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EditorialA British Islam?

You will see from the contents of this issuethat despite exams and course-workdeadlines our young people have beenfairly busy over the past few months. Theyhave for example visited Prince Charles,experienced a Quran’ic Garden and havebeen involved in public discussions onPreventing Violent extremism. I’ll let youread the details in the magazine but fornow I want to pay tribute to a man thatcomprehensively squared the circle on thedebate surrounding identity, integrationand British Islam.

A couple of months ago I was honoured toattend a memorial event for the lateHasan Gai Eaton, who had passed away on26th of February 2010. Anyone who knewhim, or like me, took inspiration from hiswritings, will mourn the departure of thisunique embodiment of British Islam.

Born in Switzerland on January 1, 1921,and educated at Charterhouse School andthen at King's College, Cambridge, he wascommissioned into the British Armyduring the Second World War. He laterassumed the varied roles of actor,university lecturer, journalist, writer andfinally diplomat in Ghana, India, Egypt andJamaica, where he married CorahHamilton, a Jamaican Artist.

Eaton’s first book, The Richest Vein,published in 1949, revealed the extent ofhis universality. His embrace of Islam, in1951, did not in any way diminish hisuniversality; rather it cultivated more fullyhis deep reverence and love of all majorfaith traditions. His second major book,King of the Castle (1977), was apenetrating critique of atheisticmaterialism and its accompanying modesof thought in the light of values proper toall authentic religious traditions. But itwas Islam and the Destiny of Man whichestablished his reputation as one of themost serious Islamic thinkers of hisgeneration. In this work, and the onewhich followed, Remembering God, heprovided a profound spiritual vision ofIslamic faith and civilization. For EatonIslam was above all a path of innertransformation, the cultivation of virtue,the deepening of one’s remembrance ofGod. The only Islamic ‘state’ thatconcerned him was a spiritual state ofmind. He demonstrated with engaging witand impeccable logic the extent to whichall forms of Muslim extremism deviatedfrom the norms intended by the Islamicrevelation and upheld by the Islamictradition.

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His identity as an Englishman was notsubverted but deepened by Islam, whichmade him more acutely conscious ofthose traditional values which enhancedthe spiritual character of society. Astrong supporter of the monarchy, astaunch upholder of the traditionalfamily structure, and an unwaveringproponent of British independence fromEurope, this archetypal Englishman ofaristocratic mien demonstrated farmore effectively than any amount oftheory that Islamic faith is fullycompatible with British identity. Eaton’sIslam was of a rigorously inward,spiritual nature. He refused to conformto the dictates of any ethnic or culturalmodel imported from abroad, whetherArab or Pakistani, and remained in hisoutward comportment and lifestyleimpeccably British. It was precisely thisharmonious integration of his Britishidentity within his Islamic faith thatrendered him so attractive a model forBritish Muslims to emulate. His lifedemonstrated that authentic Islam, farfrom destroying or diminishingidentification with one’s indigenousculture, on the contrary leads one toappreciate more deeply and to enhanceall that is noble, beautiful and goodtherein. To the specious argument thatIslam is inherently incompatible withtraditional British values, Gai Eatonprovided an eloquent living refutation.

His body rests in the Muslim cemeteryin Woking next to that of his foremostmentor Martin Lings and other Great British Muslims including:Mamaduke Pickthall, William Quilliam, &Abdullah Yusuf Ali.

Contents

Page 5 Islam and the environment - HRH Prince Charles

Page 7 King Offa’s coin – Islamic Inscription on an English coin

Page 9 21st Century British Identity - Seminar

Page 10 Book of the Month

Page 11 Quranic Garden at Kew

Page 12 Launch of MY Magazine

Page 13 Review of MUJU

Page 15 Visit to Discover Islam Exhibition

Page 17 Evening with Zain Bikha

Page 18 PVE- Question Time

Page 20 Snapshot of groups

Page 22 Meet the Team

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On Wednesday 9th of June weattended a lecture by Prince Charleson: ‘Islam and the Environment’ atOxford University.

The lecture was hosted by the OxfordCentre for Islamic Studies, took placein the Sheldonian Theatre, which waspacked with around a thousandpeople. Although out view was quitepoor, His speech was very inspiringespecially for those of us interested inculture and the views that people haveof other religions. It gave people fromdifferent cultures the opportunity tonot only meet a member of the Royalfamily, but to get an insight of whatIslam is about from someone from anon-Muslim background.

As Patron of Oxford Centre for IslamicStudies he was invited to deliver thislecture to mark its 25th anniversary.He began his lecture by praising thework done by OXCIS, in particular theYoung Muslim leadership programme.He also talked about the need to helpUK’s minority communities and faithgroups integrate into British Societyand to build good relationshipsbetween all faith communities.

He talked about the importance for usall to realise the damage whichmankind is doing to the environmentand take steps to change as people,before it is too late. The Princementioned that all religionsencourage caring for theenvironment. The Prince said, “Whenwe hear talk of an environmentalcrisis or even of a financial crisis, Iwould suggest that this is actuallydescribing the outward consequencesof a deeper, inner crisis of the soul…It is a crisis in our relationship with,and perception of nature, and is bornof Western culture being dominatedfor at least 200 years by a mechanisticand reductionist approach to ourscientific understanding of the worldaround us,”

He told the audience that we couldlearn from what Islam has to sayabout caring for the environment. Hesaid “The Islamic world is the

Islam and theEnvironment - HRH Prince Charles

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custodian of one of the greatesttreasures of accumulated wisdom andspiritual knowledge available tohumanity… From what I know of theQur'an, again and again it describesthe natural world as the handiwork ofa unitary benevolent power… It offersa completely integrated view of theUniversewhere religion and science,mind and matter are all part of oneliving, conscious whole… Thissuggests to me that Nature is aknowing partner, never a mindlessslave to humanity, and we are hertenants; God's guests for all too shorta time.”

The Prince said that many people inthe West view tradition and traditionalwisdom of the kind seen in theteachings of the great faiths of theworld as separate from progress. Forhim “The Modernist ideology that hasdominated the Western outlook for acentury implies that “tradition” is‘backward-looking’. What I have triedto explain today is that this is far fromtrue. Tradition is the accumulation ofthe knowledge and wisdom that weshould be offering to the nextgeneration. It is, therefore, visionary –it looks forward.”

He ended by saying “There is aprofound truth in that seeminglysimple, old saying of the nomads –that “the best of all Mosques is Natureherself”.Overall it was a great day out and itgave us young people the chance tosee what one of the most highly ratedUniversity in the world is like.

By Samuel Kayila

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A Remarkable Coin

On a recent trip to the British Museumwe were given the opportunity to seea remarkable English coin of theMiddle Ages. This unique gold coin ofOffa, king of Mercia is remarkablebecause it imitates a gold dinar of thecaliph al-Mansur, ruler of the IslamicAbbasid dynasty.

Although the Arabic inscription is notcopied perfectly, it is clear that theoriginal from which it was copied wasstruck in the Islamic year AH 157 (AD773-74).

The purpose of the coin is uncertain.It has been suggested that it wasmade as a gift for the pope (it was firstrecorded in Rome), but it is unlikelythat any Christian king would havesent the pope a coin with and inscription stating that 'there is noGod but Allah alone'. It is more likelythat it was designed for use in trade.

Islamic gold dinars were the mostimportant coinage in theMediterranean at the time. Offa's coinlooked enough like the original that itwould be readily accepted in southernEurope, while at the same time hisown name was clearly visible.

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This amazing coin has generatedmuch discussion among students andit is classified as being one of therarest coins in the world. I found thisto be an interesting exhibition anddiscovered an article summarising anumber of academic papersregarding this coin. From my readingI discovered there are manyexplanations for the Arabicinscription. Some of these theoriesare:

A. That Offa had converted to Islam,and declared his new faith bystamping the Kalima, or IslamicConfessionof Faith, on his coins.

B. Due to many pilgrims migratingfrom England to Palestine, and thegrowing domination of Muslims, thecoin was created to assist the pilgrimsin trading in Palestine.

C. The Arabic words were just a way ofclearly identifying the coin asbelonging to Offa.

In my opinion, the first theory is voidas all Offa’s other coins were stampedwith a cross or his face which is notconsidered to be Islamic. Therefore

the other two theories are closer toexplaining the reasoning behind theArabic script on the coin.

I have to admit; I did not think therewould be a great deal of interestingmaterial for me to see at the Museumbut I was proven wrong. I wasfascinated to see Arabic inscription onan English coin which was made soearly in the Islamic civilisation. Thistrip to the Museum was an eye openeras it inspired me to explore this topicfurther. This is not my usual area ofinterest but through this visit I havelearnt a great deal and realised howhistory can make a difference to theway we view the world around us.

By Sayed Ahmed

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21st CenturyBritish Identity

Seminar for London’s youthWe were invited to the Dragon Hall fora seminar tiled: ‘21st Century BritishIdentity’. The Dragon Hall hosted theseminar in partnership with FC Unity,an organisation that attempts tointegrate and inspire young people bycreating athletic, artistic and culturalopportunities mainly in Britain andIraq.

The lecture was by Dr. Ruth Adams, aprofessor of Cultural and CreativeIndustries at Kings College London.Dr. Adams specializes in thestructures of cultural organisationsand social class as related to peopleand societies, with a particular focuson youth subcultures and ideologies.Dr. Adams’ lecture ‘What does it meanto be British in 21st Century Britain?’explored the reality of British Identityin 21st century Britain’s increasinglydiverse ethnic composition.

Immediately following the lecture wehad some refreshment and then webroke into three groups for aninteractive seminar to respond to thelecture and voice our own thoughts onwhat being British means to us.In our group we were exploring thesubject of British identity, we werediscussing how the British cultureinfluence our identity although wemaybe from an ethnic background.

The way it seemed in our group,individuals’ attachment with theirfamily, community and societyinfluence their character. The roots ofthe family and the development of thecommunity as well as the modernchallenges and opportunities within asocial circumstance play an importantpart in forming individual’s identity.

Individuals in our group were heavilyinfluenced by their day to dayencounters in life. These real lifeexperiences, over time, may havecontributed in building theirpersonality. Some felt it wasimportant to identify themselves bywho they are and where they are fromwhile other felt it was defined by theenvironment they founds themselvesin. We also discussed how the mediaalso plays an important part in thisportrayal.

By Rayhan

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King of the Castle Book Review -

Choice and Responsibility

in the Modern World

Gai Eaton

This book examines closely many of the

unquestioned assumptions by which we live our

lives, comparing them with the beliefs that have

shaped and guided human life in the past.

Concentrating on the traditional view of man as

‘God’s Viceroy on Earth’, the author discusses

human responsibility and choice in the modern

world.

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On the 3rd of May 2010, we visited the“Qur’anic Gardens” exhibition at KewGardens. The exhibition featureddifferent plant species that arementioned in the Holy Qur’an. It wasopened by HRH the Prince of Wales.As well as opening the exhibition,Prince Charles planted a Sidra Treesapling with Qatari royal SheikhaMozah as a statement of a culturaland educational partnership betweenthe UK and Qatar.

The exhibition was created as asymbol of collaboration between KewGardens and The State of Qatar,where some of the plants originatefrom. Plants include: olive trees,displays of sweet basil, date palm,barley and henna. Kew Gardens havesaid they will conserve the seeds ofthe plants from Qatar, in theirMillennium Seed Bank for futureresearch. The exhibition also includeda 6 pointed star shape fountain as thecentre piece.

The temporary exhibition gardenopened to the public on the 9th April2010 and was due to close on the 5thof May 2010.

By Amal Adam

Quranic Garden

at Kew

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Launch of

MY MagazineOn the 30th March 2010, Camden’sMuslim Youth group attended ashowcase event hosted by FitzroviaYouth in Action (FYA). At this showcaseevent we were given the chance tolaunch our first edition of the MY(Muslim Youth) Magazine. This was anexciting time for us as it gave us thechance to spread the news on whatwe’ve achieved as a group over the 3months leading up to that event. Twomembers of MY Project, Juhela andTijen, proudly stood up on stage andspoke to the heart-warming audience.We were lucky to be given a goodresponse from the audience, and itseemed that people were surprised bythe amount of work we had done oversuch little amount of time!

Apart from us launching ourmagazine during the event, therewere a number of other presentationsmade by other groups at thisshowcase event. We found ourselveswatching a documentary made by agroup of teenage parents, called‘Little Ones’, which gave us an insightinto the realities of life that teenageparents face. We also watched minifilms about conflicts in the streetsbetween young people, the effects ofdrugs on a person’s mental healthand many more! Overall, the eveningwas very fun and educational.

By Vlera Agoli and Mina Begum

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Review of

MUJUOn Sunday the 23rd of May we watched a theatre production at the TricycleTheatre in Kilburn. The production was presented by a Muslim-Jewishgroup called MUJU Crew. their performances included a short story,comic sketches and a stand up comedian.

For me, personally, I enjoyed the stand up comedian most. NabilAbdulrashid a Nigerian-Muslim stand up comedian was absolutelyhilarious and is said to be one of the most exceptional talents among hisgeneration of up and coming stand up comedians. His performance didnot last for long, however he left the whole audience laughing and wantingmore. The jokes that he told were based around religion, youth issues andNigerian culture.

The production started off with a short story (Walls) about two friends,one Muslim and the other Jewish, the story is presented in a drama-comicgenre and through its humour explores the close relationship two boysshare and how their religions may present dilemmas that affect theirfriendship.

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The third part of the production(Extreme Prevention), consisted ofcomic sketches that were all religionbased, mainly focusing on jokesregarding Islam. The sketches variedfrom being very funny to ‘extremely’funny, and all of us thoroughly enjoyedthem. There was a bit in there aboutpreventing extremism gone mad witha doctor that seems to have detecteda premature religious extremist whilescanning a pregnant lady duringpregnancy.

On the whole it was a very goodevening out and we were lucky to seetalented actors and performerspresent their production. Above all it

was very good top see Muslims andJews working together in a verypositive way. It proves that it’s not allabout politics and conflict.

By Juhela

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Discover Islam EventDiscover Islam is an educationalorganisation based in Londondedicated to peace, harmony andgoodwill. This is done throughpromoting a better understanding ofIslam within community by organizingvarious activities and open days. Onesuch event was hosted in Lambeth onSunday 16th May 2010 in Lambeth. Wewent along to see how they weredoing things. We were greeted by oneof the co-ordinators, Nayaf Sheikh.

He explained that there is a negativeportrayal of Islam in the media andthe aim of the event, which is aimed atall members of society, is to createbetter community cohesion byclearing the misconceptions about thereligion.

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He further went on to say: ‘we aim topromote the values that are taught inIslam and show how our religion isabout peace and goodwill’ and sitedthe example of the Muslims of Spain“who lived there for 800 hundredyears without any problems, what isstopping that in happening here...nothing!...”

The audience seemed to enjoy theexperience and leave with a betterunderstanding of Islam. An event likethis in Camden would be verybeneficial as it will enhanceawareness of Islam in the localcommunity enabling us to understandeach other better and develop culturalharmony in the borough.

By Faisal Ahmed

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Evening with

Zain Bhikha

On the 29th May we attended aFamilies Relief charity event, ‘AnEvening with Zain Bhikha andFriends’. The event had a very positiveand varied turnout, with people fromall different backgrounds, and agesfrom all over the UK attending. Theevent marked the 15th anniversary ofFamilies Relief, a charity committedto helping families and communitiesacross the world in desperate need offood, water, shelter, and sanitation.Furthermore the charity helps toencourage these families to buildingtheir own livelihoods and engage inteaching and learning to empowerthem. The purpose of the event was tohighlight the plight of those familiesacross the world and to raise moneyto allow them to them continue thecharity’s commendable work.

The event was held at Logan Hall atthe prestigious Institute of Educationin Russell Square. Many notableMuslim artists from around the worldcame to perform including NaderKhan, Khaleel Muhammed, PrinceAbdi, and Hamza Robertson. The mainguest of the evening was Zain Bhikha,from South Africa. He performedsongs from his new album, includinga song called ‘Zamilooni’ whichexplores the beauty of the ProphetMuhammad’s relationship with hiswife Khadijah, particularly in times ofhardship. Zain Bhikha also sang asong with his son Rashid Bhikhacalled ‘First We Need The Love’.

Overall the event was engaging, funand had a very positive vibe,highlighting the plea of those whodon’t have a voice yet need so muchhelp.

By Farhana Ali

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PVE Question

The Police ‘Preventing ViolentExtremism’ team in Camdenorganised a Question Time event togive the community an opportunity todiscuss the ‘Prevent’ agenda in theborough and air their feelings on thematter. This was the second suchevent that we were involved in. Thelast one was held at Kingsway collegefor students who study there. Thepanel consisted of our ownMuhammad Chowdhury, a PreventLead from the Police, a localcouncillor, a person from the activechange foundation and we wereexpecting someone from the HomeOffice but they were unable to make it.

The audience consisted of youngpeople, local communityrepresentatives and local counsellors.A lot of time was spent on discussingthe ‘Channel Panel’, a referralprocess by which local authorities canidentify potential extremists. Althoughit is not fully operational in Camdenyet, the audience began by asking therepresentative from ‘Channel’ aboutexplaining how ‘Channel’ works andwhether it has been successful.

Another young member of theaudience challenged the panel on theissue of confidentiality. She claimedthat it will be impossible for them tohelp anyone as the organisations thatare involved with PVE and Channel donot practice confidentiality. Membersof the panel insisted that every singleyoung person they have worked withwas treated in the most sensitivemanner as this is a sensitive situation.Other members of the audience wereconcerned with whether theirgrievances will be taken seriously andhow they will be used to make positivechanges.

Another young man of Somali originexpressed his grievance about beingstopped at the airport on his way backfrom visiting family in Somalia. Heexplained that he felt it was reallyunfair that he was stopped and hadhis DNA taken simply because of thefact that he is a Muslim and the officerthat stopped him for nine hours madethat very clear. He also stated thatalthough he understands that securityis an important issue, we all need tobe treated fairly and accept the factthat racial profiling is not fair.

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Time Event

The local Councillor Abdul Hai whowas present in the audiencereassured the young members of theaudience by stating that the localcouncillors are here to listen to theirgrievances and offered to set up ayoung Muslim forum to help youngpeople to air their concerns.

Overall, the event was quiteinformative, however, almost all theexamples

of ‘Channel’ were from WalthamForest . The context of that borough isdifferent to Camden therefore oneshould keep in mind that a model thatworks in Waltham Forest may notnecessarily work in Camden. Theregional differences, the economicdifferences and the differences in theattitude of the young people should allbe taken into consideration.

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Snap-shot Camden Muslim Participation projecthas been very successful indeveloping a good relationship withvarious groups of young people acrossthe borough. We hold weekly sessionsto provide young people a platform todiscuss their concerns and debatevarious issues. The sessions so farhave been extremely lively, fascinatingand educational as each young personbrings in their own perspective andideas. With their diverse backgroundsand experiences, the young people areable to create a basis ofunderstanding among each otherwhich has allowed everyone includingthe youth workers to become moreaware of each others’ culture andbeliefs.

The subjects discussed during thesessions range from personal, socialto political issues. The topicsgenerally reflect the experiences ofthe age group of the young people.The session’s success has largely todo with the diverse tools used toengage with the young people. As wellhas holding discussions at the Surmacentre, Fitzrovia and the Crowndalecentre, we also organise trips to

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of GroupsWe recently completed a 6 weeksprogramme with the Somali YouthDevelopment Resource Centre(SYDRC) where we worked with 2 boysgroups; 14-16 and 17-18. The Sessioninvolved visits to the 1001INVENTIONS at the science museum,the first mosque built in UK and theMuslim Soldiers cemetery alsolocated in Woking. The session overallgave them a sense of pride of theirown identity and made them realisethat although they will face manyobstacles due to their race,background or faith, they must alwaysstand for what is right and fair

locations of interest. We have so farvisited an event at Oxford Universitywhere Prince Charles delivered alecture on ‘Islam and Environment’,Kew Gardens and the tricycle Theatre.These have helped the young peopleto become more engaged, expandtheir knowledge on the contributionsmade by ethnic minority communitiesto this society and learn about howthey can get involved in positivelycontributing to society.

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With the July Camden ‘Mela’and Ramadan around thecorner, the young people arecurrently developing ideasabout delivering activities tochallenge the stereotypes aboutyoung people and promotecommunity cohesion. So, keepan eye out for the MY Projectyoung people in your areachallenging the misconceptions,creating a better environmentand world for themselves andthose around them.

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Meet the Team

Would you like to get involved? Contact the team on:

Camden Council: 020 7974 5476

Fitzrovia Youth in Action: 0207 388 7399

Bengali Workers Association: 020 7388 7313

Muhammad Chowdhury

Youth ParticipationCoordinator(Camden Council)Muhammad.Chowdhury@camden.gov.uk

Nadia Ismailjee

Participation SupportWorker(Camden Council)Nadia.Ismailjee@camden.gov.uk

Shipon Hussain

Youth ParticipationWorker(Fitzrovia Youth in Action)shipon.hussain@fya.org.uk

Faridha Abdul Karim

Youth ParticipationWorker(Bengali Workers’ Association)Faridha@bwa-surma.org.uk

MY Camden project would like to say a special thank you to the following peoplefor their support and making the work with the young people possible.

Mukith Miah from Surma Youth CentreJames Dellow and Junel Ahmed from Dragon Hall

Abdi Ahmed from Somali Youth Development Resource CentreCharlie Brown from Highgate Newtown