#JumahLive

As a Muslim in today’s world, the state of the Ummah is of grave concern. Your average Muslim has shrunken Islam in to a ritualistic, happy clappy religion, which isn't practiced as it was ordained for us. The beauty of Islam is that it teaches its followers to strive for peace, justice and equality for every human being, regardless of colour, belief or geographical location. The real version of Islam is what I wish to follow, Islam in its true form - fighting oppression.

From the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), to the four Caliphs, to Salahuddin Ayyubbi to Omar Mukhtar, leaders and scholars of Islam far from taught Muslims to allow another human being to be oppressed and to pray to Allah only; instead these scholars and leaders taught Muslims to seek Allah’s help and take action themselves to defend the oppressed.

My Mosque, amongst many across the UK, is flooded with members of the congregation on Fridays, but is almost empty during the rest of the week. I wonder why? This shows the lack of communication and engagement with the youth and today’s Muslims. The vast majority of Mosques refuse to tackle issues of the Muslim community which affect us, the Mosque simply isn’t the hub it once was for the entire community’s activities; our Imams used to be shields who defended the Ummah from any attack, today they’re disengaged from the majority and the main activity seen is the ‘bucket-go-around’, collecting donations.

If we are to change our current predicament, we must collectively raise awareness amongst ourselves; create, promote and push this collective idea of instigating a change. It’s safe to say many Muslims and especially the youth use social media for various reasons and Twitter is a perfect platform for Muslims to share with the rest of the UK, as well as the Ummah worldwide, what exactly it is their Imam is discussing this week. It is only when this problem is highlighted and discussed amongst Muslims, will we gain the confidence to confront our Imams and demand change.

So, I urge Muslims to log on to their Twitter accounts every Friday, before and after Jumah using the hashtag: #JumahLive, to highlight what their Imams discuss and prioritise during the Friday sermon. Considering our Ummah is oppressed, rather than discussing currently irrelevant topics, such as ‘trouser length’, ‘nail varnish permissibility’ and ‘the length one's beard must be to qualify as Sunnah’, Imams should mobilise Muslims to fight oppression, as this is fard, it is a duty upon every Muslim upon the face of the Earth, i.e Fard-e-Ayn.

The main reason why we do not take any action, is because we think that we are the only ones thinking as we are. If we see how many others think like us, it will encourage us to take action. Infact, we have already seen via #JumahLive, that people are taking positive action on this issue.

Come and join us. The Arab revolution was inspired by social media. Can we not change a few Mosques in the UK? It has begun.. join us every Friday between 12pm – 4pm on Twitter using the hashtag: #JumahLive.