Is It Cos I Ain't Gujurati?

12:18 am, Mon 30 Nov 2009

"All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not, therefore, do injustice to yourselves"

I read that passage from our dearest Prophet Muhammad's (peace be upon him) last sermon and cannot help but think to myself where did it all go wrong?

Who would have ever thought that our fellow Muslim brothers would turn a blind eye to such powerful words, words which were of the final few that the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) uttered. This last sermon was an encapsulation of what Islam is all about; brotherhood, unity, equality and justice.

I refer to this story where a brother who has recently converted to Islam is left confused by the very racism that plagues our Ummah in this country. This is not just an isolated incident, examples like these are ripe amongst Muslim communities - and it is all because our Mosques aren't teaching Muslims to look past these things and that racism is not compatible with Islam.

How do we tackle this? By reminding these "so called" Muslims what it actually means to be a Muslim. A Muslim is not only someone who is brown and comes from a certain area in Pakistan.

I can guarantee that these village idiots haven't even got a clue about the enemy that is trying to harm them and about the vile hatred that is being spewed about Islam and Muslims in the media. All they care about is their Muslim ghetto and their "brown-faced-only" club.

What will it take to wake these people up?

It's about time we stopped betraying our beloved Prophet (peace be upon him) and started acting on his teachings.

Understand more...

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13 comments

Clans

Submitted by abu darr on Mon, 30/11/2009 - 12:29am.

There are many mosques run by clans or races, they exclude people from the committee if you dont belong to their race or clan.
They silence imams who speak against them by sacking them
The disease of race and tribalism is preventing progress and scares converts.
younger muslims need to rise up and fight it.

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Forgive me for saying but.....

Submitted by VOLTAGE BROTHER on Mon, 30/11/2009 - 12:22pm.

just stand back from your own words and you will see how pathetic you sound. As though everything is out of your control, as though you are just some poor helpless victim subject to the wrong actions of others.

These mosques did'nt just fall down from the skies onto the laps of those who run them.

Basically if you're not happy with all the mosques then build your own and run it how you want. No-ones stopping you. And that's what anyone and everyone else does when they can't find a mosques that does'nt suit them.

Stop complaining and start doing.

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Voltage brother you a

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tue, 01/12/2009 - 8:15pm.

Voltage brother you a complete fool, forget teling anyone to stand back and look at their comment. Why dont you look at how pathetic your own comment is, its the dumbest on here.

"These mosques didn't just fall down from the skies onto the laps of those who run them."

So what you are saying is that gujeratis or baruchi's built these mosques and or funded them, so should be allowed to run them how they like, whether that is within the principles of Islam or not.

What rubbish, if you are going to run a mosque which because it is funded by gujeratis or was initiated by gujeratis so will never allow a non gujerati onto the committee, will never treat muslims using the mosque equally, dont call it a mosque, call it a non muslim racist gujerati scum centre.

Segretation and racism is a problem with the Ummah, how dare you tell people to start their own mosques and run them as they want? Mosques arent supposed to be run "how people want" who do you think you are to try an change Islam and what mosques should be just to accomodate for gujerati racism. Your Balfour Road / Ilford Racist Gujerati centre needs to change its constitution ..

As muslims we cannot just let this masjid run the way it is and accept its racist practices, voltage brother you cant tell people to take action by starting other mosques. We need to make this masjid change its constitution and bring it in line with Islam.

Like it said on the Salaam posting, if white people made a masjid that only allowed white people to be on the committee or pray there, we would be outraged, we would challenge it. In the same way we need to challenge this racist masjid and any other racist masjid there is.

I know loads of gujeratis afew are okay, but the forum is right , most need to change and wake up to what Islam teaches us about race and racism. All the gujeratis I know hate pakistanis and judge people by their race or nationality, stereo typing pakistanis into crooks, it is so wrong. (kind of ironic considering how so many young gujeratis are into fraud and drug dealing)

I agree with what people have said about gujeratis hanging on to the hindu caste system, the hindu caste system still prevelant today dictates which "temple" hindus go to and who they marry, The gujeratis are just like this, they will only marry people from the same village, and pray at gujerati mosques or if running a mosque will only allow gujeratis to run it as they wouldnt want the dirty pakistanis to corrupt it.

Its sad really and I put it own to the fact that most baruchis come from the village, they havent as others seen big cities with cosmopolitan mutlicultural populations, so when they came to the UK they stuck to their own kind, created ghettos like Blackburn, Dewsbury, East Ham, Ilford and Preston and then made their own mosques where they did not follow Islam, but followed the Hindu caste system into only allowing their own kind to participate.

This was however the last generation, who consisted mainly of immigrants from the village in India, whats sad is that even though their children grew up in a British multicultural society their parents (the generation of village immigrants) have taught their children to hate non gujeratis, not integrate or mix with any non gujeratis, to marry gujeratis and only pray at gujerati run mosques.

The new generation of gujeratis needs to shake off the remenants of the hindu caste system that have plagued their parents generation and in general their community, and start integrating with all muslims, opening their masjids to all muslims regardless of age, colour or nationality.

MPAC ran a story afew years ago saying that if the prophet saw himself was alive today he could not join the committee of balfour road masjid, because he was not of baruchi decent.

When its put like that, it makes you realise how wrong the practices of this masjid are.

May Allah guide the Baruchis and Ilford Muslim Society to the straight path.

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Sorry Comment below was aimed at the the Article not any poster

Submitted by VOLTAGE BROTHER on Mon, 30/11/2009 - 12:29pm.

Sorry Comment below was aimed at the the Article not any poster

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Historical

Submitted by serendipity on Mon, 30/11/2009 - 3:51am.

This has been a problem in Islam since the Prophet died. The fights over power started then and have never stopped ending up with dictatorships, theocracies and regencies citizens who have virtually no say in their country's direction.

But this is the message of Islam and you seem to be stuck with it because you will not move away from ancient dogma.

Christianity did it because of reformation, when will you muslims wake up? Or is the need for patriarchal power and justice so overwhelming in the muslim male that they would rather live situations where they are led by old uneducated men continually vying for power.

Unless this situation stops muslims will always be caught up in this endless unproductive struggle which ensures they will be mired in the backwaters whilst the rest of the world is sailing the Atlantic.

But rather than change, you want others to join you in the swamp!

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A great topic to bring to the

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Mon, 30/11/2009 - 12:14pm.

A great topic to bring to the forefront but I would say it is badly written. The use of ' "so called" Muslims ' and 'village idiots' is inappropiate: whilst what these mosques and individuals are doing is without a doubt unislamic and weakening the Ummah, comments such as these do nothing to change the situation. I say this as someone who has been at the recieving end of racism by fellow Muslims because I was not from the same country as everyone else. You are doing a good job by raising the concern but if the intention is to help change the mindset of those Muslims who have racist tendencies then insulting and attacking them isn't really going to help in my opinion.

Perhaps an article outlining the huge concern followed up with advice on how Muslims should change their mindset, would be more beneficial for us all. This problem is not only prevalent in Mosques but everywhere and amongst the young even when they are all 'brown' (Pakistanis often discriminate against Indians and Bengladeshis and people often stick to their own ethnic group).

May Allah's peace and blessings be with you and may He reward you for your good intentions in highlighting this issue

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How comes 'these village idiots' have got the upper hand?

Submitted by VOLTAGE BROTHER on Mon, 30/11/2009 - 12:17pm.

If those who run the mosques are village idiots and they managed to take control of the mosques then that does'nt bode to well for the rest of us does it - who are clearly in an inferior position to them?

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Nationalism/Racism

Submitted by pkkk on Mon, 30/11/2009 - 4:14pm.

It is indeed a sad state of affairs when the Last Sermon of the Prophet Muhammed(PBUH) has been ignored.If the Prophet Muhammed was around in this era he would,no doubt, put many a muslim to the sword.
The Arabs during that era were the lowest of the low, burying their daughters alive,massacreing one another and involved in all sorts of debauchery.Then a man amonst them, a pious man, a truthful man, a man of humility,a gentle man, a man devoid of any such barbarity who was raised amonst them and was of them was chosen by Allah(swt) to lead this low life Arab nation to light and greatness, a nation that led scholarly socities, that led science,arts,politics that contributed to development of many fields of study.When these arabs talk of Arab nationalism it does not include Islam, without Islam these arabs contributions to the world is that without Islam,i.e.barbarity.
This applies to us all.Whether Pashtun,Bengali,Gujarati,Punjabi,Sindhi,Somali etc.Without Islam we would be in our tribes fighting with each other and we would have no development whether intellectual,Spiritual or economic.
As for the statement'
you're not happy with all the mosques then build your own ' i think is just silly.I have seen certain parts of the country where there were 3 mosques in 1 street on 1 block.
1 Run by Indian Gujratis, 1 run by Begali's, 1 run by i dont know who.
Is this what we want?.Many of the mosques built in this country have been built by donations door to door, mosque by mosque by all communties.Somali's,Arabs,Pakistani's have contributed to mosques in Indian Gujarati and Bengali areas and they have donated to mosques in Pakistani,Arab,Somalian,kurdish and turkish areas.Nobody should control these mosques like their own personal fiefdom and if they persist then people who are pious and non -sectarian should be put forward and supported by all people,regardless of background to put back the running of the mosque how it should be run.
The article about the convert brother made me mad and i think that if we are to survive we need to get our house in order.
When the Bosnian massacres happened nobody asked who prayed 5 times a day or who drank alcohol and eat pork even during ramadan or eid.Anybody with a muslim name or background was slaughtered.
Likewise when the gujarati muslims were massacred nobody asked who was this caste or that caste(or who was with the congress party as the politcian from the Congress party who was burned alive and his wife and daughter raped by the hindu mob becuase he was a well know MP with a muslim background) they were killed regardless adn were not buried in separate cemetry's but dumped in holes all together.

United we stand , divided we get massacred.Take your pick.

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Voltage brother you a

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Tue, 01/12/2009 - 8:13pm.