By Irfan Jalil

"The media" eh? God bless it. It's normally a popular subject at the sheesha joints. We can blame it for all the ills of the world.

We'd love to have a good old bash, but someone realised that we, "The Revival", are part of the media too. The magazine. The website. The interviews. It's all a part of the media. So we toned it all down and decided to concentrate on other media outlets.

The media has a strong influence on public opinion. It provides not only information but ways of looking at the world. It informs and influences. Issues about Muslims are very often shaped by the media.

By Alveena Salim

Culture, what exactly is it? Well even though you might think it's got nothing to do with you; you are in fact surrounded by culture all the time – be it the culture of your parents/grandparents or the western 'British' culture.

Culture is the outward expressions of your values, beliefs, lifestyle etc. So from that point of view if culture is just basically your way of doing things then Islam can be your culture right? Yep too right it can and so it should be!

Written by Sajid Iqbal

“Oppression”

“They have to walk 10 steps behind their husband”

“They can’t even work”

Yeah yeah, heard it all before and probably a lot more. What is it with people thinking Islam treats women as second class citizens? Don’t tell me, you sometimes wonder that too? Well STOP THERE, because you’ll be surprised just how many rights women are given in Islam. Not Convinced ? Read on ! You will soon realise that its not the Spice Girls who introduced 'Girl Power' but it was Islam.

Next time you think Islam oppresses women, a woman is worth half a man and that Islam treats them like second class citizens then never forget this:

There are 1.5 billion Muslims in the world. Yep…that means 1 in every 5 person in the world is a Muslim. Did you know that??

And guess what…. Islam is the fastest growing faith in the world (1) but why is it that Islam is the most misunderstood faith today?

Now, when you mention the word Islam today…after the chap has recovered from a nervous breakdown, the first thing that pops in his head is that '…oh yeah…that's that "paki-religion" innit… those dodgy looking blokes with long beards hijacking planes, blowing up buildings and chopping peoples hands….'.

Before you know it the word 'terrorist' and 'backward' will come to mind, women chained to the kitchen sink, guys with many wives and 'they hate Jesus' will be their idea of Islam.