'Islamic Tartan'

Here's an  article on the 'Islamic tartan', although it doesn't represent the important arguments (i.e. from @desondy) for designs to reflect diverse Muslim identities. The National,  'Scotland's Islamic tartan is going viral, but why now?' 

Maulana Yusuf Motala

Yahya Birt, Medium, Maulana Yusuf Motala (1946–2019): Founder of the UK’s first Islamic seminary "Maulana Yusuf Motala (may God have mercy on his soul) (1946–2019) passed away last night in Toronto. He was one of the giants of Islam in Britain, and like the Tablighi Jamaat leader Hafiz Mohammed Patel (1926–2016), he had a huge influence upon the development of Muslim communities in Britain in the latter half of the twentieth century and after." Obituary of a significant figure in Muslim life in the UK.

Mushy

BBC News, What Educating Yorkshire's Mushy did next "Educating Yorkshire, the Channel 4 series which followed life in a Dewsbury secondary school, became a sensation after one of the pupils – Mushy – learnt how to cope with his stammer; that was thanks to his teacher Mr Burton and a pair of headphones."

PMQ

BBC News, PMQs: Applause as MP demands apology for Johnson burka remarks "Labour MP Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi asked Boris Johnson when he would "finally apologise" for his Telegraph column in which he described Muslim women as looking like "letterboxes"."

Prevent Strategy

Discover Society, FOCUS: An Independent Review of the Prevent Strategy

"The immediate context of this special issue of Discover Society is the Independent Review of the Prevent Strategy which the government announced as part of the passage of the Counter Terrorism and Border Security Act (2019). Among other concerns, Liberty has argued that the Counter Terrorism and Border Security Act is a further step in a process of the criminalisation of speech. This was begun in the Counter Extremism Strategy of 2015, and the new Act adds the idea that support for extremism can be inadvertent, but ‘reckless’, if there was insufficient care with regard to the consequences of speech in influencing others toward radicalisation."

LGBTQI Education

Victoria Derbyshire, BBC iPlayer, 2 Sep 2019 "The programme recreates a relationships lesson with a story about a chick with two male parents. A lesson that has led to protests."

'Woke' Campaign

Middle East Eye, REVEALED: The 'woke' media outfit that's actually a UK counterterror programme 

"A social media network for young people that has been launched around the term “woke” is actually a covert British government counterterrorism programme, security officials have admitted." Screenshot from Instagram:

Assimilation Issues

Telegraph, British Muslims should not feel forced to assimilate, says top counter terrorism officer, 6 Aug 2019 "British Muslims should not be forced to “assimilate”, the country’s most senior counter terrorism officer has said, as he called for greater understanding of marginalised communities."

Poll on 'values'

Metro, Nearly half of UK adults think Islam is ‘incompatible’ with British values "The poll, which questioned 2,077 people of different ages, genders and regions, showed how ‘misunderstood’ the religion is in the UK, said the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community." I haven't seen this poll yet, and question the value of the headline.

"Boris Johnson claimed Islam put Muslim world 'centuries behind'"

Guardian, Boris Johnson claimed Islam put Muslim world 'centuries behind' "Boris Johnson has been strongly criticised for arguing Islam has caused the Muslim world to be “literally centuries behind” the west, in an essay unearthed by the Guardian."

Schoolboy Payout

Mail Online, Schoolboy, 11, wins £3,500 payout after teachers at east London school wrongly accused him of wearing T-shirt supporting ISIS into class "The unnamed boy turned up at a school in Tower Hamlets, east London, when he was eight years of age wearing a T-shirt bearing the slogan: 'I want to be like Abu Bakr al-Siddique'.
"Abu Bakr al-Siddique is a prominent figure in Islam born in the year 583 who would later become the father-in-law of the prophet Muhammad, who married his daughter."

Shreds: Murder in the dock

BBC Sounds, Shreds: Murder in the dock "A young woman is murdered in a frenzied knife attack. Outside, a man is crying and covered in blood. What happens next almost defies belief. Yes, this really did happen…"

7-7 anniversary

Daily Mail, Sadiq Khan lays flowers at the 7/7 memorial in Hyde Park to mark the 14th anniversary of the atrocity that killed 52 as worst-injured survivor says the public has forgotten the attack "One of the survivors, Dan Biddle, who lost both his legs, his spleen and an eye when a bomb went off on a tube at Edgware Road, has said many members of the public have never heard of the attacks."

Nadiya interview

Times, Nadiya Hussain: from bullying and anxiety to Bake Off and Time to Eat "When she was 11, bullies dunked her head in the toilet, tore out her hair and slammed her fingers in doors. Her assailants? Asian boys who targeted her because her skin wasn’t pale enough. The Bake Off star tells Andrew Billen about the devastating fallout." The excellent Nadiya Hussain profiled here.

Mosque retreat

BBC News, Rural Llanbedr chapel will be turned into mosque I should point out that this is not Llanbedr Pont Steffan, but interesting news nevertheless

Al-Muhajiroun

Independent, Police admit failing to prosecute Islamists for membership of UK’s ‘most dangerous extremist group’

Hometown Documentary

Mobeen Azhar, BBC News, How did my sleepy hometown become a violent crime hotspot?

Essential viewing from ⁦Mobeen Azhar⁩ - and the in-depth report offers many insights. "The investigation lasted almost two years, and its findings suggested links between Huddersfield and the national and international drugs trade. I found out that British Pakistanis are significantly overrepresented when it comes to convictions for intent to supply class A drugs in Yorkshire and Humber. Why was this happening in my community, and was there a link with the death of a local man named Yassar Yaqub?"

British Muslims Navigating between Individualism and Traditional Authority

New and noted: Hira Amin, 'British Muslims Navigating between Individualism and Traditional Authority', 'Religions' Journal (haven't read it all yet!)

Organ Donational Fatwa

BBC News, Islamic fatwa approves organ donation after Bristol man's efforts "This new fatwa complements the previous fatwas and is aimed at British Muslims who are predominantly of south Asian background and heritage.
"Scholar Mufti Mohammed Zubair Butt, who issued the fatwa, said he hoped the move would help to "serve as a catalyst" for change."

@1919raceriots

@1919raceriots is an ingenious twitter feed reflecting the 1919 Cardiff Race riots in 'real time', together with comments.