Britain has one of Western Europe's smallest Muslim communities, but our Muslims have more rights and opportunities than those in any other European nation. Maybe that's explains why there are several British Muslim citizens who are millionaires, whereas there are NONE in France.
British Muslims are the most advantaged, both in the fields of rights and opportunities, among their fellow believers in the whole of Europe, a member of a visiting UK delegation has said.
“From freedom to exercise their faith to equal opportunities, Muslims in the UK enjoy a unique position,” Lutfur Rahman Ali, one of the members of a British delegation that visited Qatar, told Gulf Times yesterday.
The delegation comprised Muslims drawn from different fields like politics, business, tourism, media and government.
Ali, a second generation immigrant from Bangladesh is director of Tribal Resourcing, a company that specialises in advertising, executive resourcing, interim resourcing and people and performance.
Ali said while laws in France prohibited Muslim women from wearing the hijab (head scarf) in public, and Denmark was where the “offensive” cartoons originated, the UK has been very sensitive and considerate about its Muslim population.
Asked about the main issues confronting the Muslims in the UK, Ali said there still existed “Islamophobia” in some form in the British society and the Muslims themselves have been struggling to find their identity in a new homeland.
“Though the prejudice against Muslims is not strong and not widely prevalent, there are cases when the community feels alienated.”
Ali blamed the media for the poor image of Muslims in Britain and elsewhere. “Only bad news sells. So the media always looks for negative news that ultimately gives a bad image to the community.”
According to the young entrepreneur, it is only the fringe elements among the Muslims that subscribe to the calls for “jihad” by poorly-educated “mullahs” who come from economically backward countries. He put the percentage of such people at less than 0.5.
To a question why the majority is keeping silent to this “hate campaign by the ill-informed”, Ali said the majority has been making its views known but the media is not interested in them.
The group’s trip is organised by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office under its policy of “Engaging With the Islamic World”.
Riaz Patel, Senior Policy Officer with the Islamic Issues Department at the office, told Gulf Times that the British model of multi-culturalism was the best model for co-existence and British Muslims have integrated well with their host community.
“There are of course challenges before them but there are more opportunities,” he said.
Patel, son of immigrants from the Indian state of Gujarat, said 50% of the British Muslims were below 25 years of age and the new generation is more comfortable in the UK than their parents.
“The British society understands that the mainstream Muslim society does not agree with the philosophy of hatred preached by some clerics.”
Elaborating his point, Patel said there had been no major backlash to the London bus/metro bombings by four “misguided” Muslim youths, and life was back to normal in Britain within two weeks of the tragic attack.
Other delegates of the visiting group included member of parliament Sadiq Khan, Fadi Itani, head of International Relations Unit of the Islamic Relief charity, Abdul Rahman Helbawi, director of the Islamic Institute for Development and Research and Fareena Alam, managing editor of Q News magazine.
In Qatar, the members of the delegation participated in a session of the regional human rights conference and a seminar at the Qatar University.
The group left Qatar for Bahrain yesterday afternoon. The delegation, that arrived in Doha from Cairo, will also visit Sudan and Nigeria.
The team’s Qatar visit was coordinated by the British Embassy.
www.gulf-times.com . . .
British Muslims are the most advantaged, both in the fields of rights and opportunities, among their fellow believers in the whole of Europe, a member of a visiting UK delegation has said.
“From freedom to exercise their faith to equal opportunities, Muslims in the UK enjoy a unique position,” Lutfur Rahman Ali, one of the members of a British delegation that visited Qatar, told Gulf Times yesterday.
The delegation comprised Muslims drawn from different fields like politics, business, tourism, media and government.
Ali, a second generation immigrant from Bangladesh is director of Tribal Resourcing, a company that specialises in advertising, executive resourcing, interim resourcing and people and performance.
Ali said while laws in France prohibited Muslim women from wearing the hijab (head scarf) in public, and Denmark was where the “offensive” cartoons originated, the UK has been very sensitive and considerate about its Muslim population.
Asked about the main issues confronting the Muslims in the UK, Ali said there still existed “Islamophobia” in some form in the British society and the Muslims themselves have been struggling to find their identity in a new homeland.
“Though the prejudice against Muslims is not strong and not widely prevalent, there are cases when the community feels alienated.”
Ali blamed the media for the poor image of Muslims in Britain and elsewhere. “Only bad news sells. So the media always looks for negative news that ultimately gives a bad image to the community.”
According to the young entrepreneur, it is only the fringe elements among the Muslims that subscribe to the calls for “jihad” by poorly-educated “mullahs” who come from economically backward countries. He put the percentage of such people at less than 0.5.
To a question why the majority is keeping silent to this “hate campaign by the ill-informed”, Ali said the majority has been making its views known but the media is not interested in them.
The group’s trip is organised by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office under its policy of “Engaging With the Islamic World”.
Riaz Patel, Senior Policy Officer with the Islamic Issues Department at the office, told Gulf Times that the British model of multi-culturalism was the best model for co-existence and British Muslims have integrated well with their host community.
“There are of course challenges before them but there are more opportunities,” he said.
Patel, son of immigrants from the Indian state of Gujarat, said 50% of the British Muslims were below 25 years of age and the new generation is more comfortable in the UK than their parents.
“The British society understands that the mainstream Muslim society does not agree with the philosophy of hatred preached by some clerics.”
Elaborating his point, Patel said there had been no major backlash to the London bus/metro bombings by four “misguided” Muslim youths, and life was back to normal in Britain within two weeks of the tragic attack.
Other delegates of the visiting group included member of parliament Sadiq Khan, Fadi Itani, head of International Relations Unit of the Islamic Relief charity, Abdul Rahman Helbawi, director of the Islamic Institute for Development and Research and Fareena Alam, managing editor of Q News magazine.
In Qatar, the members of the delegation participated in a session of the regional human rights conference and a seminar at the Qatar University.
The group left Qatar for Bahrain yesterday afternoon. The delegation, that arrived in Doha from Cairo, will also visit Sudan and Nigeria.
The team’s Qatar visit was coordinated by the British Embassy.
www.gulf-times.com . . .