apologies...part of Islamic Relief. But what's wrong with just being proud to be British?

Apart from possibly the Quakers no religion is peaceful.

It's not the religions but humans that are not peaceful. take away religion and we will find something else to argue about

Islam is Peace is a commendable campaign. But..... Many people I know have tried to contact them to offer support and help (web site design etc.) and have heard nothing back. Surely this is a real loss - they are prepared to invest so much in a media campaign but will not properly harness the abilities of muslims out there?

Islam is a religion of peace. A peace based on justice and respect for the individual, not based on compromise and respect for agressive governments or greedy companies that hide behind them.

aa: "It's not the religions but the humans that are not peaceful"

Humans may indeed not be peaceful - but to say that religions are peaceful is simply not true. Read some religious texts. Any religious texts.

This is a fab initiative but as roadkill says who do we talk with about joining the campaign and helping out?

Hmmm...could the intended audience of this campaign include Muslims too? God knows they need to be reminded of this every once in a while.

Islamic Relief is a charity. No? I hope they are not burning the money donated to them for clean water in poor countries.

The Sunday Times front page reports a blow to the image of Muslim doctors who would rather not take their final exams than examine a female patient or study alcohol adiction and sexually transmitted diseases.

It seems a shame that while one group are determined to improve the public perception of Muslims, so there is damaging leakage at another level.

One Muslim doctor stated that she thought that these were medical students who became more fundamental to Islam after their training started.

MCB said that these doctors should complete the studies as laid out (but in order to understand alcohol and sexual disease phenomena in order to help eradicate it).

There was also the case of a pharmacist who refused to sell a 'morning-after' pill.

Last week it was checkout employees refusing to handle alcohol.

Its an interesting question to pose. In the Media vs Muslim arguments - who started it and why/how?

1) Qudos to the Islam is Peace group. We really need Muslims in media to help the image of Islam and to correct the incorrect information that is put out there about Islam.
2) JWD that is awful about the doctors and even more awful that the Sunday Times chose to report it as front page news..don't they have more news-worthy articles than to cash in on a few fundamental Muslims beliefs? I am a doctor too, I am Muslim alhamdulillah and practising in an Islamic country. I am female. Just for the record, we examined male patients and have many practising female doctors that are fairly religious that see male patients daily. Those that wish not to on personal or religious grounds, specialise accordingly. We also have many alcohol related illnesses here and we study as well as treat them. We regularly screen patients for sexually transmitted diseases also. We are a Muslim country with a huge mixed population of all different nationalities and religions. I am certain a 'strictly' Islamic country like Saudi Arabia has screening programs for STDs too. Perhaps Islamic teachings are misunderstood here. We are men and women of the Earth. Hence we need both male and female doctors. If the training programme requires something we prefer not to do but have to in order to qualify, if our intentions were good, I think it makes sense to do it. Assuming they were male doctors refusing to examine female patients...if the females are non-Muslim and have no issues with being examined by male doctors then I don't think there was a need for such a fuss. Much of Islam is based on intention. If their intention is simply to examine a female with a medical problem and they had her permission and this is the sole intention, I don't think there is any sin in it at all. Also, alcohol is forbidden in Islam yes but though personally I hate the smell too they could easily wear a mask and get on with the job and it cannot be denied diseases related to alcohol are numerous and ignoring something does not make it go away! They would have done far better to explain the ill effects of alcohol on the body to their patients and possibly deter them in the future..they would at least have gained some reward by it. As for STDs, well, par exemple, HIV virus can be spread from mother to child by breastfeeding or from contamination by blood or needles. Again it cannot be ignored. If the students are pious they can ensure they adhere to Islamic teachings personally regarding modesty, sex and consumption of alcohol but to hold sick people in contempt even if they are non-Muslims is not right. A better thing would be to explain and teach their patients right from wrong rather than running away from them under the pretext of Islam. In Qur'an it was mentioned that to save a life is as if the whole of mankind was saved. It was not specified as to the religion of this 'life'. All life is from Allah finally. It is noble of them to keep Islam in mind but horrendously errneous and far more destructive to the image of Islam to refuse to take finals exams if the story is as reported, on account of some misconstrued or extreme beliefs as this way they have damaged the image of Islam far more and portrayed it wrongly as being totally extreme and impractical perhaps. If it was such a huge spiritual barrier for them perhaps they should've chosen a different profession if this is their genuine belief. Now no doubt many people will read the article and feel further alienated by Muslims and be even more hostile towards us. There are millions of Muslim doctors in the world and I'm sure not all males practiced on males only and females on female patients. I find it so strange how Islam is so misperceived even by Muslims themselves. It really is a beautiful religion based mainly on things which are common sense!!!!

Hanan, I commend you for being a doctor who also tries to incorporate your faith and finding that it is not incompatible.

I'm sure that the ST article is a new one but was also published for the last year too.

I do think its a front-page issue because we fund the training of doctors and expect them to comply with the course.

The expectation is that they will practice in the UK and so must adhere to the norms expected of UK doctors.

If not then throw them off the course so they can study in a country where their beliefs can be incorporated.

Concerning the Sunday Times article have you realised that the author is ABUL TAHER! This guy thinks the best way to report for murdock is always run anti-muslim stories, what next abul taher?