Source: Al Jazeera

by Soumaya Ghannoushi*

It is hard to imagine amidst the omnipresence of discourse currently on Islam that a mere three decades ago, Islam had been a marginal concern situated on the periphery of western consciousness.

If ever encountered in press reports during the cold war, it would most likely have been in the figure of the “mujahideen” confronting the Empire of Evil in Afghanistan. Islam appeared as a benign ally of the forces of freedom camped in New York and London.

What finally brought it to the heart of Euro-American preoccupations were the events that occured on 9/11.

Islam became a local and globalised issue at once, transmitted in countless daily images across the globe.

Since then, rarely does a day go by without hearing, reading, or watching reports of a terrifying Muslim-related event. The presence of Muslim minorities within western capitals has further complicated things, aggravating the intricate interplay of the local and the global.

Fears of a perpetual Muslim danger overlapped with deep-seated fears of immigrants, aliens, and strangers.

Explicating the truth

Coverage of Islam has turned into an industry specialising in the engineering of images, scenes, and messages.

In a globalised world governed by the power of the image, the question is no longer what has sparked this event or that incident and how it has unfolded on the ground, but how it gets captured by the camera and reported to viewers, listeners, and readers at home.

Some might argue,  that the media merely reports what is already in existence. However things are not so straightforward in the real world. For the lens is neither neutral nor objective.

It is subject to a set of pre-defined choices and calculations that decide what we see and do not see, know and do not know.

The media is not a mirror reflecting what is out there. Its role is not simple, passive transmission, but active creation, shaping, and manufacturing, through a lengthy process of selection, filtering, interpretation, and editing.

The hidden arms that hold the reins of our media – the giant news corporations and their masters – are not benign charities driven by the love of humanity.

Paradigms of dissemination

Of the 57 countries in the vast geographic and cultural expanse known as the Muslim world, some are rich, others poor; some royal, others republican; some conservative, others liberal; some stable, others less so; some where women preside over the state, others that deny them the right to vote; some that oppress in the name of religion, others that do so in the name of secularism…etc

But this strikingly varied mosaic is absent from mainstream coverage of the subject. What is compound, complex, diverse, and multi-faceted turns into a plain surface without depth, reduced to a narrow set of narratives about blood-thirsty terrorists, shouting mobs, black turbans, battered wives, and caged daughters.

The Muslim world becomes a silent object that does not speak, but is spoken for, an anonymous background against which stands the reporter dispatched from the metropolis.

S/he is the agent of understanding, the one who deciphers this strange entity’s mysterious codes and uncovers its secrets for us; the one who gives it meaning, truth and order.

Nowhere is this will to superficiality and reductionism more evident than in reports of conflicts in the Middle East.

Viewers are given a few minutes during which they watch and hear descriptions of wreckage, smoke, burnt cars, scorched bodies, severed limbs, blood, and wailing widows.

With no attempt to explain the underlying causes and histories of the crises in question, the reports merely compound existing misunderstanding.

The confusion is such that roles are often reversed, with the victim mistaken for the oppressor.

Prisms of perception

This is confirmed by a number of studies, such as the one conducted following the Palestinian Intifada by Greg Philo and Mike Berry of the Glasgow University Group.

The researchers monitored hours of BBC and ITV coverage of the 2002 Intifada, examined 200 news programmes, and interviewed over 800 people about their perceptions of the conflict .

The researchers encountered an alarming level of ignorance and confusion among the viewers, of whom only 9 per cent knew that the “occupied territories” were occupied by Israel, with the majority believing that the Palestinians were the occupiers.

This is hardly surprising given the unbalanced coverage and its tendency to obscure the central truths in the conflict: It does not tell us that over 418 Palestinian villages were destroyed in 1948, that their inhabitants were expelled in their hundreds of thousands, that Israel was largely established by force on 78 per cent of historic Palestine, that since 1967 it has illegally occupied and imposed various forms of military rule on the remaining 22 per cent, or that the majority of Palestinians – over 8 million – live as refugees today.

Reports of the Iraq war do not fare better. The viewer is given the impression that the country’s ills are rooted in its people’s bloodthirstiness and love of self-mutilation, with one sect and ethnicity vying for the other’s destruction.

The Americans emerge as benign mediators whose role consists in imposing order and preventing the different groups from exterminating each other.

The causes of the ongoing state of chaos are increasingly being brushed under the carpet, viz the 150,000 strong army deployed to invade a country hundreds of miles away, the destruction of its infrastructure, systematic demolition of its national collective memory, desecration of its cultural heritage, erection of an ethnic and sectarian based political system, dissolution of its army in the name of “de-baathisation”, and arming of one faction against the other - first the Kurdish Peshmarga, then the Shia militias in the name of “confronting the Sunni triangle”, and finally al-Anbar’s Sunni tribes under the pretext of combating Al Qaeda.

What the media reports do not tell us is that Iraqis continue to suffer not because they are Arabs, Muslims, brown-skinned, or followers of an “inherently violent” religious culture, but because they are the victims of a heartless power game that saw them as little more than insects, worthless creatures to trample on without bothering to count the dead.

The west seems to have created its own “machinery of truth” about Islam, Muslims, Arabs, and the Middle East.

Through it the lens is directed and small narratives are produced and reproduced ad infinitum.

The titles and headlines may vary, but they lead back to a narrow ring of notions that define Muslim society in the eyes of manufacturer and domesticated consumer alike.

These boil down to violence, fanaticism, irrationality, emotiveness, stagnation, subordination, and despotism. They are the pillars of an orthodoxy, which is popularised by the media and bolstered by a complex network of power centres and institutions.

To defy it is to place oneself outside the mainstream and within the margins, alongside outsiders, heretics, and truth monsters.

*Soumaya Ghannoushi is a freelance writer specialising in the history of European Perceptions of Islam. Her work has appeared in a number of leading British papers including the Guardian and the Independent.

By Andreas Papageorgopoulos

http:// ellinas-xoris-ellada.blogspot.com

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Completely different to the belief, the one we are losing day by day or with the one that is going to almost change by the government’s strict financial policy ( regardless those that are going to follow!). This is the religious belief of Muslims, which seems to gain more and more believers among the Greek Orthodox Christians that is us. Few years ago, we could not even think about it, but modern reality is completely different. We are talking about thousands of our fellow countrymen who have as adults convert with a full consciousness in Islam.

As for how many thousands are exactly, the numbers are vague as the vast majority of the converted Greeks prefer to keep hidden their conversion and their preference to Allah. Though it is certain, that most of the former Christian Orthodox Greeks lives beyond our country’s national borders, in America, in Europe, in Africa up to the land of Far East. But not to confuse ourselves, the Muslim legal or illegal immigrants who live in Greece temporarily or permanently, as well as the Muslim minority, who live close to our Northern borders, is a whole different story.

The very first demographic “disclosures” about the Greek believers of Allah happened approximately two years ago. May I remind you an excellent research article by Stella Kasdagli at “Pontiki” (4.12.2008) with plenty of informative material of the Internet (www.greeksrethink.com, www.greekmuslim.wordpress.com), interviews both named and unnamed about the suspicion, the fears of the Greek society, up to the hiding from their families. For example, Iman Sotiria Kouvalis, Muslim since 2000 and founder of the previously referred blog, refers an example of a parent’s reaction: “Oh my God!!  You became a Turk! It would be better if you were telling me that you are pregnant or a drug addict”.

So to conclude: “Jamilah Kolocotronis, author and lecturer in Islamic schools, originates (as she states in her curriculum vitae) from the family of Theodoros Kolocotronis, grew up at the United Sates of America with the stories of her grandfather about the Greek revoluti0on of 1821 against the Turks. “ When I went to college, I started learning about Islam. I was though, still carrying inside me the suspicion against the Muslim Turks, the people that my ancestor fought for the Greek Independence. It took me four years to convert to Islam. One of the reasons, I think, is that I could not take this decision and talk to my grandfather about it. He died in 1979, and I became a Muslim in 1980.”

The number of Britons choosing to become Muslims has nearly doubled in the past decade, according to one of the most comprehensive attempts to estimate how many people have embraced Islam.

Following the global spread of violent Islamism, British Muslims have faced more scrutiny, criticism and analysis than any other religious community. Yet, despite the often negative portrayal of Islam, thousands of Britons are adopting the religion every year.

Estimating the number of converts living in Britain has always been difficult because census data does not differentiate between whether a religious person has adopted a new faith or was born into it. Previous estimates have placed the number of Muslim converts in the UK at between 14,000 and 25,000.

But a new study by the inter-faith think-tank Faith Matters suggests the real figure could be as high as 100,000, with as many as 5,000 new conversions nationwide each year.

By using data from the Scottish 2001 census – the only survey to ask respondents what their religion was at birth as well as at the time of the survey – researchers broke down what proportion of Muslim converts there were by ethnicity and then extrapolated the figures for Britain as a whole.

In all they estimated that there were 60,699 converts living in Britain in 2001. With no new census planned until next year, researchers polled mosques in London to try to calculate how many conversions take place a year. The results gave a figure of 1,400 conversions in the capital in the past 12 months which, when extrapolated nationwide, would mean approximately 5,200 people adopting Islam every year. The figures are comparable with studies in Germany and France which found that there were around 4,000 conversions a year.

Fiyaz Mughal, director of Faith Matters, admitted that coming up with a reliable estimate of the number of converts to Islam was notoriously difficult. “This report is the best intellectual ‘guestimate’ using census numbers, local authority data and polling from mosques,” he said. “Either way few people doubt that the number adopting Islam in the UK has risen dramatically in the past 10 years.”

Asked why people were converting in such large numbers he replied: “I think there is definitely a relationship between conversions being on the increase and the prominence of Islam in the public domain. People are interested in finding out what Islam is all about and when they do that they go in different directions. Most shrug their shoulders and return to their lives but some will inevitably end up liking what they discover and will convert.”

Batool al-Toma, an Irish born convert to Islam of 25 years who works at the Islamic Foundation and runs the New Muslims Project, one of the earliest groups set up specifically to help converts, said she believed the new figures were “a little on the high side”.

“My guess would be the real figure is somewhere in between previous estimates, which were too low, and this latest one,” she said. “I definitely think there has been a noticeable increase in the number of converts in recent years. The media often tries to pinpoint specifics but the reasons are as varied as the converts themselves.”

Inayat Bunglawala, founder of Muslims4UK, which promotes active Muslim engagement in British society, said the figures were “not implausible”.

“It would mean that around one in 600 Britons is a convert to the faith,” he said. “Islam is a missionary religion and many Muslim organisations and particularly university students’ Islamic societies have active outreach programmes designed to remove popular misconceptions about the faith.”

The report by Faith Matters also studied the way converts were portrayed by the media and found that while 32 per cent of articles on Islam published since 2001 were linked to terrorism or extremism, the figure jumped to 62 per cent with converts.

Earlier this month, for example, it was reported that two converts to Islam who used the noms de guerre Abu Bakr and Mansoor Ahmed were killed in a CIA drone strike in an area of Pakistan with a strong al-Qa’ida presence.

“Converts who become extremists or terrorists are, of course, a legitimate story,” said Mr Mughal. “But my worry is that the saturation of such stories risks equating all Muslim converts with being some sort of problem when the vast majority are not”. Catherine Heseltine, a 31-year-old convert to Islam, made history earlier this year when she became the first female convert to be elected the head of a British Muslim organisation – the Muslim Public Affairs Committee. “Among certain sections of society, there is a deep mistrust of converts,” she said. “There’s a feeling that the one thing worse than a Muslim is a convert because they’re perceived as going over the other side. Overall, though, I think conversions arouse more curiosity than hostility.”

How to become a Muslim

Islam is one of the easiest religions to convert to. Technically, all a person needs to do is recite the Shahada, the formal declaration of faith, which states: “There is no God but Allah and Mohamed is his Prophet.” A single honest recitation is all that is needed to become a Muslim, but most converts choose to do so in front of at least two witnesses, one being an imam.

Converts to Islam

Hana Tajima, 23, fashion designer

Hana Tajima converted to Islam when she was 17. Frustrated by the lack of variety in Islamic clothing for converts she founded Maysaa, a fashion house that designs western-inspired clothing that conforms to hijab. 

“It’s true that I never decided to convert to Islam, nor was there a defining moment where I realised I wanted to be Muslim.  My family aren’t particularly religious.  I was interested in religion, but very disinterested in how it related to my life.  I grew up in rural Devon where my Japanese father was the ethnic diversity of the village.  It wasn’t until I studied at college that I met people who weren’t of the exact same background, into Jeff Buckley, underground hip-hop, drinking, and getting high.  I met and became friends with a few Muslims in college, and was slightly affronted and curious at their lack of wanting to go out to clubs or socialise in that sense.  I think it was just the shock of it, like, how can you not want to go out, in this day and age.   

“It was at about that time that I started to study philosophy, and without sounding too much like I dyed my hair black and wore my fringe in front of my face, I began to get confused about my life. I was pretty popular, had good friends, boyfriends, I had everything I was supposed to have, but still I felt like ‘is that it?’  So these things all happened simultaneously, I read more about religion, learned more about friends of other backgrounds, had a quarter life crisis.  There were things that drew me to Islam in particular, it wasn’t like I was reaching for whatever was there.  The fact that the Qur’an is the same now as it ever was means there’s always a reference point. The issues of women’s rights were shockingly contemporary.  The more I read, the more I found myself agreeing with the ideas behind it and I could see why Islam coloured the lives of my Muslim friends.  It made sense, really, I didn’t and still don’t want to be Muslim, but there came a point where I couldn’t say that I wasn’t Muslim. 

“Telling my family was the easy part.  I knew they’d be happy as long as I was happy, and they could see that it was an incredibly positive thing.  My friends went one of two ways, met with a lack of any reaction and lost to the social scene, or interested and supportive.  More the former, less the latter.”

Denise Horsley, 26, dance teacher

Denise Horsley lives in North London. She converted to Islam last year and is planning to marry her Muslim boyfriend next year. 

“I was introduced to Islam by my boyfriend Naushad. A lot of people ask whether I converted because of him but actually he had nothing to do with it. I was interested in his faith but I went on my own journey to discover more about religion. 

“I bought loads of books on all the different religions but I kept coming back to Islam – there was something about it that just made sense, it seemed to answer all the questions I had. 

“I would spend hours in the library at Regents Park Mosque reading up on everything from women’s rights to food. Before I went to prayers for the first time I remember sitting in my car frantically looking up how to pray on my Blackberry. I was so sure people would know straight away that I wasn’t a Muslim but if they did no-one seemed to care. 

“During Ramadan I’d sit and listen to the Qur’anic recitations and would be filled with such happiness and warmth. One day I decided there and then to take my shahada. I walked down to the reception and said I was ready to convert, it was as simple as that. 

“My friends and family were rather shocked, I think they expected there would be some sort of huge baptism ceremony but they were very supportive of my decision. I think they were just pleased to see me happy and caring about something so passionately. 

“I grew up Christian and went to a Catholic school. Islam to me seemed to be a natural extension of Christianity. The Qur’an is filled with information about Jesus, Mary, the angels and the Torah. It’s part of a natural transition. 

“I do now wear a headscarf but it wasn’t something I adopted straightaway. Hijab is such an important concept in Islam but it’s not just about clothing. It’s about being modest in everything you do. I started dressing more modestly – forgoing low cut tops and short skirts – but before I donned a headscarf I had to make sure I was comfortable on the inside before turning my attention to the outside. Now I feel completely protected in my headscarf. People treat you with a new level of respect, they judge you by your words and your deeds, not how you look. It’s the kind of respect every dad wants for their daughter. 

“There have been some problems. Immediately after converting I isolated myself a bit, which I now recognise was a mistake and not what Islam teaches. I remember a lady on a bus who got really angry and abusive when she found out I had converted. I also noticed quite a few friends stopped calling. I think they just got tired of hearing me say no – no to going clubbing, no to going down the pub. 

“But my good friends embraced it. They simply found other things to do when I was around. Ultimately I’m still exactly the same person apart from the fact that I don’t drink, don’t eat pork and pray five times a day. Other than that I’m still Denise.”

 Dawud Beale, 23

Dawud Beale was a self-confirmed “racist” two years ago who knew nothing about Islam and supported the BNP. Now a Muslim, he describes himself as a Salafi – the deeply socially conservative and ultra-orthodox sect of Islam whose followers try to live exactly like the Prophet did. 

“I was very ignorant to Islam for most of my life and then I went on holiday to Morocco, which was the first time I was exposed to Muslims. I was literally a racist before Morocco and by the time I was flying home on the plane a week later, I had already decided to become a Muslim.” 

“I realised Islam is not a foreign religion, but had a lot of similarities with what I already believed. When I came back home to Somerset, I spent three months trying to find local Muslims, but there wasn’t even a mosque in my town. I eventually met Sufi Muslims who took me to Cyprus to convert. 

“When I came back, I was finding out a lot of what they were saying was contradictory to what it said in the Qur’an. I wasn’t finding them very authentic, to be honest. I went to London and became involved with Hizb-ut-Tahrir, the political group who call for the establishment of an Islamic state. 

 ”But while I believe in the benefits of Sharia law, I left this group as well. The problem was it was too into politics and not as concerned with practicing the religion. For me, it is about keeping an Islamic appearance and studying hard. I think we do need an Islamic state, but the way to achieve it is not through political activism or fighting. Allah doesn’t change the situation of people until they see what’s within themselves. 

“I have a big dislike for culture in Islamic communities, when it means bringing new things into the religion, such as polytheism or encouraging music and dance. There is something pure about Salafi Muslims; we take every word of the Qur’an for truth.  I have definitely found the right path. I also met my wife through the community and we are expecting our first child next year.” 

Paul Martin, 27

Paul Martin was just a student when he decided to convert to Islam in an ice-cream shop in Manchester four years ago. Bored of what he saw as the hedonistic lifestyle of many of his friends at university and attracted to what he calls “Islam’s emphasis on seeking knowledge,” he says a one-off meeting with an older Muslim changed his life. 

“I liked the way the Muslims students I knew conducted themselves. It’s nice to think about people having one partner for life and not doing anything harmful to their body. I just preferred the Islamic lifestyle and from there I looked into the Qur’an. I was amazed to see Islam’s big emphasis on science. 

“Then I was introduced by a Muslim friend to a doctor who was a few years older than me. We went for a coffee and then a few weeks later for an ice cream. It was there that I said I would like to be a Muslim. I made my shahada right there, in the ice cream shop. I know some people like to be all formal and do it in a mosque, but for me religion is not a physical thing, it is what is in your heart. 

“I hadn’t been to a mosque before I became a Muslim. Sometimes it can be bit daunting, I mean I don’t really fit into this criteria of a Muslim person. But there is nothing to say you can’t be a British Muslim who wears jeans and a shirt and a jacket. Now in my mosque in Leeds, many different languages are spoken and there are lots of converts. 

“With my family, it was gradual. I didn’t just come home and say I was a Muslim. There was a long process before I converted where I wouldn’t eat pork and I wouldn’t drink. Now, we still have Sunday dinner together, we just buy a joint of lamb that is halal. 

“If someone at college had said to me ‘You are going to be a Muslim’, I would not in a million years have believed it. It would have been too far-fetched. But now I have just come back from Hajj – the pilgrimage Muslims make to Mecca.” 

 Stuart Mee, 46

Stuart Mee is a divorced civil servant who describes himself as a “middle-of-the-road Muslim.” Having converted to Islam last year after talking with Muslim colleagues at work, he says Islam offers him a sense of community he feels is missing in much of Britain today. 

“Everything is so consumer-driven here, there are always adverts pushing you to buy the next thing. I knew there must be something longer term and always admired the sense of contentment within my colleagues’ lives, their sense of peace and calmness. It was just one of those things that happened – we talked, I read books and I related to it. 

“I emailed the Imam at London Central Mosque and effectively had a 15 minute interview with him. It was about making sure that this was the right thing for me, that I was doing it at the right time. He wanted to make sure I was committed. It is a life changing decision. 

“It is surprisingly easy, the process of converting. You do your shahada, which is the declaration of your faith. You say that in front of two witnesses and then you think, ‘What do I do next?’ I went to an Islamic bookstore and bought a child’s book on how to pray. I followed that because, in Islamic terms, I was basically one month old. 

“I went to a local mosque in Reading and expected someone to stop me say, ‘Are you a Muslim?’ but it didn’t happen. It was just automatic acceptance. You can have all the trappings of being a Muslim – the beard and the bits and pieces that go with it, but Islam spreads over such a wide area and people have different styles, clothes and approaches to life. 

“Provided I am working within Islamic values, I see no need in changing my name and I don’t have any intention of doing it. Islam has bought peace, stability, and comfort to my life. It has helped me identify just what is important to me. That can only be a good thing.” 

 Khadijah Roebuck, 48

Khadijah Roebuck was born Tracey Roebuck into a Christian family. She was married for twenty five years and attended church with her children every week while they lived at home. Now, divorced and having practiced Islam for the last six months, she says she is still not sure what motivated her to make such a big change to her life. 

“I know it sounds odd, but one day I was Tracey the Christian and the next day I was Khadijah the Muslim, it just seemed right. The only thing I knew about Muslims before was that they didn’t drink alcohol and they didn’t eat pork. 

“I remember the first time I drove up to the mosque. It was so funny; I was in my sports car and had the music blaring. I wasn’t sure if I was even allowed to go in but I asked to speak to the man in charge, I didn’t even know he was called an Imam. Now I wear a hijab and pray five times a day. 

“My son at first was horrified, he just couldn’t believe it. It’s been especially hard for my mum, who is Roman Catholic and doesn’t accept it at all. But the main thing I feel is a sense of peace, which I never found with the Church, which is interesting. Through Ramadan, I absolutely loved every second. On the last day, I even cried. 

“It is interesting because people sometimes confuse cultures with Islam. Each Muslim brings their different culture to the mosque and different takes on the religion. There are Saudi Arabians, Egyptians and Pakistanis and then of course there is me. I slot in everywhere. A lot of the other sisters say to me, ‘That is why we love you, Khadijah, you are just yourself.’”

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Source: www.tovima.gr

By Achilles Hekimoglou 21^st of November 2010

Anna Stamou

One of the leading international Muslim awards of Europe was recently given to a Greek lady. The public relations manager of the Muslim Association of Greece miss Anna Stamou is included in the 10 Muslim ladies with the greater and most positive influence in Europe, next to personages like the famous Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid! Miss Stamou found herself among the top 10 of the female aspect’s expression of the modern, moderate Islam, receiving a relevant award by the European Muslim Professionals Network (CEDAR), which is supported by the well known Institute of Strategic Dialogue, also known as the “Three Club”. The award ceremony , which took place three weeks ago in Madrid, is an important step for Greece so as to have a voice on the continuously widening circle of influence on the European Muslims, of the importance of whom has been stated over the last few years by numerous analysts of the international relations of our country.

Miss Stamou refers on the nowadays big issue that preoccupies the mind of thousands of Greeks and foreign Muslims, meaning the creation of an Islamic prayer site and cemetery in the capital. “We had suggested creating a simple, functional infrastructure that will be aesthetically compatible with the surrounding area. We do not imagine any luxuries just a functional prayer site.” And at the same time she criticizes the new phenomenon of islamophobia in Greece, characterising it as temporal and of ephemeral consuming. “In the past there were the communists, today are the Muslims. In a few time though, this will no longer have any effect and shall be forgotten” she underlines

In addition, she highlights that the lack of a Mosque is not the only deficiency, but there is also the lack of accredited officially appointed Imams in our country. “The imam –as well as the priest and the spiritual instructors-aids with his consultation people or couples who face problems, seek for psychological support or they confront moral dilemmas. Furthermore, we do have mixed weddings, where so many women ignore their rights. This is a tragedy.” She adds that it is necessary to create all the required institutions with Greek and not with foreign funds. “In such cases the financial contributor, has the upper hand. We have seen countries such as Holland and Great Britain to establish the state’s control.”

Miss Stamou became a Muslim six years ago, as she found answers for her inner philosophical quests. “My quest has been long, I was always seeking answers and I always had answered questions, not necessarily of theological nature. In my quest of truth, I could not get satisfactory answers. Thus, I consulted several philosophical schools; I dealt deeply with Pythagoras, through whom I found myself embracing Islam. “she states. During this quest she met her current husband, with whom they jointed as volunteers the organisation “Doctors of the World”, during the war in Iraq. Then was the time when she came into closer contact with Islam, and she started researching deeper to its teachings. “I thought due to the knowledge I have acquired from school that this is an inferior and distorted religion. Islam though had given me answers. I said then to myself that I should learn more about this religion. Many of the questions I had, started sorting themselves out with a simplicity that was really annoying!” she states. Miss Stamou underlines that due to the historical facts in our country many people confuse Muslims with Turkey, a thing she says it is wrong. “I have been a Muslim for so many years and I have learnt the word bayram last year! During my way to Islam, I have never met Turkey. The European citizen who becomes Muslim he does not obtain knowledge from the Turks, but from the Arabs, following Arab teachers” she underlines. “In Europe those who embrace Islam learn from English and French sources. Though there are thousands Greek Muslims, I do not understand why there are not any published book in Greek. Thankfully, we published five books.” She says.

She as well says that her transition from Christianity to Islam was escorted by acceptance from the side of family and her friends.”I have not met any negative reactions. Some people might have questions or they might not like it. But what could I do? Anyhow, they did not like yoga either!  I did not change my social behaviour, I just wore a head scarf!” she narrates.

Miss Stamou is 37 years old and she was born in Athens, one month after the riot of Polytechneio. “My mother, being eight months pregnant to me, was watching the facts from the roof of our house.” She was born and bred in Ilioupolis, studied Business administration and Economics, though she professionally dealt with sign language but also with yoga, which she still teaches! The awarded Greek lady, is married with the chairman of the Muslim Association of Greece, Mr. Elgandhour , is a mother of two children , and she is the public relations manager of the previously referred association. “A few years ago, I had an office for the young Muslims, though I have translated from English language books relevant with Islam” she states. Though for many years, her main occupation was the family business, an old small factory of athletic wear that their parents had, which due to the recession shut down.

“Wearing hijab is a matter of choice”

The issue of hijab consists an important issue for many countries, for Miss Stamou though things are quite simple.

Miss Stamou holding a tray on her hands she treats guests during Ramadan

“Hijab is a part of the faith, a part you can choose to follow or not. It is your choice” she adds. Though, as she highlights, it has not only a social standing, as anyone who does an internal request, will also find other things. “The hijab is a matter of choice. But, anywhere where is enforced, is a wrongdoing. Certainly, in my opinion, when it is exposed as a symbol of oppression, is wrong. I have seen women who fight for their right to wear it” she states.

Miss Stamou refers on her award with satisfaction. “There were ten awards given, all of them equally given. I was awarded due to my actions through the Muslim Association to claim an Islamic prayer site and a cemetery but also for my positive contribution in society. The European Muslim Professionals Network (CEDAR) promotes education, progress, business, creativity, arts and sciences. It is not a religious institution” she highlights.

As she says, the basis of all the issues is the peaceful coexistence and tolerance. “During Ramadan, we eat together with our Christian friends; this is something that is not easily found in Europe. Furthermore, my daughter loves and is eager for Christmas. So they last approximately up… to Easter!” she concludes.

By Niki Kitsantonis

ATHENS — A wave of violent attacks against immigrants by suspected right-wing extremists has put Muslims and the police on alert in rundown parts of Athens with burgeoning migrant populations.

Immigrants have been beaten and stabbed near central squares, and several makeshift mosques have been burned and vandalized. In the most grievous attack, at the end of October, the assailants locked the door of a basement prayer site and hurled firebombs through the windows, seriously wounding four worshipers.

“The attacks are constant — I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Naim Elghandour, who moved to Athens from Egypt in the 1970s and now heads the Muslim Association of Greece. “I used to be treated like an equal. Now I’m getting death threats.”

Tensions in neglected, crime-ridden parts of Athens with growing immigrant communities have been mounting over the past two years. Highlighting expanding public discontent, the extreme right-wing group Chrysi Avgi, or “Golden Dawn,” won its first ever seat on the Athens City Council in local elections three weeks ago. The group mustered strong support in working-class neighborhoods in the capital and elsewhere in Greece by describing migrants as a drain on the economy, which is reeling from a debt crisis, and calling for immediate deportations.

The Greek news media linked the group to the violence after a spray-painted cross merged with a circle — a symbol used by extreme rightists worldwide — was found on the wall of a firebombed prayer site. But the police have not confirmed a connection, saying no arrests have been made. The group did not respond to requests for comment.

Thanassis Kokkalakis, a police spokesman, said the problem was complex. He said that while “extremist elements” were believed to be behind certain attacks, there was also violence between migrants of different ethnic origins, muggings of Greeks by poverty-stricken foreigners and clashes between extreme rightists and left-wing protesters.

“All this chaos stems from a constantly growing population of immigrants in these areas,” said Mr. Kokkalakis, noting that about 150 migrants arrived in Athens daily despite the mobilization of European Union guards in early November at Greece’s land border with Turkey. “The upheaval has fueled aggravation among residents, which is being exploited by extremist groups.”

The residents of the problem areas are divided: Some want dialogue and better policing, while others are taking matters into their own hands. Elderly and middle-aged residents often sit in local squares during the daytime, shouting abusive statements at migrants when they go by. Small gangs of teenagers stalk the neighborhoods by night, but it remains unclear if they are locals or visiting extremists.

The police have stepped up patrols following reports of attacks by vigilantes who, locals say, are as young as 14. “I saw three kids bashing an Afghan man with wooden poles until blood ran down his face,” said Muhammad, the Syrian manager of a convenience store in Aghios Panteleimonas, once a lively neighborhood, now a no-go zone. Like other migrants living in the area, he would not give his surname for fear of reprisals.

The exact number of attacks remains unclear. “The victims are usually too scared to go to police,” said Thanassis Kourkoulas, a spokesman for Deport Racism, a group that offers targeted migrants advice and support.

Others say this reflects a general trend in Europe. “Hate crimes against Muslims are underreported and underrecorded,” said Taskin Soykan, who advises the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on combating racial intolerance.

The attacks in Greece mirror similar incidents in other European countries, including Switzerland, where a referendum last November led to a ban on the construction of minarets on mosques, and in France and Italy, where the authorities have deported Roma residents and immigrants.

“The difference in Italy is that most of the attacks were in the provinces, while in Greece they are in the heart of the capital, which is potentially far more explosive,” Liz Fekete of the Institute of Race Relations in London said. “The common factor is the formation of vigilante groups, egged on by the far right.”

Angry protesters, including some thought to be right-wing extremists, had to be restrained by the police last month when thousands of Muslims congregated in several Athens squares for a religious festival. At one site, officers fired tear gas to disperse a small group of demonstrators, who continued their protest from the balconies of apartment complexes, pelting worshipers with eggs and playing loud music to disturb the prayers.

The day after the protests, government officials said a stalled project to build an official mosque was back on track. Athens is the only capital of the original 15 E.U. member states to lack a state-approved mosque.

Although the country’s influential Orthodox Church has given its support to the project, opinion polls show that half of Athens’s five million residents oppose the creation of a mosque to serve the capital’s Muslim community, which numbers about 500,000.

“A large mosque with minarets in the city center will be a provocation,” said Dimitrios Pipikios, the head of a residents’ group in Aghios Panteleimonas, where Chrysi Avgi drew 20 percent of the vote in recent elections.

Mr. Pipikios said the only way to ease tensions was to deport immigrants. “There is no room for us all,” he said, adding that extreme rightists were patrolling the area “because the police are not doing their job.”

Other residents said they felt intimidated. “The situation is totally out of control,” said Maria Kanellopoulou, who wants not deportations but the better social integration of immigrants.

The local authorities are determined to tackle the problem, said a spokesman for Giorgos Kaminis, the newly elected mayor of Athens.

“Chasing immigrants away from city squares is an established technique of extreme rightists, and we are seeking advice on how to deal with it,” said the spokesman, Takis Kampilis, who has approached the municipal authorities in Germany, who have averted similar campaigns by neo-Nazis. The new mayor is also planning to improve health care and housing for migrants and organize street markets where they can legitimately sell wares rather than touting illegally on street corners.

Ms. Fekete said increasing integration would help, but to stamp out extreme violence, local and central governments must condemn it in strong terms. “If the authorities do not speak out, public tolerance of the violence will grow,” she said. “This is a wake-up call.”

Questions were racing through my mind.  Does this makes me a Muslim? What is a Muslim after all? And is it easy to become one? And what happens after that? What if I regret?

It was minutes after my shahada (my declaration of the Islamic faith), a few weeks ago.

It took me almost 9 years to believe there is actually a God and choose Islam as the way to worship Him.  But why was that? Having a very hard life so far, full of personal traumatic experiences of which I could not be responsible for during childhood, puberty and adolescence, a person does not have the right to make his own choices by law, I was led to disappointment.

I almost completely rejected the presence of God or of any Divinity in my life.

Although I was completely dissatisfied by the behaviour of the clergy in Greece and still having the words of the burial service which says “rest your servant ignoring all sins,” I decided to start reading about religion.

Feeling tormented, tired and a bit desperate to find answers to my questions, I choose to read religion initially and then philosophy and history of sciences instead of trying to find my way through fortune tellers or tarot readers, drugs or alcohol.

No matter how hard someone tries to numb himself so he doesn’t feel any pain, the pain will always be there, waiting to be confronted. Being deeply ethical and raised with the traditional values of a middle class Greek family , values of honesty, pride and dignity, I did not want to be part of any religious or philosophical group just to satisfy my needs for warmth and affection. And I definitely, loved and honoured my Greek cultural identity and I did not want to imitate or fake any other identity or nationality.

I started researching Christianity and mainly the Orthodox Dogma, then Judaism and Buddhism and finally Islam. I started gradually believing in God, my faith becoming stronger with time. At some point I started having questions about the Trinity, questions for which I found the answers in Islam.

What I realised is that Islam is the religion that closes the circle of Divine revelations. Islam means peace and Muslim means the person who offers himself to God and God only, with no remorse or personal benefit. Allah is not a new invention, it’s just the Arabic word for God, the half moon is not a symbol of blood bathing and revenge but is a reminder that Muslim people calculate the time based on the moon rather than the sun.

At this point I seriously started to consider myself as a believer rather than an agnostic. In the meantime, I moved to United Kingdom, to further educate myself though postgraduate studies. I do not know if it was a sign but while I was in UK, I kept meeting really nice people, the majority of them being Muslims, and I ended up marrying one of them.

I continued reading more and more and was becoming focused on Islam this time. Though not only reading, watching documentaries, attending Islamic lectures, going to Islamic museums, attending Islamic classes.

And there comes the questioning. Do I want to be part of a religion that has so many different variations of interpretation of its Holy Book? Would I want to be part of a group that would be a religious minority in my country? Would I want to be part of a religious group where most people, of the ones I have met at least, are paying attention just to the rules of worship and not the worship itself? Or would I want to be part of a religion which is used by its own followers to inspire hate and hostility?

I got again disappointed but this time not by the religion itself or the philosophy itself or from the Quran but from the followers. And then I realised that I cannot blame the religion itself since I found the answers to my questions, from its followers. I decided to start living as a Muslim for a period of time, to see what it takes and see if it is really so hard. As it is stated in Quran, men and women were created equally having their own free will.

But what does it mean to live as a Muslim? Wearing an abaya and niqaab? Praying 10 times a day? Fasting strictly during Ramadan? Staying at home and having loads of children? Avoiding any kind of joyful experience just in case you do something forbidden? Certainly not, in my opinion.

Islam is not a strict system of rules or a kind of imprisonment. Doing good deeds every single day, trying to avoid bad actions, praying as much as you can, fasting as much as you can, showing love and compassion and always fighting peacefully to improve yourself, progressing and evolving in knowledge day by day, trying your best every single day, this is what it takes to be a Muslim.

I realised that I could live as a Muslim, I just changed the way and the frequency of my prayers, I stopped completely eating pork or drinking alcohol and I wore a headscarf. That’s all. So after this so long journey, I decided to have my shahada done admitting firstly to myself that ‘There is no god but Allah (God), and Muhammad is the messenger of Allah (God).

Written by:

Myrto Z.

Athens, Greece

By Nikos Xydakis

The peaceful prayer services held by Muslims in Athens as part of Eid al-Adha celebrations earlier this week were followed by protests and sporadic violence against Muslims, clashes between locals and foreigners, as well as skirmishes among Muslims. The neighborhood around Acharnon Street has recently witnessed attacks on makeshift mosques and the faithful who visit those sites to pray.

In Kotzia Square, an illegal street vendor from Egypt who was stopped by municipal police officers for an ID check, began to yell that they were desecrating the holy scripture of Islam that they found on him.

Some 300 Muslims from nearby streets immediately gathered on the spot, angry at the insult to the Quran. But the affront never really took place, as the confiscated items were not sacred – a fact acknowledged by the street seller’s fellow Muslims.

Both cases demonstrate the failure of the state to implement the law and protect the civic and human rights of Greeks as well as foreigners.

In both cases, the failure was interpreted as the lack of legal order, as the absence of the rule of law – and that vacuum was filled by crowds which sought to take the law in their own hands.

Seeing the state withdraw from the civic realm as the people begin to take the law in their own hands with increasing frequency is one of the most worrying signs of this difficult period in history in which politics, society and the democratic state are coming under great duress.

It is becoming an uneasy coexistence: In the gray neighborhoods, poor Greeks live next to thousands of impoverished immigrants – most of these without legal documents.

The recession is deepening, fueling mistrust and intolerance.

Everyone is threatening to take the law into their own hands. Violence is gradually becoming the rule in our daily existence. This threat against the moral and legal foundations of society is, in many ways, more frightening than the threat of financial bankruptcy.

Translation© Muslim Association of Greece

By Modestos Siotos

A week and a day after the election of a neo-Nazi in the city council of Athens, 13.000 Muslims prayed just to show their attitude in several areas of the city for the manifestation of Qurban Bayram or Eid Al Adha (our Islamic language is not that good yet but this will get better in time), the feast in other words for the sacrifice of Abraham’s son.

Only in the area of Propylaia over 1.000 gathered for the prayer, who laid sheets and took their shoes off, they prayed under the stare of an imam by the Islamic University of Egypt. The Athenians, astonished either enjoyed this cultural experience thinking “we are living in a beautiful city!” or they cursed reminiscing the years of 1821’s where the only Muslim is Athens, was the governor of the traditional village of that times.

In Attica square though, where fortunately there are still true Greeks, the Muslims prayed under the listening of “Greek popular music” (it has not been cleared out yet whether there were traditional Greek songs that were used for bullying or Natasha Theodoridou, who has a great carrier in Africa, so the music was a gift by a fellow Greek.) In the manifestation, members of the organisation Chrisi Augi tried to participate, but the fascist police forces did not allow so. Head of this group was the member of the city’s council N. Michaloliakos. By the way, he realises that the immigrants are the “earth’s damned people” and knowing that in Athens, the people are famished, the Leader volunteered to command his followers to throw poached eggs and bottles of waters so the Muslims would not feel any thirst or hunger during prayer.

A lady, who was staying in a building close by, woke up very early in the morning around 7 a.m. and holding a Greek flag she started dancing under the musical rhythms her neighbours. Due to this incident, the Mass Media, which as it is well known, they firmly defend the rights of the immigrants in the neighbourhoods of Athens, reminded to the Sate that at last, a Mosque in Athens has to be built. Otherwise –they threatened- the Christians will also start praying in public standing next to the Muslims though Ntinos Iliopoulos will saying from the Heaven’s “we are living in such a nice atmosphere”

Translation : Myrto Zacharof

Translation © Muslim Association of Greece

Διαβάστε στα Ελληνικά

Without any special reactions the religious manifestations of Muslims took place. “Greece is the only European country without a mosque” states the chairman of the Muslim Association of Greece.

Thirteen thousand people, according to the police, participated in all the manifestations of the Muslims’ public prayer in twelve different areas of Attica.

The prayer, who started at 7:40 in the morning and finished at 11, took place without the slightest problem, besides Attica square, where according to eye-witnesses, there was abuse, by a small group of habitants, who threw eggs and other objects against Muslims who were walking by the streets of the area, though there was no response and with the firm presence of the police, there weren’t any violent incidences.

As it has been stated by the Hellenic Police, the manifestations of Muslims joined 4.000 people at Aigaleo, 2.000 at the Arabic-Hellenic Educational Centre at Kiprou str. In Moschato area, 500 at Propylaia, 600 at Attica square, 600 at Koumoundourou square, 1.000 at the old Racetrack Court at Faliro, 1.000 at Karamnanlis Avenue at Menidi, 300 at the basketball court at Elefsina, 250 at Aspropirgos, 1.500 in an abandoned factory at Markopoulos avenue at Koropi, 250 at Oinofyta and 1.000 in the court of Ierotheos at Peristeri.

Backlashes for the religious manifestations

Habitants of the area of Attica square, together with members of “Chrisi Augi” gathered earlier in the area in order to prevent the Muslims to perform a religious manifestation, the Qurban Bayram or the Feast of Sacrifice.

In the area, there was a firm police presence which in order to avoid any violent incidents, drove off all the gathered group-who were demonstrating against the presence of immigrants in Athens-towards Acharnon str., making a slight use of chemicals.

The Bayram is the equivalent to the sacrifice of Abraham that lies also in Christian religion, and which up to a certain point is accepted by the Muslims as well. At this very moment at Propylaia dozens of Muslims are gathered who live in Greece, originating from Greece, Albania and from other countries of Asia and Africa.

The gathering at Propylaia took place under the initiative of the Muslim Association of Greece and it is the third time that prayer takes place in a public place.

Muslim Association of Greece: We should assemble all the prayer sites with the Mosque

The chairman of the Muslim Association of Greece Naim Elgandour participating in the show “Proti Grammi” on SKAI television made clear that the prayers at public areas do not constitute a force mechanism for the construction of a Mosque.

He stated that “It is a matter of culture. Greece is the only European country without a Mosque, it has to be done soon enough in order to assemble all these prayer sites that they are constantly sprout up.”

www.kathimerini.gr with information by ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ, skai.gr

Translator:  Myrto Zacharof

Translation © Muslim Association of Greece

Διαβάστε στα Ελληνικά

It was characterised by the great numbers of people who participated and the request for respect the rights of the immigrants. It was blemished by the attitude of a group of people who disagree with the presence of foreigners in the country. In Tuesday morning, under the occasion of one of the most important feasts of Islam, Muslim immigrants performed a public prayer in 15 points of Athens.

At Propylaia, was realised the wider participation of Muslims for the feast of Qurban Bayram, that refers to the sacrifice of Abraham’s son. At about two thousand Muslims, originating from different countries, kept their custom. After they placed sheets on the ground, in the courtyard of Athens Academy, they took of their shoes and they keeled following the Imam’s prayers, who travelled from the Islamic University of Egypt to participate in the ceremony.

The public religious performance of Muslims in Athens, symbolised as well, the need of the construction in Attica, like the administration of political asylum. Like the big red banner “We ask for political asylum”. Besides, the prayer took place next to the tents of the Iranians hunger strikers, who as being political refugees they demand asylum from the Greek authorities.

The Police was discretely present in the manifestation, in order to deter any aggressiveness by people who are not fond of the immigrants. The few aggressive incidents that happened at Propylaia were minor interest, mainly focused on the verbal protest of the passing pedestrians, who were expressing thoughts such as “in Constantinople, the Greeks cannot pray.”

In Attica square, the demonstration expanded in three additional elements: music notes, eggs and yogurts. Approximately 50 extreme rightists, who tried from the previous night to occupy the area but they were drove off by the police, they gathered early in the morning in the square and started soughing abusive slogans against the immigrants. Although they did not leave the area, they were strayed by the lined police officers.

Nevertheless, “allies” were found in a balcony of an adjacent building. Three women raised Greek flags and put on loud music, harassing the immigrants’ prayer. In addition, they were shouting abusive slogans. In the account the throw of two eggs and two yogurts towards the square is added. Clearly worried, the approximately 500 immigrants (majorly from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh) did note reacted. After they fulfilled the ceremony, they immediately left the area. 

Translator:  Myrto Zacharof