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Shelina Zahra Janmohamed (born 13 April 1974) is a British writer. She is the author of Love in a Headscarf (2009), a memoir of growing up as a British Muslim woman. [1] Her new book titled Generation M: Young Muslims Changing the World [2] [3] was published in August 2016. Generation M, as The Guardian puts it, "is the first detailed portrait" of the influential segment of the world’s "fastest growing religion", Islam. [4] She is also a blogger: her blog is called Spirit 21. [5]
Janmohamed was born on 13 April 1974. [6] She is of East-African and South-Asian origin. [7] Her parents emigrated from Tanzania in 1964. [8] She grew up in North London and was educated at Haberdashers' Aske's School for Girls, Elstree, subsequently graduating from New College, Oxford. [1]
Janmohamed is a regular contributor and writer for several news outlets and magazines, including the BBC, [9] ITV, [10] The Times , The Guardian , [11] The National , [12] The Muslim News, [13] Emel magazine, [14] The Independent [15] and The Telegraph. [16] focusing on Islam and current affairs. She has a particular interest in Muslim women and Islam in the West.
Her blog, Spirit21, has won several awards, including the Brass Crescent Award for Best Blog. Janmohamed lives in London and has appeared on numerous British television networks. [1]
She has travelled with the British Foreign and Commonwealth office to Darfur, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Qatar and Turkey under its programme to build links with British Muslims and encourage dialogue. She is a creator and organizer of social and cultural events for young British Muslims, as part of creating a new British Muslim culture and identity, and the host of the annual ‘Eid in the Square’ event which is held in Trafalgar Square. She is a trustee of the Windsor Fellowship which encourages minority ethnic students to excel in education and employment. [1]
She is serving as a Vice President of Ogilvy Noor, world's first Islamic Branding & marketing consultancy agency. [17] [18]
She is married and currently lives in London with her two children. [1]
Janmohamed has stated the need for brands to improve their marketing aimed at Muslim consumers, urging them to conduct better research and to work harder at 'humanising' Muslims by treating them the same as they would any other demographic, [3] saying:
As marketers, we do that for all sorts of audiences. We humanise them and dig into where the brand has a role to play and somehow when it comes to Muslim audiences, all of the decades of professional experience and expertise somehow goes out the window. [3]
Janmohamed has criticised the current Home Secretary Sajid Javid for dismissing a request made by the Muslim Council of Britain for the Conservative party to carry out an independent inquiry into Islamophobia. [22] In an article for The National , she wrote:
When Muslims do talk about Islamophobia, they are accused of playing the victim, throwing the word around to draw attention to themselves. Yet the evidence is clear in the letter but also in all the statistics, from violence to inequality in education, health and employment. Many Muslims are victims. [22]
In modern usage, hijab generally refers to various head coverings conventionally worn by many Muslim women. While a hijab can come in many forms, it often specifically refers to a headscarf, wrapped around the head, covering the hair, neck and ears, but leaving the face visible. According to the Harvard University Pluralism Project: "Some Muslim women cover their head only during prayer in the mosque; other Muslim women wear the hijab; still others may cover their head with a turban or a loosely draped scarf."
Islamophobia is the fear of, hatred of, or prejudice against the religion of Islam or Muslims in general, especially when seen as a geopolitical force or a source of terrorism.
Yvonne Ridley is a British journalist, author and politician who holds several committee positions with the Alba Party in Scotland. She was a former chair of the National Council of the now-defunct Respect Party. Ridley made global headlines when she was captured by the Taliban in 2001 after the events of 9/11 and before the start of the U.S.-led war. Two years later she converted to Islam. She is a vocal supporter of Palestine, which she took up as a schoolgirl in her native County Durham. She is an avid critic of Zionism and of Western media portrayals and foreign policy in the War on Terror, and has undertaken speaking tours throughout the Muslim world as well as America, Europe and Australia. She has been called "something close to a celebrity in the Islamic world" by the journalist Rachel Cooke, and in 2008 was voted the "most recognisable woman in the Islamic world" by Islam Online.
Islamic clothing is clothing that is interpreted as being in accordance with the teachings of Islam. Muslims wear a wide variety of clothing, which is influenced not only by religious considerations, but also by practical, cultural, social, and political factors. In modern times, some Muslims have adopted clothing based on Western traditions, while others wear modern forms of traditional Muslim dress, which over the centuries has typically included long, flowing garments. Besides its practical advantages in the climate of the Middle East, loose-fitting clothing is also generally regarded as conforming to Islamic teachings, which stipulate that body areas which are sexual in nature must be hidden from public view. Traditional dress for Muslim men has typically covered at least the head and the area between the waist and the knees, while women's islamic dress is to conceal the hair and the body from the ankles to the neck. Some Muslim women also cover their face. However, other Muslims believe that the Quran does not mandate that women need to wear a hijab or a burqa.
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) is a national umbrella body with over 500 mosques and educational and charitable associations affiliated to it. It includes national, regional, local, and specialist Muslim organisations and institutions from different ethnic and sectarian backgrounds within major parts of, but not all, British Islamic society.
Islam is the second-largest religion in the United Kingdom, with results from the 2011 Census giving the population as 4.4% of the total UK population, while results from the 2021 Census recorded a population of 6.5% in England and Wales. London has the greatest population of Muslims in the country. The vast majority of Muslims in the United Kingdom adhere to Sunni Islam, while smaller numbers are associated with Shia Islam.
Sayeeda Hussain Warsi, Baroness Warsi, is a British lawyer, politician, and member of the House of Lords who served as co-chairwoman of the Conservative Party from 2010 to 2012. She served in the Cameron–Clegg coalition, first as the Minister without portfolio between 2010 and 2012, then as the Minister of State for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and as the Minister of State for Faith and Communities, until her resignation citing her disagreement with the Government's policy relating to the Israel–Gaza conflict in August 2014.
Emel was a British lifestyle magazine that reported on contemporary British Muslim culture. The final issue appeared in January 2013.
The British debate over veils began in October 2006 when the MP and government minister Jack Straw wrote in his local newspaper, the Lancashire Evening Telegraph, that, while he did not want to be "prescriptive", he preferred talking to women who did not wear a niqab as he could see their face, and asked women who were wearing such items to remove them when they spoke to him, making clear that they could decline his request and that a female member of staff was in the room.
Hijab and burka controversies in Europe revolve around the variety of headdresses worn by Muslim women, which have become prominent symbols of the presence of Islam in especially Western Europe. In several countries, the adherence to hijab has led to political controversies and proposals for a legal partial or full ban in some or all circumstances. Some countries already have laws banning the wearing of masks in public, which can be applied to veils that conceal the face. Other countries are debating similar legislation, or have more limited prohibitions. Some of them apply only to face-covering clothing such as the burqa, boushiya, or niqab; some apply to any clothing with an Islamic religious symbolism such as the khimar, a type of headscarf. The issue has different names in different countries, and "the veil" or hijab may be used as general terms for the debate, representing more than just the veil itself, or the concept of modesty embodied in hijab.
Ahlulbayt Television Network is the first exclusively English-language Shia Islamic television channel. The channel was launched with much fanfare on Sky in the UK on 17 August 2009 and two months later on the Galaxy 19 platform covering North America from its London headquarters. A few months into its operations it also expanded to Atlantic Bird 4A (Nilesat) which covers the Middle East and North Africa. The channel now broadcasts by satellite only from Astra 2G at 28.2°E
Myriam François, formerly known as Myriam François-Cerrah, is an English journalist, filmmaker and writer. Her work has appeared on the BBC, Channel 4 and Al Jazeera. She is the founder and CEO of production company mpwr productions, which specialises in documentary films which centre on minoritised voices.
Muslim Writers Awards is an annual British award ceremony, which aims to recognise, showcase and celebrate literary talent within the UK's Muslim community. It was established in 2006, with the Young Muslim Award category established in 2010.
Islamophobia in the United Kingdom refers to a set of discourses, behaviours and structures which express feelings of anxiety, fear, hostility and rejection towards Islam or Muslims in the United Kingdom. Islamophobia can manifest itself in a wide range of ways; including, discrimination in the workforce, negative coverage in the media, and violence against Muslims.
Jobeda Begum Ali was an English businesswoman, social entrepreneur, documentary filmmaker and chief executive of Three Sisters Care.
Nadiya Jamir Hussain is a British television chef, author and television personality. She rose to fame after winning the sixth series of BBC's The Great British Bake Off in 2015. Since winning, she has signed contracts with the BBC to host the documentary The Chronicles of Nadiya and TV cookery series Nadiya's British Food Adventure and Nadiya's Family Favourites; co-presented The Big Family Cooking Showdown; and has become a regular contributor on The One Show.
Islamic Fashion as a phenomenon stemmed from the combination of a set of Islamic practices and of the rising need and desire to include these specific clothing items in a broader fashion industry. The global growth of “an Islamic consumer sector, which explicitly forges links between religiosity and fashion, encouraging Muslims to be both covered and fashionable, modest and beautiful,” is relatively fresh: Islamic Fashion as a particular phenomenon started appearing toward the 1980s.
Allegations of Islamophobia in the UK Conservative Party have been made, including against senior politicians, such as Boris Johnson, Michael Gove and Zac Goldsmith.
Hijabophobia is a type of religious and cultural discrimination against Muslim women who wear the hijab. The discrimination has had manifestations in public, working and educational places.
Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan is a British spoken word poet, writer and speaker, known for her poem "This Is Not a Humanising Poem" and writing about life as a Muslim woman in England on her site, The Brown Hijabi.
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