The Muslim Tearoom

[HardlyEverHoovers]

Salaams/peace to all! I'm already missing our old thread, so taking the bull by the horns and opening our very own Muslim Tearoom, all welcome (non-Muslims too of course), to chat, share, ask questions etc etc. Imagine a cosy cafe with floor cushions, tea and coffee of all kinds, and lovely cakes! Please join me!

Salaams, well I saw my pupils today and was spoilt rotten I shall put a photo on my profile once I've posted this. I could have cried when I opened the packages up! They taste as good as they look and were all made by my pupils and their mums.

Could I ask you again for some help, I would like to write a note to say thank you (I will put it with the clean plates) and add a bit in Arabic is ???? correct?

yes that is correct, means thank you, pronounced shukrun (shook-runn)

Right, thanks I shall add that! I've put the photo up.

wow those are beautiful!

The photos don't really do them justice, the purple is in fact edible glitter I might have asked if I would digest it or if it would come out the same, to which one pupil piped up and said "did you just ask if you'd s%*t glitter?"

I use edible glitter on cakes, can't say's I've ever wondered about whether it would make my pooh sparkly....(who else is now going to be checking when they next eat edible glitter?) bahahahaha

I will not be looking under any circumstances I'm totally going to have a look

Oh my word ladies.

I need tea, I need cake!

I need Channel 4 news to not be running a niqab debate next week

Isn't it all just overkill?

It would be great to know exactly how many women wear it. I have a feeling it is a laughably small number, probably less than a thousand.

I guess people will one day look back upon this as a ludicrous moral panic.

I left that thread too, we're not integrating and our jobs in professions which massively benefit society are not proof at all about anything, if we enter professions which have amazing benefits to society for the love of God then we're incredibly selfish.

‘Cos our dress is first and foremost indicative of our integration with birtish society (we’ll never be British).

I grew up in a very ultraorthodox Jewish area, the older I get the more I reckon they have it right, keep to yourselves and have as little to do with others as possible. As an ultra orthodox Jewish man said on a documentary I watched not too long ago when asked why they don't integrate more, he replied 'We don't want to' yes I see his point completely!

I feel an MN breal coming on, the xenphobia and racism is breath taking, I'd bet not a single one of those would have the guts to say anything to our faces Niqb'd/hijabed or not.

What I find very interesting however is the thread about british people not integrating, the arguments are so funny, 'well I wouldn't do that...' well quite love neither would or do I yet I am blamed for the ill's of the politics of Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan!

Yes that quote sounds about right about current state of affairs.

The misinformation and deliberate ignoring of posts which correct the ignorance tells me that they do not wish to learn or understand r accept, they want us to be 'like them', altho honestly what exactly is that?

Apart from the head scarf and slightly looser over garments, I have a very eclectic wardrobe, OK they include quite glamorous eastern outfits but I can't think what else I need to do to 'integrate'; I speak beautiful accentless English as does every man, woman and child in our family(except my mum who speaks English with a slight Indian mixed with cockney accent- sounds very funny), I am a tax paying citizen as are and were my siblings and two previous generations of our family, my grandparents are buried here.

There is nothing more we can do nor honestly do I wish to do.

If anything the current threads on MN are indicative as to why it would be better to be in closed off communities a la the ultra Orthodox Jewish.

Muslims in China face a lot of hardship practicing Islam, during Ramadan they are not allowed to fast, schools/colleges/workplaces monitor Muslims at lunch time to make sure they eat, they are not allowed to congregate after sundown in order to prevent them from praying salat ul taraweeh.

I'm pretty sure a lot of posters on here would utterly approve.

I don't invite people into my house, I don't want to be bending over backwards to 'integrate' and be welcoming to such an extent, I am always polite and kind when out and about tho and smiley.

At the end of the day it comes down to racism. I'm a foreigner (Caucasian English in France) and I do my damn best to hold on to my origins, I watch British TV, I cook British (and "colonial" foods), I speak to my kids in Englsih, yet I'm an integrated part of French society and my Britishness is seen as good thing, because it's perceived in a positive light, especially as I teach it at the local middle school.

My old next door neighbour was called Fatia, she made wonderful oriental cakes and delicious couscous and tajine dishes. She was lovely and polite to everyone, went out of her way to be a part of the community yet she was never invited to anything, and her landlady eventually asked to to leave as she didn't fit in the with the neighbourhood and was ruining the flat "because their ways are so different to ours" ...

I know what you mean fuzzy. I dont speak any other language except English. I dont have any links or ties to my parents country of origin and have in fact have never been there. I have invested so much of myself in to fitting in to this society and yet I feel like an outsider. Im really scared of my children being exposed to people like the ones who were on that thread. Its bad enough for us as adults to have to shoulder so much hatred imagine if your kids get a whiff of that. Dont know how to avoid it though as my husband doesnt really want to leave.

I always feel angry about the fact that muslims are expected to pay taxes like everyone else but yet we are treated as if we are asking for too much when we want our needs catered for by the services we contribute to. At one point in the thread I was going to say please why dont you make us pay jizyah instead. I'd rather just pay 10% in tax and not join the army then pay 30-40% (not sure how much it is exactly ) and have a huge chunk taken out of mine and my husbands salaries. Or they could just allow us to go tax free like the expats do in the Middle East.

Thats so sad viking. Its quite scary that some people want to emulate the way that the French deal with foreigners in the Uk. My husband was born and raised in France. He has relatives still living there who are as culturally French as you could possibly want. However his cousin was told (after having a successful phone interview with a company) when she turned up for a job interview that they couldnt employ her because our customers dont want to be served by people who look like you.

That's what is so counterproductive about those threads, I read them and I don't want to integrate! I feel so glad I live in a city with a large Muslim population.

I do agree with the "never enough" feeling. I work in a beneficial job, pay my taxes, obey the law and yet I'm still somehow damaging society with my mere existence!

Ridiculous and I totally agree with whoever said that they would never say it to our faces.

Big thanks for sticking up for me on that thread, peaceful and fuzzy, it was much appreciated.