Online Abuse

I joined twitter in 2013, I don’t actually recall why I signed up. I think it was curiosity more then anything.

I ended up speaking to some lovely people (who I still speak to today! You guys know who you are!) These amazing genuine people who take time out of their own day to debate/advise/help people on their views towards Muslims. These individuals who are not even Muslims themselves yet probably know more about Islam then I do.

The comments I came across online were and still are shocking, I was scrolling through my phone last week and came across some screenshots of when I had this troll attacking me consistently for weeks. He would be saying atrocious things like “I will boil your head in pig fat” “watch how people rape you” and so on. This was a case which was taken to court, it turned out to be some young man in Devon! I don’t think he was very happy once confronted but hey, don’t be mean to people and not expect some kind of repercussion right?!

This made me more determined to challenge people with these extremist views, how can someone think they are superior to someone else based on the colour of their skin or religion?

I understand people can sometimes get angry and wish to express their anger but to start abusing someone purely based on their religion is disgraceful.

I think many people will understand my next topic in regards to terrorist attacks, I still do not think people such as the far right understand the concept that ISIS have attacked more Muslims, they do not care who they harm. They do not represent me or my religion a single iota, in fact I do not even know what they believe in as everything they do goes against everything I have learned.

Whenever there is news about an attack I know I suddenly get a terrible sickening feeling at the pit of my stomach, my first thought is anger that these assholes have hurt innocents again! And then praying that my family members who do wear the hijab or more traditional wear do not get any abuse. I guess we always think we can handle anything which is why our main concerns is for our loved ones.

During these times are when the real abuse will come out, you will have people saying all Muslims must pay, leave the country and are no longer welcomed. I am a British citizen and no way in any shape or form do those scum represent me or my beliefs.

This is when tensions are high which I understand, but I also believe its time like this we need to come together more. We do not want to give these scum any satisfaction, in fact together we need to overcome their hate. I know this may sound so textbook but I genuinely believe we have more love then hate in this world. This is what will be our strength.

 

15 Years Of Regret With The Far Right

Occasionally people ask me why I bother to argue/debate with people from the far right or even outright racists, and I always reply that I will take the time to speak to them in case I can convince even one of them to change their views.

Over the years I have managed to convince some people, to show them Islam is not this horrid religion and Muslims are not what the far right feed them. Therefore, I feel it is so important to distinguish those who simply want to bash Muslims, and those who are massively misinformed. The latter are the ones who generally want to talk and take their time to ask and listen to answers, which occasionally impacts their views.

The other evening by chance I came across an individual who mentioned he had been part of the far right and since changed his views. I was immediately interested and keen to know his story. I asked if I could speak further about this and write about this on my blog. He agreed straight away and allowed me to bombard him with questions.🙈

Due to keeping his identity hidden I will refer to him as N throughout this post. I asked N when this all started and what made him join the far right.
N was born in East London and joined the National Front in 1985, by 2001 he was a leading member of Combat 18 the Neo Nazi group. He himself said he was a person full of hate and was sucked in by the lies from the far right which fed that anger inside him.

I asked N what made him go towards the far right in the first place? It all started when he was 15 years old, he was walking home one day after watching a cricket match with his friend and was mugged by a gang of Caribbean boys. It was after this incident he was on his local high street where the National Front were handing out leaflets. He went over and told them what happened, where they encouraged him to join immediately.

As I was asking N questions, he repeatedly said how ashamed he was about his past and how he had wasted 15 years of his life. However he was lucky enough to walk away after being brainwashed for years and years. We also must remember he was only 15 years old when he joined, a child fed lies to cause fear and anger towards others.

I asked him what made him dislike ethnic minorities? What made him believe the National Front and their views? He spoke of how there were a lot of leaflets being distributed during marches and they would blame everything on immigration. Anything that would happen they would blame immigrants, completely ignoring any incidents caused by white perpetrators. He mentions Islam was/is a scare tactic for the Far Right, something which he is still seeing today.

I asked N what was the changing point, what made him leave?

The turning point was when his wife and daughter’s life was saved during childbirth by a Doctor originally from Pakistan and an Afro Caribbean nurse. These two individuals who probably till this day do not know they managed to change N’s life and his perspective.

Walking away from the far right was difficult, he received a lot of backlash and hate. Fortunately, he had an opportunity to emigrate to Canada with his family which helped him escape the movement.

N’s story does not end there, unfortunately in 2018 he lost his right to stay in Canada. His past involvement meant he was deported and it didn’t matter he was now a changed. His involvement with the Far Right group had cost him his family and home.

N came back to the UK and reconnected with an old friend who he had fallen out with when he had joined the National Front . They have since managed to rekindle their friendship and his friend has been a huge support to him settling back in to the UK.

When the Christchurch terrorist attack happened, N went to his local mosque and told them about his past and asked if he could find out more about Islam. The Imam invited him along that Friday and they have been great friends since. He regulary pops into the mosque most Fridays to have a chat and spent time with the Imam and others. N showed me some pictures of him and the Imam which really warmed my heart, unfortunately I am unable to share them for privacy reasons.

I thanked N and told him I would share his story and I was honoured to do this, when I started speaking to N I did not realise how far back he went with the Far Right.

I remember growing up I would have this horrible fear of the National Front, I saw some of the members on a newspaper once and I remember feeling sick. They had skin heads and I always thought if I ever saw a man with a skin head, they would attack me because I was brown. I remember talking to my friends about this, looking back it makes me sad that I even thought like that. I was only 10/11 years old when I first came across the group and all I knew was if I ever saw them, I needed to make sure I got away, no child should ever think like that.

N’s story is a powerful one, it shows us how a child was brainwashed at a delicate age who then lost many years of his life being fed lies from the Far Right. Even though he managed to get away from that lifestyle, years later the repercussions of being part of that movement still managed to impact him and his family.

I am going to end this post by some words from N, today he absolutely hates racism and tries to discourage people from joining the far right and hopes this inspires other to leave.

“I attend my local mosque most Fridays and have found nothing but love and kindness, if only people went and found out for themselves. Things would be so different”.❤

‘Taking over our Culture’

Photo by Thought Catalog on Pexels.com

I wanted to write a piece about this statement as this is something I have seen flying about more and more the last few months.

These words are usually added at the end of a rant by some of the far right or some proud ‘Patriot’, you will usually find them mentioning Muslims or Immigrants with this.

My only issue is when you ask these people ‘WHAT CULTURE ARE WE REPLACING?’, I never seem to get a response. I end up usually getting blocked or ignored, which annoys me more so makes me ask them again. ‘WHAT CULTURE AM I TAKING AWAY FROM YOU?’🤷🏽‍♀️

So, after being ignored repeatedly I thought I would ask some people what is this culture that people are so afraid we are going to replace? I have added a list below 👀

• Having a Sunday Roast
• Putting the kettle on
• Biscuit dunking
• Wearing summer clothes as soon as the sun comes out
• Saying sorry
• Eating a full English breakfast
• Never jumping the queue
• Talking about the weather

After looking at the above I am completely baffled as to how any of the above are being replace? I can confirm I cook a mean Sunday roast, although I do tend to overcook and lately, I have gone off meat, so I tend to do a lot of veggie things!

I’m always putting the kettle on, I mean I only recently brought a new rose gold kettle which I use pretty much every single evening when I come home from work, and yes you guessed it… I dunk my chocolate hobnob biscuits in my tea!🙊

And don’t even get me started on my summer clothes, for anyone that knows me I have clothes for every season and if I see the sun of course I will take my summer collection out!🙋🏽‍♀️🙋🏽‍♀️🙋🏽‍♀️🙋🏽‍♀️🙋🏽‍♀️

I can safely say I talk about the weather pretty much every single awkward moment of my daily life, for example I was in Tesco’s today and the card machine stopped working so as the cashier tried to fix this I blurted out ‘So, storm Dennis has been crazy right’🤭

All joking aside, it is worrying how those people genuinely think such a minority will have a huge impact in the culture of a country. If it wasn’t so serious it would be absurd, we have a population of over 66 million in the UK and these people think a minority group have the power to remove the culture.

I know people reading this will see how ridiculous it sounds, but there are people who scaremonger those into believing this. They spend their daily life looking at ethnic minorities thinking in their head ‘you are taking away English culture’ without knowing what their English Culture is!

On the odd occasion when I have challenged someone on this ‘taking over’ conspiracy I will get hit back with ‘Yes but you are a minority, not everyone is like you’. That is correct not everyone is alike, we are all different. However, there are millions like me out there, they just don’t spend their time showing these ignorant people this.

Oh and if anyone is in any doubt of my Sunday Roast please give me a shout and I can show you my food pics 😉

The Safety Net

My earliest memory of going to Pakistan for the first time was when I was just 12, I had been previous to that but I was too young to remember much from that trip.

I remember how excited and scared I was, I mean I was old enough to know the culture and the country itself was going to be different but I never knew just how much. That trip was genuinely one of the best trips of my entire life – so far!. My favourite memory was being in the the fields behind my parent’s house, the crops were being cut and the farmers had piled hay so high that me, my sister and cousins took turns doing a running jump into it! Repeatedly until I whacked my head on a big rock, that only stopped me for a bit and I went straight back haha!🤭🙊

The days were long as it was the summer, me and my sister spent the days wandering around the village, watching women wash clothes in the river and chasing the cows (I know this really happened). We would wait by the gates for the ice cream man to come on his bike (also known as the kulfi man) and sit on the roof eating them and gossiping with our cousins. Then when the sun disappeared we would drag the beds outside and put them next to each other and eat corn on the cob trying to watch films on the TV in between the electricity turning on and off every hour.

I remember the house we originally had in Pakistan was a very basic one, there were 4 bedrooms (all ground floor), a tiny kitchen which led to the outside where the majority of food was cooked, a living room area to entertain guests but mainly we would sit outside if anyone would come. There was also a very basic bathroom, an English toilet (if you know you know), there was a big court yard which led to the main front gates.

Although everything was basic it felt like you were in a different world, you could wake up one morning and see a cow wandering along and then a goat trotting after it so casually. I lived for those times, it was precious.💜

It was during that trip I remember my dad speaking to my mum about the house, he wanted to build a bigger and better house for us. So he started to draw up plans and design the whole house himself, my dad had a vision and he wanted to make it a reality.

The work on the new house did not start for a few years, but when it did I remember my dad would sometimes go Pakistan for a few months at a time. Those times we would say to mum “why has dad gone again!” “This is too long” and each time mum would smile and say “this is for you, be patient”.

Eventually the house was completed, over the next few years my family started to go Pakistan and see the house. The house itself is simply too beautiful to put into words, my dad has personally designed every single room and he had specifically chosen a pink ensuite for my bedroom which my sister hated with a passion 😏.

I remember once having a conversation with my dad saying, “why have you spent so much time and money on a house over there which we will only use once or twice a year?” 🙄 and each time my dad would smile and say “beti (daughter) this is for you children, no one can ever take that house from you and you will always have a place to call home”.

I do not think I understood the meaning behind the words until I was old enough to learn about the BNP group and racism in general. I remember we would hear stories of racist attacks happening and my dad would look over to my mum and say, “see this is why I spent so much time on the house, if anything ever happens to this family and they can no longer stay here they will always have that house….”

During those times I would laugh and say to them “what are you guys talking about? Nothing will happen, no one can take anything from us! We have equal rights as Jack from down the road!”.

The reason why I have mentioned all of the above is I never truly realised how many other people had the same thought as my dad. A few years ago on holiday with my friends, I remember we ended up having the same conversation about how our parents have decided to keep these houses in case anything happened to us and we could no longer stay. This is not something we had ever thought about before, we have known each other since the age of 13 and it had taken nearly 15 years for us to talk about this.

A few weeks ago I went to dinner with a friend, the last few years she has been actively practising Islam and has started to wear the hijab. She has a daughter who is coming up to 12 years old and she was saying how she is worried about her daughter being in school and facing stigma because her daughter has decided she wanted to wear the hijab after the summer holidays.

Her daughter had decided, not my friend. She had in fact chosen to not broach the topic of the hijab with her daughter until she felt like her daughter was ready for that conversation. Now her daughter had said that, my friend was worried she may face some kind of negative reaction and behavior from some of the students in the school… and then she said what I knew was coming.

“Shy, it’s times like this I feel reassured we have a house in Bangladesh, because if anything happens we can always go there”.

No matter how many times I hear this same line it breaks a part of me, because there has to be something fundamentally wrong for these thoughts to be going through our heads.

There has been an increase of fear instilled into us lately, the fear of being attacked or abused based on our ethnicity and belief. I am usually very headstrong and stubborn, but the worry I have for my family and friends is immense, I understand there will be others who can understand this fear, and also some who may not.

I decided to write this piece as I felt like I was seeing far too many stories of people being attacked because of their race and religion and the topic of having a house “abroad” is being discussed more and more.

Why should we think we need a safety net? Why should anyone ever make anyone else feel like they do not belong? What is the difference between us and anyone else who is here?

I have also attached a picture of our house in Pakistan as I feel like the love and effort my father put into this beautiful house deserves sharing 💜.

The Conspiracy of Christmas

It’s that time of year where the usual rumours start circulating… ‘those pesky Muslims are trying to sabotage Christmas’, ‘they are getting offended over “OUR CHRISTIAN VALUES”, Muslims are not even allowing us to say “Merry Christmas” in case they get offended’. I could go on and on but I’m sure you can get the gist of what is being said🤦🏽‍♀️.

I really hate to break it to anyone who believes the absurd comments above, we really don’t. There is no conspiracy.🤷‍♀️

I read a great article today from the Independent which I have attached below, this talks about this in more depth, please have a read.

https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/muslims-christmas-jesus-god-islamophobia-prophet-muhammad-a8697971.html

The main reason for me writing this piece on Christmas Eve is because I have seen a fair few comments on social media flying around about Muslims being offended by Christmas.

I may not be Christian and I may not go to Church or midnight mass, however this does not mean I am offended when my friends, neighbours and colleagues celebrate.

Personally I love the atmosphere, movies, food and the chocolate advent calender’s I get each year (I eat all of the days by week two🙊), I help my best friend decorate her Christmas tree for her daughter, I participate in secret Santa at work and buy outrageous anonymous presents for my chosen person.

Each year I will receive a lovely box of chocolates and a card from my elderly neighbours who are Christian, and each year I will get them their favourite biscuits and try and pop round for a chat and see how they are.

I, like many other Muslims will participate in Christmas jumper day at work and will donate to charities and food banks more so during this time of year because even though I may not celebrate Christmas I want to help others who do 💜.

 

I will buy my best friends and their children Christmas presents, so they can put it under their tree, and on Christmas day they will send me videos of the kids opening my presents in the morning. Each year my friends will be adamant and shower me with presents and chocolates even though I have said to them countless times I do not give presents to receive, yet they never listen🙄🤦🏽‍♀️💜.

This is not just a Christmas thing, each year on Eid my non Muslim friends will without fail wish me Happy Eid and they will leave presents and cards on my desk and pop over to my house for a chat and some yummy Asian food (We are known for making way too much food🙊). Each Eid I will pop round to my neighbours with a plate of food and they love it, they will wish me and my family a Happy Eid.

This does not stop with just Christmas and Eid, I have Sikh/Hindu/Jewish/Buddhist friends and we will wish each other well wishes on any occasions. This is part of life, part of living in such a diverse great country where we can learn to appreciate other people’s cultures and views.

No-one is saying you HAVE to believe in what another person believes in, but what we can do is be respectful and welcome their views and belief. I have learned so much from being around other faiths and have made such great friends.

I need to go back to eating my chocolates and finishing my new book which I purchased today, and tomorrow I will be having a feast with my family as we have a day off work and will be catching up and relaxing with each other.

So to whomever is celebrating Christmas have a lovely day and those who are not celebrating but are spending their day with their loved ones I hope you have an awesome day.

Finally to those who spend their time being offended because we are not offended then try and get in the Christmas spirit and from a Muslim to you, have a wonderful day🙃🤗.

Jamal

A name many of us may have heard, not in a great way either… 

 I still remember the morning when I woke up and checked my twitter and one video kept popping up over and over, and over, again. 

 I won’t lie, till this day I haven’t watched the full clip, I can barely get past the first 15-20 seconds without having this sickening feeling at the pit of my stomach, this is a video I really don’t think I can ever forget. 

 To the people who have not heard of Jamal, the video shows a young 15 year-old boy walking on a field in school and a bunch of bullies approach and physically assault him. There was one boy, in particular, who drags Jamal by the neck and pours water over him, over his face, his forehead, the video shows Jamal being pinned down and being told he would be drowned; he seems to be  subject to water boarding. 

 I just want you to process that, I have not given any background on Jamal, yet already I have that sickening feeling because bullying in any form is not acceptable…..Seeing Jamal’s face in that video has haunted many people including myself, this is a face of someone who looks so lost and defeated; his body language spoke for him when maybe his voice couldn’t be heard. 

 Jamal and his family have come from Syria, they had come to seek safety and to escape war and brutality. To then have this happen to him? Therefore, this is why the story touched me more, how can someone suffer so much; I cannot imagine what he must have gone through. Thinking he was finally safe to then be abused like that?  Jamal survived Homs, go on – search it online and see what he survived! He then had to survive at school, a child had to survive in a place that should be a place of safety. 

 I started to read more of this story as I wanted to know more about it, to try and understand what had happened, and why.  I saw the video on Tuesday 27th November 2018, however this incident had occurred on 25th October 2018; the video was shown a month after it happened and allegedly Jamal had been bullied before this. This did not appear to be a one-off incident – I read in the papers a previous incident, on 7th October, occurred where Jamal suffered a wrist injury. Yet, no further action was taken and it has been said this was not connected to latest incident.  That said, Jamal was attacked when he was, due to an arm being in a cast, physically vulnerable, unable to defend himself. Smaller than the other boy, and with a broken arm, he was assaulted and filmed by others. 

 The next day someone sent me a video of another victim from the same school having her hijab being ripped off, this turned out to be Jamal’s sister. I have since read in newspapers this is currently being investigated. 

 I want to just go back to Jamal, and of the individual who was assaulting him. We all know how wonderful and dangerous the internet can be, especially for sharing information. Within a few hours of the video of Jamal circulating, one of the boys in the video had been identified and his details shared including his other social media profiles. 

 I want to make one thing very clear, I do not condone any form of bullying whatsoever, I never shared this boy’s details or his picture, or anything that would put him at risk. I did, however, see posts about this alleged bully’s Facebook page –  

 The profile had posts shared about the far right. I remember as I was scrolling through this boy’s profile feeling absolute rage and sickened. If the posts and views of the likes of ‘Tommy Robinson’ (Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) and Britain First were being followed by young school boys, then something was definitely wrong. You could immediately see how this boy felt and what his views were, the worst thing was after reading some more news I found out his mother was a convicted racist. She was prosecuted after spitting at a restaurant owner and calling him a p*ki and a terrorist. 

 Maybe this explains her son’s views, but maybe he had other influences, including some online ones. 

 Whilst newspapers were reporting this incident someone had kindly set up a fundraising page, within a few hours it had raised thousands of pounds from hundreds of people around the country and then people were donating from other countries! Every time I checked the page, the amount was increasing, and the amount of support and love people were sending to Jamal and his family was so heart-warming. I have always said love will overcome hate, and this was a perfect example of it. 

 As with anything positive comes something negative.  It felt like the more support and love Jamal was getting, the more the Far Right were getting restless until suddenly, out of nowhere, a story came out that Jamal had supposedly bullied some girls at the school prior to this incident. 

 Just to clarify, the person ‘reporting’ the story was ‘Tommy Robinson’ aka Stephen Yaxley- Lennon, he had shown some messages from a mum who had said Jamal had bullied her daughter. The post by Stephen has since been deleted and no evidence has been shown to support this happened. At one point people were saying the mother of the girl said her daughter had been bullied on a separate incident, but she did not get any media attention whereas Jamal had.  It is now known, and admitted by him, that Yaxley-Lennon did not check his source!  He was so keen, too keen, to run with the information without checking if it was true or not.  Why would a ‘reporter’, and adult, risk causing a child further injury, harm to a child’s reputation? 

 This was followed by a few more videos/posts by Stephen talking about Jamal and asking why people were donating to the fundraising page – why not? Free country; free choice; freedom to express love, care, concern; freedom to offer financial support as well as sympathy.    The assaulted girl’s actual mother had needed to justify what had happened to her child because of Yaxley-Lennon’s actions – to have to bring all that up again, and to have to ask people to stop using photos of her daughter must have caused distress to that family, again.  But, the mother still found it in herself to state Jamal had not assaulted her daughter – if only Stephen the ‘reporter’ had checked his source another family would have been saved more upset. 

Yet again another post was put up of Jamal by Stephen stating another parent had come forward where apparently Jamal had bullied their daughter, turned out this was false and yet again Stephen deleted this and posted a video admitting it was a lie.

 Since Tommy/Stephen decided to get involved he was sent a letter by Jamal’s lawyer advising they would be pursuing legal action against him due to him sharing false information. Personally, this has been a long time coming and I wish them well in pursuing this! 

 Although some posts had been deleted the damage was already done, the amount of abuse I saw people directing towards Jamal from the Far Right was absolutely sickening. It was as if the more money the donation page made the angrier they got, they just couldn’t handle it. 

 As I predicted, pretty soon Tommy/Stephen set up some fundraising pages for the alleged bully, to be honest I am still baffled as to why he would have set up a donation page for an alleged bully who was caught physically abusing someone – the evidence was there for all to see, so what message is Yaxley-Lennon giving?    

 Whilst this was going on and the alleged bully’s details were being leaked and he was receiving threats (which I completely condemn) Jamal asked people to leave the boy alone, even after all the trauma he went through he was still trying to look out for the other boy and protecting him. 

I understand this is currently going through court so it is a delicate subject, but I did not want this to be something which is spoken about once and then forgotten about. Jamal’s story touched me deeply as I felt it did with others, due to his background and his fighting spirit after the story broke. Jamal did not ask for the donations, in fact I have been told he was so overwhelmed with the love shown, and is so thankful to everyone. 

 The fact that some people have tried to tar this story with such negativity, use other bullying stories to play tit for tat, shows how envious and narrow minded they can be. Jamal’s story has never been about one incident being more important than any other, which some people have tried to say. I have since come across videos showing white children being bullied by Asian/Black bullies, these posted by Far Right accounts. The crazy thing is they think we wouldn’t care about the victims? Why? Because they think Jamal has got more attention as his alleged bully is white and we care more? (I don’t need to answer this, children are children.) 

 As I mentioned previously this is an on-going court case and so I am careful about what I can/can’t say; what I can say is Jamal is so, so thankful and grateful for all the love and support he’s been getting.  I have always said, Love always overcomes hate. 

 

 

Losing Someone

The last few weeks the topic of death has been on my mind, I know it sounds very morbid doesn’t it…🙈

The main reason why it has been on my mind is I have had news of a few people passing away lately, a couple of family members (an uncle and a distant related cousin) and someone very special who I met online ❤.

I always get left feeling a bit empty after I found out someone has passed away, it just feels numb and I feel like someone has taken the floor out of me. I don’t think anyone can really truly understand death or accept it… maybe they can and I am just not that person.

I have always been an optimist and believed everything happens for a reason, I believe people pass for a reason and at times I never know what that reason is but that it was just meant to happen.

Growing up I didn’t really have a view on death, I did not really know many people that passed away and the ones who did were either someone I didn’t know well or I was too young to understand and be fully impacted by it.

However it all changed when my father was ill and I remember during those weeks of him having a stroke and being hospitalised I had to accept we would lose him one day. Of course no one can really accept that, I mean how could I? Dad’s lived forever didn’t they?

I don’t think I ever accepted or still have accepted my father has gone, I still go and see my mum expecting to see my Dad walking in the room or throwing a chocolate bar at me because that used to be “our thing”.

I do know that it upsets and makes me angry when some people do not appreciate their parents, what I would do to see my parents sitting together and laughing again. I don’t think there was a time where I didn’t speak to my Dad every day, he was/is still the core of our world.

I think the biggest thing I struggled to understand was how the world carries on after? I mean I know the world does, I mean how can it not? However at that time I did not want it too, I didn’t want my friends to carry on being normal, I didn’t want to go work and be normal or to see the world carry on. The reality is the world does go on, this is what life is about, it is what it is. We make it what it is.

I cannot stress enough if you know someone who is grieving then the most important and valuable thing you can do for them is give them time. You do not have to pester them everyday, every hour or every minute. Just letting them know you are there for them is enough… sometimes people may act like they do not need any support or help, they do. We all do.

Sometimes people ask me why I bother doing what I do, and I think to myself I am here for a reason, to voice my opinion, to be random and to try and show people what I can about me/my religion and my culture.

I know this is something different to what I usually write but there was someone so special, so bright, so vibrant who a lot of us had the pleasure to interact with who has now gone….She reignited the passion in me to continue to fight for what I believe in and to challenge those who need to be challenged.  Lola you were amazing and I hope I continue to do what I can to fight for, what you constantly fought for and I hope I do you proud. 💖

The Other Side Of The Door

I feel like it has been a very long time since I have updated my blog, this is mainly due to having some work commitments and my sister and best friends having babies! When I mean it has been baby galore the last few months, I mean baby galooooooore! 🤦🏽

I wanted to talk about something different tonight, more so about someone I have got to know on Twitter, I have got to know many people on Twitter over the years but she is someone I have known for the longest.

The reason why I want to share our story is due to the way we came across each other, I wanted to confirm with this person it was okay for me to share her name and she said yes 😊. Some of you will know her, we will call her V for this post.

When Tommy Robinson was on Twitter and share useless information he had either made up or exaggerated (rolls eyes), I would always try and challenge this. At times it would be against a usual group of people who were his followers. V was one of them, V would go on his marches and was actively involved with the groups who supported him… Me and V would regularly get into spats and honestly our debates/arguments could last days if not weeks. Neither one of us would back down and we would go on and on🤷🏻.

There are not many Tommy Robinson followers who can intimidate me but she was definitely one of them, it wasn’t that she was terribly abusive or anything, it was the way she came across.

Nothing ever fazed her, the amount of abuse I would get from her followers she would get the same from mine. She was/is also very precise about the way she carried herself online. However we never really blocked/muted each other, we just got used to seeing each others names on threads or comments and the debates would start again.

One thing I did notice was when something was outright wrong such as a Muslim getting assaulted or someone being outright racist she would call the person out on it, and she would condemn it.

As time went on (about two years) I went for a break from twitter, I had left my account active but I muted notifications and did not check anything. That was until a year or so ago when I came back on and saw she was still active on twitter and some of my other twitter friends were now following her and vice versa!

I also noticed she was challenging Tommy Robinson more and more on the things he was saying and one day I messaged her asking what had happened.

We exchanged a few messages and she explained a mutual friend called Smiley (some of you may remember him) had spent time explaining and talking to V about Islam and her views. Smiley was/is still a dear person to me and V as I am sure she would agree….he had passed away a few years earlier😔. V told me how someone had also told her ex about the amount of abuse she would get online which he then showed her eldest son…this was a shock to them as this wasn’t something she expressed at home, however this led to her having heart to hearts with her son whilst she also took a break from Twitter.

V was no longer part of this EDL circle, she was no longer following and believing what the far right were saying, she was in fact challenging and debating people who she once sided with! We apologised to each other about the past and we became firm friends, we speak most days and we work great together in any debate (that’s if we don’t get blocked first!).

I have always said to V she should share her story as I admire her so much for what she has done, it was not an easy thing. People who she was once in a EDL group have either stopped speaking to her or turned against her. Yet she still relentlessly challenges people and she is great at it!❤

Take away what you ‘think’ someone is like based on their race/religion you will see that we are all the same at the end of the day. The aim of my account is not to be argumentative or rude to people it is to show people what real Muslims are like instead of what they follow online.

Unfortunately when people have their own agenda against Islam they will do anything and everything to make their followers believe the same, people will share so many fake stories and their followers will believe it without even confirming if it is true.

People sometimes say to me why do I bother speaking to those who have Islamophobic/Racist views and I always think you never know what can happen. We always assume our side is right and sometimes we do not see what is on the other side of the door…

 

 

 

 

Would I be Muslim if I wasn’t brought up in a Muslim family?🤔

This is a question which I admit I did not really think of before, it was actually someone on Twitter suggested I write about. The more I thought about this the more I talked about this to my friends to see what their views are on this subject.

As I have mentioned earlier on in one of the other posts, I was not brought up in a strict family. This does not mean my parents never prayed or were not devout Muslims, they were/are. They just never forced us to do anything we did not wish to, e.g pray, fast, give to charity (these are the core values of Islam). What they did do was explain and give us the chance to research, go to Islamic classes and talk to scholars about any questions we had and then watched us do these things because we wanted too.

This reminds me of when me and my older sister who is 18 months older then me, decided at the ages of 14 and 16 we were going to start going to local Islamic classes. Now people may have this perception that an Islamic class involves a bunch of girls sitting quietly in a corner being preached too and brain washed. The reality is the total opposite, we actually had such a great time going to these classes, we made friends there, we asked questions openly and we always pestered for exact answers. This was not a class where someone would say “You do not do this because you go to hell”, it was in fact a time of great patience and understanding.

I will not say there has not been times where my faith has been shaken or I have felt lost, because that would be a lie. I can honestly say at these times my family did nothing but be patient, they encouraged me to deal with things the best way I could and eventually I got back there again. This is not me preaching that religion has saved me, but I do believe the beauty of having a religion is you have your own journey and connection to God. At times this will be tested and it is up to you how you deal with it, for me I felt myself get back together once I had overcome the testing times I had gone through.

Although it is a bit difficult for me to answer the question of would I have been a Muslim if I had not been born as one, I do believe for me Islam makes sense. I do not identify myself as a Muslim as a label but because I believe in Islam.

This does not mean Islam is for everyone, because as I mentioned before everyone has their own journey in life. The below verse is mentioned in the Quran about people and religion.

Al Baqarah 256 which states “there is no compulsion in religion.”

I have noticed many right wing accounts stating if Muslims wish to leave Islam they are going to be “killed”, however I find it ironic when they manage to find some “ex-Muslims” who have left Islam yet dedicate their lives to talking about Islam . They will join these far right groups and instead of being “scared” for their lives as they say, they will bring themselves more attention by writing books and selling them for profit in the process of abusing other Muslims?🙄🤦🏽

To be honest I have met 2 ex-Muslims in real life, and one I have spoken to online who unlike the ones who join the far right groups have just simply carried on with life. I met one ex-Muslim as university, she never even said she was an ex-Muslim. It was maybe after 6 months of being friends she told me, and you know what? Nothing changed between us, why should it? Since then she has actually gone back into Islam and is engaged to a lovely white English guy!❤

The second person was someone who I met at a wedding, he wasn’t my friend but a friend of a friend. A normal guy in his late 20’s living in London (last time I heard he was dating a Muslim girl). However the time I spent with him and the questions I did curiously ask (I told you guys I am pretty fascinated at anything and everything) he was open with. I asked him what his family thought? He said his parents were of course a bit upset about it but they did not disown him (or threaten to kill him like many people would assume!). In fact they eventually accepted it, he still participated in Islamic festivities but he does his own thing, his reasons for leaving Islam? He said he was a very logical person and did not believe in the idea of religions full stop, nothing else to it. 

At the same time I have also met people who have converted into Muslims, I actually love meeting converts as I feel like because they have come into Islam themselves and not born into it, they hold so much knowledge. I have a few friends who were non Muslims growing up and turned to Islam when they started going on their own personal journey, because it just worked for them.

This goes back to the original question would anyone be Muslim or a follower of any religion if they were not brought up in it? Unless someone knows about the religion and decides it suits them then I think it could be a struggle, especially in todays day and age. I look at how the media and social media platforms portray Muslims and if I was an outsider who did not know anything about Islam would I believe all the negative things which are shared? Maybe. Would I do my own research about Islam? Yes I do believe I would, and would it change my views? Probably, because I know the type of person I am. I enjoy learning and for me Islam works for me, I enjoy having a belief.

I appreciate religion is not for everyone, which is why no one should be forced to believe in something unless they take time and research and form their own opinion.😊

 

 

 

Are people radicalised by the Far Right?

Darren Osbourne.

Darren was recently convicted of murder and attempted murder after driving a van into some Muslims in Finsbury Park last June. This was a terrorist attack, his motive was to harm Muslims anyway he could, the intent was there to kill.

This brings me onto the question of why? I mean is there ever a reason or justification why someone does something to harm others? I personally cannot understand why anyone would want to harm another person, no one has the right to do that.

I followed the case through the news and online, one interesting thing which came to light was how Darren Osbourne was a follower of the likes of Tommy Robinson and Britain First, there were a couple of messages sent to Darren from them via automatic distribution lists. The message which came on 9th June from Tommy Robinson contained the below;

“The government and politicians refuse to take the necessary steps to keep us safe. It has now been left to us, the ordinary people of the United Kingdom to stand up to hate, to unite and in one voice say ‘no more'”.

Darren Osbourne’s parter Ms Andrews told the court how Darren had been obsessively reading up on Jayda Fransen, Paul Golding and Tommy Robinson and the police saying he had been radicalised all within 3-4 weeks.

Just to clarify anything I have said so far has been confirmed during court and various newspapers. I am aware there will be many people (loyal followers of the above) accusing me of making this up.

As I was following this case during the days in court I decided to have a look at Tommy Robinson’s page to see if I could see this from a third person’s perspective? Is it possible someone can get radicalised from someone’s social media account?

If you have not looked at Tommy Robinson’s account then please do, I would say to check Britain First account but that has since been suspended (Thank God!).

I do not have anything against free speech, in fact I strongly believe in saying what you feel. What I do not understand is how people can abuse the freedom of speech and use it as an excuse to promote hate. Looking at the far right’s social media accounts actually makes me feel sick. They spend every single waking moment searching for anything to do with Muslims and ethic minorities, any crime or offence committed by a Muslim this will be shared on their social media platforms.

This goes back to my original comment, can someone be radicalised by the Far Right? My own personal answer? Yes. I do believe if you are consistently brain washing your followers with any news where the perpetrators are Muslim or Immigrants this can cause someone to snap! Tommy Robinson and co are always sharing news about rapes or murders committed by Muslim’s or Immigrants, very rarely you will see news being shared by non ethnic minority perpetrators. You just have to look through their posts to see comments from their followers. The last couple of days alone I have been called a Nazi, a peado worshipper and threatened with bacon?! And who do all these people follow on twitter…?

To be honest I see this as no difference as any terrorist attacker, as the intent is the same. To hurt. To harm. To Kill.

I do not understand why groups such as the far right would even do what they do, why would you tar 1.8 billion Muslims with the same brush as those who are a MINORITY which commit atrocious acts? If every single Muslim was so bad, would there not be blood on every single street corner? Maybe this is because I try to see the positive in everything, or maybe I hate the thought of upsetting someone which is why I cannot understand why people do it to us Muslims. Why would you wish to cause harm on innocent people based on the actions of a few?

Like Isis are radicalised, I see no difference to how the far right followers are radicalised, both parties are brain washed and fed news which will make them angry, both parties have the same intention. Regardless of how people may say the Far Right are only there to “protect their country”, the intention is still the same.🤦🏽

Bacon – Is this Kryptonite 🤔😱😯

Bacon… Bacon…Bacon… 🥓

I find it ever so amusing when people seem to think they can be insulting and offensive to me/Muslims by throwing bacon comments at us.

I am sorry guys, I have breaking news… Nothing happens!!! Literally absolutely nothing happens to us if you “put bacon on my car”, “shove bacon on our faces (although that would make me mad and get you a slap)” or the best one “let’s all get bacon sarnies and eat them and see how ‘they’ like it!”.

Let us start from the beginning, what does the Quran say about bacon?

““He has forbidden you only dead animals, and blood, and the swine, and that which is slaughtered as a sacrifice for other than God.” (Quran 2:173)”

And what does the bible say about eating bacon?

“And the pig, because it parts the hoof but does not chew the cud, is unclean for you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch”

Deuteronomy 14:8

From the above two passages from two religious texts we can see both condemn the eating of pork, meaning if Islam prohibits Muslims from eating pork so does Christianity. So why do I seem to get bacon insults by people who are proud “patriots” and “devout Christians” who do not even go to church or mass yet feel the need to insult others on their beliefs?

This brings me to the next topic, what happens if someone eats a bacon sarnie in front of me? I work in an software company where every Friday morning is take out breakfast morning. When people order bacon and egg baguettes and eat them on my desk chatting to me, I do not turn to dust nor do I keel over and die. On the other hand I sit there eating my own egg and mushroom baguette  (don’t judge unless you have tried this!) enjoying my breakfast and glad the week is over 😋.

Yesterday I came across a post on twitter where someone had uploaded a picture of a ice cream place with small children (Asian of course) eating ice cream etc. The comments under this post are disgraceful, an example of one was “Well start selling bloody bacon soon all run away Its legal”. First of all, this person has a English flag on their profile picture and secondly their grammar is atrocious and they say they are a “patriot” to us British people?!

I would upload the comments but the original owner of the post has blocked me but feel free to have a nosey if you wish, username is @OkKelly22 😉.

On that note it is Friday and well, you all know what Friday mornings are about in Shy’s life 😏