There is a specific demographic in our community which is now looked upon with a blend of dismay and apathy. Discussing them, even in jest, is usually done with serious undertones and accompanied by expressions of consternation. We look at them through Orwellian lenses, attributing to their present life a dystopian disposition and predicting in their future failure. I am talking about the ‘Youth’ of our community.

“Who are these ‘yobbos’?”, you ask yourself. They forgo a belt to showcase their Armani boxers. They limp and waddle down the street, challenging evolution’s choice for our gait. Their only contribution to society is noise pollution and the dramatization of conspiracy theories. We all know that it is this generation in particular that has taken things too far. Being a rude-boy is one thing, but smoking in the car park is too much. “They’ll be drinking and clubbing next”, says an Uncle one day. Who are you kidding? They are probably down at Tiger Tiger as we speak. Our youth are a catastrophe.

We find it incredibly easy to condemn young people as disappointments. “They’re straying from our culture and the heritage we inherited from our forefathers” is the mantra widely used. It was also the same thing a father told his young son, Ibrahim, when he came up with this radical idea there was only one God.

I care not for the reasons behind this ‘rude-boyation’ of our youth. I see this as a natural progression of our culture as it is diluted over generations. What I do care for is how our community elders react. You can’t just shrug your shoulders and sigh with displeasure. You can’t just give up on them and pigeon-hole them as outcasts. You can’t just judge them without knowing them, without trying with them. There is definitely a culture of apathy and blame when it comes to our youth and it alienates them.

Doing the opposite and actively engaging them is what is needed. I don’t mean forcing them into futures they don’t want, or squeezing the rude-boy out of them. That only breeds rebels. It’s true that they want freedom. It is also true that they want the community to trust them in their practice of freedom. If we believed in our youth and had hope for them, then the tremulous journey that is adolescence will be less turbulent for both parties. They would always have a community to fall back on, and one they feel they respect, belong and adhere to.

In a few years time, The Salaam Centre will stand tall and proud in North Harrow. It will be the youth of today who will run and represent it. Don’t judge them before you have trusted them. They are our future, and therefore the embodiment of our hopes and aspirations.

I leave you with a quote from E.M Forster’s ‘The Machine Stops’:

‘I found out a way of my own.’
The phrase conveyed no meaning to her, and he had to repeat it.
‘A way of your own?’ she whispered. ’But that would be wrong.’
‘Why?’
The question shocked her beyond measure.
‘You are beginning to worship the Machine,’ he said coldly.

Psst. You..Yes you….Come closer.

There is an oasis of calm at Mahfil these days, and believe it or not..its in the Mum and baby room. Where the old library stood now is where the mum and baby room is. The old shelves have been cleared up, a sink put in, and in a quiet nook behind bright red sheer curtains sits a feeding chair and a changing mat. The walls have been decked out with the cutest stickers and there is also a giraffe to measure how tall kids get on a wall edge.

This is my first Ramadhan as a mother, and I had vowed to fast as I find paying them back at a later date too hard. My prayers in this holy month took on a whole different twist and when my patience wore thin in the long days I had Mahfil with its calm oasis to look forward to.

When Ramadhan programme got really boring I would pray (and aid) the need for me to run into the mum and baby room where Nabeelah could scream to her hearts delight, play on the cute little slide and rest her bums on the gorgeous rug. Should I still feel like following the main programme the respective slides are transmitted on the television and the recitations can still be heard from the main hall.

Aren’t you jealous? There has never been a better time to be a yummy mummy. With a few other ladies who have recently delivered the cutest ever mahfilians, the room is a social hub where we find solace and camaraderie with other mums who are going through (or have been) through similar things.

So when things get really tough – which they undoubtedly will – I look forward to a Mahfil programme in which lies our little haven where Nabeelah has room to play with other children and I get the time to have a good natter…and follow the programme of course…

Who would have thought – a meat curry contains two of your five a day. This is only possible because part of the makeup of a curry is tomatoes and onions and even though they are cooked they count towards your five a day. With a bit of athano (carrot pickles) that’s up to 3. I think achieving 5 a day is easy. That’s why I am looking so healthy.

That was the take home messages from the lecture at Mahfil on Friday by Azmina Govindgi. Well there were more, but that was the one that I felt most happy about.

The aim of the lecture was to promote healthy eating during the month of Ramadan and to choose the right type of foods especially as the fasts are so long this year. If we eat the right type of foods, our fasts will be easier and beneficial for us in the long run.

Azmina tackled two main subjects in her lecture – healthy eating and types of food for Ramadan.

On healthy eating she talked about the importance of looking at what we eat and how this can affect our bodies. The fats like ghee, oil and butter although tasty can cause blockages of our blood vessels, leading to a heart attack. There are many alternatives that we should be looking at in our cooking, with the ideal being using olive or rapeseed oil. I hear that neither tastes great, but would that encourage us to use less oil in our cooking? If we cannot use either of these two, then we should at least use sunflower oil rather than vegetable oil. But the important message is to use less oil.

Evaporated milk was the next item in the firing line. Used so generously in our chai, it clogs our arteries as easily as the tea washes down.

The type of food that we eat in Ramadan can also have an affect on us during the day. We should be eating food that gives us a slow release of energy, as opposed to a quick, short burst which is followed by sudden low. Food that is processed more and more gives a quick release of energy as was so aptly shown by the 2 volunteers with the apple and its juice. Although the apple juice is quicker to drink it gives a short burst of energy whilst the apple is a slower release. The foods that were mentioned as being slow release of energy were dhaal, chickpeas and kidney beans.

Other alternatives for slow release of energy are brown rice, porridge and muesli.

Another interesting fact was that if you eat a slow releasing food with a quick release food, the combined action is mediated. Hence eating salads with your meals not only is healthy for you, it also promotes the slower release of energy from your food.

I feel that it is important as a community we look after each other and give people the opportunity to look after themselves. Hence this Ramadan I propose the EC continues the good work of last year where vegetarian food was introduced every day. Here are a few suggestions which I hope the EC will look at

• Two teas are made, one with evaporated milk and one without milk
• Vegetables are added to the meat curries (4 of your 5 a day in one dish)
• The vegetable curries contain slow release energy
• Two types of rice are made. One with white rice and one with brown rice.
• Salads are introduced in every meal
• There is a reduction in the amount of oil used in the curries and we use sunflower oil only
• For Sehri we include porridge on the menu.

Ramadan is a time for change and reflection. We make many promises to Allah and to ourselves during this month, so let us use this month to change our eating habits as well.

One of the cornerstones of the proposed Salaam Centre is the principle of openness. To those worried about the structural integrity of the new building this doesn’t mean it’s going to have vacuous foundations but it is an attempt at meaningfully engaging with our surrounding community. To those worried about the integrity of the community – Yes, it means that the doors will be forever open to the public.

As one member of the trustees eloquently put it – we have to move beyond the inter-community institutional dialogue to a grass-roots model that makes meaningful engagement more likely and long-lasting.

This aspect of the vision seems to be by far the most contentious. Sitting quietly through another engagement exercise, the very same concerns cropped up about this ‘free mixing’ and before long there were hypothetical situations conjured up about alcohol, drugs, babies out of wedlock and by far the best – smuggling of idols for discreet pagan rituals in a dark corner of the centre! (Ok I made up the last one).

What people do forget is that we freely interact at nursery, school, university, work, the internet and various social circles across our lifetime and so the minor portion of our time spent at our mosque/centre pales into insignificance. The idea that we can coocoon ourselves from the outside world by investing in strong padlocks in an age of modern communication and social networking is naive at best. It will only breed ignorance and mistrust and essentially betrays a lack of confidence in ourselves and identity.

As far as I can see religious and community centres are supposed to exist as focal points for cooperation and support. They have nurtured new immigrant communities when they truly required it, yet we are now hopefully past the ‘I’m an immigrant and fragile’ stage and ready to delve into the vast untapped potential realised through opening our doors and embracing the wider community.

I’m sure most people now have seen the new Google advert of a father sending emails to his daughter as she grows up displaying her photos or videos and loving messages in order for her to view it when she gets older. It’s a touching advert and shows that, contrary to popular belief, the internet can be useful in bringing families and friends closer together.

It’s an age-old debate and not uncommon to hear our older generations reminiscing about how they would socialise and enjoy each others company using face to face interaction. Whilst in the 21st century people do still socialise and interact this way, nowadays with technological gadgets developing over the years there is also a growing virtual interaction like using text messages, FB messages and so on.

The 20th century saw several technological inventions and developments like the computer, the mobile phone, the internet among others. These advancements changed lifestyles as people adopted these in their lives. The computer was faster and more convenient than a typewriter, the mobile phone ensured better communication between people, the internet proved a beneficial source of information and entertainment.

Over the past few years social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, blogsites etc. have also had huge influences all over the world. People use them to stay in touch with friends and family, for networking and even companies have found them to be a good way of marketing their products and services to their target audiences.

These technological advancements have proved to be hugely positive and influential, making it easier and faster to communicate, interact and target audiences. We have become so accustomed to using gadgets, that most people living a modern lifestyle would find it hard to even spend one day without using a mobile phone or going on the internet. This is probably where the predicament begins. The issue is not using a mobile or using a laptop or watching television. The problem is when this technology almost turns into an addiction.

Spending hours on Facebook not doing anything constructive (I am guilty of myself), checking the Blackberry every few minutes for updates, updating the Twitter account every five minutes, watching television for the sake of watching etc. these are the visible downsides of technology. In a sense we have almost become slaves to technology. This is where old school wisdom is needed. Instead, switching of and spending more time with family and friends, taking a stroll to the nearby park, doing something that does not involve staring at a screen. That is when we realise that doing something different can sometimes be more fulfilling than staring at a TV, mobile or computer screen.

I just hope one day someone starts an annual one day switch off of all technological devices campaign just as a way of reminiscing and remembering how to enjoy ourselves the pre-technology way. That way we may be able to embrace a more balanced lifestyle.

By Zahra Latif

“I thought that there’ll be table tennis after the programme.” It’s interesting what calls people to attend a programme.  Whether it’s a lecture at university or at the mosque, everyone has their own reasons for attending. Some actually come to listen to the thoughts and research of respected scholars – whether the talk is about the interpretation of an electrocardiogram or the situation in Palestine – whereas others come to meet and interact with others.

But does it really matter? What should we be trying to achieve? At university, the primary aim is, technically, to facilitate students to get a degree. But if that’s the most important aspect of university, why is it that Imperial College, for example, has over 300 different societies? And what does this bring to the university? Student life in its essence goes further than just studying academia. The various societies help people to get to know one another and to build friendships which build a sense of belonging – reducing the chance of a student dropping out.

So why can’t this be applied to religious centres too? By increasing the social aspect of the programmes, people will WANT to attend and take part in the programmes. The hope is, surely, to encourage people to attend so that they gain from the lecture (for example), but also gain from the social aspects. This is the foundation of building a community.

There was no table tennis at the end of the programme. But he knew that. Instead, the community gathered together at the mosque and then at someone’s house – as has become customary.

The Mahfil community have belatedly decided that blogging is a good thing. Thus here is the first of hopefully many posts that will provide us and the world an opportunity to discuss events, issues and anything else on our minds.

Rather than sitting through the sequential Friday snapshots that enliven our monotonous weeks, a discourse about people’s ideas, perceptions and interactions will hopefully contribute towards a communal memory online.

There aren’t any restrictions in terms of content save for the usual ban on anything abusive or malicious.  So whether it’s banker bashing rant, musings on why we can’t eat squid or a serious look to where we should be heading as a community – your posts will find an audience here.