U.K. Is Europe's Most Tolerant Country
MANAMA, March 11 (IslamOnline.net) – The United Kingdom is a more tolerant place for Muslims than other parts of Europe despite the hardships and daunting challenges faced by Muslims in the West after the 9/11 attacks, a famed British Muslim writer said.
Sarah Joseph, the editor of British magazine Emel, said Britain allows an ample room for religious freedom and free speech, asserting the importance of building bridges with the British people, Bahrain's English-language Gulf Daily News reported Wednesday, March 10.
"The actions of the British government are not a reflection of the people of that nation," she said in statements made during her four-day visit to Bahrain, where she delivered a series of lectures on Muslims' burning issues.
She said the some two million people who took to the streets of London to demonstrate against the war in Iraq was a case in point.
"The vast majority of anti-war protesters were non-Muslim. They do care about the Israel and Palestine conflict, about issues that we care about," she was quoted by the Bahraini daily as saying.
'Most Practiced'
Joseph predicted that Islam would be the most widely practiced religion in the United Kingdom by 2020.
"We are the second largest faith in Britain and will be the largest practicing faith in Britain by 2020 if you use church and mosque attendance as a measure," she said.
She says mosque attendance is expected to outstrip church attendance over the next 16 years.
Britain's The Sunday Times reported last January that the number of British Muslims praying at mosques had outstripped the number of regular worshippers in the Church of England, the mother church of the Anglican communion.
British reports also revealed last month that some 14,000 British elite have converted to Islam.
The Gulf Daily News cited estimates as suggesting that anywhere between 10,000 and 50,000 people a year convert to Islam in the U.K., which is currently home to approximately 1.8 million Muslims.
'Secular Fundamentalism'
Joseph further warned that Europe is in danger of falling victim to what she called "secular fundamentalism", the English-language Bahraini daily said.
"It is the other extreme of what they are saying they are trying to fight," she said.
"This secular fundamentalism is creeping through Europe - there is no room for God in political discourse.
"This for me is a particularly worrying trend. People with faith have to stand up and fight secular fundamentalism," she added.
She hit out at the French ban on hijab as a bid by French President Jacques Chirac to win support from his right-wing opponents.
The French parliament adopted on February 10 with an overwhelming majority a controversial bill that would ban hijab and religious insignia in state schools, despite fierce opposition from the country's sizable minorities and international rights groups.
Joseph is currently pursuing her PhD in "Britons Embracing Islam" at King's College London.
She defines herself as a British Muslim "embracing Islam not from the pathway of birth and family, but from a different world".
MANAMA, March 11 (IslamOnline.net) – The United Kingdom is a more tolerant place for Muslims than other parts of Europe despite the hardships and daunting challenges faced by Muslims in the West after the 9/11 attacks, a famed British Muslim writer said.
Sarah Joseph, the editor of British magazine Emel, said Britain allows an ample room for religious freedom and free speech, asserting the importance of building bridges with the British people, Bahrain's English-language Gulf Daily News reported Wednesday, March 10.
"The actions of the British government are not a reflection of the people of that nation," she said in statements made during her four-day visit to Bahrain, where she delivered a series of lectures on Muslims' burning issues.
She said the some two million people who took to the streets of London to demonstrate against the war in Iraq was a case in point.
"The vast majority of anti-war protesters were non-Muslim. They do care about the Israel and Palestine conflict, about issues that we care about," she was quoted by the Bahraini daily as saying.
'Most Practiced'
Joseph predicted that Islam would be the most widely practiced religion in the United Kingdom by 2020.
"We are the second largest faith in Britain and will be the largest practicing faith in Britain by 2020 if you use church and mosque attendance as a measure," she said.
She says mosque attendance is expected to outstrip church attendance over the next 16 years.
Britain's The Sunday Times reported last January that the number of British Muslims praying at mosques had outstripped the number of regular worshippers in the Church of England, the mother church of the Anglican communion.
British reports also revealed last month that some 14,000 British elite have converted to Islam.
The Gulf Daily News cited estimates as suggesting that anywhere between 10,000 and 50,000 people a year convert to Islam in the U.K., which is currently home to approximately 1.8 million Muslims.
'Secular Fundamentalism'
Joseph further warned that Europe is in danger of falling victim to what she called "secular fundamentalism", the English-language Bahraini daily said.
"It is the other extreme of what they are saying they are trying to fight," she said.
"This secular fundamentalism is creeping through Europe - there is no room for God in political discourse.
"This for me is a particularly worrying trend. People with faith have to stand up and fight secular fundamentalism," she added.
She hit out at the French ban on hijab as a bid by French President Jacques Chirac to win support from his right-wing opponents.
The French parliament adopted on February 10 with an overwhelming majority a controversial bill that would ban hijab and religious insignia in state schools, despite fierce opposition from the country's sizable minorities and international rights groups.
Joseph is currently pursuing her PhD in "Britons Embracing Islam" at King's College London.
She defines herself as a British Muslim "embracing Islam not from the pathway of birth and family, but from a different world".
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{Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.}
(Holy Quran-16:125)
{And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33)
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim]
The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all."
[Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah]
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