BBC Radio 4 - Beyond Belief

BBC Radio 4 - Beyond Belief:

"Islam and Homosexuality - Ernie Rea and guests discuss whether homosexuality is compatible with Islam." This programme is available as a podcast.

Birmingham trial - update

Standard, Bungling plotters 'were the real deal', 21 Feb 2013 "In a reference to a black comedy film, Ali also told her: “Oh, you think this is a flipping Four Lions. We’re one man short.”

 "When police raided his home, they found Ali had downloaded nearly 150 Islamic lectures from the internet, including extremist rants, and passed them to Naseer."

Independent, Birmingham terror cell: a forlorn fight against extremism in the Balti Triangle, 21 Feb 2013 "Muhammad Suleman, 60, a former welder and community elder, believes young men, isolated from their families, frustrated by a lack of prospects and angered at Western military intervention in the Muslim world come under the influence of militant propaganda which contradicts the teachings of Islam.

“A lot of young people don’t go to mosque. They learn on the internet. It is information you can’t hide and they make their own mind up,” he says."

ITV Video Report

Juliet Bremner, ITV News, Trio hoped to cause worst atrocity on British soil "The three men convicted today wanted to be remembered as the suicide bombers who had committed the worst atrocity ever seen on British soil. Irfan Naseer and Irfan Khalid - known as Big and Little Irfan - and a third man Ashik Ali appeared to be religiously observant but not fanatical. They had all been born and raised in the Sparkhill and Sparkbrook suburbs of Birmingham, second generation Pakistanis with no criminal record or reason for the authorities to single them out for attention."

Also see ITV News, Muslim Aid comment on guilty terror verdicts and scroll down for ITV News, Worshipper: 'Everybody's disappointed. Everybody's horrified'

'Life as the spouse of a suspected al-Qaida terrorist'

Victoria Brittain, Guardian, Life as the spouse of a suspected al-Qaida terrorist "What's it like being married to a man who has spent 13 years in UK prisons fighting deportation to the US on terrorism charges – and seeing him finally lose that battle? In an extract from Victoria Brittain's book, Ragaa, the wife of Adel Abdul Bary, tells of the prison visits, the battles with bureaucracy and the struggles to raise a family under extraordinary pressures."

Guilty: the terror ringleaders who plotted another 9/11

Independent, Guilty: the terror ringleaders who plotted another 9/11, 21 Feb 2013 "The ringleaders of a Birmingham-based extremist cell whose deadly ambitions were matched only by their incompetence are facing life terms after the unravelling of their plot for a terrorist spectacular to rival the September 11 attacks."

New and noted: "E-Arranged Marriages: How have Muslim matrimonial websites affected traditional Islamic courting methods?"

Ayesha Ahmed, E-Arranged Marriages: How have Muslim matrimonial websites affected traditional Islamic courting methods? (LSE Electronic MSc Dissertation Series, No 93, 2012) [PDF] "The aim of this study was to examine the effects and impact that online Muslim matrimonial websites have on traditional Islamic courting methods. Through a thematic analysis of semistructured interviews with a sample of second generation British Asian Muslims, this study aimed to achieve an insight into how orthodox and traditional Islamic methods of finding a spouse are being challenged amongst this diaspora." I have just been alerted to this study, so haven't read it yet. The findings look useful.

Newport man can keep Islamic sign on home

Newport man can keep Islamic sign on home, South Wales Argus "Mahmood Ali won an appeal against a decision by Newport planners to refuse consent for a green Arabic sign that gives the declaration of the muslim faith on his Chepstow Road house."

UK Muslim MPs scared after voting for gay marriage bill

UK Muslim MPs scared after voting for gay marriage bill - thenews.com.pk "Extremist websites are abuzz against Muslim members of the British parliament who voted in favour of gay marriage legislation and there are fears that the Muslim parliamentarians could face serious hostility after clerics issued fatwas against these MPs declaring them “apostates”."

National Theatre Wales’ De Gabay To Link Butetown, Cardiff With Global Somali Diaspora Through Poetry, Video And Music, Over Three Days

Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation | National Theatre Wales’ De Gabay To Link Butetown, Cardiff With Global Somali Diaspora Through Poetry, Video And Music, Over Three Days: sounds like an interesting event in Cardiff!

Research: Taking Part: Muslim Participation in Contemporary Governance

Bristol University | Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship | Research outputs: Taking Part: Muslim Participation in Contemporary Governance (January 2013)

"This final report provides the main findings from the most comprehensive study to date on UK Muslim-government relations, which included an analysis of public policy since 1997, a total of 112 interviews with key policymakers and Muslim civil society actors, and in-depth local case studies of Birmingham, Leicester, and Tower Hamlets, London.  The Report describes how British Muslims have been taking part in governance in the three policy fields of equality, diversity & cohesion; faith sector governance; and security (including the Prevent Strategy).  It describes how modes of Muslim representation have developed into a broader 'democratic constellation' ""

PDF link here

Halal food certification worries UK Muslims

Halal food certification worries UK Muslims | MuslimVillage.com "Following recent fiasco surrounding pork traces found in halal food, the relation between Lancashire Council of Mosques and the city council has come to a deadlock after raising concerns about the certification of halal food supplied to schools."

"How do I deal with my daughter, 7, being told she has the 'wrong skin colour'?"

Irna Qureshi, The Northerner Blog, Guardian, How do I deal with my daughter, 7, being told she has the 'wrong skin colour'? :

Muslims find a 'shtender' at UK Jewish study confab

Muslims find a 'shtender' at UK Jewish study confab | The Times of Israel "In the early days of Limmud, organizers tended to focus the inter-religious encounter on Christian Jewish relations, but over the past few years the thrust has shifted from Christians to Muslims. Lawton said that probably reflects the growing interest of the audience in issues pertaining to Islam."

Islamophobia in contemporary Britain

The FINANCIAL - Islamophobia in contemporary Britain, 11 Feb 2013  "Even though two years have passed since a high-profile politician like Warsi highlighted the problem, it appears little has changed, which is why in January 2013, she again made public comments explaining that Muslims are still marginalised in British society."

'Preachers of hate on British TV'

Telegraph, Preachers of hate on British TV: what they said that broke the broadcasting rules "Muslim fundamentalists have been found breaching the strict rules on what can be broadcast on the airwaves in Britain, by inciting violence and intolerance."

Halal food issues

BBC News, Q&A: Meat contamination, 6 Feb 2013 "The food industry is attempting to reassure consumers after horsemeat was found in burgers, and halal food was found to be contaminated with pork. One MP has suggested the recent cases could be just the tip of the iceberg." Related: BBC News, Supplier of halal meat containing pork DNA is named, 3 Feb 2013

Opinion piece: Muslim Patrols: Urban Britain’s Newest Street Gang?

Palash Ghosh, IBT, Muslim Patrols: Urban Britain’s Newest Street Gang?, 6 Feb 2013 "In recent weeks, British media have reported on so-called “Muslim Patrols” in parts of London in which Muslim youths harass, badger, bother and even physically assault anyone in their neighborhoods whom they believe are violating their extremist, fundamentalist version of Islam as embodied by Sharia law." Opinion piece by Palash Ghosh.