Bring your own Shisha

Well actually if I had a goat, I doubt I would give it to Starbucks as they would most likely slaughter it, roast it and make overpriced ciabatta or panini sandwiches. Whereas I could easily use it as a lawnmower…

But talking about overpriced, a programme on BBC World which aired last night talked about the actual cost of the Venti, skinny, triple shot latte with a sugar-free vanilla shot no foam that you could order at S’bux.

Here come the figures:

1 kilo of Coffee cherries earns the picker (if on a co-operative farm) around $2.25.

1 kilo yields around 75 cups of coffee

In an average coffee shop in London, a medium latte will cost around $4. That is ONE CUP.

In terms of a markup that is around 16 times!

Ok, I will admit that it can’t be 100% profit, but if an averag farmer (not in a co-operative) only get $0.33 per kilo, then there are some serious balance issues. For now, I will stick to my bottle of tap water, flavoured with a (fairtrade) Orange.

Imagine one day that you don’t have much. That you are destitute. That you are almost living on the streets and are relying on the charity of others.

Now imagine that one day you are sleeping on the street and on a rainy evening, you wake up and of the many party goers walking past you one stops and asks if you are hungry. Of course you will respond with a Yes. You are hungry. You last found something to eat in a bin yesterday afternoon.

So this smartly dressed individual bends down to your level and hands you a half eaten sandwich, “I couldn’t eat it.”

And you look at the sandwich and think, “Ok, well it’s food.”, and you bite into it feeling the taste and texture in your mouth. It may be half eaten, but it sates your hunger well.

Now my question is, how many of give charity like this? I don’t mean the half eaten sandwich literally. But it was a rejected item of food that this person gave away as charity. It was something REJECTED.

We fill our wardrobes with clothes, which we regularly purge and put them in black bin bags and drop them off to the charity shop. And do we pick our best clothes? I don’t think so. We pick our worst. Those which we do not deem fit enough to wear. Those we bought on an impulse (with a fleeting feeling of guilt), and those which we simply do not like anymore. So what makes us think that what we do not want, our rejected items would be good enough for someone else?

The harsh amongst us may respond with, “Beggars can’t be choosers”. But honestly, what makes you think that beggars want to be beggars? One day you may find yourself in that same position. In a position where the clothes on your back are those that others threw out. Yet in times of affluence we have no qualms about giving away our rejects. Now imagine a scenario where you go to a neighbour’s house, and he has just bought a crate of fruit (Oh yes, wholesalers have a lot to answer for, but that rant will be saved for another day).

‘Hiya, look at all this fruit I bought”

‘Wow! That looks like a bargain’

‘Yeah it was. You should take some when you go home. This is waaay too much for us.’

‘Erm, ok thanks! We could do with eating healthier food, have you seen this belly I’m nurturing?!?!’

And you both laugh.

So you go home, and you look into the bag your neighbour gave to you and reach in, and pick out a wonderful looking fruit, and turn it over, to be greeted to a mouldy slimy mess. As you look at the rest of the fruit, you realise that they are all rotting. How would that feel? So your neighbour’s ‘charity’ amounts to nothing but giving you the rejects, but they feel good about it because they have given you something, and you feel like crap because what you though was a gift, turns out to be nothing but useless mush, only fit for the bin (or if you are feeling green, the compost heap).

Our giving to charity is based on principles of survival of the fittest. The “I’m alright Jack” attitude which means that as long as my stomach is full/bloated, and I have a roof over my head and all the things that I want, then maybe, on a good day, when the sun is shining and the birds are singing, I may give something to a worthy cause. THAT IS NOT CHARITY! Charity is giving away the best of what you have for the betterment of others and consequentially the rest of society. Let’s not think of charity as charity, but as the giving of gifts. That way you will realise that giving the gift of charity is about pleasing others and not about allaying our guilt.

Rant over.

Seemingly my ‘favourite’ new muslim, Yvonne Ridley is suffering from verbal diarrhoea again.

Realistically how she does not expect the flames from being fanned further by this inflammatory talk is beyond me. Ok, the police service (nee force) have their issues, but surely we would be in an even worse situation if it turns/turned out that the Forest Gate brothers are actual bombers and had something planned.

Respect’s Hanif Abdulmuhit seems to take a more common sense approach: “If someone, for example, comes to me now and says ‘Hanif I’m sitting in my kitchen making a bomb to blow X up’, I will go to the police. “
For once I agree with something someone from Respect is saying, hell I would report them as well because the ‘X’ could be me, my family, my friends (both muslim and non-muslim) and anyone else who simply happened to be walking past. I think that applies whether they are muslim or not. Hell a bomber is a bomber, regardless of what flag he works under.

I’ve had a bee in my kufi about the way that Nasheed concerts work, and Yvonne Ridley comments on it further, albeit a little vociferously. The point she makes about not joining the Police Force is a bit strange in that I don’t believe you can change a system unless it is from within and she does love this Britain Bashing thing she has going on. This does appeal to first generation immigrant muslims quite a bit I have noticed, but may be little cynical me sees it as just a grab for headlines. As a presenter, she certainly is no Paxman.

Coming back to Nasheeds, I personally like listening to them however I have some issues with some artists. Very often groups such as 786 and so on, are emulating a style of music which just sounds a little alien to me. Together with that the lyrics are a little wanting if not repetitive. Artists such as Dawud Wharnsby and Zain Bhikha write lyrics and nasheeds which focus on issues which to me seem more relevant than the simplistic ‘Do Dua’ by 786. Together with that, what really grates with my is the cynical way that Sami Yusuf is using the Nasheed market. As a bit of background for the non-muslims out there, music is considered forbidden in Islam but percussion is fine. This is due to the intoxicating/distracting nature of music which would mean you lose focus on what your life is about.

Now our Mr Yusuf, released his last album in 2 versions: With Music, and Percussion only. My argument here is that if people want to hear music they will hear music. So have music on your album and say it is, but don’t try to open up sales to a market which wouldn’t be there for you by adding a Percussion only version. As an artist, are you not compromising your artistic integrity by allowing a song which has been written with a particular melody in mind to be altered in order to appeal to a broader market?

So I’m going to have a rant on 2 things today, esp as I’ve been suffering Blogger’s block:

Point number 1: Women talk about being treated well. Why is it only women who ask that? Why is it women assume that they are the only gender who can be hard done by? Why is it that a man never says to a woman, “Why don’t you treat me better?” I’ll tell you why, it’s because they simply think that men owe them something. Like what? I mean think about it, they have the best deal in the world! They have men begging to be with them, to shower them with all sorts, and then they have the cheek to turn around and say we treat them bad. Of course there are exceptions, but generally, men are nice to women. I think it’s time for the worm to turn. Men should demand that women be nice to them. (All this was inspired by on line in a song I was listening to on the way into work this morning.)

Onto Point Number 2 (and I’ve been thinking about this over the weekend)

At what point are we going to draw the line?

So we have had a week of another reality show concept: basically we have a bunch of single individuals ’stranded’ on a desert island. Nothing too interesting there you might say. Except if we look at the name of the show: Celebrity Love Island. The waters become slightly more clearer now. So these single people are on this island to find love? Or should I say “Luurve”? Basically they are on this island to gain or increase their notoriety. They want to indulge in the audience’s craving for matters sexual, while still giving it some semblance of ‘it’s ok, it’s on national television so it’s not porn’.

I’m pretty sure that Celebrity means that we celebrate a person and their achievements. So what exactly has Fran Cosgrove done. I mean what has he really done? I know he was a doorman once. Can someone fill me in?

Secondly, like why would we want to watch people who are more famous for notoriety as opposed to celebrity try to get it on with each other. What does it do for me? Tittilate? Call me a prude, but how can ITV think that I would waste what little brain power I have left on watching someone get it on with Rebecca Loos (she of footballer and  pig loving fame)
 

Males have traditionally been the head of the household. Whichever of the mainstream cultures in the world, this is the case. I believe the main cause of this is the rooting of all cutures in religion. Religion which has been spread largely by the male of the human species.

According to the Torah, Abraham sacrificed the dignity of his wife Sarah when in a hostile land to appease the king Nimrod. Today muslims around the world do the same. The woman is lowlier than the male. We hear of the inequality of females in muslim households. Yet this is not a particularly muslim trait. It is the same in all cultures.

But the prevalence of such practices is a source of great shame to me as a muslim. I have yet to hear of an Imam talking about this problem in a Khutba during Jumma. The denial of inheritance to a daughter is an accepted practice in many south asian countries. People wil state that the Qur’an does sanction violence against women.. But very few will acknowledge that the Qur’an does so as a last resort to subjugate the wife, in a culture when a beating was the first course of action.

The essence of the days of Jahilliyah are summarised in the following Qur’anic quote:

“When news is brought to one of them of a female child, his face darkens and he is filled with inward grief. With shame does he hide himself from his people because of the bad news he received. Shall he retain her in contempt or bury her in the dust? Ah what evil choice they decide on! “(Q. 16:58-59).

And how different are we now. Many of us will pay lipservice to the feminists, ‘Islam gives women rights which westerners only thought of a few decades ago’, but the practicalities of accepting women as equals is a different matter. I have always been told that Women must pray behind the male in congregational prayer. Women should ideally not work as it means that they will come into contact with males outside of their mahram. But if you talk to any hijab wearing sister, you will hear her talk about the liberation of the hijab and how it allows her to do what she will as she is following Allah’s instruction of covering herself. So why do these sisters aquiesce to the demands of the males in the Ummah wen it comes to what they should and shouldn’t do. Allah has not made any distinctions when it comes to the day of judgment. So why today on this lowly earth? Can someone explain to me?

People may say that in the Qur’an men have been classed as one degree higher (Q. 2:228) . Why? Because women were given the rights of economic support from a man. So a man has been given the duty of earning and spending for women. So the superiority of a man over a woman is on an economic level. Not, as we can see from the following verse, on a spiritual level or in the eyes of Allah. So why the discrepancy?

“Whoever does good deeds, whether male or female, while being believers, they shall enter paradise”(Q. 4:124)

“Whoever does an evil, he shall not be recompensed (with aught) but the like of it, and whoever does good, whether male or female, and he is a believer, these shall enter the garden, in which they shall be given sustenance without measure.” (Q. 40:40)

“Whoever does good whether male or female and he is a believer, We will most certainly make him live a happy life, and We will most certainly give them their reward for the best of what they did” (Q.16:97)