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An evening with the Muslim Facebook crew

Sarfraz Manzoor

Wednesday, 8th October 2008

Sarfraz Manzoor celebrates an iftar meal with homeless people and his fellow Muslims, a web-generated ‘flashmob’ observing an Islamic tradition of generosity to the needy

The flashmob iftars in London and Manchester offer fascinating glimpses into a new British Muslim identity. Traditionally, British Muslims have been accused of being insular and only caring about other Muslims, in this country and abroad. It is also generally thought that the third generation are the most vulnerable to radicalisation. This is a legitimate concern but it is not the only story, and the hundreds who turned up laden with food are evidence of a more encouraging development. ‘For my generation most of us feel completely British,’ Farah told me. ‘That’s why I want to help the homeless — they are our people too.’

Young Muslims like Farah are tiring of how the media demonises them and impatient with the leaders who claim to speak for them. Now, through small but significant acts of charity, they are beginning to find their own voice.

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Community living

Kate Chisholm

Kate Chisholm reviews recents radio broadcasts

Recent loves

Marcus Berkmann

Marcus Berkmann presents his records of 2008

Question time

Deborah Ross

Slumdog Millionaire
15, Nationwide

Crowd pleaser

Michael Tanner

Cecilia Bartoli
Barbican

Turandot
Royal Opera House

Shakespeare it ain’t

Lloyd Evans

The Cordelia Dream
Wilton’s Music Hall

Sunset Boulevard
Comedy

Studying Islam has made me an atheist

Douglas Murray

Douglas Murray says that he stopped being an Anglican after analysing Muslim texts and deciding that no book — of any religion — could claim infallibility

Have we ever faced an enemy more stupid than Muslim terrorists?

Rod Liddle

These narcissistic adolescent halfwits should not fill us with fear, says Rod Liddle. The aircraft plot trial showed yet again that those who wish to murder us with fizzy pop and peroxide are a bunch of cowards

Our survey shows British Muslims don’t want sharia

Irfan al-Alawi & S. Schwartz

Don’t believe the Lord Chief Justice any more than the Archbishop of Canterbury, say Stephen Schwartz and Irfan Al-Alawi

Cummins may be part of the green ink brigade, but he was right about Islam

Rod Liddle

Rod Liddle looks back at the case of the British Council employee who dared to speak the truth about Islamic ideology — and notes that what was heretical in 2004 is now almost orthodox