A Sikh man has taught his local mayor in Canada how to tie a turban and dance bhangra – and the video of the process has gone viral with more than a million views.

Gurdeep Pandher suggested the idea to the mayor of the City of Whitehorse, Yukon, Dan Curtis, who described it as the “coolest thing he’d ever been asked to do”.

As well as seeing the mayor dance, the video also serves as a tutorial on how to tie a Sikh turban as the complete video shows the process from beginning to end.

“It shows we can still connect people from other communities and cultures and build bridges with each other,” Pandher told Reuters, when asked about his inspiration for making the video.

Sikh and Hindu villagers in a Malla village in Ludhiana, India helped renovate and re-open a historic mosque.

The mosque had closed in 1947 due to partial building collapse. But a communal rebuilding effort led to its inauguration on February 29.

Both faiths assisted with fundraising and construction. Muslims are a tiny minority in a village where 90 per cent of residents are Sikh and 9 per cent Hindu. In the past, Muslims had to travel out of the village to pray at a mosque.

The Majlis Ahrar Islam Hind Party of Ludhiana had contacted Maulana Habib Ur Rehman Sani Ludhianavi to assist.

Ludhianvi told the Time of India that “Even as the village has just one Muslim family, the response had been overwhelming”.

Villagers arranged a communal langar during the inauguration. Ludhianavi then published photos of the event on Facebook.

The villagers in Ludhiana highlight how communities work together. Iqbal Hussain, a local Muslim in the village, expressed his gratitude and the bonds of affection for other faiths in his village.

The post Hindu and Sikh villagers rebuild mosque shut since 1947 appeared first on Religious Reader.

A Maryland county will allow Muslim and Hindu students a day off from school to celebrate Diwali and Eid al-Adha.

The Howard County Board of Education faced a tough decision: to foster inclusion by removing all religious holidays from the academic calender; Or add extra days to include non-Abrahamic celebrations.

A unanimous decision in favour of the latter will result in school closings or professional development days for staff in the 2016/17 academic year. The board also voted to allow staff to take a professional development day off for Lunar News Years Eve, after requests from the local Chinese and Korean communities. As it falls on a Saturday, students remain unaffected.

Schools in the county have shut during Jewish holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.  But a recent motion threatened to end this  tradition. It proved controversial enough to attract more than 300 people to a public hearing in December.

State and federal laws prevent schools from closing on religious holidays (unless mandated otherwise). Adjusting academic calendars requires a secular reason. Baltimore County had recorded a large levels of absenteeism during these Jewish holidays.

Art Abramson, Executive Director of Baltimore’s Jewish Council, welcomed changes to academic calendars on the condition that students would avoid punishment if they took a day off for religious holidays. He had also noted how schools with large Jewish communities faced an added economic burden to open during holidays like Rosh Hashanah. So it required a discretionary approach for individual schools to open or close on such days. A point missing in Breitbart’s reporting.

This was the case when Anne Arundel County voted to keep schools open during Rosh Hashanah in the next academic year. A move that has not happened since 2003. Students could still celebrate the holiday with a day of absence, but staff could not take a day off.

Within this framework,  Howard County rejected this similar motion in favour of diversity.

The school system in the area does not count the religious affiliation of students, but it does for race. Howard County has 74 public schools that serve 51,366 students. Enrollment from black and Asian communities stands at 56 per cent. And the schools in Howard County have a greater diversity of students when compared to other parts of Missouri.

State-mandated holidays do fall on Christian holidays, like Christmas and Easter. Any decision to increase days off rests on the shoulders of local schools.

Last July, the Baltimore County Policy Review Committee recommended that schools not close during Eid. It did, however, stress that students and staff could take time off to celebrate Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. In nearby Montgomery County, the school board voted to allow students and staff to take a day off for Eid al-Adha.

A private firm surveys communities to gauge the impact cultural and religious holidays have on absenteeism levels. This information could help bring greater diversity to the academic calender in 2017/18.

The 2017-2018 Academic Calendar Committee has already begun to meet. And it includes representatives from the Jewish Federation of Howard County, the Howard County Muslim Council, the Hindu community, and the Chinese American Parent Association.

Students will begin the 2016/17 academic year on August 29. It ends on June 13, 2017.

The post Asian, Muslim and Hindu holidays added to school calendars in Howard County, Maryland appeared first on Religious Reader.

What Draws People of Faith to Right Wing Organisations & What Effects Does the EDL Have on Interfaith Relations?

Key findings of the report include:

• EDL attempts to recruit among faith communities
• Christian leaders should publicly stand up to EDL
• UK government should examine group’s international funding
• Jewish Defence League should be banned

Christian organisations should be doing far more to combat the appeal of far-right groups such as the English Defence League (EDL), according to counter-extremism organisation, Faith Matters.

The comments from Faith Matters coincides with the launch of research into the appeal of the EDL among faith communities, particularly among a small element of Christian, Jewish, Sikh and Hindu figures.

“Christian institutions on a national level have not been robust in condemning the EDL,” said Faith Matters’ director, Fiyaz Mughal OBE. “There is no national voice from the Church of England for example, universally condemning the actions of the EDL despite the fact the EDL disrupts and attempts to divide Christian and Muslim communities. Why?”

Mughal also said that the UK authorities need to examine how hate groups such as the EDL, which have the capacity to cause huge disruption on our streets, receive international funding.

“Links with Pamella Geller’s Stop the Islamization of America campaign and the ability to raise funds from the US need to be put under the spotlight,” he said. “People in the US promoting street-based social unrest in the UK by donating to the EDL is simply not on.”

Main Findings

• The EDL uses mainly Christian symbolism in its promotion and publicity material,
• Some within faith communities believe that by allying with the EDL they can marginalise and stigmatise Muslims,
• Building community resilience against such hate is vital – anti-hate groups in other faith communities, such as the Luton Faiths Forum, Community Security Trust, the Turban Campaign and Sikhs Against the EDL, should be more fully supported,
• The UK government needs to look at how groups such as the EDL are financed internationally, via a network of supporters in the ‘counter jihadist’ network (particularly the USA),
• The Jewish Defence League needs to be effectively outlawed in the UK for inciting extreme hatred against Muslims.

The Muslim and Sikh Media Monitoring and Response project was primarily targeted towards Sikh and Muslim communities within West London and targetted a variety of groups such as students, parents, religious and organisational leaders and individuals involved in the political life of this country.

The programme has worked primarily within the London Borough of Ealing and within Slough between 2009 – 2011 and the key aims of the programme included:

• Ensuring that a Muslim and Sikh Media Monitoring and Response Group was set up which could develop and promote messages of understanding, tolerance, cohesion and joing working between these two faith communities within London.
• Developing strong links with local press sources across London and particularly in areas like Ealing and Slough so that media messages could be disseminated.
• Undertaking daily media monitoring activities and these covered mainstream TV and cable / satellite channels. The monitoring also extended to radio and other audio sources as well as digital media like internet web-sites, blogs and chat rooms.

The work has yielded a number of monitoring reports that were used as discussion points between Sikhs and Muslims in Ealing and Southall and has also mobilised individuals and groups to come together and counter negative press articles, headlines, blogs etc.

Click here to download the newsletter.

The Adab research, released by Faith Matters, called for effective dialogue between the two groups and for the two communities to “rediscover” their shared cultural heritage, including a common Punjabi heritage, history and culture.

Funding for Muslim and Sikh organisations in areas with a significant presence of the two groups should be conditional on promoting cross-community relations between the two, particularly among youth and women, it said.

Faith Matters founder and director Fiyaz Mughal, said the “collective amnesia” among the two communities must be addressed quickly.

He said: “Although the report illustrates how the BNP have exploited existing tensions, it also highlights that – by realising both groups have a shared common heritage, culture and political experience – these tensions may be overcome.”

Click here to read more Source: Asian Image

A PERSPECTIVE OF SIKH & MUSLIM RELATIONS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM & CAUSES OF TENSIONS & MISTRUST BETWEEN THE TWO COMMUNITIES

Click to view report

The Adab (Respect) research report builds on the work that Faith Matters undertook in Corrymeela in 2008 where a group of Sikhs and Muslims took part in facilitated discussions sessions looking at issues affecting both communities in England. That report (the Cohesive Communities report) is listed on this site.

This report builds on and raises some of the narratives that are leading to tensions in localized areas between Sikhs and Muslims. It also describes the deep cultural, religious and historical links that have bound together Punjabi speaking Muslims and Sikhs for generations whilst today there are some young people from both communities who have a ‘collective amnesia’ towards this rich shared heritage. Without this understanding, communal tensions can took root and some of these tensions are being manipulated by the British National Party. For the British National Party their decisive intervention is based on the age old premise of ‘my enemy’s enemy is my friend.’

This report is the first detailed study of its kind into this area and we hope that you find the resource useful.

Press Releases:

Party accused of exploiting Sikh-Muslim tensions – Asian Image (https://www.asianimage.co.uk)
BNP ‘exploited religious tensions’ – Google News

Faith Matters investigated tensions amongst young Sikh and Muslim men which threatened to create local and national hotspots of tension. Conducted in 2008, it took Sikhs and Muslims to Corrymeela in Northern Ireland to explore some of the issues causing tension in some parts of the East and West Midlands and to look at commonalities between the two communities. Faith Matters was aware of rising tensions and even in 2008, it was clear that a handful of Sikhs were looking to join groups like the British National Party (and later the English Defence League), groups that were attempting to woo young Sikhs on the premise that they supposedly had historical angsts against Muslims.

What was clear was that issues of identity were affecting both Sikhs and Muslims and whilst both communities had been active in the ati-racist movements of the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s, young Sikhs felt that their identity had to be defined against Muslims, rather than through any ‘organic’ movement within the community. Therefore, Muslims who were historically defined as the other, were further caricatured post 9/11 and 7/7 on the basis that Sikhs were being attacked since ‘Muslims’ were the real problem. This twisted narrative did not take into account the fact that those who had attacked and killed Sikhs, thought that they were Muslims and that Muslims had also stood in solidarity with Sikh communities against these anti-Muslim attacks which also had strong undertones of prejudice attached to them. Furthermore, leaflets distributed in Derby and Leicester and attributed by some Sikhs to Al Muhajiroun were then used to support the narrative that Muslims (in general) were looking to convert Sikhs. Allied to this, strong residual feelings that Muslims want to convert Sikh women, has led to small groups of morality police within some Sikh groups breaking up interfaith relationships and suggesting that the Sikh women have been brainwashed. Evidence on such cases to the Police have not been provided.

A summary of the work of Faith Matters on these narratives can be found through the following reports:

Cohesive Communities Report: https://faith-matters.org/images/stories/cohesive_community_report090908.pdf 

The Adab Report: https://faith-matters.org/images/stories/publications/The_Adab_Respect_Research_Programme.pdf 

Our primary reason for this work is to try and improve relations between both faith communities at a time when the Far Right, including the English Defence League, are trying to play on differences. The EDL are no friends of Sikh communities. Nor are they friends of other faiths, nor of Christianity, which they have tried to hijack. The EDL remain a threat to our country, our values and our freedoms. They are a national threat to our futures!

Faith Matters has numerous branches across the globe. We undertake the following:

Faith Matters has also overseen two international ‘micro-finance’ projects which support the development of small businesses in Jerusalem, Israel and the West Bank in Palestine.

The Jerusalem Interest Free Fund: The fund provides small business and study loans to. The fund offers the loans for small business start-ups and educational courses for both communities – Arabs within East Jerusalem and the Orthodox Jewish community – on an interest free basis.

The Future Visions Charity: The charity supports entrepreneurs in the West Bank through micro and small business loans and to people in outlying villages in Palestine. Faith Matters provided strategic advice to the charity and helped to develop its structure, it direction and the systems it needed to develop in order to be effective.

Faith Matters Pakistan: Our work involves using new technologies in reaching out to new communities on a global basis. This work involves the use of SMS and social media, as well as Muslim and Christian interfaith dialogue work in Pakistan. Faith Matters is also undertaking its first capital build project in Jajuki, Pakistan and we are proud to have the opportunity to serve 100,000 Pakistani villagers in this area through the community centre that we are developing. Further work on Faith Matters Pakistan can be found on www.faith-matters.pk.

Faith Matters India: Our work in India involves work with young Hindus and Muslims and the promotion of dialogue between the two faith groups. This is being conducted in Delhi and involves young people discussing their identities and what it means to be Indian. Faith Matters India can be found on www.faith-matters.in.

Faith Matters Jerusalem: Our work in Jerusalem involves conflict resolution between Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jewish communities. We believe the meeting and engagement of young Arabs and young Jews is a fundamental step to exposing both communities to the ‘other’ and in ensuring that the ‘other’ changes from being faceless and voiceless, to being a real person with a history and social narratives. This is the only way that stereo-typing and hate can be reduced and this work is facilitated by Faith Matters in Jerusalem.

Student Exchange Programmes: Faith Matters has undertaken numerous student exchange based programmes and we recently brought over students from the Lebanon, Egypt, Palestine and Jordan to the UK for a week long intercultural trip. The groups met young people in schools and further education colleges and they had the chance to experience the diverse communities in the UK. We are looking to bring over further groups in 2012.

The Sikh and Muslim Media Monitoring group regularly meets in Ealing and has been looking at key themes that have included (i) the EDL and its attempts to drive a wedge between Muslim and Sikh communities in England (ii) Outreach by the EDL towards Black and Minority Ethnic communities in order to promote the false image that they are not racist (iii) the need to counter stereotypical statements within Sikh and Muslim press sources against each community (iv) the need to find ways of coming together and working on social projects against those who seek to divide.

The project has also scanned for blogs that incite hatred between both communities and has actively fed this information into a group of Muslim and Sikh social activists who have ensured that such material is countered with facts rather than innuendos and stereotypes that such blogs make.

This site contains numerous newsletters of the work of the Sikh and Muslim Media Monitoring Group and this work has been developed and led by the Organisation for over 4 years now. If you are interested in playing a role in the work, please do contact Hasina@faith-matters.co.uk.