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Anti-Islamophobia group Tell Mama should face inquiry, says Muslim peer

The Guardian World news: Islam - 9 April, 2025 - 06:00

Shaista Gohir questions Tell Mama’s use of public funds, creating debate over its role, accountability and future

A leading Muslim peer has called for an inquiry into the Islamophobia monitoring group Tell Mama over concerns about a “lack of transparency” on how it is spending public money.

Shaista Gohir, the chief executive of the Muslim Women’s Network UK, has also accused Tell Mama of failing to provide detailed data on anti-Muslim hate crimes, being “silent” when politicians have targeted Muslims, and questioned whether the Tories used it as a vehicle to monitor extremism.

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Assisted dying could become ‘tool’ to harm women in England and Wales, say faith leaders

The Guardian World news: Islam - 6 April, 2025 - 10:00

Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Sikh women say bill has ‘insufficient safeguards’ to protect those who are vulnerable

The legalisation of assisted dying in England and Wales could create “a new tool to harm vulnerable women”, particularly those subject to domestic violence and coercive control, say female faith leaders from different traditions.

More than 100 women from Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Sikh groups have warned in an open letter that the terminally ill adults bill has “insufficient safeguards to protect some of the most marginalised in society, particularly women subjected to gender-based violence and abuse by a partner”.

In the UK, call the national domestic abuse helpline on 0808 2000 247, or visit Women’s Aid. In Australia, the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. In the US, the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). Other international helplines may be found via www.befrienders.org

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As a child, I was afraid of my friends seeing me pray. Watching Eid live on the BBC was a huge moment | Nadeine Asbali

The Guardian World news: Islam - 2 April, 2025 - 09:00

British Muslims are too often acceptable only when they bake cakes or win medals. Now the nation has had a true insight into our faith

If anything is going to get me to turn on BBC One early on Eid morning, it’s Eid prayer being televised on a UK terrestrial channel for the first time in British broadcasting history. Held at Bradford Central Mosque, the groundbreaking coverage on Monday followed the entirety of the Eid prayer – starting with Qur’anic recitation, then a sermon in both English and Arabic and the congregational prayer itself, culminating in the customary eid mubarak embraces.

For Muslims like me, these scenes are part and parcel of every Eid. The keffiyeh-draped uncles sporting orange beards dyed with henna, some to emulate the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and some simply to hide their grey hairs; the children using the congregation as an assault course and scouting out the auntie who is handing out the best sweets; fancy clothes, henna-patterned palms and smiling faces; people high on both the spirituality of the just-passed holy month and probably too much sugar. This is the stuff Eid is made of, but watching it unfold on the nation’s main TV channel was a refreshing novelty – and I found it strangely affirming, as well as a little emotional, to witness.

Nadeine Asbali is the author of Veiled Threat: On Being Visibly Muslim in Britain, and a secondary school teacher in London

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