Stop Islamophobia Week (SIW) Established!

This year’s SIW was aimed at launching SIW and its message to the Muslims UK masses, their institutions and the groups and individuals that are active in campaigning against Zionism and Islamophobia. In doing so, we hoped to have created a concrete platform geared to focusing and uniting on Islamophobia.

Allhumdulilah, we have a succeeded to a certain extent in that endeavour. One of the aims of the week was to create a focus of unity on Islamophobia. An array of activists, George Galloway, Yvonne Ridley, Lowkey, Ken O'Keefe and Jody McIntyre publically supported our campaign. All of these are figures of inspiration for Muslims and non-Muslims who stand up for injustice. We thank you.

We also thank Badman aka Humza and Professor Rod Thornton for their public support.

MCB committed to urging Mosques around the UK to remember the Bosnian Genocide in their Jummah Khutbahs, so that we, never as an Ummah forget them as we have done, for so long. We hope MCB and other Muslim organizations, societies and bodies will play more of an active part in the future.

Ilford branch succeeded in holding the local police to account in their failure to protect a Masjid in Daghanam from Islamophobic hate crimes. The police, as a result of the branch’s actions, immediately committed to physically do more to protect the Masjid and the local Muslims from hate crimes. In doing so, they reminded us that accountability works, but we must struggle for it and stand up for justice as Allah expects.

Walsall branch exemplified how creating their own media can make powerful social and political statements about society’s attitude toward the niqab, in an entertaining and attention grabbing way. It also gives an example of how pro-activity and publicity acts can be more effective than so-called traditional dawah alone.

Manchester branch succeeded in delivering an educational seminar on Islamophobia at Faizan-e-Islam in Old Trafford, which involved speakers from the National Association of Muslim Police (NAMP), MPACUK and an expert on Islamophobia. They also organized a demo in the city centre with UAF, Fight Racism, Fight Imperialism, joining in unity against Islamophobia and in memory of the Bosnian people. Reminding us that indeed united we stand, divided we fall.

We have not conducted such a campaign previously and we have definitely found capacities and possibilities that we didn’t know existed. We have also found new barriers, that we insha’Allah will overcome and we ask for forgiveness for any shortcomings on our behalf. However, only in our unity of an organisation, despite coming from different cultural and religious backgrounds, could we have made such things happen. We hope the rest of the UK reflects this next year.

We are ordinary people with exams, jobs, spouses and family, just like you. This is why we ask every single one of you to invest time in waking up the Ummah. This is why we ask every single one of you to join or support MPACUK, or join, in unity, another organisation that is pro-active in the same game. We cannot do this alone.

Muslim institutions, are you going to push the agenda of tackling Islamophobia next year? Are UK Muslims going to ask them “What are you doing for SIW and to remember Bosnia” to make sure that they do? If you are not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem.