Mirror Magazine

8th February 1998

Mahela Jayawardene

He is the new kid on the field

Contents


Celebrations for Eid- Ul- FitrOur Man in London

By Afdhel Aziz

They came in their thousands, their breath wreathing in the cold air in front of their faces. The Baker Street Mosque in the centre of London, a stone's throw from the historic Lord's Cricket Ground was the destination for the many Muslims in London and its suburbs, who came to celebrate the end of fasting and the Festival of Eid-Ul-Fitr, bedecked in all their finest clothes.

Watching the crowded outdoor courtyard where the prayers were taking place made one realise the sheer diversity of the adherents to Islam. Africans from Nigeria, Sudan and Kenya in their djebellahs, Arabs from all over the Arabian Gulf in their robes complete with head dress; Malaysians, Chinese, Russian, Indian, Lebanese, Palestinian, even a healthy dose of born and bred Englishmen who had converted - they were all there to celebrate, affectionately kissing their friends in relatives in the triple-cheek-peck that is the hallmark of Moslem men around the world.

By many accounts, Islam is now Britain's second biggest religion - a surprising fact at first but not when you think about the many immigrants from around the world who have settled down here and made the United Kingdom there home.

After the initial friction and distrust, Moslems are beginning to be accepted as an integral part of the multi-cultural New Britain that Tony Blair and others have sensibly begun to promote. After all, as Canada and the United States have shown, a multi-cultural society is one that gives strength to a nation, its healthy diversity acting like a boosted immune system, allowing it to grow and change with the needs of today's inter-dependent world. Prince Charles, due to visit Sri Lanka soon is one person who recognizes this.

In April of 1996, sometime after the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting and worship, Prince Charles visited a London mosque. There he met with the Muslim worshippers including followers of Mawlana Shaykh Mohammed Nazim Adil al-Haqqani, Grand Mufti of Cyprus and world leader of the Most Distinguished Naqshbandi Order of Sufis. Dressed in traditional Islamic cap and shawl, the Prince seemed quite at home among the hundreds of Muslims.

The London tabloids next were very busy, scoffing at the Prince for his "latest fad" of associating with Muslims. But it was far from being a 'latest fad' - as far back as 1993 he was proclaiming in a speech to the Oxford Centre for Islamic studies 'Muslim communities throughout Britain are an asset to Britain. They contribute to all parts of our economy and add to the cultural richness of our nation.' A clear message indeed. What is interesting to see is how Islam and other faiths have also learned lessons from British society and are beginning to value the benefits of good public relations. Every Saturday and Sunday morning I see programmes that show people of all faiths discussing the details and rituals of their own beliefs, helping to demystify formerly unknown religions, debunk old myths and generally underline the similarities between all religions. After all , the young people of today's Britain are a generation that have grown up with Pakistani, Chinese, African, Sikh and Bengali classmates, amongst others, and unless one is very determined , one cannot grow up in the UK today without learning and absorbing at least some information about each other's religions, and gaining a measure of respect for them.

And sometimes , this respect turns into something more, as the increasing number of Westerners turning to Eastern religions shows. One of the most memorable images I had of that day's Eid prayers, was a blond-haired, blue-eyed young Englishman , handing an Islamic leaflet in Regent's Street to a little Asian girl, with a smile and an 'Assalamu-Alaykum' in a broad Essex accent. And he wasn't the exception to the rule. Nowadays I'm quite used to seeing a white woman in full hijab, her arms and legs modestly covered as she explains on television why she converted to Islam, or more and more young English men kneeling next to me at Friday prayers. While the pundits of the East are busy complaining about the cultural pollution by the West , via satellite TV and the Internet, they should also take the time to take a look at the quiet but steady spiritual changes in Western society. They might learn something. It's not a lot, but hey - it's a start.


Islam and the West

Extracts of a speech by HRH The Prince Of Wales at the The Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford,on his visit to the Oxford Centre For Islamic Studies. 27 October 1993

The links between the Western world and the Islamic world matter more today than ever. The degree of misunderstanding is dangerously high. The need to live and work together has never been greater. There are one billion Muslims worldwide. For decades the Islamic community in Britain has been growing. The prospects for peace should be greater now than ever.

The recent events in the Middle East have created hope for an end to an issue which has divided the world and long been a source of violence and hatred. There have been unmentionable horrors in Iraq and Saddam Hussein is responsible for the destruction of many of Islam's holiest sites. This might at least be a cause in which Islam and the West could join forces for the sake of our common humanity. That which binds our two worlds is much more powerful than that which divides us. Muslims, Jews and Christians are all 'peoples of the Book'. We share a belief in one divine God and many other key values.

The root of the problem is that for much of our history there has been conflict. To Western schoolchildren, the Crusades are traditionally seen as heroic. To Muslims, the Crusades were an episode of great cruelty. To many people in the West Islam is seen as a tragic civil war in the Middle East and Islamic Fundamentalism. Our judgement has been distorted by taking the extremes as the norm. People often think that Sharia law is unjust. We need to study its application before we make judgements. There are some Islamic countries that gave women the vote at the same time as Europe. Islamic women are not automatically second class citizens.

We in the West need to understand the Islamic World's view of us. Many Muslims genuinely fear the West and see it as a threat to Islamic culture and way of life. We must understand this reaction just as the West's attitude towards some aspects of Muslim life need to be understood in the Islamic world. We need to be careful of the emotive label 'fundamentalism' and distinguish between revivalists and extremists. Extremism is no more the monopoly of Islam than other religions.

As we see Islam as the enemy of the West we ignore its great relevance to our own history. Many of the traits on which modern Europe prides itself came to it from Muslim Spain. Islam is part of our past and our present. Western civilisation has become increasingly acquisitive and exploitive in defiance of our environmental responsibilities. I am appealing for a wider, deeper, more careful understanding of our world.

Problems of society and environment are global in their causes and effects. The Islamic and Western worlds share problems common to us all. We must show trust, mutual respect and tolerance, if we are to find common ground and work together to find solutions. Muslim communities throughout Britain are an asset to Britain.

They contribute to all parts of our economy and add to the cultural richness of our nation. We should be grateful for the dedication and example of all those who have devoted themselves to the cause of promoting understanding. The Islamic and Western worlds are at a crossroads in their relations. We must not let them stand apart. Our two worlds have much to offer each other but harder work is needed to understand each other and to lay the ghost of suspicion and fear.

Young Lankan's remarkable success


Robot for Mars

imageNot many young Sri Lankan's have pitched into the design of a space robot- specifically the robot intended to travel to Mars in 2005. But 21 year old Rushani Wirasinghe, is all modesty when she discusses her experiences at MIT- the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the USA. Rushani, is soon to graduate from university offering Computer science and Electrical Engineering as her major subjects. Her plans for after graduation are already set. She will join an international company offering computer consultancies as a computer analyst.

Rushani was born in Sri Lanka, but, "I was just a few days old when my parents moved abroad." Her first schooling days were spent in the Middle East and then in South America. She describes her upbringing as conventional and remembers the culture shock of her first introduction into American schools as a teenager. "The first girl I saw was wearing a short, short skirt and I thought, 'oh no, is this what American school girls wear'. Her late teen years were spent at Kline Forest High School where again she set for herself, a very high academic record, ranking 1st in her grade at graduation.

Rushani was also recipient of the United States National Merit Scholarship which is awarded to just 0.5 percent of the university entrants. Armed with this and her enviable high school record she gained acceptance to two of the four colleges she applied to.

"It is not enough to be merely academic. Universities look for extra curricular activities when choosing possible under graduates as well as the recommendations of three people. Then they independently research your history at high school" Rushani said.

On her Mars Robot project -Rushani appeared almost shy to discuss it. Apparently when NASA works out their space itinerary, they send outlines of robots to the major universities who pool in their brains to work out prototypes to fit the descriptions. While checking up on projects offered in her campus, Rushani came upon the project to create a robot for the 2005 space mission to Mars offered in the Artificial Intelligence Department of the university. "I joined the project out of interest, since I had previous experience in robotics."

Rushani has participated in the campus" annual robotics contest - where each contestant had a month to entirely create a robot. Around 70 people had participated in this contest.

Coming back to the Mars project, Rushani recalls that the project was compartmentalised and she had to research on the robots vision. "It was a challenging job. The robot had to be programmed to make sense of photographic images that were fed into its artificial brain. I had to work under a Professor who was coordinating the project. But during my final year in University, I could not devote much time to this and handed in my research and quit the project."

Despite her brilliant academic career, Rushani has her feet firmly planted in the ground. She comes forth as a smiling, friendly, pretty, if brilliant youngster. She regularly helps out at an Old People's Home, where students go and keep elderly, mostly lonely, people company. She makes time to relax -playing the piano and riding. "I'm nuts about horses."

She is among a group of Sri Lankans who meets occasionally to keep in touch with traditions that they have left behind. They organise, Sri Lankan dance classes, talks on Sri Lanka and help to spread awareness about the country in the US by carving out their own niche of cultural identity.

She also wants to return. "My Sri Lankan friends and I always think that it would be great if we could come back and help the country in which ever way possible.


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