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Views on the news - 29/05/09

BBC is ready to broadcast a gay love affair involving Muslims In a further effort by the British establishment to raise the bar for Muslims to prove their loyalty to Britain, the BBC will use its flagship programme EastEnders to tackle a storyline which will feature a Muslim man embarking upon a gay affair. The Muslim character Syed Masood, played by Marc Elliott, will fall for openly gay man Christian Clarke (John Partridge) and the pair will share an on-screen kiss. "I think EastEnders would be doing the programme a disservice if they didn't give a voice to various communities," Elliot told the BBC Asian Network. The plot is expected to hit TV screens from next month. One in three Muslims feel discriminated in Europe About 31 percent of Muslims in the European Union feel they were discriminated against in 2008, according to an EU survey of 23,500 members of ethnic minorities and migrant communities published on Thursday. Ten percent of Muslims who experienced prejudice

The Silent Tests

Living in this dunya is testing and tempting, as Allah SWT tells us in the Qur'an. But living in the West is a whole another ball game. People assume that to carry the dawah for Islam in the Muslim world is the most testing thing you can do, and the most testing place you can be. Because in some parts of the Muslim world, to speak for this deen means hardship, means imprisonment and even torture - We look at our brothers and sisters undergoing this in Egypt and Uzbekistan and breathe a sigh of relief - What would I have done if that was me? A test beyond our capabilities we may even believe, in a quiet moment. However my dear sisters, I would like those of us who look at the Muslim world and then count our blessings about our ease here, to actually stop and think. Step outside our bubble and actually think. Those of us who cover according to the Ahkam of Allah, don't have a haram mortgage, try to pray all of our salat and maybe even do the recommended fasting - Have we made it?

The challenge from the Taliban is Ideological, not Military

The current crisis of militancy gripping Pakistan is the most serious threat to the integrity of the State since the loss of East Pakistan in the war of 1971. Pakistan today is surrounded by hostile neighbours, is crippled economically and is slowly being crushed under the weight of world public opinion that it is a terrorist State, which is being generated by its supposed ally America. With Balouchistan already rumbling with a separatist insurgency which has not yet thankfully gained popular traction, the armed conflict which is being fought with Taliban forces in Swat, Buner and Dir is threatening to roll back the writ of the Pakistani State to just the provinces of Sindh and Punjab. A solution must urgently be found to prevent further bloodshed on both sides of this conflict. The problem however requires a detailed analysis and also a solution that provides a lasting fix and not just another short term truce or treaty that will be broken. The roots of the current conflict between th