member of the human race

on Tuesday i had an informal appointment at the BBC, it was a Muslim/Media networking event an opportunity for journalists and Muslim guests to make links and exchange information.

i was invited as a trainee counsellor, they wanted Muslims from different sectors of the community, and it was a chance for us to question those behind the media on anything we wanted.

i did the mistake of eating before going, which i regretted as soon as i saw the buffet, food glorious food and all halal :)

i arrived at the reception desk and ticked my name off and signed in and was taken to the BBC canteen where the event was being held.

i had actually arrived early, i was contemplating on sticking to the stereo type of being late for everything, but i guess the point of this event was to shatter stereotypes.

every one had name badges, name badges always make me laugh for some reason, and its always funny to watch people bend slightly to read my name and then pronounce it, laugh and then ask if they had pronounced my name correctly, to which hardly any one ever gets right even after telling them how to pronounce my name.

but i am pro name badges, they make life that much easier, i think every one should wear name badges, it would prevent future awkward situations from happening, like when you see some one you haven't seen in donkeys years and you completely forget there name yet they remember yours, and worse when your with some one and your expected to introduce them, having name badges would prevent the embarrassment of forgetting peoples names.

if i ruled the country i would introduce this as a law :)

we where expected to mingle, walk around introduce ourselves to one another, i saw 2 sisters sat down so i zoomed in on them and forced my presence on them, they where really nice and where very embracing, what peeves me off are uppity sisters, those who will not make efforts with people they don't know so end up giving 'strangers' the cold shoulder.

I'm glad to say these sisters where quite the opposite, they where also in the social field, and we got talking about culture versus Islam and soon enough had others joining us, the first being the weather man!

pretty funky dude, really bubbly and the conversation began about the weather lol but that didn't last long, we soon got talking about food and that soon led to culture v religion which funnily enough led onto the conversation of alcohol!

he was saying that he knew quite a few Muslim lads who drank, and how many Muslim country's allow alcohol, he mentioned Mali and Qatar, so in his opinion it depends upon the country's definition of Islam.

i told him that in Islam there are differences of opinions, and its healthy to have this, some one had mentioned the 4 school of thoughts as an example, but what i told him was essential was that the fundamentals stay the same and there are no differences of opinions when it comes to this, he asked for examples, so i told him not associating partners with god, believing in prophet Muhammad as well as all the other prophets, accepting his sunnah etc.. prayers, fasting, paying in alms etc...

abstaining from alcohol, not commiting adultery or fornication etc.. all aspects that are not arguable in Islam, to which he pointed out those countries that are deemed Islamic yet allow for certain things such as alcohol.

so i told him of my opinion that really there is no such thing as an 'Islamic country' not even Saudi, Muslim countries, yeh i suppose, but not Islamic, as of yet not a single Muslim country bases its laws completely on shariah.

i thought the word shariah might open up another avenue of conversations and i am always weary of talking about shariah as my knowledge in this matter is not up 2 scratch, but surprisingly it didn't, instead the topic lead onto the quran and accepting it as word of god, and then that lead onto the fact that he knew 100% that his neighbour was committing adultery, so he turned around to me and asked : 'so according to the quran, would i be responsible for the stoning'

loooooooool, well what do you say to something like that?

i told him that he was taking matters very superficially, it wasn't a case of blood thirsty people wanting any excuse to stone, if anything Islam places barriers to prevent stoning such as having to have 4 witnesses which is near to impossible unless you publicly act out!!!

the encouragement in Islam to hide sins and not indulge in talking about your own sins or others, the matter of sitir (covering each others faults etc..).

the conversation then ended when some one else came and introducded themselves and we began talking about Muslims perceptions of the media.

it was a great night, and i enjoyed myself thoroughly, and it was great meeting journalist, producers and directors, and it was encouraging of the BBC to hold such events.