« Why The Guardian Terminated Dilpazier Aslam's Contract | Main | Why 'Rightwing' U.S. Bloggers Targeted Dilpazier Aslam »
July 23, 2005
Dilpazier Aslam: 'The Muslim Community Is No Monolithic Whole'
Dilpazier Aslam, the Guardian of London trainee journalist whose contract was terminated July 22, 2005 following the publication of an article headlined "We rock the boat: Today's Muslims aren't prepared to ignore injustice." He made this observation, which could just as well apply to many Muslims in the United States:The Muslim community is no monolithic whole. Yet there are some common features. Second- and third-generation Muslims are without the don't-rock-the-boat attitude that restricted our forefathers. We're much sassier with our opinions, not caring if the boat rocks or not.
Which is why the young get angry with that breed of Muslim "community leader" who remains silent while anger is seething on the streets.
Earlier this year I attended a mosque in Leeds for Friday prayers. It was in the month of Ramadan, when Islamic fervour is at its most impassioned, yet in the sermon, to a crowd of hundreds - many of whom were from Iraq - Falluja was not referred to once; not even in the cupped-hands prayers after the sermon was over.
I prayed my Eid prayer in a mosque in Sheffield and, though most there were sickened and angry about events in Iraq, the imam chose not to mention Falluja either. We "youngsters" - some now in our 40s - had seen it before. This was deliberate silence, in case the boat rocked.Mr. Aslam said, "Perhaps now is the time to be honest with each other and to stop labelling the enemy with simplistic terms such as "young", "underprivileged", "undereducated" and perhaps even "fringe". The don't-rock-the-boat attitude of elders doesn't mean the agitation wanes; it means it builds till it can be contained no more."
The Guardian claims it terminated Mr. Aslam's contract because he refused to give up him membership in Hizb Ut Tahrir (Party of Liberation). The venerable publication ackowledges that, "Subsequent to joining the Guardian, Aslam made no secret of his membership of this political party, drawing it to the attention of several colleagues and some senior editors."
See "Background: the Guardian and Dilpazier Aslam" for the Guardian's position in its own words, and the real reason Mr. Aslam was terminated.
Posted by Munir Umrani at July 23, 2005 10:02 AM
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.thediplomatictimes.info/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1078
Comments
Post a comment
Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)
(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)