This article was sent-in by Aishah Iqbal. Aishah Iqbal is a guest-writer on Muslimsinengland.com

So, I want to be a good practising Muslim and Insh’Allah obtain my place in Jannat. To do this I will follow the teachings of the Qur’an and Sunnah. I will believe that there is no God but Allah and Muhammed (PBUH) was his messenger. Simple, right? After all Islam is MEANT to be a simple religion. So why does it become so hard? Why do we have to constantly battle with everyone and everything around us to try and follow the teachings of our religion?

This battle I talk of is, surprisingly, not about the battle of living in a non-Muslim country. In fact, this fight many of us encounter constantly is between Islam and Culture. It really should not exist, but sadly it does. Cultural customs often clash with Islamic teachings, yet many still abide by these customs. Often when people are asked ‘what are you?’ they will answer with their cultural background: Pakistani, Somalian, Moroccan, Bengali and so on. Should we not simply be saying ‘I am a Muslim’? Continue reading "Let Me be Me!"...

There are some news stories you read in utter disbelief. Many of these stories have a habit of appearing in the Daily Mail (never read their comments, it will turn you to terrorism). Then there are some where your jaw drops to the floor and your faith in humanity is crushed for at least a few seconds.

‘Ailing Ground Zero heroes slam embattled Obama over mosque as New York takes stand against president’

This is one of them.

Seriously, someone tell me it’s a joke. Someone tell me that New Yorkers don’t believe a mosque to be insult to victims of 9/11. Someone tell me New Yorkers don’t believe Islam attacked the twin towers. Please.

How could this ever be construed as an issue? Continue reading "Ground zero mosque, what ground zero mosque?"...

Who loves football more in times other than the FIFA World Cup? Nobody, right? What a beautiful time of year again huh? FIFA World Cup 2010! From corners of the world, the best teams to compete one another. Thousands of fans flown to South Africa to support their country. Beautiful to see a big variety of cultures and skin colours presented in a peaceful manner on the field, right? WRONG! The movie below will show a side of football which has remained underexposed. Especially important at this moment in South Africa.

So, as one of the Editorial Team of MIE was reading an article on IdealMuslimah and got quite confused, she wanted England's opinion. Do bare in mind that she's a new-convert.

Article:

After Umm Al-Sa'ad completed her memorization of the Qur'aan at the age of 15 she went to the Shaykhah Nafeesah bint Abu Al-Alaa, who was known as "The Shaykhah [woman scholar] of her time" to request from her to learn the 10 Qira'aat (recitations). Nafeesa agreed on an peculiar condition; that Umm Al-Sa'ad never marry. She used to refuse to teach girls because they would marry, become busy, and neglect the Quran.

What was even more amazing was that Umm Al-Sa'ad accepted the condition from her Shaykhah who was known for her strictness and harshness against those whom she did not feel were proper for this honorable task. But Umm Al-Sa'ad was encouraged by the fact that her Shaykhah herself had never married, even though there were many of the great scholars who had sought her hand, and she died in that state while in her eighties, having secluded herself to the Quran! Continue reading "Marrying The Qur'an? Hmmm..."...