Stand for Islam Community Engagement
As part of their ongoing “Stand for Islam” campaign, political party Hizb ut Tahrir Britain held a community engagement dinner on Sunday 20th July 2008 at Sizzlers restaurant in Chingford, London.
Local politicians, community leaders and mosque representatives were invited to this important event that discussed how the Muslim community can respond to the propaganda and misinformation against Islam and Muslims.
Event host Sami ur Rehman welcomed the guests and began proceedings with a short video presentation covering some of the different media attacks on Islam, such as the insulting Danish cartoons and the recent film ‘Fitna’, which calls for the Quran to be banned.
The first speaker Jamal Okae informed attendees of the ongoing work Hizb ut Tahrir Britain was undertaking to contact non-Muslim intellectuals, politicians and journalists to portray the reality of Islam and the Shariah. He stated the media campaign against Islam was no longer confined to the issue of terrorism, but now was attacking the values of the Muslim community as a whole. He also emphasised the importance of mosques and other community institutions holding events such as open days and exhibitions in order to present Islam to the local non-Muslim community.
Speaker Dr Abdul Wahid, Chairman of the Political committee of Hizb ut Tahrir Britain addressed the need for Muslims to counter the negative government policies targeting their community. He highlighted a number of official government documents, such as the “Preventing Violent Extremism” policy, which aimed at pushing the Muslim community into abandoning their values. He cited examples from other documents related to citizenship classes in madrasas, which actually encourage the Muslim youth to view drinking alcohol and relationships outside marriage as normal activities. He also mentioned how the new umbrella organisations for imams could be used to control the sermons that would be delivered in mosques across the UK. The new policy being enacted by the government is not about fighting terrorism or extremism as all Muslims are against the killing of innocent people, but rather it is about trying to introduce a diluted version of Islam by attacking those who speak about the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan or the concept of ummah said Dr Wahid.
A number of invited guests spoke about the need for the community to work for unity and thanked Hizb ut Tahrir Britain for doing a good job for the Muslims. Raja Ilyas said that the Hizb was doing a great job in the community but it must do more to get the message of unity out in to the mosques and the wider community. Mushtaq Raja spoke about the responsibility of the Muslims everywhere to work for political unity of the Muslim ummah. Khwaja Zahoor a businessman and a member of a Pakistani based political party said that Islam throughout history was attacked and this will continue to happen, but urged groups like the Hizb to continue with its good work and urged mosques to do more to improve communication and cooperation amongst Muslims.
Amjad Mirza, a writer and columnist from Nawi waqt in Britain asked the speakers what work they were doing with the Muslim youth and whether they had tried to work with other organisations. Dr Wahid responded explaining how the Hizb works with the youth, and gave further examples of the Muslim community can work together to engage with the wider society.