Speak up, don't shut up: a plea for us all to have opinions
Here is my monthly column from The Muslim News.
Muslims are good at being armchair critics. We like to mutter between sips of tea, muffled through mouthfuls of paan, under our hijabs. Everyone has an answer to all our problems. I even find myself being Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells - or should I say "Defender of Hadith from the Homeland"? I confess my guilt quite openly - and I'm probably guiltier than most, as I'm a blogger too, and blogging is the ultimate in yelling advice from the sidelines. But at least I'm making myself heard.
What is wrong with our youth! I hear people cry, despairing of the apathy, both political and religious. Where has the sanctity of marriage gone! They weep, at the increasing statistics of divorce. Why are weddings so expensive! They shudder at the bank manager's demands. You know that you are all just as guilty as I am of complaining, criticising and offering solutions in the privacy of our own homes, at rabble-rousing lectures and after spirited khutbas on Fridays. But given a public forum, the horizon is quiet, and everyone carries on without a word. Where are the voices, opinions and disagreements of the community? I asked my blogfans this (that's all of you!), and got pitiful response. My most popular pieces are about football and swimwear (I'm not kidding, read the responses!). Are these our pre-occupations? I feel disheartened that at this time of unprecedented change and focus on the British Muslim community, nobody has anything to say, there is no courage for ordinary people to voice their opinions. I'm not referring to the voices of our "leaders", because it's their job to have opinions (even though we criticise them for it). I'm talking about you, Ahmed and Auntie Jee next door.
I'm fed up of hearing people complain about what is wrong, what our leaders should really be doing, how the Government is harassing Muslims, how there is a world conspiracy, how Islamophobia is growing, how our children are losing their faith. Heard it before. Mostly from the same people. Yawn Yawn. Don't talk to me about it unless you're willing to do something yourself. And believe me, there's a lot to be done. The issues I've listed need addressing, as do a plethora of others.
Let's start a lively debate, let's hear some unheard voices. As a multitude of Muslim communities, we need to have the courage to put forward our opinions. The days of inferiority complexes must be banished and a new openness needs to be encouraged. We need to build some guts into the community, and we need to stop being afraid of being labelled as the "wrong sort of people" within our communities for proposing change. Let's discard the labels imposed upon us by the outside, be that moderate or extremist, liberal or conservative, progressive or reactive. How many of us have avoided raising issues in our local communities for fear of being stigmatised, of having our reputations sullied, for becoming outcast?
My current bugbear is the fact that Muslims love to be so miserable. Fun is not to be tolerated, and I am sure that one morning I will wake up to find a fatwa declaring fun to be haram. A Muslim company has hired out Alton Towers for a day in September specifically catering for Muslim needs, but people are asking on websites, are we allowed to have fun? Yvonne Ridley sparked a controversy in a piece attacking women who were clearing enjoying themselves too much at a boy-band nashid concert (I have my own opinions on boy-bands which you can read on my blog elsewhere). How can Muslims be enjoying themselves when there is so much suffering in the world, she cried.
Even the enormous IslamExpo missed out on the opportunity to give people a Good Time and send them home with smiles. It too put politics categorically above fun. In claiming to showcase the diversity and pleasures of the Muslim world, it forgot to inject the ingredient that most binds people together and creates support and unity - shared enjoyment. You may think this issue is flippant, but it's quite important and affects everything we do. Muslims should be happy people, not miserable creatures wallowing in Catholic guilt. Fun is a platform for creativity and vision, and these are the things we lack in greatest measure. Lack of creativity and vision translates directly into lack of progress.
So here is my challenge to all of you, make your opinion heard. What is the one thing that you would most like to change about the Muslim community? And how do you propose to do it? You can comment from the deeply political and religious, to the mundanities of life. This is your chance to get interactive and share your views. To mix metaphors, it's time to get what's on your mind, off your chest. You can post comments on my blog or email them to me at shelina@spirit21.co.uk. I'll even include the most interesting in my next column in The Muslim News print newspaper. What is that one thing that you always wanted everyone to know, to address, to change? Go on, have an opinion, give it a try.
Muslims are good at being armchair critics. We like to mutter between sips of tea, muffled through mouthfuls of paan, under our hijabs. Everyone has an answer to all our problems. I even find myself being Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells - or should I say "Defender of Hadith from the Homeland"? I confess my guilt quite openly - and I'm probably guiltier than most, as I'm a blogger too, and blogging is the ultimate in yelling advice from the sidelines. But at least I'm making myself heard.
What is wrong with our youth! I hear people cry, despairing of the apathy, both political and religious. Where has the sanctity of marriage gone! They weep, at the increasing statistics of divorce. Why are weddings so expensive! They shudder at the bank manager's demands. You know that you are all just as guilty as I am of complaining, criticising and offering solutions in the privacy of our own homes, at rabble-rousing lectures and after spirited khutbas on Fridays. But given a public forum, the horizon is quiet, and everyone carries on without a word. Where are the voices, opinions and disagreements of the community? I asked my blogfans this (that's all of you!), and got pitiful response. My most popular pieces are about football and swimwear (I'm not kidding, read the responses!). Are these our pre-occupations? I feel disheartened that at this time of unprecedented change and focus on the British Muslim community, nobody has anything to say, there is no courage for ordinary people to voice their opinions. I'm not referring to the voices of our "leaders", because it's their job to have opinions (even though we criticise them for it). I'm talking about you, Ahmed and Auntie Jee next door.
I'm fed up of hearing people complain about what is wrong, what our leaders should really be doing, how the Government is harassing Muslims, how there is a world conspiracy, how Islamophobia is growing, how our children are losing their faith. Heard it before. Mostly from the same people. Yawn Yawn. Don't talk to me about it unless you're willing to do something yourself. And believe me, there's a lot to be done. The issues I've listed need addressing, as do a plethora of others.
Let's start a lively debate, let's hear some unheard voices. As a multitude of Muslim communities, we need to have the courage to put forward our opinions. The days of inferiority complexes must be banished and a new openness needs to be encouraged. We need to build some guts into the community, and we need to stop being afraid of being labelled as the "wrong sort of people" within our communities for proposing change. Let's discard the labels imposed upon us by the outside, be that moderate or extremist, liberal or conservative, progressive or reactive. How many of us have avoided raising issues in our local communities for fear of being stigmatised, of having our reputations sullied, for becoming outcast?
My current bugbear is the fact that Muslims love to be so miserable. Fun is not to be tolerated, and I am sure that one morning I will wake up to find a fatwa declaring fun to be haram. A Muslim company has hired out Alton Towers for a day in September specifically catering for Muslim needs, but people are asking on websites, are we allowed to have fun? Yvonne Ridley sparked a controversy in a piece attacking women who were clearing enjoying themselves too much at a boy-band nashid concert (I have my own opinions on boy-bands which you can read on my blog elsewhere). How can Muslims be enjoying themselves when there is so much suffering in the world, she cried.
Even the enormous IslamExpo missed out on the opportunity to give people a Good Time and send them home with smiles. It too put politics categorically above fun. In claiming to showcase the diversity and pleasures of the Muslim world, it forgot to inject the ingredient that most binds people together and creates support and unity - shared enjoyment. You may think this issue is flippant, but it's quite important and affects everything we do. Muslims should be happy people, not miserable creatures wallowing in Catholic guilt. Fun is a platform for creativity and vision, and these are the things we lack in greatest measure. Lack of creativity and vision translates directly into lack of progress.
So here is my challenge to all of you, make your opinion heard. What is the one thing that you would most like to change about the Muslim community? And how do you propose to do it? You can comment from the deeply political and religious, to the mundanities of life. This is your chance to get interactive and share your views. To mix metaphors, it's time to get what's on your mind, off your chest. You can post comments on my blog or email them to me at shelina@spirit21.co.uk. I'll even include the most interesting in my next column in The Muslim News print newspaper. What is that one thing that you always wanted everyone to know, to address, to change? Go on, have an opinion, give it a try.
posted by Shelina Zahra Janmohamed at 09:30
3 Comments:
I'd like to disagree with the fact that most Muslims are not fun and they dislike fun. The circle of Muslims I grew up with went to Flamingo Land every year (a theme park, where everything is fun!) We were not ashamed to go in there and squeal on the rides and have fun. I will be attending the Alton Towers Funday, hope it is not a huge difference to how the park would usually be ran. If it is different in an un-fun way, I'd probabaly go back but visit on a normal day. I am used to going round theme parks with kufr walking round, so it doesnt bother me. I'll have my fun, they have theirs.
i was googling for Yvonne ridley and found ur blog link!! I was reading this posting of urs and cudn't disgaree with any of ur views. So here r my two cents..I think this idea of not expressing ourself comes frm its socio-cultural upbringing in muslim families and communities. Very often muslim girls in the subcontinent for example are not even allowed to go to schools. ask the why? They tell u that its not good for her security or some ridiculous reasons n they r told not to question wat their elders command them to do...this is just one example, there are hundreds of such examples... So I think its our culture and nurture that makes us so clsoe minded and scared of d outside world.
I couldn't agree anymore with the above comment. I think this not fun business is deeply cultural. Of course fun is permitted within halal means ie girls and boys not mixing. What I would like to change is hypocrisy. Islam is perfect but not muslims but unfortunately people look at muslims and think this is islam. Islam has to be understood. And firstly us muslims should look at ourselves and see where we need to reform.
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