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By Rome Jorge
The British
Embassy has unveiled Muslims of Britain, a photo essay by Peter
Sanders at the Ayala Museum on February 26. The exhibit will run
until March 15 after which these will tour nationwide.
The exhibit is
a most timely one, following on the heels or recent reports of
foiled plots by extremists to abduct a Muslim member of the British
military that echoed other plots such as the alleged scheme to
detonate trans-Atlantic flights with liquid explosives and the
deadly attack in London on July 7, 2005, by suicide bombers of
subway trains and a double-decker bus. Such headline-making news
damages the reputation painstakingly and quietly established by the
majority of Muslims around the world as peace loving and law-abiding
integral components of their respective communities.
Sander, a
convert to Islam, delivers intimate portraits suffused with warmth
and vitality. His subjects range from Yusuf Islam, the music icon
formerly known as Cat Stevens who later converted to Islam, to the
girls who attend the school he founded, Islamia School, as they chat
with Charles, Prince of Wales; from community officer Hassan Malik
who liaises with his fellow officer to Asad Ahmad, BBC news
presenter.
Muslims are
the largest religious minority in Britain; more than 1.6 million in
the last census. Almost 50 percent of Muslims in Britain were born
there and are under the age of 25. They represent diverse racial
backgrounds: 74 percent are Asian/Asian-British, 11.6 percent are
Caucasian, 6.9 are Black/Black British and 7.5 percent represent
other ethnicities. Though, they comprise only three percent of
modern day Britain, Muslims have long been part of the country’s
history.
Geoffrey
Chaucer, author of the Canterbury Tales, mentioned in his chronicles
of Christian pilgrims the presence of Islamic scholars in 1386, in
1641 documents pertain to the presence of Muslims in Britain and in
1649 Alexander Ross made the first English translation of the
Qur’an. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, the independence
and partition of former British colonies India and Pakistan after
the Second World War, and the rising nationalist movements in Africa
that discriminated against longtime Asian residents introduced by
colonial authorities brought great influxes of immigrants welcomed
by a nation in need of laborers. Today, British Muslims are lords,
parliamentarians and barristers, newscasters and newsmakers, rockers
and rap stars, businessmen and philanthropists. Visit any
middle-eastern restaurant and taste kofta, turn on the television
and watch Amhad present the news, listen to the radio and dig Asian
Dub Foundation and know how much richer Britain is—or any nation
for that matter—for being multicultural.
The exhibit is
poignant especially for Filipinos who are intrinsically
multicultural and migratory with their long sea-faring history and
who now export labor throughout the globe. Just like Britain, the
Philippines too fosters a large Muslim minority. The photo essay
draws our focus on the humanity that is common in all, Muslim or
Christian, Filipino or British. To see the Muslims of Britain is to
see our selves.
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