When I first heard that someone had shot and killed 32 people on an American university campus, the first thought that came to mind was: Please God, let it not be a Muslim! By the time the full details of the horrific tragedy unfolded, it was clear that he wasn’t, although a brief moment of dread emerged when the shooter was described as Asian.

Of course to the victims of that massacre on that campus in Virginia and to those who loved and knew them, it wouldn’t have mattered one way or another what faith the killer followed, which nationality he belonged to or what ideology, if any, he subscribed to. (more…)

Fareena Alam, editor of the Muslim magazine Q-News explores the impact of Jack Straw’s views on women wearing the veil, in a special 30-min documentary for BBC Radio 4.

Fareena travels to Blackburn and speaks to Mr Straw’s constituents. Many of her preconceptions about life for Northen British Muslim women are tackled.

Among the people she talks to is Sheikh Abdul Hakim Murad, a lecturer in Divinity at Cambridge University. (more…)

Thousands of young Muslims have been gathering in Manchester at an international conference discussing issues of faith and community.

So what did they think of the UK’s foreign policy?

Handing out magazines by the dozen, Sajid Iqbal is a man on a mission - a mission from Oldham.

He edits The Revival, a jaunty social, political magazine distributed bi-monthly to 15,000 young Muslims. It wants to keep them on the straight path, rather than slide into disillusionment and dislocation. (more…)

US foreign policy and political Islam today are deeply intertwined. Every US president since Jimmy Carter has had to deal with political Islam; none has been so challenged as George W. Bush. Policymakers, particularly since 9/11, have demonstrated an inability and/or unwillingness to distinguish between radical and moderate Islamists. They have largely treated political Islam as a global threat similar to the way that Communism was perceived.

However, even in the case of Communism, foreign policymakers eventually moved from an ill-informed, broad-brush, and paranoid approach personified by Senator Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s to more nuanced, pragmatic, and reasonable policies that led to the establishment of relations with China in the 1970s, even as tensions remained between the United States and the Soviet Union. (more…)

Hello everybody. Long-time, no see. Many turkeys have managed to escape our grasp in the past few months. Its not really our fault, as we only nominate one person/group per issue. We can’t then therefore, berate everyone for their stupidity.

Lets see what we have had recently, shall we? We have the infamous caricatures insulting every single Muslim that were printed in a Danish paper. Then we have the Danish PM who refused to even acknowledge that there was a problem. That is until the economy was blind sided by the Q & A With Shaykh Salim Giza!sanctions’ imposed by ordinary Muslims who refused to buy Danish products.

If you can’t rely on the Muslim leadership, you can rely on the Muslim people. Or not; as demonstrated by the prats who dressed up as suicide bombers to protest the caricatures. And then there were the other European newspapers who decided to reprint the pictures Q & A With Shaykh Salim Giza!for solidarity and freedom of speech’ when all they wanted to do was offend Muslims. (Read More…)

By Irfan Khan

Reading, listening or watching the latest news headlines it seems to me that there is always yet another brand that I as a Muslim can fall into. Apart from fundamentalism, terrorism, Islamism (which genius came up with that one?!) etc.

I can also fall in to the wider category of ‘Moderate’ or ‘Extremist’. The media has attached so many labels to Muslims that I myself am beginning to wonder what type of Muslim I am.

Am I not just a Muslim? Are not all Muslims the same and don’t we believe in the same message and read the same Quran? (Read More…)

In a dark dark world there was a dark dark country. In the dark dark country there was a dark dark newspaper. In the dark dark offices of the dark dark newspaper, the dark dark Editor had a dark dark idea. He decided to set up a dark dark competition to make some dark dark caricatures of the Prophet of Islam. His dark dark intentions being to test whether Muslims would be able to accept this dark dark vision.

Enough of the fairy tale! The Muslim reaction was anger. Understandably so. Yes some Muslims went too far with their protest by rioting, threatening, kidnapping and hijacking! However, the thing most non-Muslims did not understand was why the reaction was two months down the line. Was it politically motivated? Was it extremists jumping onto a bandwagon? Was it terrorists trying to cause a reaction? Was it Muslims trying to silence their critics? (Read More…)

Shaykh Hamza Yusuf addressed the ICNA “Why Islam?” Symposium on March 18, 2006. He spoke of the need to express the benefits that Islam has to offer to America. (more…)

One year on from the July 7 bombings, we have some perspective on how our society is facing up to the challenges of a common future.

From that tragic morning on which dozens were killed in a cruel act of murder to the recent arrests of two young Muslims, one of whom was shot, in east London, and the prime minister’s demands that Muslims should do more, it’s clear that relations between the Muslim community and society as a whole could be better, to say the least. (more…)

After the London tube bombings last year, British Muslims mobilized to fight Islamic extremism.

The Radical Middle Way project was designed to give young people a different view of their religion.

Within three weeks of the 7 July bombings, the British government set up a series of “Preventing Extremism Together” workshops with 100 British Muslims. Mostly young and from all walks of life, their job was to provide insight into why a small minority of Muslims veer over the edge into fundamentalism, while the majority do not. (more…)

Violence in the name of Islam has done more to damage the Prophet than any Danish cartoon, argues writer Fareena Alam. (more…)

Are we only allowed to follow the shariah? The main argument is weather or not we are allowed to participate in this voting process?

In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful

The process of voting in non-Muslim democratic countries is not based on religious ideologies neither are elections won and lost on the basis of religion. As such, a candidate that stands up in an election does not promise to implement the laws of Islam or any other religion for that matter. (more…)

Now if I mentioned the words ‘politics’ and ‘voting’ what would be your reaction: “Politics! what a waste of time? All politicians are dodgy? Aren’t all parties the same? Politics is dull and boring! Politicians and parties are all against Islam and the Muslims? I ain’t got time for politics!” (more…)

By Shaid Ayoub & Sajid Iqbal

In this regular section The Revival will argue why you should not just know your MP, be aware of what he or she is actually doing…. but give ‘em hell!

It’s YOUR MPs job to represent YOUR views. No MP today can ignore the Muslim voters. So make sure YOUR MP knows what YOUR views are! (more…)

By Irfan Jalil and Sajid Iqbal

You’re probably thinking what the heck has politics got to do with Islam? I know, you’re thinking Islam is a religion and has nowt to do with politics. You’ve always been told Islam is about worship, prayer, fasting, obeying God, being good and other nice and fluffy things.

Well you know what, if that’s your understanding of Islam then you’re in for the shock of your life.

You ready for it? Here goes: Islam is not a religion!!!! “WHAT??!!So what the hell is it?”. Well my friend Islam is a ‘Deen’, a complete way of life. You’re confused. I know you are…now sit down, have a sip of water and read on. (more…)

Manchester University student Hayder Khan, member of ‘The Revival’ Editorial Team, was invited to a consultation with Prime Minister Tony Blair. Here, he gives his personal account of what went on:

‘You have an opportunity to communicate directly with the Prime Minister’ said the letter from 10 Downing Street. ‘A consultation with young Muslims in the UK’ it said. Wohooo!

A few moments after jumping with joy and dancing like a madman, I stopped and thought, ‘would there be any use in attending? Is this just a publicity stunt by the PM? Is Mr. Blair trying to patch things up with Muslims, in particular the ‘youth’, the very same youth who could turn to extremism because of his policies?’ (More…)

Documentary about how the Muslim Public Affairs Committee attempted to mobilise Muslims to vote against MPs who backed the Iraq war. (49 Minutes)

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BY Karen Armstrong

Time Magazine, October 1, 2001 Vol. 158 No. 15

There are 1.2 billion Muslims in the world, and Islam is the world’s fastest-growing religion. If the evil carnage we witnessed on Sept. 11 were typical of the faith, and Islam truly inspired and justified such violence, its growth and the increasing presence of Muslims in both Europe and the U.S. would be a terrifying prospect. Fortunately, this is not the case. (more…)

[Mufti Muhammad ibn Adam al-Kawthari, Dar al-Iftaa; Darul Uloom; student of Mufti Taqi Usmani]

“…In a situation where there is no worthy candidate (as in non-Muslim countries, where at least the ideologies and beliefs of the relevant parties are contrary to the teachings of Shariah), then the vote should be given to the one who is the better and more trust worthy then the other candidates… (more…)

by Dr. M. Amir Ali, Ph.D.

Introduction

Recently, a thirteen-year-old Muslim girl sent me an e-mail message stating that one of her Muslim friends in school had told her that casting a vote in American elections was haram and a sin. (more…)

Voting is coming up next year, Can we vote in Islam? I am abit concern that I may be voting for non-muslims and they are going to implement un-islamic laws in south africa, please help as the Jamiat in JHB have placed notices in all mosques that we have to register. (more…)

By Dr.Anwar Hajjaj, President of the American Islamic Information Center

Muslims Should Be Active Wherever We Are. When we as Muslims unite as a community, our chances of being heard regarding the issues that are relevant and important to us are far more significant than when a small number of us are trying to make a difference. (more…)

An Advice To British Muslims Regarding The Coming Elections

With the Name of Allâh, and in Him we seek assistance, and the praise is due to Allâh, Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is no deity worthy of worship besides Allâh alone, without any associate, and there is nothing comparable to Him. And I testify that Muhammad is His servant and final Messenger. (more…)

The Muslim world today is going through a period of low economic growth, inter-communal trade, high indebtedness and socio-economic problems of poverty, economic and political instability.

The institutions of the Muslim world namely, the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) along with many other Islamic banks and financial institutions that have mushroomed, have not played their due part in solving the economic or political problems of the Ummah. (more…)

Shaykh Hisham Kabbani, Shaykh Siraj Hendricks, Shaykh Ahmad Hendricks

It cannot be over-emphasized that Islam upholds the values of reason, balance and responsibility in the conduct of its worldly affairs. There is nothing arbitrary about its legal provisions relating to matters of war, peace, international relationships and the rule of law.

In this area there is considerable agreement between Islamic law and the legal systems currently practiced throughout the world. In addition to the real possibility that these legal systems were profoundly influenced by the legal heritage of Islam, this commonality can be explained by the fact that the protection and endorsement of basic human rights form the cornerstone of Islamic legislation. (more…)