0202, 2016

Speaker’s Corner: Fatima Begum Rajina on “What’s in a language and dress? “, a response to the British PM

By Myriam Francois|February 2, 2016|Speaker's Corner|0 comments

What’s in a language and dress? A response to David Cameron’s comments concerning Muslim women By Fatima Begum Rajina It’s been over a week since our PM David Cameron made the comments about Muslim women needing to learn English or else they would be deported. One of the first things I thought of and tweeted instantly was the infamous speech by Thomas Babington Macaulay in 1835 titled ‘Minute on

2701, 2016

Speaker’s Corner: Holocaust Memorial Day – Revisiting the Missing Pages, by Remona Aly

By Myriam Francois|January 27, 2016|Speaker's Corner|1 comments

Holocaust Memorial Day – Revisiting the Missing Pages, By Remona Aly “We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another,” so said Jonathan Swift, the Anglo-Irish satirist. And he was on point. Amid global and local tensions that threaten to drive us apart, I’m wary of the disillusionment – and confusion – surrounding religion and politics. Geopolitics has cast a grim

1101, 2016

Speaker’s Corner: Testing Times – Fear and Fasting in Secondary Schools

By Myriam Francois|January 11, 2016|Speaker's Corner|2 comments

One anonymous British school teacher provides some insight on the responses among his student to proposed changes to Exams timetabled to accommodate Ramadan, in order to assist fasting pupils Testing Times: Fear and Fasting in Secondary Schools. by Sami Piperdi (pseudonym) As a Secondary school teacher who works in an establishment with approximately 50% Muslim students, I was particularly interested in the news story that appeared on the BBC website

0501, 2016

Speaker’s Corner: Donald Trump and the attack of the Muslims – Rafik Ayaz

By Myriam Francois|January 5, 2016|Speaker's Corner|0 comments

Rafik Ayaz writes for Media Diversified – full time Dysxlexic and part time Muslim commentator and founder of #VeggieMuslimForum He tweets @1Rafz Who remembers when Dr Ben Carson was the kinder face of Islamophobia in the Republican race for 2016? Good times. Instead like an annoying spray tan mark on your pristine white towel or the accumulation of hair in your plug-hole; Donald Trump is not going away and is on

2112, 2015

Speaker’s Corner: Preventing “PREVENT”, why the NUS opposes the government’s counter-terrorism strategy in education, by Malia Bouattia

By Myriam Francois|December 21, 2015|Speaker's Corner|0 comments

Preventing “PREVENT”, why the NUS opposes the government’s counter-terrorism strategy in education Malia Bouattia, NUS UK Black Students’ Officer The National Union of Students (NUS) has come under fire as of late for opposing the government’s PREVENT counter-terror extremism strategy – the main criticism for this stance coming from, unsurprisingly, the government themselves who have called on the NUS to drop this opposition. Firstly and above all, this position has come about

1411, 2015

Speaker’s Corner: Nohoudh scholar Farrah Sheikh on “The futility of politicising Remembrance Day”

By Myriam Francois|November 14, 2015|Speaker's Corner|1 comments

The futility of politicising Remembrance Day Above: Farrah Sheikh On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, the Western Front finally fell silent after four years of continuous warfare. This week marks Armistice Day followed by Remembrance Sunday marking an important point in British history. A time to pause, to remember, and to reflect upon the horrors of war, and the sacrifices of

0211, 2015

Speaker’s Corner: Ziad Amir on “Polygamy, Pragmatism, Lust and Love”

By Myriam Francois|November 2, 2015|Speaker's Corner|0 comments

Nohoudh scholar Ziad Amir discusses the concept of polygamy in Islam, in light of recent public statements by Baroness Cox that “in some communities with high polygamy and divorce rates, men may have up to 20 children each.” Above: Baroness Cox The issue of Muslim polygamy has been a consistent point of contention for critics of Islam since the earliest European polemical writings. Both morally-sensitive themes of women’s social position

1210, 2015

Speaker’s Corner: Fatima Begum Rajina on “The aesthetic challenge to Britishness: Nadiya’s victory on Great British Bake Off 2015”

By Myriam Francois|October 12, 2015|Speaker's Corner|0 comments

The aesthetic challenge to Britishness: Nadiya’s victory on Great British Bake Off 2015 by Fatima Begum Rajina, SOAS-Nohoudh PhD candidate Above: Nadiya Hussain winner of this year’s Great British Bake Off Where do I start with this? She started off the show on shaky grounds and was certainly not one I thought would win the show but it is through her dedication and perseverance that she won the minds and hearts of the

0210, 2015

Speakers Corner: PhD student Farrah Sheikh responds to Charles Moore, former editor of the Daily telegraph, on “anxieties” related Muslim immigration

By Myriam Francois|October 2, 2015|Speaker's Corner|0 comments

SOAS Nohoudh scholar Farrah Sheikh responds to Charles Moore, former editor of the Daily Telegraph’s recent article in which he wrote: “One of the biggest anxieties about the current immigration is its high Muslim element. Is it wrong to have such an anxiety, let alone to express it publicly, let alone to want to have a system of immigration based on it?” “One of the biggest anxieties about the current

3009, 2015

Speaker’s corner: Omar Salha offer his view on the debate over whether the London Muslim vote is necessarily a Galloway vote

By Myriam Francois|September 30, 2015|Speaker's Corner|0 comments

In response to our “Question time” blog on “Should George Galloway get the Muslim vote for London Mayor?” between Prof Maleiha Malik (Kings College London) and Tahir Shah (MPACUK), SOAS-CIS PhD scholar Omar Salha offer his view on whether the London Muslim vote is necessarily a Galloway vote : To vote or not to vote, Galloway is the question. In an age of geo-political disputes, meta-narratives and continued power struggles