Birthdays - why do we celebrate them again?

It was my birthday yesterday...just turned 20....yay....

As you can tell, i don't really find birthdays as such a joyous occasion. I just feel bloody old. I even wrote it on my Facebook. The only feeling i really get from birthdays is that 'wise' feeling. just being more experienced in life than i was a year ago. Its funny though, when i look back, there are some things which i wish i had never had done.

Every year people celebrate the day they were born, feeling happy about the fact that they are growing, one year more experienced than last year. But they're oblivious to the fact that their just more closer to their death. Everyone knows their birthday, but does anyone know their death day? Don't get me wrong, I'm not some kind of paranoid, pessimistic, death mongorer. I like life and i like celebrating birthdays. In fact i held a party back when i turned 11. What i don't like is people celebrating their birthdays in excess. I mean family getogethers are ok i guess and maybe the traditional cake is fine. But we have to look at the big picture here. Millions, or even billions of people who live in poverty have nothing to celebrate on their birthday, or any day.

While we live our every day lives in comfort people in the world are trying to just survive. Think of that when you make your birthday wish.

Print Production Assignments

I just recently handed in my print production assignment, which was to design and edit a front page, a feature page, and a book cover. I've saved them as JPEGs and placed them below...

Above is my front page. It was based on the Times newspaper, with a little bit of my own spice. I done the logo on photoshop with the rest mainly done using indesign.

This is my feature page. I done the logo and background on photoshop. I quite liked the background, because it suits the pieces well. You may have probably noticed that this feature article is the same one published down below. I used this article and incorporated into my feature page design. I obviously had to cut some of the words out, because it was difficult to fit it in.

This is my book cover and one of my favourites. It was basically a redesign of the book "The Sealed Nectar", which is known as one of the best biographies of the prophet Muhammad (pbuh). I done the 'fancy' writing and most the image design on photoshop (yes....what would i do with out it) and the basic guidelines and that 'hypnotic' purple colour on indesign. The person on the front is not the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), i used him mainly because of the Arab/Islamic garments he's wearing but also because is actually a descendant of the prophet Muhammad (pbuh). There are some Muslims who are always sceptical of such people, but i guess only Allah knows best.

Hajj - The Journey of a life time...

They look like white pearls swirling around a cube, like flowing water, sucked into a slow motion vortex. “Here I am, at your service my Lord, here I am at your service...” they recite. Their voices echo throughout the lands of Arabia. Everyone’s thinking the same, doing the same. Wealth, nationality, status and colour; they have no importance in this timeless ritual. The humid heat hits them at 40 degrees, but it’s their conviction which flies them to great spiritual heights. From the incredible India towards the mystical Morocco, from the colourful China towards the ambitious America, the eyes of countless praying men and women, turn five times towards it, today and all days.

“Imagine three million people praying together, three million people worshipping together, three million people bumping into each other, saying salaam (peace be upon you) to each other, eating together...this is Hajj” says, passionate 48-year-old pilgrim, Yusuf Ali . The Hajj pilgrimage is one of the five pillars of Islam and a once-in-lifetime obligation, which a Muslim must carry out if he has the means. Its rituals re-enact the events of the prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) who is also a central figure in Judaism and Christianity.

In the past people used to travel for months, sometimes years in order to get a glimpse of the sacred Islamic house of God, the Ka’ba. Even now with advances in transport people can come anytime to this holy land but still Muslims yearn to share this sacred rite which brings them to the very heart of Islam.

Yusuf, describes his experience as: “...spiritual, emotional and magnificent.”
“Hajj is just like mango” he says. “Once you peel it and do the effort, then you can taste the sweetness”.

Every year, around 20,000 British Muslims travel to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, for Hajj. For Yusuf this was going to be his fourth pilgrimage there. He says he never really thought about going again: “This year I never had any intention of going, all of a sudden my wife said she wanted to go but financially I was a bit hard up aswell. I said to myself “I’ve done three times and I’m getting old.””

“But in Islam, the wife have certain rights over the husband so I couldn’t refuse her”, he says with a smile. Yusuf who lives in Luton, left his children at his brothers house and went off with his wife for another unforgettable experience.

Meticulous preparation is needed if you want the maximum benefits of Hajj says Yusuf. It is a journey, which tests your mental strength as well as your physical strength. For example walking long distances and camping in desert tents, often with only the most basic sanitation. He says the most important quality to have there is patience: “You have to know your homework before you go out on this journey. There’s so much things you have to learn. The biggest thing you need to have is patience.”

After arriving in Mecca, the first thing you notice, Yusuf says, is the humid heat: “There’s a lot of heat, but it’s a nice spiritual heat.” He explains it doesn’t really affect the Hajj experience in anyway because the atmosphere makes up for it: “There’s very, very high spiritual buzz there. I feel like when I’m there I want to do so much worship. Everyone’s just like you there, focused on one thing; Allah.”

Every Pilgrim wants to see the Ka’ba, when arriving in Mecca for the first time. More than two thousand year old, it stands 39 feet high, over towering the pilgrim with its black and golden embroidery. It’s believed by Muslims to have been built by Prophet Abraham (pbuh) with his son Ishmael (pbuh). Yusuf describes his first time seeing the Ka’ba as ‘very emotional’: “Seeing the Ka’ba, your tears just have to roll. Because first thing you see in your heart is that, “I’m a sinner”, and being a sinner how can Allah has given me the tawfiq (guidance) to come to his house.”

Every pilgrim tries to touch the Ka’ba and make a short supplication as well as trying to kiss the black stone; the same stone believed to have been kissed by Prophet Muhammed (pbuh). The stone is believed to be a meteorite and Muslims believe it was brought down by Adam and Eve when they were exiled from paradise for eating the forbidden fruit.
The black stone is situated on the eastern corner of the Ka’ba and people who want to kiss it, often barge their way through other pilgrims. Yusuf has never been able to kiss the black Stone because of the vast crowds of people: “I think it’s forbidden. Me with my strength obviously I can push people away, but because I can damage some people, I just left it.”

The Hajj is spread into four days, with each ritual representing an event of a prophet’s life, namely Adam (pbuh) and Abraham (pbuh). The stoning of the pillars for example represents Abrahams denial of the temptations of Satan. When Abraham took his son Ishmael for the sacrifice asked of him by God, Satan came to him to try and divert him from the noble act. Abraham drove him away by throwing stones at him. It symbolises the driving away of one's personal devils. The day then culminates in the sacrifice of sheep that symbolises the ram that God placed on the altar instead of Ishmael. Many people used to get killed during this ritual which unfortunately left a devastating scar on what is supposed to be a journey, of humility and reflection. But Yusuf reassuringly says, it’s become “more safer”: “Back then Hajj was...really, really hard, yknow people used to get trampled over, but now its been made much easier than past generations because of these new buildings that keep people in order and in big lines.”
What kept Yusuf motivated throughout the journey was visiting the places where the prophets used to stay: “What gives you a big spiritual buzz is when you visit the places where the prophets used to be. You think to yourself Muhammad (pbuh) stayed here, he prayed here. This is what keeps you going.”

In 2008 a total of 1,729,841 foreign pilgrims arrived in Saudi Arabia from 178 countries. Of the foreign pilgrims, 54.3% are male and 45.7% female. Male pilgrims have to wear two white pieces of cloth, and as for women they have to wear a white dress which covers them along with a headscarf. Yusuf says it’s this simple white cloth, which makes you less boastful and increases your modesty: “‘Hajj’ is another word for testing yourself, your pride. Allah does not see your wealth or anything, all your wages are wiped off through the simple white cloth you wear, the cloth that you take to the grave. Allah looks at your heart and your intentions.”

Some of Yusuf’s non-Muslims colleagues have told him he was “crazy” to go on this journey: They say I’m crazy, but then again that’s their view. Unless they come to the fold of Islam they will never really understand what Hajj really means. To them it seems like a joke to them, going round in circles, visiting places and then throwing stones because they don’t know what’s behind these things.”

Malcolm X was a well known figure to have carried out the Hajj Pilgrimage. He was so moved by the Hajj that his whole notion of the “black supremacy” disappeared. He now knew what ‘true’ brotherhood really meant: “During the past eleven days here in the Muslim world, I have eaten from the same plate, drunk from the same glass, and slept in the same bed (or on the same rug) - while praying to the same God- with fellow Muslims, whose eyes were the bluest of blue, whose hair was blondest of blond, and whose skin was the whitest of white. And in the words and in the actions and the deeds of the 'white' Muslims, I felt the same sincerity that I felt among the black African Muslims of Nigeria, Sudan, and Ghana. We were truly all the same (brothers). (Malcolm X, Hajj 1964)

For Yusuf and all the other 1.2 billion Muslims around the world, Hajj is the culmination of their spiritual lives (until they pass over to the next life that is) As Malcolm X stated the real benefit of Hajj is that you see yourselves as the same as everyone else, however different you maybe, as brothers and sisters, and as human beings.

And if the words of a content pilgrim are anything to go by: “I’d love to go again an again and again.”

The Identity Dilemma - How do you define yourself?

British first and Muslim second? Or does religion conquer country? OK, he can’t get drunk every Friday night then go to the mosque. He can’t eat bangers and mash and then fast during Ramadan. But how will he watch Britain’s best buddy America supplying weapons to the Israelis, blasting hell out of Palestine? He sees Israel bomb his fellow Muslims in Lebanon into destruction with American support. He sees the chaos unfold in Iraq, which he blames on Tony Blair and George W. Bush. He sees the “biggest outdoor prison on earth”, Gaza. So who should he pledge allegiance to?

University lecturer and convert to Islam, Timothy J. Winter, identifies himself as Anglo-Muslim, which is a mix of two heritages, the English heritage along with the Muslim heritage. He says: “A 100 years ago or even later in fact, it was relatively easy to define what was specifically ‘British’, but now thanks to globalisation, it’s really very hard to determine.” A definition is easier to contrive if you look at the BNP website says Mr. Winter. Nick Griffin and his people are very clear on the subject: “The thing that they are most clear about, what it is to be British, is that it’s incompatible with Islam.” The main reason why most people actually join far right movements in modern Europe, says Mr. Winter, is because they want to define themselves as “what is not Muslim”.

Globalisation is expected to push Britain’s population up to 60m to 65m in a decade. With over 1.6 million Muslims living in Britain the majority of these people may look to Mecca rather than the monarch for spiritual inspiration.

So how does a British born Muslim define himself? Kamran Ali aged 23, believes he knows exactly who he is:...I’m a young Muslim...living in a western country...and just trying to make the best of this life, just trying to get to heaven."

Living in Luton, he wasn’t too hard to find. With an estimated 27,000 Muslims (about 15% of the Muslim population in England), you could say it’s one of the main areas of Muslims in Britain. He was an Asian bloke wearing a black hat, a long black robe with a long black beard. Easily persuaded with some samosas and a glass of Pepsi, he says he used to be the typical “white kid” but just Asian.

Kamran, you could say, was your average ASBO, who never really used to take anything seriously so practising his religion, was just like learning how to swim; but in quicksand. He refers to his past as the days of ‘jahalia’, or the days of ignorance you could say. An Arabic term used by Muslims which describes the pre-Islamic era in Arabia.

Kamran holds his Muslim identity close to his heart but says, he’s still very much proud to be British: “I’m proud to be British” he says in a clear-cut manner. An eerie silence then took a hold of the conversation. His immediacy compelled me to say: “that was quick”. You could see a watchfulness in his eyes and at the time, it felt like he was being alert for any ‘hidden’ cameras waiting to be taken into Channel 4 headquarters for ‘Undercover Mosque 3’. Fortunately, this wasn’t the case. Kamrans ethnic origin is Bangladeshi so he was proud to be called a Bengali. But as he matured, he went to Bangladesh for a holiday and saw what it was really like: “The evilness that’s taking place back home, the fakeness and the untruthfulness...this is what kind of made me say to myself that I’m proud to be British and glad that Allah has put me in Britain to grow up.”

Growing up in Britain as the only ‘Asian in the class’ affected Kamran’s identity but as the old saying goes, “if you can’t beat them, join them”. All of his friends consisted of white and black people so his Bengali community would often comment on him calling him “lost” and “confused”. He still says proudly: “To tell you the truth I lived my social life to the very utmost maximum level of a social life you could live.”

“Its not really good to talk about these things,” he says. He then oddly enough goes onto say: “We didn’t start the parties, we used to make the parties, and we never used to take, we supplied.” OK...let’s hope he wasn’t referring to anything suspicious. But it must make you wonder, how the heck do you socialise now? He says his social life has changed, but it’s something which he had to sacrifice: “Not much has changed from the old Kamran to this Kamran,” he says reassuringly.

“I’m just a Kamran with a different purpose now so it’s easy to get along with non-Muslims. Just now our conversations are a little different. Its more based on propagation now, of the religion.”

Kamran has done quite a few odd jobs here and there, from restaurant work to bricklaying and now working as a fully qualified teacher. He teaches year 4 students at Rabia Boys School, an Islamic school in Luton. He believes this is the job he was meant to do all his life: “Allah has blessed me to become a teacher”.

After hearing his escapades as a teacher, the conversation started to deepen as the 7/7 attacks were mentioned. Kamran finds it hard to accept that Muslims can do these attacks. He takes a sip from his Pepsi and says empathetically: “The more you look at your Muslims brothers in the Middle East and what’s taking place, especially just now I’ve heard recently about what’s taking place in Palestine and you hear the reason for what the Muslim brothers done, then you know Allah accepts what they’re doing, if they’re doing with a true intention.”

He was quick to mention that he believed 9/11 was an inside job and this so called war on terror was actually a war on Muslims: “We should actually take this word ‘terror’ out, it’s actually war on Islam.”

Kamran thinks the suffering in Palestine by the Israeli occupation is “unbearable” to watch:
“Muslims...we’re all one nation, we are all brothers and sisters. Our land is one, our war is one and our peace is one and our honour is one. We can’t stay quite while another Muslim suffers”.
He asserts that Muslims in the west have to start protesting against the Israeli attacks: “Muslims around the world need to be productive, getting involved in demonstrations. They need to send money to charities and the best thing to do is make du’a (supplication to God)”.

As a Muslim, Kamran believes he can never pledge allegiance to Britain because it’s a “creation of God”. But he asserts that Muslims should integrate into society, but “carefully”: “We should be careful that we...we don’t lose our identity and don’t get brainwashed”.

It’s strange seeing people like Kamran who are proud to be British yet don’t want themselves defined as ‘British’, but just as a Muslim. From an Islamic point of view, he’s right in saying this. Islam has no differentiation between status, nationality, colour or race so it seems that once a person starts practising his/her religion, they find out Islam is not just a religion but a way of life, both spiritually and politically, and thus regard themselves as just Muslim. There are people though, who keep their religion as a personal belief, and separate from their identity. But for people like Kamran, who regards his faith as something more than personal, they feel a need to talk about their religion and to spread it to the four corners of the globe.

“Without propagation Islam wouldn’t be the fastest growing religion in Europe and around the world,” says Kamran. It seems the religious believers are going to be shaping the early 21st Century. Mr. Winter confidently states Islam is actually flourishing at this very moment in time: “Today societies have become much religious than they used to be. I remember in Cairo, my first visit there in 1979, women used to occasionally wear the hijab (headscarf), but not often. Now you go inland to an upscale shopping centre in wealthy parts of Cairo...nearly 80% of the women are wearing hijab”.

He explains in the Muslim world we have this diversity and sometimes it’s hard for people in the west to understand Islam outside its media portrayal: “Most people aren’t as angry as the extremist on both sides would like them to be. These people do want to get on.”

Kamran says his job living as a Muslim in the west is to spread the ‘truth’: “Me and myself and those that are practising, we know the truth, we have been given the truth so we need to go spread this truth. Today I can’t change the government nor can I change what’s happening in the Middle East, nor can I change anything that’s happening in the world, that’s in the hands of Allah, but I can do my best to help with whatever I can do.”