This report looks at the impact of on-line and off-line experiences of anti-Muslim hostility on British Muslims in the UK. It highlights how some male Muslims are failing to report in Institutional anti-Muslim prejudice for fear of being targeted and for fear that they will be seen to be ‘weak’ in the eyes of their families and lead to instability in their employment. It also highlights how key ‘trigger’ events such as the murder of Lee Rigby, the actions of the so-called Islamic State and the Rotherham grooming scandal, have led to multiple impacts within Muslim communities. It also re-affirms the link between racist language and anti-Muslim prejudice, with one female respondent saying, “actually, 9 out of 10 times, the abuse I receive is based on race. Although they use religion because I am identifiable as a Muslim woman, the words that come out of their mouth have to do with race, so the race and the religion are tied up together in people’s minds.”

Participants in the report talk about the disturbing nature of verbal and physical violence that they have suffered. A convert to Islam, Sophie (who wears the Hijab) stated, “a guy walked past, he spat at me and called me a ‘Muzzi’. Also, I’ve been called dirty Paki, (I am white), as a group of guys walked past and shouted ‘speak English in our country.’ I was looking at a map and did not say anything.”

Some participants also warned about the risks of radicalisation, especially for young people as a result of suffering online and/or offline anti-Muslim hate crimes. One respondent, Hamza, noted that “anti-Muslim hate crime has affected Muslims. This is why Muslims are going to Syria. This is why they support ISIS. When people experience Islamophobic abuse, they will be easily radicalised. They feel weak, lonely, isolated, and rejected from British society. This is when these hate preachers pick them up and brainwash them. If you are constantly victimised, you are weak.”

This report also highlights an impact on Muslim communities which is rarely discussed and which includes changes in dress style so that attention is not drawn to the visibility of their faith. The report highlights the issue of Muslims managing their Muslim identity on-line and off-line with the aim of reducing future abuse. It states that, “the reality of anti-Muslim hate crime creates ‘invisible’ boundaries, across which members of the Muslim community are not ‘welcome’ to step. The enactment of both virtual and physical boundaries impacts upon ‘emotional geographies’ in relation to the way in which Muslims perceive the spaces and places around and outside their communities of abode. Rather than risk the threat of being attacked, either off-line or on-line, many actual and potential victims opt to change their lifestyles and retreat to ‘their own’ communities.

]]> 1227 https://www.faith-matters.org/why-feminism-needs-to-ditch-colonial-attitudes-to-claim-inclusivity/ Fri, 28 Aug 2015 15:52:04 +0000 https://religiousreader.org/?p=1282 Welcome to the age of post-ism. Racism is over, ageism is over, classism is over and so is sexism too, or at least this is popular thought. However, feminism is needed more now than ever and yet our feminist movement is beginning to eerily reflect the sort of attitudes we should be striving against, and at times blatantly demonstrating racist and illiberal attitudes. Feminists have in the past seemed ill at ease with the religious, who have in some cases campaigned against abortions and gay marriage – the cornerstones it could be argued of modern feminist achievement. However with more dangers against women from the state than ever before, how can Western feminism become more inclusive of minority values, and in turn the religious? First we must reflect on what feminism has always been about – was it to focus solely on the individual of the day or to empower women to be able to make decisions about themselves, for themselves? Focusing on a specific religious action with little understanding of context can cause unnecessary divides, whereas uniting on common ground such as wage disparity, maternity rights, and homelessness is plain common sense. Women: the all too often disproportional victims [...]

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The Developing Diversity Directory: Promoting the Top 100 Most Women Friendly Mosques in England

One hundred Mosques provided the basis for the Developing Diversity directory published by Faith Matters which looked at 100 leading mosques which met a majority of the criteria that Muslim women wanted to see within them. Over 8 focus groups were held with Muslim women from Somali, Turkish speaking, Paksitani and Bangladeshi communities and over 100 women were interviewed. The main 5 requirements they wanted to see within mosques were then used to benchmark the mosques against.

About 490 mosques were then contacted initially by letter on three separate occassions explaining the project and this was done in English and in Urdu. The mosques were then contacted by phone and to ensure verification, Faith Matters staff then visited the mosques before they were included in the directory. Finally, out of the 490 mosques contacted, 50 five star (met all of the 5 criteria) and 50 four star mosques were placed into the directory. All of the 100 mosques were then written out to so that they were aware and we offered them the chance to amend any material they wanted about themselves. Each mosque was therefore written to twice at the end of this process to ensure that they could make changes.

So, this project is about promoting (i) good practice (ii) providing a benchmark for other mosques to work towards (3) highlighting the needs of women within today’s world so that religious institutions can meet those needs.

Therefore, inclusion and accessibility to religious institutions not only helps to increase the development of healthy communities but it also sends a powerful message to those who think equality is of secondary concern within some religious places of worship.

One hundred mosques provided the basis for the Developing Diversity directory published by Faith Matters which looked at the top 100 leading mosques in England which met a majority of the criteria that Muslim women wanted to see within them.

Inclusion and accessibility to religious institutions not only helps to increase the development of healthy communities but it also sends a powerful message to those who think equality is of secondary concern within some religious places of worship. This is relevant to all faith communities and in this instance, the project looked at existing good practice within mosques in England.

The purpose of this project was therefore to compile a directory of the 100 leading mosques that provided the best access to women, catering for their needs and allowing them to play their rightful role in the decision making processes. Each mosque was awarded a rating out of five stars based on criteria developed through women’s focus groups.The directory was launched through high-profiled local events and widely circulated to all statutory national and local bodies, encouraging these bodies to work with these best practice mosques.

500 mosques were contacted throughout England in the course of the project and the top 100 were rated and then included in the booklet.

The purpose of this project can therefore be summarised as follows. Faith Matters attempted:

1) To develop criteria through Muslim women’s focus groups for measuring how ‘women-friendly’ a mosque is.

2) To provide a mapping of the 100 most women friendly mosques in Britain – i.e, more stars, more women-friendly.

3) To encourage government and other statutory agencies to engage and work with the most women-friendly and best practice mosques where this is likely to help reach particularly hard to reach groups.

4) To bring recognition to the socio-economic welfare activities of the mosques.

5) To encourage a sense of competition between mosques so as to improve their engagement with and inclusion of women.

6) To improve the role of women in mosques, how mosque services respond to their needs, and the opportunities for them to play a greater role in their mosques and communities.

7) To enable women to acquire the skills and confidence to seek positions of leadership within their communities and wider society.

Focus groups for the project were held in London (Harrow and Haringey), Coventry, Derby, Manchester, Birmingham and Bradford and over 100 women were involved in the focus groups. The work therefore covered the East Midlands, West Midlands, North West, London and Yorkshire regions.

Initially, the focus groups covered mainly Pakistani women with few examples of Turkish, Somali or Bangladeshi Muslim women. We knew that this could potentially skew results and we then further undertook 3 focus groups in London and Manchester that included Somali and Turkish speaking women.  In total, 8 focus groups were held and the results of the focus groups led us to the following conclusions. These conclusions were used as benchmarks through which to assess the mosques on.

1.    Separate prayer space for women,

2.  Services and activities for women (i.e. childcare and or women’s training or mentoring sessions),

3.    An Imam accessible to women (or a women scholar),

4.    Inclusion of women in decision making,

5.    Women holding office on the mosque committees

This Developing Diversity Directory is the first of its kind and places the role of women directly within the development of mosques. Historically within Islam, the role of women was central to the development of Muslim communities and within the life of mosques and this history cannot and should not be forgotten. Women are fundamental to the development of healthy and pro-active communities and their role within faith institutions is no different. They are drivers for positive social change.

The Developing Diversity Directory can be downloaded by pressing on the link.

This programme devised and undertaken by Faith Matters was based on a tour of US Muslim female writers in the UK and to give British Muslim women the opportunity to engage with US counterparts and discuss Muslim communities and issues affecting them in the US and UK. The aim of the programme was therefore to engage with empower British Muslim women and to create a positive role model for dynamic and pro-active Muslim women. The women shared their experiences and focussed on the shifting social environment and role of Muslim women in the US and Europe.

Faith Matters hosted a group of four prominent American Muslim authors of a book entitled ‘Living Islam Out Loud’ which explored their experiences of living, working and growing up in the United States as female Muslims.

The 4 speakers that were brought over by Faith Matters were:

SALEEMAH ABDUL GHAFUR
Saleemah is a writer, activist, and speaker.  She works to ensure that Muslim women have space and voice in their communities.  Most recently, Saleemah developed and executed programming to advance the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.  She is as the founding Executive Director of 100 People of Faith, a body of prominent leaders from the world’s major religions that seeks to unite people from across faith lines through humanitarian service.   Over the years, Saleemah has worked with global leaders like Dr. Amina Wadud, Eve Ensler and Dr. Eboo Patel among others.  She has been profiled in The New York Times, Newsweek and The Atlanta Journal Constitution.

SU’AD ABDUL KHABEER
Su’ad Abdul Khabeer is as an activist-scholar-artist. A doctoral candidate in the Department of Anthropology at Princeton University, her research interests include youth, race and religion, and popular culture studies. She is also a Senior Project Advisor for the upcoming PBS documentary, New Muslim Cool. A native of Brooklyn, NYC Suad has been writing creatively since her youth. Her poetry series “A Day in the Life,” appeared in the anthology Living Islam Out Loud: American Muslim Women Speak. A graduate of the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, Su’ad has travelled extensively and lectured on campuses in the US and abroad

YOUSRA Y. FAZILI
Yousra Y. Fazili is a Kashmiri-American attorney who will soon be living in the DC area, consulting on US government policy. She recently received her Masters in Theological Studies from  Harvard Divinity School, where she was the recipient of a World Religions Grant. She is also a researcher with Harvard Law School ‘s Islamic Finance Project. Her primary research focuses on inter-gender dynamics and sexuality in Islamic law. A graduate of Brown University, Ms. Fazili travelled to  Egypt as a Fulbright Scholar where she studied Arabic and conducted research on modernization in Islamic law. In 2003 she received her JD from American University, Washington College of Law in Washington DC. She has worked for several corporate law firms, the Department of Justice, and the UN. She has published works in the American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences, the Encyclopaedia of Islam in the United States, and Living Islam Out Loud. She is currently editing a monograph on Microfinance and Islamic Law for Harvard Law School.

PRECIOUS RASHEEDA MUHAMMAD
Precious Rasheeda Muhammad — author, lecturer, researcher, poetess and publisher—is not only nationally known for her ability to educate and inspire audiences of diverse faiths and backgrounds about America’s unique Islamic heritage, but also for her ability to empower them with the tools to build community through a deeper understanding of history (www.preciousspeaks.com). Precious holds a B.A. in Religion from The University of Iowa and a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School. She brings more than a decade of experience and commitment to community and interfaith work including working on Capitol Hill, chaplaincy at a 770-bed hospital and in person dialogue with seminarian inmates at Sing Sing prison. Precious currently works as a Program Associate with the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions helping to plan the 2009 Parliament of the World’s Religions to be held in Melbourne, Australia. The Parliament is the world’s largest interfaith gathering. Precious’s research and writings have been featured at the Smithsonian, on the radio, television, and in print including works published by Oxford University Press, Beacon Press, Rodale Press, Greenwood Press and interviews on NPR. Precious is also founder of Journal of Islam in America Press, an educational publishing company dedicated to publishing a broad range of titles on the growth and development of Islam in America and the Muslim American experience.

All of these women were leaders in their fields, excellent speakers and strong role models.  And in order to reach the widest audiences, their engagements consisted of talks to audiences, meetings with individuals and speaking opportunities on both radio and TV.