The New Nation - Internet Edition

Showcasing success

Anealla Safdar and Abdul Adil

As Muslim guests from all walks of life arrived at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane in Mayfair on March 25, they were able to leave more than just their coats and bags at the cloak room. On entering the eighth The Muslim News Awards for Excellence, they could also shed their permanent 'Muslim in a Western world' exterior, and really enjoy celebrating one another's achievements. For the next four hours, they did not have to explain why women wear the hijab, they did not have to defend Prophet Muhammad's (pbuh) honour, they did not have to justify their sympathy and sadness for the atrocities committed in the Middle East. No, they were there to enjoy a truly inspiring, motivational, proud yet humbling experience.

From every racial and religious background, peace campaigners, charity executives, business men and women, students, members of the media and more politicians in one room together then you'll ever see anywhere else, gathered to enjoy a presentation of Muslims in a rare positive light. Poetic Pilgrimage, a hip hop act consisting of two young sisters, Muneera and Sukina, provided the entertainment for the night with a performance that was refreshingly emotive for an otherwise formal event; with daringly political lyrics that created an atmosphere of delectable incongruity amongst the suited diplomats and ministers.

The Muslim News launched its first awards ceremony in 2000, marking the 10th anniversary of publication as Britain's leading Muslim newspaper, when the guest of honour was International Development Secretary, Clare Short. Following on, the Awards for Excellence has been attended by high profile guests including Prime Minister, Tony Blair, the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, and His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales.

This year, as always, the wide variety of guests, peppered throughout the audience, made for an interesting mix. These included Guest of Honour, Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, London mayoral candidates, Boris Johnson and Brian Paddick (Ken Livingstone was unable to attend due to other engagements), Yvonne Ridley, nasheed artist Khaleel Mohammed, Shadow Foreign Secretary, William Hague, Liberal Democrat Shadow Chancellor and Deputy Leader, Vincent Cable and peace activist Brian Haw, to name just a few. Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, and boxing hero Amir Khan, who won the sports award, were there in spirit, but the audience made do with their video messages.

"This is easily the most prestigious occasion in the Muslim calendar," Press TV journalist Yvonne Ridley told The Muslim News, admitting that her dislike for politicians' hypocrisy has in the past prevented her from attending.

Miliband, ever the emphatic and skilled orator, talked positively about integration and immigration in his speech, relating his own experience as a second generation Jewish immigrant. "Stories of the people in this room are inspiring about what our country can be," he said. "By celebrating the many contributions of those that represent the best of Britain, we can inspire others and also show that we are a nation in which British Muslims are an integral part of our society: in politics, business and social life."

As each of the 16 awards was presented, the 800-strong audience was able to put, as The Muslim News Editor, Ahmed J Versi, put it "another difficult year" behind them.

Versi, himself awarded with a standing ovation for masterminding and putting together such a worthy and successful event, said in his welcoming speech that the Awards had now become a very significant and important event for the Muslim community's calendar, "especially at a time when our citizenship and level of contribution are being unduly questioned and unfairly scrutinised" and that therefore such occasions "not only challenge misconceptions and stereotypes but give the existing British Muslim community something to be proud of."

The shortlist and winners were picked by an independent panel of seven distinguished judges, from varied backgrounds and walks of life (see The Muslim News No 226), who sifted through the plethora of nominations made by the general public. Excellence was awarded in 15 categories, ranging from science and engineering to community development and arts.

Labour MP for Tooting, Sadiq Khan, got a loud ovation as he picked up the award for citizenship for his role in campaigning on behalf of the Muslim electorate and mentoring potential Muslim MPs. Khan recently made the headlines after he was bugged on two separate occasions when visiting his constituent Babar Ahmad. His acceptance speech was quite vehement as he warned of what lay ahead for British Muslims. "You will see Muslims being demonised. You will see our faith being demonised," he said. "I want you to look around. I want you to use this evening as an antidote when that occurs."

In his video message, Gordon Brown said, "These awards celebrate the achievements of British Muslims in all walks of life. They identify Muslim achievers and highlight the wonderful contribution that British Muslims make," and added his admiration for the team of mainly young women volunteers he remembered from his attendance as Guest of Honour at The Muslim News Awards 2005, the same volunteers who work tirelessly and efficiently every year to make the awards a success.

Conservative Leader, David Cameron, sent his best wishes to everyone attending. "These Awards have gone from strength to strength over the last eight years. This is testament both to The Muslim News and the organisers of the awards, and to the huge contribution which Muslim people make to British society," he said. Liberal Democrat Leader, Nick Clegg, who also couldn't attend, said the event "serves an excellent role in providing Muslims across Britain with role models that that can inspire them" and at the same time "demonstrates that in modern Britain Muslims can, and do, thrive in the widest possible spectrum of contemporary life."

The winners received a beautifully and intricately designed brass astrolabe. The astrolabe was a highly developed tool used throughout the Muslim world to measure the altitude of stars and planets; by the eighth century they were used to aid navigation, to locate the qiblah (the direction Muslims face when praying), to calculate the lunar calendar and to assess meteorological conditions.

One of the winners of the Ummul Mu'minin Khadijah award for excellence in enterprise, Nasser Saleem, said, "One of the things that Muslim companies need is reassurance that their brand is authentic," something, Ahmed said, this award will now give him. "It's events like this that are going to help us to really be taken seriously," he added.

A warm sense of unity descended on the evening as William Hague noted when he presented an award: he marveled at the "cross-party unanimity about the merits of this occasion and these awards. It is a rare thing you have achieved…It is special that Vince Cable and I sat applauding the message from Gordon Brown. That is a very rare thing indeed." This cross-party unity, he added, perhaps proved that without the media propaganda, hype and hyperbole, Muslims in the UK would increasingly be seen as a true asset to this country.

The mayoral candidates were not without their brimming praise, either (or transparent campaign lines). Boris Johnson lamented the world's forgetfulness of medieval Spanish convivencia, paying homage to such historical figures as Avicenna (Ibn Sina) and Averroes (Ibn Rushd), and said that if he was Mayor, London would reflect this same convivencia. Brian Paddick, who on the other hand expressed his distaste for patent campaigning at such events, said that, "The country is a much better place for having a Muslim community."

"This is really more than an awards show," said journalist and winner of the media award, Alan Johnston. "There are fewer issues at the moment that are more important," he added. Having become a bit of an international hero after being held captive for 114 days in Gaza last year, Johnston left his dinner to meet and mingle with his hoard of eager admirers. As guests mingled and enjoyed their three-course meal, the atmosphere was brimming with excitement and friendly warmth, despite there being strictly not a drop of alcohol available, in keeping with Muslim etiquette.

Shortlisted Brian Haw's partner and fellow peace campaigner, Barbara Tucker, said, "It's a great event, it's bringing people together in a positive light. It's a mix of all different sorts of people, embracing the creativity of the human spirit and recognising all the things that people do."

(Source: Muslimnews, London)

Dialogue with politicians

A Special Correspondent

They should be hotbeds of radical thought and free thinking, but with guidelines introduced recently on tackling extremism on campuses and recommendations that academics monitor students for signs of involvement in extremist activity or radicalisation, how far British universities can take pride in their tradition of academic freedom is of growing concern to academics, student bodies and students.

Little surprise, then, that The Muslim News' initiative on a 'Dialogue with politicians', jointly hosted by the Editor of The Muslim News, Ahmed J Versi, and Government Whip, Sadiq Khan MP, should attract an inquisitive and apprehensive crowd of predominantly young Muslims. Last month's dialogue featured Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities & Skills, John Denham, Shadow Minister for Higher Education, Rob Wilson, and Liberal Democrat Shadow Secretary for Innovation, Universities & Skills, Stephen Williams.

The reissuing of guidance to universities on tackling extremism on campus, 'Promoting good campus relations, fostering shared values and preventing violent extremism in Universities and Higher Education Colleges', was, with good cause, the main subject of the evening.

The Secretary of State was at pains to point out that the guidance was a necessary and desirable contribution to the state of campus relations and something requested by Higher Education (HE) bodies themselves as they struggle to prevent violent extremism from germinating in the relative security of Britain's universities. The need for the document was defended on grounds of its going beyond the emphasis on terrorism prevention to focus on the role of HE institutions in developing and sustaining the shared values that are fundamental to Britain's future as a multicultural society.

With growing numbers of students entering higher education in the UK - figures suggest that the introduction of variable fees has not thwarted the ambitions of those set on going to university from attaining their goal - the Government believes HE institutions play a critical role in the development and exercise of the shared values that underpin British society. It is the experience of questioning, debating, of open and free argument at university that provides a forum for the teaching and embracing of those values essential to peaceful coexistence and robust dialogue.

Laudable as these intentions are, Faisal Hanjra, Federation of Students' Islamic Societies representative, queried whether the Government in focussing on campuses was not overstating the issue and creating a problem where one did not actually exist. Raising the question of an earlier draft of the guidance document, which laid heavy emphasis on Muslim students, he claimed that the stigmatisation felt by Muslims at the disproportionate focus on them as a student group did much to undermine the very basis of good campus relations that the Government aimed to foster.

And criticising the Opposition Party's endorsement of a report authored by Director of the Brunel Centre for Intelligence and Security Studies, Professor Anthony Glees, on campus extremism, Hanjra noted the weakness of both the report's content and its poor academic rigour. That the Opposition Party should make use of its findings to inform their own policies, was of some concern, Hanjra said.

Echoing similar sentiments, Ruhana Ali, Education and Welfare Officer at LSE Students Union, pointed out that the guidance document, with its mention of prayer rooms and the encouragement of Muslim women into leadership posts, could not defensibly be seen as a document that was applicable to all groups on campus in a fair and equal manner.

Rob Wilson, responding to a question on the published guidance, underlined the difficulty of evading the victimisation of Muslim students and achieving the goal of protecting both students and HE institutions. He acknowledged that there persisted a perception that Muslims were being singled out and that this would need to be addressed, though he admitted a considerable improvement in the published version over the earlier draft.

Stephen Williams added that the guidance document should be equally and robustly applied to all ideologies that made use of violent extremism as a means to their ends, including animal rights groups, if the perception of victimisation among Muslims was to be overcome.

While the threat assessment might indeed suggest that al-Qa'ida remains the Government's main concern as it works to "strengthen the resilience of communities against forces that would tear them apart, enabling them to resist extremist influence and root out terrorism," the balance it needs to strike between working with communities and not against them has not yet been reached it would seem.

Other issues raised during the evening included the responsibility of universities in meeting the needs of their diverse student populations. The panel was asked whether universities had a duty to provide prayer rooms, chaplains and halal meat for their Muslim students in keeping with recommendations made in a report authored by Dr Ataullah Siddiqui. Rob Wilson in characteristic Conservative fashion took a free market approach, arguing that if universities hoped to attract Muslim students in our fee paying age, they needed to meet the needs of all their students.

Of equal concern to those present was the issue of low educational achievement by ethnic minority students and graduate unemployment in the minority communities.

The Secretary of State spelt out various initiatives that the Government is working on to widen the participation of students from underprivileged backgrounds. He went on to argue that there was a lack of sufficient understanding as to why certain ethnic groups performed badly over all other groups when factors such as poverty and prior attainment were accounted for. The need to foster aspirations earlier on in the lives of children, from around 10 to 14 years of age, in order to ensure that the university option is one that is conceived early on, is among work being done to counter the disparity in levels of educational attainment across ethnic groups in Britain.

And on the matter of graduate unemployment, while national statistics suggest that graduates from ethnic groups perform reasonably well or better than their White British counterparts (75% of British Asian graduates are in employment within three years of graduation, while the figure is 74% for Whites and 67% for Blacks) the problem of high local unemployment among ethnic minority graduates is not known.

Stephen Williams pointed to the choice of institution and choice of degree programme as contributing factors to low levels of educational achievement and graduate unemployment in the minority communities. Building high aspirations in students from these communities is essential to countering these trends, he stated.

The whole session was masterfully chaired by Mehdi Hasan, an editor at Channel 4. His witty yet serious approach to the issues at hand, ensuring that awkward questions were given their due while never losing an opportunity to inject light humour into the evening's proceedings, was a welcome change from more overbearing Chairs.

If interest in British politics amongst the younger generation and participation in political debate with those elected to represent them is waning, initiatives such as this dialogue with political leaders is an important and rewarding step in the right direction. It is through forums such as these that politicians are more likely to win the hearts and minds of British Muslim citizens and strengthen their pride in and commitment to the democratic tradition.

(Source: Muslim News, London)

Gaza and Goliath

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the Nakba, when over 750,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes in a systematic campaign. Jewish forces seized 78 per cent of British Mandate Palestine to create the state of Israel. By 1967, Israel launched its third major war of aggression, invading and occupying Gaza and the West Bank, including all of Jerusalem. Since then, the Palestinians have been forced to endure the most appalling repression under military occupation, being subject to almost daily bombardment, massacres, destruction of homes and farms and illegal settlement on their land, all in contempt of international law.

Gaza has been subjected to a crippling siege since Israel's supposed withdrawal from the region over two years ago. The economic blockade is destroying power plants, schools and civilian infrastructure, whilst cutting off basic fuel supplies. The serious restriction on movement within, to and from the Occupied Territories has led Gaza to be commonly described as the world's largest open-air prison. This month, a coalition of British aid agencies and human rights groups described Gaza as suffering its worst humanitarian crisis since the Occupation.

This already very beleaguered Gaza was subjected this month to another Israeli military onslaught involving tanks, helicopter gunships and missile-firing airborne drones, in which over 100 Palestinians were massacred, half of whom were civilians, and a quarter of whom were children. All this was in response to Hamas rocket fire which killed one Israeli civilian. Israel's Deputy Defence Minister, Matan Vilnai's threat of a "shoah" or holocaust against the Palestinians was realised. In some cases civilians were deliberately targeted: the killing of the six-month-old baby Muhammad al-Bur'i, at the family's home in the Rimal section of Gaza, occurred amidst the shelling of the nearby Interior Ministry building- a civilian target. This response was not so much disproportionate, as vindictive. Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, however, didn't feel the need to criticise the Israeli response at all, let alone condemn it.

The coalition of British NGOs urged the UK and EU to condemn the blockade and called on former British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, representing the Middle East Quartet, to break his silence and make a statement on the extent of the humanitarian crisis. Other recommendations by the humanitarian groups include engagement with the Hamas, which has been subjected to an international boycott since winning the Palestinian parliamentary elections two years ago. Their appeal follows a report by John Dugard, the UN special rapporteur on Palestinian human rights in the occupied territories, in which he described Palestinian terrorism as the "inevitable consequence" of Israeli occupation and laws that resemble apartheid.

The 60 years of injustices against the Palestinians has been littered by series of peace initiatives, which have not only resulted in abject failure but used as a excuse for Israel to maintain its illegal occupation. From Madrid to Oslo, the Hebron and Wye River agreements, to the so-called 2002 Road to Peace and more recent Annapolis last November. The progression has supposedly focused on a two-state solution. But all have increasingly been based upon appeasing Israeli belligerence, despite it being recognised as the greatest threat to world peace and stability.

For our Foreign Secretary to insist that Israel's right to security and self-defense is "clear and must be reiterated and supported" in the wake of the latest massacres is nothing short of obscene. It is a bewildering twist of balance in Britain's claimed neutrality towards the Middle East conflict. Deliberately omitted is not only Israel's blatant defiance of international law but its illegal military occupation that has extended to produce the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. It is beyond any sense of morality to impose an ever-crippling economic blockade, destroy power plants, schools and other civilian infrastructure, while cutting off basic fuel supplies.

It seems Israel will continue to occupy Palestinian territories and more innocent lives will continue be lost on both sides. Only the US can put a stop to this. Whether the new President will be brave enough to bring about a change only time will tell. Meanwhile, the imprisoned Palestinians will continue to suffer.

(Source: Muslim News, London)