Trying to get mosques activated in campaigning on issues that impact seriously on their congregations is, to say the least, a difficult business. The first thing is to try and contact them to explain the whole issue. Of the mosques with published telephone numbers a portion of them are dud numbers, others ring but no one picks up, others ring and are only picked up at certain times (e.g. after Zuhr). Of the phones that are answered, the chances of getting a fluent English speaker is also quite slim.

It must have been one of the most unbelievable jaw-dropping evil judgements passed since the dawn of history by any judge. Tony Blair and George Bush would have been proud of themselves for thinking up a law that was so unjust to Muslims as diabolical as this one was. I am of course talking about the judge who sentenced a woman who was raped to being whipped for sitting in a car with a guy.

Today, I was walking by one of the Islamic goods shops near my house when I saw on display a poster which was advertising regular meetings that the store was holding. The meetings were for Muslim converts who wanted to learn more about their faith, or just wanted to hear about other people's experiences. I was really pleased that someone was doing such a noble deed and went to congratulate the owner.

Last summer the British Medical Journal published two articles in a "head-to-head" feature asking the question: Should we consider a boycott of Israeli academic institutions? Tom Hickey wrote the article supporting the motion, and Michael Baum against. As you can imagine this topic caused quite a stir in the BMJ forum which is still ongoing. One of the posts which stood out was by Dr Asad Khan which we've repoduced here for your perusal...

The 'phone rang. ‘Hello. This is Abul Taher from the Sunday Times.' I had spoken to this reporter a number of times. He was always snooping about some anti-Muslim story, but I had pretty much batted him off without insulting him. Today was going to be different. ‘I am going ahead with the story about a prominent Muslim who has links with MPACUK’.' I scratched my head …err ok but that was going to be one boring story. I can see the headlines now ‘Muslim has links to Muslim group!’

The decision to exert pressure on Hamas by denying entry to sick Palestinians is immoral and inhumane. The State of Israel invests more than a third of its national budget on security expenditures, equips itself with sophisticated advanced weapons, builds fences and walls, and utilizes an army and secret services. However, it appears all these efforts are in vain. Israel’s security situation is apparently so unstable that six very sick Palestinians residing in Gaza threaten Israelis to such extent that public and media pressure is required in order to prompt the defense establishment to let them leave the Strip in order to receive medical attention.