Shelina’s Friday Miscellany, 18th June
What have you been up to this week? Here are my miscellaneous thoughts and activities that have got me thinking…
I started the week with one of the Sunday Times magazine supplements which covered the subject of loneliness. It made for heartbreaking reading. A study by Lloyds TSB predicts that over the next 10 years the number of single households will increase by 2m, and 51% of single people cited loneliness as the biggest stress factor in their lives.
It’s sad to think we live in a society that encourages people to move out of their family home and into single person accommodation, but nearly half of people who live on their own suffer from loneliness. Our society actively encourages them to do something that will make them unhappy? Not to mention the additional financial strain of buying/living in your own place, the shortage of accommodation that it creates nationwide, and all those older parents who could probably do with some company rather than being left alone. I’ve never really understood the ‘embarrassment’ that British society heaps on adults who live with their parents – it doesn’t seem quite as widespread on the Continent or elsewhere. Where’s the freedom in being lonely?
I was impressed this week by the Malaysians of Penang who were ‘outraged‘ by the statement of the Tourism Minister that Malaysia is going to have “the first ever Ramadan Summer Festival featuring food, shopping and other fun-filled activities” to attract Middle Eastern tourists during the Ramadhan month in August. Ramadan is not a tourist product, they stated. It’s a sentiment I echo, and one which is sadly lost in commercialisation and extravagance, something I wrote about last year.
The letter published in the Consumers Association of Penang added: “Ramadhan is not a tourist product but a sacred month of spiritual enrichment for Muslims throughout the world. It is during this month that Muslims perform extra prayers and zikir to glorify Allah and discipline themselves. Many travel to Mecca to perform Umrah and pray in Masjid al Haram. It is certainly not for fun, food and frolic!!”
In relation to another big consumer product (yes, it’s another World Cup story), I was entertained and horrified at the same time by the description of the matrimonial matchmaking events to be held this Sunday at the United Muslim Convention in Birmingham. Such services are much needed and very important, so I fully support Islamic Circles ongoing efforts in this area. However, it was this line in the event’s description that caught my eye:
“Please note for brothers there will be TV screenings of the World Cup if they are worried of missing key games.”
On the one hand, the organisers are being sensitive to their target audience’s interests. But on the other hand, isn’t it a sad indictment that the
Marriage and Football t-shirt, from Zazzle
brothers consider World Cup football to be more important than looking for a marriage partner? It is a huge social comment on the pitiful state of marriage amongst the younger Muslim community, where men rate football over the Prophetic sunnah of marriage.
And by the way, maybe sisters want to watch the football too?
I also posted this week an open letter to the French President Sarkozy about the French plans to ban the burqa and the niqab. It seems that arguments that resort to freedom, choice and human rights are falling on deaf ears, and the only option available now is satire. You can read the letter here. Because I can do geeky things like track visits to the blog, I know that this has been one of my most popular blog posts.
This week I’ve become strangely addicted to watching “Who do you think you are?” I think it may have to do with the book I read last week and seeing how human generations change over centuries.
And this week I’ve started reading “Seen and Not Heard: Voices of Young British Muslims.” It’s not my usual fiction/creative non-fiction that I pick up, but I thought I’d get an up to date insight on what it is exactly that these young British Muslims want to say. Watch out for a review in next week’s Friday Miscellany.
And finally, yes, I have to admit it, I’m off to watch the England vs. Algeria match…
