This week within the media was the following report

They should make arrangements for pupils to be given “instruction” in their own religion during the normal school day and rights to pray and worship instead of attending regular assemblies, the National Union of Teachers said.

Schools should also allow different uniform rules, serve meals that meet religious requirements such as halal and kosher, plan holidays around festivals and special days and provide private prayer rooms.

The call comes as new research today shows the numbers attending mosques in England and Wales will outstrip Roman Catholic churchgoers by 2020. Christian Research expects Catholic worshippers at Sunday Mass to fall to 679,000 but Muslims at Friday prayer to increase to 683,000. The figures also suggest the number of Muslims at mosques will overtake Church of England members at Sunday services.

Existing faith schools should be stripped of rights to select pupils on the basis of the religion they practise to prevent them “discriminating” against others and fuelling community tensions, the document said.

As Muslims the questions we should be asking ourselves is: Why is there a suggesstion to offer more religious education and instruction within schools? Will the goverment use this to monitor Muslims? Is this a move which could lead to further indoctrination of Muslim children? Is this due to the fear the wider society has of our Mosques and the increasing Muslim population within western countries.

Speaker: Haroon

Venue: Small Heath Community Centre, Muntz St. Birmingham

Time: 7.30pm

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Small Heath Centre Closed due to Easter.

Circles back on from 28th March 2008.

With respect to President Bush’s speech about the 5^th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq by the US and British forces, we would like to say the following:

• Thousands of innocents have lost their lives as a result of this illegal invasion and continued occupation of Iraq
• Sectarian violence continues within Iraq, and for this the blame must squarely rest with the American forces who have removed all remnants of law and order within the Iraqi society and have allowed a situation to develop where chaos and anarchy could flourish. 
• The invasion was built upon a lie and the continued occupation is making the problem worse. 
• As Muslims living within the western world we must be a voice for the Muslim Ummah who is facing these atrocities and illegal occupation. We must work to rid our lands of corrupt and inept dictators that are a scourge upon this noble Ummah and replace them with a noble Muslim ruler. 
• The Prophet(saw) said in one hadith: “The Imam is a shield, from behind the Muslims fight and protect themselves.”

Legislation intended to prevent the U.S. intelligence community and military from using torture has been stopped in its tracks. Section 327 of the 2008 Intelligence Authorization Act (H.R. 2082) would have created a single standard for all intelligence gathering during interrogation of enemy combatants. Notably, the standard includes stipulations for the humane treatment of prisoners.

This circle will show how the US in essence does not care about domestic and international law and has always compromised human rights to justify illegal, ineffective and immoral practices. It will look at recent US history to show what in reality the true nature of the United States of America.

Speaker: Qaisar Najeeb

Venue: Small Heath Community Centre

Time and Date: 7.30pm on Friday 14th March 2008

On 3rd March 1924, the Khilafah was abolished in Ankara, and the Khaleefah expelled. The Khaleefah is the Imam of the Muslims, tasked with the responsibility of being a shield, according to the hadith of the Prophet (salallahu alaihi wasallam).

The liberation from occupation and the removal of oppression is supposed to be led by the ruler of the Muslims, to send the armies to liberate and protect the people. In contrast, the Arab leaders have issued mere empty words. Jordan - which has a treaty with Israel - called the Gaza operations a “flagrant violation” of international law. Saudi Arabia, which brokered last year’s revived Arab initiative backing a ‘peace’ with Israel, condemned what it called “mass killings”. These same treacherous regimes were happy to sit with the Israelis at Annapolis and other Muslim countries including Egypt, Kazakhstan and other central Asia republics are the current suppliers of oil to Israel, helping to power the tanks, helicopters and planes that are now bombing Gaza to execute the genocide threatened by Israel’s deputy defence minister! They do not even echo the statement of Ben-Gurion when he said: “If I were an Arab leader I would never accept the existence of Israel. This is only natural. We took their land. True, God promised it to us, but what does it matter to them? There was anti-Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was it their fault?”

We pray that Allah restores the Khilafah, the shield of the Muslims, and allows the people of the region and beyond to be united under the justice of the Islamic Khilafah, and call upon all to help to work toward this most noble end.

Speaker: Dr Ajmal Hussain

Venue: Small Heath Community Centre, Muntz St, Birmingham