Life

  • Jalsa UK Reflections: Messages From Lajna

    Jalsa Salana UK has come to a close, with guests departed and workers winding up. Let’s look back on the days of Jalsa and focus on a few messages sent by Lajna. Sofia begins by describing the smaller moments of Jalsa. Much of Jalsa is remembered through what can be seen or heard most clearly.…

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  • Take a Scroll With Me

    Danila Jonnud, Hampshire I know what you’re going to say. “Social Media is bad! Don’t scroll!! Do something useful!!!” And to that I say…you’re right. But as a literature student I’m used to finding meaning in the mundane. Critical thinking hasn’t been sucked out of me just yet. If you think it’s bad to scroll…

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  • A Walk, a Smile, the Weather, and Food

    Sameea Jonnud, Aldershot The political landscape has become increasingly bleak over the last decade, with Governments and policies leaning towards the right of the political spectrum. Local elections in early May were another blow, with the anti-migrant Reform party gaining council seats across the country, including in my local area. Just as had happened after…

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  • The Benefits of Diversity

    Fatiha Nadeem, Bradford Imagine a world where everyone spoke the same language, wore the same kind of clothes and had similar personalities. At first glance, this may seem ideal, however it would be a world without diversity – a world without the beauty that our differences bring. It is this very beauty that F.R. Tennant,…

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  • The Age of Distortions – Truth Seeking in a House of Mirrors

    Iffat Mirza Rashid, Alton The truth exists whether you like it or not. The issue is that if you dislike the truth enough and if you’re powerful enough, it can be buried and new ‘truths’ can be invented. As they say, if you repeat a lie often enough, it eventually becomes the ‘truth’, and indeed,…

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  • The Maze of Idols

    The Maze of Idols

    Yusra Dahri, Tilford لَا تُدۡرِکُہُ الۡاَبۡصَارُ ۫ وَہُوَ یُدۡرِکُ الۡاَبۡصَارَ ۚ وَہُوَ اللَّطِیۡفُ الۡخَبِیۡرُ ‘Eyes cannot reach Him but He reaches the eyes. And He is the Incomprehensible, the All-Aware.’ The Holy Qur’an, 6:104 We are in the maze of idols,Desperate to find the Centre.These hedges of tamarisk are so thickThat we cannot break them.And…

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  • A Day at Jalsa

    A Day at Jalsa

    Ayela Noor (aged 15), Fleet As soon as I enter, I am immediately greeted with smiles. Jalsa has a very positive, friendly environment that makes me feel welcome. I start the day walking around the site, and I see people of all different backgrounds, united by one thing. Islam. It’s beautiful and so inspirational to…

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  • Sameea Jonnud asks Lajna members to tell us of their special memories of Ijtema  Rearranging a glass cabinet recently, I positioned some shiny gold trophies with ‘Lajna UK National Ijtema’ written on them and thought back to when my daughters had received them after months of preparation. On the shelf below were some children’s books…

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  • Nooresahar Ahmad, Hampshire In Ghassan Kanafani’s short story ‘Letter from Gaza’, written in 1956, the unnamed narrator writes a letter to his childhood friend Mustafa, who has left Gaza and is living in Sacramento. The narrator and Mustafa have had a joint plan since they were young, to leave ‘this Gaza’ and ‘the ugly debris…

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  • Maleeha Mansur, Hayes If I were to describe 2020 with the words, ‘unity, success and hope’, one would think I was writing this in 2019, for I cannot have lived through 2020 with such descriptors in mind. 2020 has become synonymous with Covid-19. It has certainly changed humanity in ways one could never have imagined.…

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