Between A Rock And A HT Place
I was at Barking mosque today (Eid) and listened to a sermon in Urdu by an imam from Pakistan. I have nothing against imams from Pakistan nor do I have a problem with Urdu. However, I do question the wisdom of having an imam so out of touch with the British Muslim community that the language he uses is a foreign one which immediately alienates the vast majority of listeners and worshippers.
A blessing in disguise I thought, as I listened to him. He had several points and each point delivered with a raised voice to add gravitas, each lowering of the voice and smile rehearsed so well it was like watching a theatrical performance. The problem was that I wasn’t there for entertainment. Yesterday I had read in the Independent newspaper that Israeli soldiers were running a “lottery” of punishment, where kids had to pick out of a box the punishment that was arbitrarily administered to them. “Break your hand,” “Break one leg,” “Gun butt in your face” “well done you escaped this time!” Also the Guardian newspapers expose on the information in the governments dossier on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction, which revealed that the infor! mation contained in it was from an Israeli think tank, aimed at distorting facts about Muslims and Islam. Never mind the fact that our government is using pro Israeli research teams to win the propaganda war. Never mind the fact that it’s our 13 yr old Palestinian brother who had his hand smashed by an Israeli soldier while our tax money funds the occupation. The imam’s sermon mentioned several points each lasting about ten minutes.
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Your daughters who are born over here will not marry your nephew from Pakistan because they have left Islam!
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Our holy Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) said that there will be more women in hell then men.
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Your daughters will not listen to you because you have allowed them to watch PTV and thus they have become almost like kaafir!
These were some of the points he made. No-one challenged him, no-one asked which hadith they came from, no-one even said ‘what’s your problem with women?’ ‘Or why so much focus on control?’ Or ‘what, when we are on the brink of war where Muslims are going to be killed wholesale, should we do?’
His sermon had nothing to do with questioning the government on causing alarm with unspecified reports on terror at Heathrow. Not one single issue that affects us or our Ummah. No, our daughters are going to hell and must be controlled! That’s what he was babbling about.
Feeling sick I said Eid Mubarak to my brothers at the mosque and left, sickened by the slack and pointless sermon to over 2 thousand Muslims. I walked out; cursing the wasted potential of our mosques, knowing full well that this situation was being repeated across the length and breadth of this country. I walked out and straight into the waiting members of HT. They handed me a leaflet which read “Don’t stop the War!”
If you want to have either one of these two voices dominating your religion, do nothing or criticise us. If you have had enough of incompetence or sell outs, fund us. Unless we get funding to pay for full time staff and offices we are working at one tenth of our capacity. All we ask for is a £10 per month donation.
Don’t let them take your religion without lifting a finger. The position we are in now is due to us allowing the hijacking of our beautiful religion by these people.
No More
We Make A Stand Here And Now
7000 muslim groups and still the zionists buckle the lib dems
