed to evolve naturally through the inevitable interaction of these different cultures in all aspects of our lives in the UK, which would then result in a more cohesive and integrated society. It is the interference from government policies which is a problem, and not multiculturalism.

It  is a well known fact that there are some misguided and very vulnerable Muslim youth in the country who have been and will continue to be beguiled by preachers of hate against the West. Some of these elements have killed innocent citizens through their violence and caused huge damage, but that does not mean that the whole community should be directly or indirectly maligned – especially at a time when the likes of the English Degfence League are on a warpath against Islam and Muslims simply because they hate them through their ignorance and racism.

Our intelligence and security services seem to have brought extremist elements under control through their vigilance, and one would like to hope that these extremists are prevented from committing any further acts of violence. However, whilst combating violent extremism and endeavouring to abate extremism from misguided Muslim youth, the government should also feel obliged to review our foreign policies towards Muslim countries, which have been a very significant contributory factor in the radicalisation of Muslim youth both in Britain and in other parts of the world.

Simply to suggest that the illegal war against Iraq and the offensive against Afghanistan were in the past and therefore we should learn to move on, as suggested by Baroness Warsi at her lecture at the Univesity of Leicester, is naïve and supercilious. The alarming drift in Britain and Europe to right-wing politics should be a matter of great concern for all those who espouse democracy, liberty and equality. This alarming trend needs to be checked, and we need people of political maturity to do so.

WRONG TO BLAME WRATHFUL GOD FOR HAITI EARTHQUAKE

Manzoor Moghal has written the First Person column in today's Leicester Mercury:

Wrong to blame wrathful God for Haiti earthquake

Incorrect conceptions of the deity inhibit some faiths from explaining natural disasters, says Manzoor Moghal

In the aftermath of the massive Haiti earthquake, people of some faiths have been asking how a loving God could allow the tragic deaths of human beings on such a gargantuan scale, with many of the victims being innocent children. These people, who are confused by this obvious contradiction, ask further as to how could an omnipotent and omniscient God permit such mayhem and misery?

Leaders of these faiths have thrown up their hands as they can offer no explanation and have suggested that the Creator works in mysterious ways which they cannot comprehend. The failure to explain such a heart-wrenching event lies in the mistaken belief that there is a personal God who loves all human beings equally, and that He personally observes and dictates all their actions.

Some other faith leaders ascribe such phenomena to the wrath of God visiting upon a sinful people. They justify the Haiti earthquake on the grounds that the people of Haiti have been punished by a wrathful God for their voodoo practices and devil worship. This argument is also seriously flawed, as it, too, believes in a personal and revengeful God waiting to strike them down for their sins.

If we move away from these concepts and take a dispassionate and scientific view of the world phenomena, we would arrive at more sensible and plausible explanations of such natural calamities. The earth and the rest of our world function according to universal natural laws set into motion by some Supreme Being, whom we call God. In this creation everything is automated and flows continuously, maintaining a natural equilibrium in accordance with these immutable laws. As we know, the earth moves on tectonic plates and it breathes through various volcanic outlets, spewing out molten lava which comes out from its core.

Because of their knowledge, scientists know the seismic locations of the earth, and have drawn up maps indicating places of earthquake activity like Haiti. In many places there are obvious cracks in the earth's surface, like the cracks in California visible to the naked eye.

The earth has a self-regulating and self-correcting mechanism as part of the creation, which gives rise to physical upheavals of different magnitudes at different times, resulting in earthquakes and other natural disasters. Those who live in the proximity of these vulnerable areas are likely to suffer more destruction than those who live away from them. All this happens in accordance with the laws of science, and has nothing to do with the concept of an unfeeling or revengeful God. The Creator also does not interfere in the lives of human beings whom he has given free will to lead their own lives, and therefore it is naïve to expect that He would be looking down from the heavens upon individuals to mould their lives one way or the other.

One of the greatest gifts we have from our Creator is the ability to be logical, and in understanding all natural events we have to apply this yardstick to judge what have been seen as incomprehensible mysteries.

Manzoor Moghal is chairman of the Muslim Forum

PRAYERS SAID IN LEICESTER FOR HAITI EARTHQUAKE SURVIVORS

This article appears in today's Leicester Mercury:

Prayers said in Leicester for Haiti earthquake survivors

Religious leaders gathered in the city centre to conduct a public prayer for survivors of the earthquake in Haiti.

All of the city's major religions joined in to show support for victims of the humanitarian disaster.

They said it was important to show solidarity at a time of crisis.

Prayers were said outside Leicester Town Hall yesterday lunchtime, after which a collection was held to raise money for the Disaster Emergency Committee's Haiti appeal.

The Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Rev Tim Stevens, read a prayer prepared by the Church of England.

Speaking beforehand, he said: "The world understands the scale of the tragedy that has hit Haiti.

"In recent days it has gone off the headlines. We feel a responsibility to pray for Haiti and keep it in people's minds. The faith communities of Leicester represent a global crossroads – global events always touch us here."

The Lord Mayor of Leicester, Councillor Roger Blackmore, joined religious leaders from the Hindu, Islam, Jewish, Sikh, Buddhist, Bahai and Jain faiths who also led prayers.

They were observed by a small crowd of well-wishers.

Ramanbhai Barber, president of the Shree Sanatan Mandir Hindu temple in Belgrave, Leicester, said: "Prayer is important to give strength to those people in Haiti. By all the faiths joining together we can give more strength and keep raising awareness."

The collective prayer was organised by Leicester Council of Faiths.

Chairwoman Councillor Manjula Sood said: "Leicester people are very generous and have always come together to help in times of suffering.

"This devastating disaster has touched everybody's hearts and when things like this happen our prayers and thoughts go out to those people. It is important that people of all faiths show solidarity."

The quality of the photos on the Mercury's website really does leave a lot to be desired though. They look alright in the paper.

The "First Person" column in in the same edition of the Mercury is entitled "Wrong to blame wrathful God for Haiti earthquake", by Manzoor Moghal, Chair of The Muslim Forum and long-standing member of Leicester Council of Faiths.