Plenary, 25 Apr 2001
Meeting date: Wednesday, April 25, 2001
Official Report
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Time for Reflection
To lead our time for reflection, we welcome Mr Haq Ghani, president of the UK Islamic Mission in Scotland.
Mr Haq Ghani (President of the UK Islamic Mission, Scotland Zone):
In the name of God, most kind, most merciful.
Ladies and gentlemen, I greet you with the traditional Islamic greeting, Assalamo alaikum. Literally translated, that means "Peace be upon you". I am sure that members will agree that that is a welcoming greeting.
I will tell the Parliament a simple story from the early history of the Muslim community. As we know, relations between the Christian empire and the fledgling Muslim community were never too good. They had what we would nowadays call conflicts of interest. There were many conflicts, and the fortunes of war swung one way, then the other.
As a result of one of those conflicts, Jerusalem fell to the Muslims. The patriarch of Jerusalem set a condition for the peaceful handing over of the keys of Jerusalem. He insisted that the leader of the Muslims, Umar ibn Al Khattab, would have to come to Jerusalem to receive the keys.
Umar was in Medina, which is now in Saudi Arabia, and was many miles from Jerusalem. He got his servant, and together they set off, with one donkey and some provisions to share. Umar rode the donkey for a time, with the servant leading the animal by the reins, then the servant rode the donkey, with Umar leading it by the reins. After many days of travelling, they arrived at the outskirts of Jerusalem. At that time—would you believe—Umar was leading the donkey by its harness and the servant was sitting on its back. Naturally, it took some time for the confusion to be resolved, but eventually, Umar was led into the patriarch's chambers.
After the formal handing over of the keys of Jerusalem, Umar requested permission to offer his regular midday prayer. As a gesture of hospitality, the patriarch of Jerusalem suggested that Umar could pray in the church. Umar then made a wise decision. He gently refused the offer to pray in the church, explaining that his one prayer in that church might be taken by the Muslim community as a general permission to pray in it. He did not want to be responsible for creating such a damaging precedent.
I took the liberty of telling members that story to make a point about the behaviour and attitude of a wise and caring ruler towards his minority subjects. The ladies and gentlemen here are the rulers of a country in which there are many minorities. I recommend that members examine those minorities and find out their worries, sensitivities and problems. Check out the issues on which they have special needs and see whether they can be fulfilled. Check out the social problems that haunt them and see whether they can be alleviated.
I am sure that members are already working hard in many such areas, but it is easy to miss out concerns, especially if they relate only to one community. Our community is very religious and inward looking. As such, it has suffered from a lack of attention in the areas that I described. It is my hope that the distinguished gentle ladies and gentlemen of the Parliament will take another look at our community, even if it is just to find out what makes us tick.
I thank you again for the opportunity to share some thoughts with you.
Until we meet again.