A small group of workshops and seminars has recently been organised by the Ummah-Design.Com team for Muslim businesses and was recently held at their offices in Birmingham. The aim of these workshops is to enrich Muslim businesses with knowledge of the online world and increase their efficieny and productivity withn it. It is also a great opportunity for Muslim business to network and share experiences.

More of these events are going to be held inshallah as they have become very popular, to know more visit their blog at Ummahdesignblog.com

A lot of recent research shows an increase in the number of people looking for therapeutic advice.  This can be on a variety of subjects, ranging from basic medical information to complex mental and physical issues, or simply relationship and childcare advice.

Traditionally much of this advice would have come from older family members, neighbours, and the true community doctor who would be seen around the local area.  Today new living conditions and mass movement of people for work and pleasure means that parents brothers and sisters are not available as readily as they once would have been.  We are also not as neighbourly as previous generations and even local community doctors have been replaced by impersonal large health centres, where you are just a number on a bleeping screen.

In this environment some people have been helped by professional therapists, however the lack of quality therapists available and the cost of therapy can be prohibitive.

Others have turned to the internet to fill this gap, however, as ever, the internet can be a minefield for the uninitiated.  In this area it can be even more of a problem as many of the people looking for advice can be in difficult places in their lives, and easily taken advantage off.

A new website launch about to hit our PC and Mac screens hopes to play its part in offering new and innovative solutions to this problem.  Sharingadvice.com aims to provide a private environment where people suffering with similar afflictions, both mental and physical can “share advice” and be advised by vetted site professionals, this would be facilitated by webinars and social networking opportunities.  If it delivers all it promises on its pre-launch page then it will surely be the new year’s most talked about website launch.  Visit the site and see for yourself…..sharingadvice.com

sharingadvice.com – an innovative solution to a problem of our time

These are some wonderful images of Hajj taken many years ago and displayed the National Geograpahic Magazine in 1953.

When I heard that a new film about the life of Prophet Muhammad is to be made by Barrie Osborne, the producer of the Lord of the Rings and The Matrix, I had mixed emotions.  My natural reaction was of excitement because of the real possibility of a greater understanding of Islam.  My apprehension, after some thought, stemmed from the logistical nightmare of creating such a film that pleases everyone.

We have assurances that the noble countenance of the blessed and holy Prophet Muhammad will not be shown and his voice will not be heard.  The same too of his close companions and I would have thought the same would be true of the Angel Gabriel who visited him on many, many occasions to deliver the Message of the Qur’an.

With this in mind,my thoughts swiftly move to the quality of the film in its portrayal of the greatest story and the greatest man ever in human history.  The Message, a film made in the 1970s about the rise of Islam, was a classic film, loved by many (mostly Muslims) but it never had the wider appeal of the non Muslims.

Today’s film buffs are used to visually spectacular epics, like the Lord of the Rings, and I think it will be very hard to match that if the main characters are never seen or heard.  I would think that the film would have to be seen through the eyes of a companion rather like Hamza (ra) was central to the story of The Message; I can’t think of another way the film would work – then again, I’m not a director!

The story of our beloved Prophet Muhammad can be told from so many different angles and contains so many events so it will be largely dependent on the producers’ intentions in what he wants to achieve through this.

Will he focus on Prophet Muhammad   “the statesman,” or “the commander,” will he focus on his miracles, the great battles he participated in, his relationships with the companions and his wives, his amazing character or will the film be an orientalists’ dream movie based upon weak narrations and the incorrect and unfounded opinion of certain non Muslims?

He told Reuters that it would be “an international epic production aimed at bridging cultures. The film will educate people about the true meaning of Islam”.

With a budget of £93.5 million he will certainly have the resources at his disposal to produce something fantastic, but I wonder who is advising him, we are told that Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi will be overseeing certain areas in order that the film is made in accordance with Islamic law.  If that is true, I hope he will also be ensuring that those topics which orientalist and Islamaphobes love to beat the Muslims with are dealt with wisdom, because there is potential to cause real offence.

I really hope that the film works and is a huge success because the story of our beloved Prophet Muhammad needs to be told, I just hope it’s made correctly, accurately and with lots of wisdom

Islamic Relef Worldwide have created a great little website for children called Hilal’s Ramadhan Calender. There are lots of things to do on the site including listening to nasheeds, playing games and they can read and learn about Ramadhan and Islam.

It’s part of Hilal’s World and it’s great for kids mashallah

Yusuf Islam on American TV promoting his new album.

It was nice to read the other day that Aaqil Ahmed has been confirmed as the new head of religious programming at the BBC.  This is a major moment because it is only the second time a non Christian has held the post and the first time a Muslim has.  I reckon that’s just fab.

No doubt there will those individuals who will continue complain and moan about the fact he is one of those “Muzlimz” but the BBC should get a good pat on the back for this appointment because they did not succumb to the pressure that the Christian lobbyists have obviously been placing them under. Well done people at the Beeb, well done!

Aaqil Ahmed was previously at Channel 4 where he produced some really interesting programs like “The Qur’an”  and the one about the female suicide bomber which was quite powerful,  so the Beeb have got someone with the right skills and experience.

Hope to see some good Islamic programs, Inshallah.

Fox News is very well known for its far right, zionist supporting, anti Islam/Muslim position on most things and the O’Reilly Factor is their flagship show that leads the way in pure bigotry.

The presenter Bill O’Reilly remarked..

“The media doesn’t target Muslims because they might get their house blown up.”

They are so open in their hatred aren’t they?

This is a very interesting video about the media and how information about the Middle East and in particular, Palestine, is filtered before it reaches us through various business, editorial and political interests.  What we get in the end is just a watered down version of real events. We may already know that this happens, however I have never seen it explained in this way before.

The video also shows the blatantly bias reporting of major news agencies but surprisingly mentions the BBC in favourable terms when it reported on the deaths of five Palestinian children as compared to an American news report of the same event.

Very interesting.

President Obama lays out his position on Gaza and guess what?  It’s the same as Bush’s position – no change there then. Obama speaks only about (alleged) Hamas crimes and says that for there to be an enduring peace Hamas needs to do this and Hamas needs to do that.  Not one word about any of the crimes Israel is guilty of and not one word directed at Israel’s role in establishing “peace”

Noam Chomsky says in this very good interview that Israel does have the right to defend itself, and it can do this by stopping their crimes in Gaza and the West Bank.

It is true that Hamas is painted as a terrorist organisation throughout the media to get people to hate them, and it is working, there are even deluded Muslims that proudly state they don’t support Hamas and never will. The media is also portraying that the people of Gaza do not like Hamas and are even scared of Hamas to further isolate their support.  The official Israeli lair, Mark Ragev, has even said that Hamas are executing its own people and are the ones who used phosphorous on the Palestinians.

The reality on the ground is that Hamas’s popularity is astonishing among the people of Gaza and they should know and take comfort from the knowledge that in the Ummah of our beloved Muhammad, the majority are right behind them.

We are slowly beginning to see Obama’s true colours and allegiances coming out now and we should not be surprised by them.  The only people who will be surprised will be those Muslims who fell for the propaganda and were sucked into believing Obama will help the Muslims.