[Rememavotscam]

Asalamukum

I would like people to share with people my experiences of different countries from my direct experiences and some sort of first hand knowledge. Please feel free to include the countries and areas you have visited, the positives and negatives etc.

1. The United Kingdom (England)

The part of London I was raised in has the following benefits; A large Muslim population. Within a 5 mile radius at least 30 masjids that I know of. A lot of ulema, duroos, mashaikh (though taswuff mashaikh are rare). A lot of visibly practicing people with beards and this is even so amongst the younger people. Most of the lectures are attended by the younger brothers. A number of islamic schools, all kids go madrasah from 5-7pm each day, 5 days a week etc. A lot of halal restaurants.

The negative points are that we also have a massive drugs problem, zina is a big issue etc.

The greatest quality I think the UK Muslims possess especially those that live in my area of London is that they all respect deen in their hearts even though many may not be practicing. When a gangster, drug dealer etc sees a practicing Muslim he shows the utmost respect and actually really admires practicing people. This quality is found amongst a lot of UK Muslims. You will find people who do practice deen follow complete deen rather than a ritualisitic attitude especially the more younger people. There is no sense of inferiority complex though some of the younger muslims are effected by black hip hop culture but even these guys many of them become very good pioous muslims.

The % of people who pray 5 times a day would be I think around 10% and around 5% have a beard. Around 40% of women were hijab and around 5% wear niqab. The niqab is more common amongst the younger generation of girls.

The majority of Muslims of the UK are from india, pakistan and bangladesh and somalia though there are large turkish, kosovan, yemeni and other arab communties. The somalian brothers are very good hearted and love deen in their hearts and even though many are involved in drugs and gang culture eventually many of these guys become practicing. I have noticed that many of the somalian youngsters are gradually becoming more religious. The other communities are mostly irreligious with the least practicing being the turks and kurds. The turks are mostly from northern cyprus.

There is some sort of equality in the UK and Muslims do not really feel out of place. There are many job opportunities, education etc. Nowadays there is a problem of housing which has resulted in the majority of Muslims acquiring haram mortgages.

The greatest group to do effort in the Uk is the tablighi jamaat which has the most followers. At the local markaz in London a few thousand people attend the talk each Thursday. There are many religious personalities in London; Mufti Sadrudeen shah, Maulana Mujahid Ali, Maulana Saleem nawab, Maulana Yunus dhudwala, Shaykh Suleman Ghani, Shaykh haitham al haddad, Shaykh ba bikr sudani, Mufti Umar Faruq, Mufti abdur rahman bin yusuf, murtaza khan, shakil begg, shuaib hasan etc.

Please feel free to agree and disagree