Sent by Usman Ali - LikeMedia

We need to stop reacting, begin to really understand our priorities, and start contributing. It’s our time to act.

A very close non-Muslim friend from primary school added me on Facebook the other day. I was surprised but pleased that he remembered me, and I spent some time reminiscing looking through his profile. Unfortunately, my heart sunk when I saw that he had been strongly for the ‘Draw Mohammed Day’ and had even designed some distasteful images of the Prophet in the name of ‘Freedom of speech’ (according to his profile). This got me thinking… Firstly, how should I react to this? Secondly, do we as Muslim know enough about our beloved Prophet to engage in discourse with others about him?? I'm fairly certain we all saw the wall of the group “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” a few weeks back. A cursory glance at the posts on the ‘wall’ of the group made it clear that the outcomes had little to do with promoting freedom of speech and everything to do with insulting Islam and generating anger. Once again, the question of free speech versus respect for religion received world attention – but this time through a medium we ALL engage with on a daily basis. Continue reading "Buckle up sisters and brothers"...

Spearheaded by 25 year old Rehan Iqbal, the Birmingham-based likeMEDIA.tv was launched officially in October 2009 by a group of young social entrepreneurs to help to generate a “portal of high quality Islamic knowledge for the online community”. Rehan and his team were aware that much of the useful information and advice aimed at young people was being lost at one-off events and forums. They decided to create likeMEDIA.tv as a platform from which to film as many of these events and talks as possible and put them online in a fresh, dynamic, and accessible format.

likeMEDIA.tv activities are based around taking 'a fresh approach' to Islam for people who want to ask about religion but may be afraid to ask out loud or in public. It’s not always easy for young people to talk about religion, but likeMEDIA.tv provides an effective and user-friendly solution by harnessing the power of the internet to educate and inform in a format that appeals to young Muslims. For example, their “Now That’s What I Call Islam!” series of events in October last year used popular song titles to discuss issues such as drugs, clubbing and relationships from a religious perspective. They had a succession of events at leading UK universities including Cambridge and Nottingham with titles such as 'Where is the Love?', 'In Da Club' and 'Man in the Mirror'. Continue reading "'A fresh approach' to Islam"...

Over the new few weeks, you may have some advertising of a different kind on your travels.

http://inspiredbymuhammed.com/

Religious and non-religious advertising has become the norm in recent years, with anti-abortion Christian campaigns and Richard Dawkins infamous ‘God probably doesn’t exist’ campaign, but this is the first inspired by Muslims. Revolutionary?

Personally, I’d just be excited to see a women in Hijab on a poster, any poster. It’s good to see some positive movement, with emphasis on non-political affairs.

What are your thoughts on this initiative?

Can religion ever really win hearts with advertising?

Last Wednesday it has been directed by The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (TPA) to block Facebook indefinitely. The reason was an on-line competition to draw The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

This order followed a decision by the Lahore High Court temporarily banning Facebook in Pakistan. Pakistan's media reported that the competition would be held tomorrow.

Pakistan protests:
Reuters/Idrees Boby.

Salaam All,

We had to get servers moved recently since our old one was causing some problems. You may have experienced that comments didn't go through and not everybody got the new article on screen. This new one should be much more stable, and it gives us better control of everything.

We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you, but we're back and will start writing again somewhere this week!

Also, new writers are welcome. So if you're passionated and willing to write for MIE, do contact us!


Thanks,
Muslims in England

Too lazy to take out the Holy Quran from your bookshelf? Placed so high in your bookshelf that you can't reach it? You've not got wudhu, so you can't touch it?

As you might have noticed, we didn't post articles for approximately a week. Fortunately, this downtime bought us time to:

- Setup a new design
- Tighten up security
- Increase server performance
- Make database/site backups
- Reduce the number of bugs in the back end of the system.

Send us your suggestions/comments and we'll take it in consideration.

However, we do apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you, but we appreciate your patience with us in making Muslims in England better than before.


Best regards,

--
Saad Naveed
Webmaster - MIE

While the British Muslim is worrying their pounds away at whatever crises, halt for a moment to consider this: Another online marriage service has been created! (Should we sigh or cheer?) Although in beta mode, none other than the great comic Baba Ali is leading HalfOurDeen.com, an international paid matrimonial service.

If you're asking yourself that question, then it's time to find out! If you have the determination, motivation, and you like to write, then you can now apply for a writer's position at Muslims in England. If you would like to apply as a writer, e-mail writer@muslimsinengland.com with a bit about yourself and WHY you would like to join this marvelous team!

It all started a couple of days ago, during my routine surf on the net, I’ve been looking for a job since what feels like the year dot (year zero), I received an email from a dear sister who prompted me to take the plunge and write to this website enquiring about a writers post. Me? A writer...? Of all the jobs I thought I could do since I was young, lollipop lady, policewoman, air hostess... to name but a few, I’d never dreamed of being a writer, the thought didn’t even cross my mind. I’ve always admired writers, especially those who just seem to have an innate ability to express themselves in the most eloquent and articulate of ways. The question on my mind was; “could I really do it?”