Spirit21

I created this image about 7 years ago to capture the British Muslim experience. Since then it has been borrowed and re-used by many (I've even seen it already used to protest the Woolwich killings elsewhere). If you wish to use it, please go ahead, but please leave the credit to spirit21.

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This is my weekly column published on Saturday 4th May in The National

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This my weekly column published in The National

White flags with red crosses have been fluttering across England this week, as the nation celebrated the day of its patron, Saint George.

Surprisingly, he was not English, but rather Greek or possibly Turkish. He served in the Roman army, lived in Palestine and has been adopted by many countries including England, Egypt, Ethiopia and Iraq. He was killed in 303 AD by the Roman emperor Diocletian for refusing to deny his Christian faith and protesting the persecution of Christians.

Legends from the 11th century onwards recount that he killed a dragon. One of the more famous legends, from the 15th century, tells of how he rescued a princess from a dragon terrorising a village, after which the entire village adopted Christianity.

St George’s life is a story of multiculturalism, migration, social fluidity and the transcendence of human values. Yet bizarrely, he has been adopted by the far right as a symbol of “purity” of the white English.

Poor St George, who died to oppose discrimination and persecution of the “other” is the unwilling poster boy for racism and hatred.

This year, the Christian-Muslim Forum, a London-based charitable organisation aimed at promoting interfaith dialogue, is reclaiming St George to reinstate him as a symbol of unity. Like St George’s adoption into English culture, the forum seeks to address the Islamophobia that is growing in English society with a campaign that suggests that another newcomer to English culture should be embraced. They suggest that the “hijab should be as British as bangers and mash”.

It takes admirable confidence from a nation to embrace the cultures and symbols of a minority, whether those symbols are food embraced by the masses, or icons explicitly adopted by the machinery of state, like St George. We must admire the fact that they are not insecure in their own identity.

It is precisely the adoption of outside influences into a country or state, and their contribution to its flavour, that make that culture unique and give it a powerful magnetism. The way Muslim civilisations embraced the cultures they came into contact with offers an example.

It must be difficult to be a Muslim this week after the tragic events of the Boston Marathon and the suspicion cast by right-wing commentators on Muslims. Meanwhile, in Myanmar, Rohingya Muslims continue to be killed. Figures of peace who are part of the majority, like Aung Sang Suu Kyi, are mealy mouthed about the atrocities rather than clearly condemning the massacres of the minority.

Muslim nations too have responsibilities to care for their minorities. Egypt must work to ensure its Coptic Christian minority is given its due place in the new national structures. In Pakistan and Bangladesh, to name just two other troubled states, minority Hindus, Christians and Buddhists must be protected and embraced.

When a nation treats its minorities well, and offers them protection, that is the unquestionable mark of a great nation.

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Published today in The National

http://m.thenational.ae/news/world/middle-east/nude-facebook-photo-protest-exposes-rift-over-womens-rights-in-tunisia

Protesting against the oppressive status quo comes in many forms. Non-violent protest was Gandhi’s weapon of choice. Rosa Parks chose to sit where she was forbidden. Mohamed Bouazizi set fire to himself. Their methods of disobedience fuelled social change.

A form of protest that doesn’t fit into this pantheon, despite its grandiose and self-important claims, is last week’s “International Topless Jihad Day” convened by a Ukrainian group, Femen, whose motto is “better naked than the veil”.

Tunisian blogger Amina Tyler received death threats and alleged kidnapping by her family after posting pictures of herself naked in line with Femen’s approach to tackling patriarchy. In response, Femen declared a day of “topless jihad”. A handful of women protested outside mosques in Paris and Belgium, and some were stopped en route to a mosque in Kiev, Ukraine.

Femen believe their actions are helping Muslim women. To this I say: no thanks, we don’t need your “help”. Your actions are neither feminist nor helpful.

What help are you giving? Did you help the blue-bra woman in Tahrir Square? Are you helping child brides in Yemen? Do you help your own Ukrainian women, hundreds of thousands of whom have been victims of human trafficking? Your actions are nothing more than a schoolboy stunt allowing the tacky tabloids another excuse to commodify women.

I find your behaviour infantile and lacking in knowledge of actual effective ways of making change. If anything, your actions have set back our cause.

From a feminist perspective, nude protest feeds into the treatment of women as sex objects. And Femen’s description of Muslims as brainwashed, unthinking and knife-wielding adds to hatred against Muslims.

We reject your imperialist propaganda that we would only be free if we were naked like you. Muslims see a different shape to social development for themselves. Liberty yes, but on Femen’s terms and with Femen’s vision? Again, I say no thanks.

“We told you the West is negative and will destroy Muslim societies,” admonishes the patriarchy, and in turn the initiatives that Muslim women themselves have mounted are muted. “Help” takes forms like the invasion of Afghanistan, making life worse for everyone. If you’re serious about helping Muslim women, address the principal causes of oppression: poverty, war and the skewed global financial system. Women are always at the bottom of the pile and even those who are oppressed turn their meagre power onto Muslim women.

But most of all, we don’t need Femen because you believe that we cannot think for ourselves, and that you need to free us. Which is why I assume you ignore the multitude of Muslim women who object to your actions. Why do protests by a few naked white women generate more coverage than all the initiatives and protests by Muslim women themselves?

Femen leader Inna Shevchenko: you said there are “bearded men with knives” behind us, and you called us “slaves”.

Your slurs against the many men who support us, against our independent agency, and your description of us as “slaves” show that you do not respect us. Those who demean us are not our helpers. It is Orwellian doublespeak to say you desire our freedom when all your actions do is to heap unwanted stereotypes upon us and stir hatred against us.

Will naked breasts help us? To quote that tongue-in-cheek feminist phrase: we need you like a fish needs a bicycle.

Shelina Zahra Janmohamed is the author of Love in a Headscarf and blogs atwww.spirit21.co.uk

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My weekly column published in The National

Image courtesy notonthehighstreet.com

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a woman gaining a higher education must be in want of a husband – or at least that was the case a hundred years ago.

Since then we’ve had feminism, the chiselling away of the glass ceiling and a narrowing of the male-female pay gap. But most importantly we’ve had social acceptance that education for education’s sake is as important for women as it is for men, and that snagging a husband is not a woman’s only or ultimate goal. Imagine, then, the storm whipped up by a letter written by Princeton alumna Susan Patton, published in the student newspaper, to female undergraduates she called “the daughters I never had”. She advised them to take a hard look at their male Princeton peers and realise that they will “never again have this concentration of men who are worthy of you”.

And here’s her killer advice: “Find a husband on campus before you graduate.” She knows her views are not fashionable in the 21st century, but “this is what nobody is telling you”.

Her advice polarised opinions. There are critics who say that going to university to look for a husband is a backwards step for establishing a woman’s independent worth outside of being her husband’s chattel. Further, to say that the only suitable match for a woman is someone from the same university or social strata is elitist.

But other women are breathing a sigh of relief that someone has finally spoken about the importance of personal life as part of the women’s liberation movement. Feminism has focused too much on career and forgotten about establishing women’s personal happiness, which is also a feminist goal, or at least ought to be.

The general idea of looking for a partnership with a compatible peer is, in my opinion, sound. And I agree that if feminism is to achieve women’s happiness then one of its duties is to bolster women’s belief in their right to more balanced partnerships.

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This is my latest news feature for the National looking at World Halal Week which is taking place this week in Kuala Lumpur

It is a multitrillion-dollar sector. But halal is not just about food – as a conference displaying Malaysia’s lead in the area illustrates, it is rapidly evolving into consumer goods, pharmaceuticals and Islamic finance, with interest also from the Arabian Gulf. Shelina Janmohamed reports.

This was published in The National today

The Petronas Towers stand proud above Kuala Lumpur, a city that has been transformed over the past 20 years from the quiet capital of Malaysia into a bustling regional hub, and one of the key proponents of the burgeoning halal industry.

It is host to World Halal Week, a global convention that brings together buyers, manufacturers and industry experts all growing the US$2.1 trillion (Dh7.7tn) global halal market.

Part-exhibition, part-conference, it joins up the Malaysia International Halal Showcase (Mihas) and the World Halal Forum.
Mihas celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Launched in the shadow of September 11 and in the years after the financial crash in Asia, it was both visionary in imagining a global sector aimed positively at the Muslim world, and opportunistic in establishing Malaysia as a key halal hub.

Its aim is to facilitate the sourcing and selling of quality halal consumables, products and services globally, describing itself as “the largest congregation of halal industry players”.

The convention, which opened yesterday and runs until Saturday, is open to business and trade, with the public being allowed in on the final day.

The event expects to grow 25 per cent on last year, projecting 500 exhibitors and 20,000 visitors. Last year, more than two thirds of visitors were trade buyers. A special pre-show programme brings “incoming buying missions”, which are organised by the Ministry of Trade and Investment, to build the profile of Malaysian SMEs in the halal sector.

This business matching programme gives both buyers and sellers the advantages of one-to-one negotiations. Its popularity is apparent. Last year 361 foreign companies from 52 countries were matched up with 449 Malaysian companies and resulted in 3,714 meetings.

The aim this year is to replicate the 500 million ringgit (Dh596m) worth of business conducted overall during the exhibition.

Mihas is organised by two of the halal industry’s most well-known bodies, the Halal Industry Development Corporation (HDC) and the International Halal Integrity Alliance (IHI Alliance).

The HDC is part of Malaysia’s strategy to establish the country as the gateway to the halal industry. As an agency under the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, its objective is to co-ordinate the overall development of the halal industry in Malaysia, something that is important commercially and politically to the South-East Asian nation with a population of 28 million, 60 per cent of which is Muslim.

“Mihas was a pioneering initiative to fill a gap in the market and provide Muslim consumers a showcase of halal products, mainly food,” says Hajjah Jumaatun Azmi, founder and director of the World Halal Forum, the second of the two events taking place this week.

Its success led to a second Mihas the following year, after which Ms Azmi says that “we realised that there was a need for constructive discussion and interaction among the various stakeholders”. In 2006 this realisation bore fruit in the shape of the World Halal Forum and the two events have been held back to back ever since.

The World Halal Forum is the cerebral and networking element of the week. “Participants can learn first-hand the latest developments in the industry from leading experts in their field, be it market intelligence, consumer behaviour, new technology and innovation or the latest in regulatory requirements,” says Darham Dali Hashim, director of the World Halal Forum.

This year there will be 20 expert speakers and 1,000 delegates are expected. They will span the entire halal value chain from farmers, slaughterhouse operators, manufacturers, restaurateurs, government agencies and scientists.

What is unusual about the halal industry is that one of the key groups of participants are Islamic scholars, whose involvement in everything from certification to finance is crucial to ensuring that products and services are in line with Islamic rulings and therefore meet Muslim consumer needs.

Mr Hashim is a stalwart of the halal industry and in the past seven years has taken part in about 50 halal-related events in more than 20 countries. He is a champion for Malaysia’s halal industry and feels that the country has demonstrated that it is “serious” about halal integrity, with milestones including the first halal certification system, standards, legislation and, of course, trade shows and conferences like Mihas and the World Halal Forum.

“The momentum is continuing,” Mr Hashim says, as numbers of applications for halal certification grow, as well as the recent introduction of a pharmaceuticals standard.

The halal industry is about more than just food and beverage, which is where growing sectors such as healthcare, tourism, innovation, branding and pharmaceuticals come in. This is reflected in the way that Mihas has evolved over its lifetime to go beyond just food producers to other consumer goods such as cosmetics, toiletries, pharmaceuticals and now services including banking, finance and logistics.

Mr Hashim says he feels that this breadth is what differentiates World Halal Week from the many halal exhibitions and conferences springing up around the world. He also says that Malaysia’s platform offers the industry a “global and neutral” space.

This year’s conference programme showcases this breadth, with subjects as varied as Islamic finance, halal medical care, halal ecosystems and science innovations, such as halal collagen.

Ms Azmi and Mr Hashim project an alluring mix of heartfelt Islamic aspiration with an eye for commercial opportunity. “One of our global aims is to make halal the mainstream standard of choice,” says Ms Azmi. Looking at this from Malaysia’s position in Asia, which is home to 65 per cent of the world’s Muslims, this makes perfect sense.

But Ms Azmi is under no illusions about the challenges. “First is the task of overcoming the negative perception of halal in certain quarters, in particular Europe,” she says.

The region is home to about 50 million Muslims and their global influence is much wider. European Muslims are increasingly affluent but increasingly demanding of mainstream halal products.

The second challenge is “to promote the universal values that halal espouses”. Ms Azmi believes that this means Muslims must lead by example in excellent animal welfare and handling, and the highest hygiene standards, professionalism and transparency.

In the light of the recent horse meat scandal across Europe, pork DNA being found in halal meat and Chinese products being fraudulently labelled as halal and manufactured in Malaysia, these are particularly timely concerns. As Mr Hashim puts it, “you must be halal and be seen to be halal”, acknowledging that while rigorous halal certification processes are important, “it is vital to manage the perception through good branding, marketing and communications”.

He hopes that this is the year when talk about the potential of the halal market becomes reality. “Among the delegates will be fund managers and potential investors who are attending for the first time. I am hoping for their investment parameters to home into the halal industry.”

Mr Hashim may not have long to wait. One of the delegates and speakers at the conference is Rushdi Siddiqui, another long-time advocate of the halal industry, and well known for his pioneering work in Islamic finance. In 2011 he was part of a launch at the World Halal Forum with former Malaysian prime minister, Tun Abdullah Badawi, of the world’s first halal food index. An adviser to Thomson Reuters for Islamic Finance and Organiasation of the Islamic Conference countries, he is also the founder of Azka Capital, a private equity firm addressing food security that he is launching at this year’s forum.
Mr Hashim has picked the World Halal Forum to launch the new company for “the same reason companies launch their product during the Super Bowl in the US”, explaining that “the world’s attention for the halal industry is directed towards Malaysia”.

World Halal Week is Malaysia’s flagship event to lead the halal industry and stakes out the country’s ground in a growing and competitive sector. The organisers recognise that the work requires participation from the wider Muslim world. Ms Azmi is hopeful of reaching out to new audiences and has cause for optimism.

Muslim consumers, businesses and governmental bodies are asserting their interest in this industry and becoming increasingly vocal about the need for products, services and business regimes to grow the sector. “Quite a lot of interest has been stirred in the GCC, in particular Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Dubai,” Ms Azmi says, recognising that Malaysia’s efforts are reaping rewards.

“And we would welcome any co-operation with them in moving the global halal industry forward.”

PLUS

When people talk of halal – meaning permitted – the first thought goes to meat, as animals must be slaughtered according to Quranic prescription. Pig products and alcohol are inherently haram, meaning forbidden. In between these two poles is a grey area, where products and services are coming under increasing scrutiny for their ingredients and the manufacturing processes used.

Pharmaceuticals sometimes contain non-halal ingredients. The recent certification of a halal-compliant meningitis vaccination was a coup by Saudi authorities, as all pilgrims must prove they have been inoculated before attending the Haj.

Muslim women are increasingly conscious of haram ingredients in cosmetics, and several entrepreneurs have developed their own lines of make-up with organic, ethical, non-alcohol based and halal ingredients. This makes them appeal to a wider consumer base of females, who are concerned about what they put onto their skin, and halal-certified products are the ones that meet their criteria.

Muslim travellers are being drawn towards destinations which offer halal food, dry hotels and airlines, family- and women-friendly environments such as those that offer segregated beaches and pools, as well as countries where they feel they will be welcomed rather than stared at.

Even financial products are assessed for their Shariah compliance, as Islamic teachings are clear about monetary mechanisms that are forbidden, such as interest, and those that are encouraged, such as profit-sharing. In the current global financial crisis they are proving increasingly popular with Muslim and non-Muslim investors alike.

When it comes to communications, the Islamic branding industry aims to engage with Muslim consumers through values that are important in Muslim cultures and which have resonance with Islamic faith. Areas where this offers particular challenges as well as opportunities are in Muslim fashion and Islamic finance. In the former, the display of models used by western fashion is problematic. In the latter, complex financial products and their Islamic principles need to be clearly communicated in a competitive marketplace.

* Shelina Janmohamed

This article was published today in The National

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I was featured on 4thought.tv earlier this week as part of a range of people commenting in advance of the Papal election on who should be the next Pope. You can hear my thoughts by clicking through the video.

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This is my weekly newspaper column published in The National today

Europe is one of the least religious regions of the world, and yet later this month it will be home to the election of the new Pope. This single man is arguably the most influential of all religious leaders, heading a strictly hierarchical Catholic church of 1.2 billion people.

Despite an image of Catholicism as a white western religion, reflected in a long tradition of a Eurocentric papacy, only 24 per cent of Catholics live in Europe, and this number is falling. Most live in Latin America (41 per cent) and Africa is the only region where it is growing.

The resignation of the current Pope has therefore prompted questions about whether his successor will follow centuries of tradition in the European mould – the last non-European pope is recorded as the Syrian Gregory III in 741 – or whether he will come from the more populous regions like Latin America. Such a departure from a European papacy will demand a re-imagining of the shape and nature of Christianity today.

The politicking over the next Pope’s provenance and what this says about Catholicism should make the Muslim world think about its own relationship between the Arab and non-Arab worlds. What does the Muslim world think about the question?

Islam too has a traditional heartland, which naturally is focused around Mecca and Madina. As the language of the Quran, Arabic is the lingua franca of Muslims. And since the early history of Muslims is intertwined with Arab history, Muslims feel a strong affinity with Arab lands.

But, analogous to the heartland and diaspora of the Catholic church, in today’s Muslim world most Muslims are not Arab, nor do they live in the Arab world. Nearly 65 per cent of Muslims live in the Asia-Pacific region, and there are nearly as many Muslims in Indonesia alone as the whole of the Arab world. Muslims in the subcontinent outnumber both put together.

Yet global Islamic discourse and culture is heavily dominated by Arabic culture. That’s not to say this is right or wrong, rather it’s a frame for us to ask questions about the cultures, representation, voices, and leadership that are given primacy and legitimacy for the world’s 1.8 billion Muslims.

Could we ever imagine that the leading authorities and voices for Muslims might be Asian? With growing numbers of Muslims in America and Europe, could we accept a shift of intellectual, economic and political Muslim leadership from those regions? Could the Muslim world ever imagine African leadership?

Religious authority is undoubtedly tied together with political and economic influence, and so it’s no wonder that Muslim majority nations jostle for position in leadership of the Muslim world.

Saudi Arabia is undeniably home to the cradle of Islam. Asia-Pacific is seeking to claim commercial leadership through industries like Islamic finance, European and American Muslims believe they will drive modernity and bring Islam into the modern era. Iran asserts its culture and civilisation. Turkey wants to reclaim its historic political power and sees itself as the legitimate leader.

It doesn’t need to be a competition. There is space for many voices and representations, and a multiplicity would offer greater value, strength and resilience to the Muslim world. And most of all, it would support the ummah’s promise of respect for multiple tribes and nations.

Chart from the Pew Forum report: the global religious landscape

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Exciting news! I’ve been nominated to the shortlist of Women of Tomorrow by the IPA and Campaign magazine. The full article is below along with a link to the list.

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IPA reveals Women of Tomorrow shortlist

Twenty-seven women from across the media, digital, branding and creative industries have been shortlisted for the IPA and Campaign’s Women of Tomorrow Awards.

The awards celebrate women in middle management who are potential industry leaders of the future. They have been chosen by some of the IPA’s women of today and Claire Beale, the editor of Marketing.

Nine women have been shortlisted from media agencies including MediaCom, ZenithOptimedia, Maxus, Carat and Vizeum, while five women have been shortlisted from integrated and digital agencies, such as LBi, DraftFCB, Razorfish and TMW.

Six women from across creative agencies Beattie McGuinness Bungay, Crispin Porter & Bogusky, Karmarama and JWT were shortlisted as well as women from Barclays and Spotify.

Specialist agencies such as the retail agency Portas Agency, youth specialist Livity and Islamic branding consultancy OgilvyNoor are also represented.

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Here’s my latest weekly newspaper column published today in The National.

Amid growing political turmoil in Bangladesh, the arrest of 20 female activists at the end of last year went almost unnoticed by the world’s press.

The women’s hijabs were forcibly removed and then they were forced to remain in an open public space, presumably to humiliate them. They were all denied bail, even the pregnant one.

The police admitted that there was no evidence to support charging them, or refusing bail. But the 20 were held for a further two days for “questioning” even though Bangladeshi law limits such custody to 24 hours. Meanwhile 13 other women were arrested for protesting against the treatment of their sisters.

These women were locked up for no crime, and then humiliated, for just one reason: they belong to the opposition party.

I am increasingly concerned that those in power in Bangladesh see mistreatment of women as mere collateral damage in their zealous efforts to defeat their political opponents.

This is not about the rights and wrongs of the two main political positions in Bangladesh. I will not venture into that minefield, the long history and deep emotion of which are tearing the nation apart. Rather, I want to focus on the fact that women are being targeted as a matter of political strategy. This is part of a wider government failure to protect ordinary women.

In January in Dhaka’s Shah Ali area, an 11-year old schoolgirl died after being gang-raped. The rapists left the girl’s corpse hanging from a ceiling fan. A local protest carried the body to a police station, but the authorities did nothing about the crime.

In the Chittagong Hill Tracts in eastern Bangladesh, the Asian Human Rights Commission reports, police did not register a formal complaint in another rape case, as the alleged perpetrator is an influential political leader. Police also denied the victim a credible medical exam.

Rape is a contentious issue in Bangladesh; there are grave allegations of mass rape during the 1971 war of independence. But denials of justice in recent rape cases give official demands for justice over crimes past the empty ring of insincere rhetoric.

There’s no denying that women in Bangladesh face oppression from traditional patriarchy. But cases like these highlight government failure to enforce existing legislation. As Human Rights Watch says diplomatically, “implementation remains poor”.

Extreme conservatives do Muslim women no favours. But just as pernicious are secularists who put political power above the reality of women’s lives. In Turkey women who chose to wear the headscarf were erased from political and civic spaces by secularists. In France women have been denied citizenship because they wear the niqab. And so on.

In Bangladesh it’s not just women being targeted, but minorities too, in a tolerated epidemic of violence against those seen as “other”.

A Hindu man was shot in his home after being accused of supporting the opposition. He begged for his life explaining he was Hindu. His crime? A beard, a symbol of Muslim piety.

Further, the government has been widely criticised for rejection and harassment of Rohingya refugees fleeing for their lives from neighbouring Myanmar, where they are persecuted for the “crime” of being Muslim.

In its fight for political power, Bangladesh’s government has shown that it finds power more desirable than justice. Women, minorities and refugees are simply collateral damage.

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