Mother of all issues

9:00am Sunday 17th December 2006

Reporter Hannah Crown, a 25-year-old fully westernised woman, attended a meeting of a Muslim women's group to hear what they had to say about integration.

THE atmosphere was welcoming and informal.

Children were buzzing around, babies were gurgling and an array of home-cooked bhajis and sandwiches implied that, even if no-one was about to get married, some sort of festivities were about to ensue.

In fact, for the Muslim women from recently formed women's group Umm Zafira, which means mothers of success, it was a chance to talk about some of those super-sensitive issues that have been grabbing headlines of late: Muslim values, integration and the veil.

Sadaf Ahmed, a Muslim primary school teacher, opened the evening.

"I am sure none of us is happy with the way Islam is portrayed in society.

"We have to get rid of all these misunderstandings propagated by the media, and talk to the wider community," she said.

Atiya Hassan, an Umm Zafira founder, was more explicit about this perceived media bias against Muslims.

"The media constantly portrays how oppressed Muslim women are, so people think in their minds Islam and women and oppression," she said, adding that this led to a dangerous situation for Muslim women in western society.

"In the current climate Muslim women are insulted and targeted."

True enough, one woman out of our small 40-strong group, told how she was terrified after having been the target of verbal abuse for wearing a veil, while several women described their anger and frustration at the media and the Government as portraying western women as servile, oppressed and even intellectually inferior.

So how do they intend to broach the problem of integration?

"The only way to tackle community cohesion is to have dialogue with the wider community. The effort has to be from all parties," said Ms Ahmed.

The Umm Zafira manifesto also seems to be built around an advice and support network "to allow Muslim women to step out into the community as an indispensable part of it", offer a place where they can be "comfortable with their coverings" and able to get family support if needed.

One member said: "A woman is not only a housewife and capable of having a career but also having a strong position by voicing her concerns and ideas."

But the group has more far-reaching aims - to promote integration by mixed-faith parenting classes and regular meetings, and holding a drugs forum (Muslim-only) for information and advice on drugs for parents.

How to reach non-Muslim members of the community though - those not likely to come to a meeting such as this?

As one non-Muslim pointed out, this was harder to answer.

Diane Andrews, a hate crime officer from the council's Safer Neighbourhoods Team, urged people to talk to others about the issues raised.

"Small steps lead to big strides we need to start raising awareness within other communities," she said.

I asked one woman, Asha Burr, a housewife, to explain why Muslim women wear the veil.

She said that dressing modestly was part of the Qu'ran's teachings: "We wear it partly because Allah tells us to - because it helps us get closer to God."

But she also admitted the veil was "a kind of protection" from unwanted attentions of men: "Part of it is that it stops a lot of problems."

Semmi Cole-Niger, a Christian minister from Wanstead and Leytonstone, said however that the veil was causing problems of a different kind.

She said: "The veil is becoming a problem.

"As a minister of religion I think that the most important thing is my relationship with God. If it is just a little a thing that is not destroying my relationship with God, can I put that aside?"

She added: " It is important that we come together as women in the community - we have lots to share."

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