Islam and Life: How can Islam and work in the West go hand in hand?

THE ISRAELI DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE says :
“The state of Israel … will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.”

Read all of the 1948 Israeli Declaration here:
http://www.israel-independence.com/translation.asp

Why were Muslim Palestinians unwilling to live in a Jewish state that promised to give them equal rights? Has The Muslim Brotherhood ever given a two-state solution a real chance????

I object to the tagline ,Islam can work anywhere its some muslims who are not able to work leave alone in west even in their own countries eg iraq, Pakistan,—————-
Muslim women are biggest losers in muslim dominated states first by way of FGM, education marriages and abuse and even in west their parents treat them subhuman.
When we have migrated to west we have to be ready to come half way, if company policy is not to hire veiled women (firstly as a muslim woman i reject that God commands extra allegiance of women by covering their heads of face) then its your choice to choose between the job or veil dont pin it on religion, if western society is racist muslim societies are no better (discrimination can never go away), i usually find non-muslims are ok with all our religious or cultural sensitivities and no way can a muslim use this an excuse to scream islamophobia mostly.
Lastly about prayer, i find that some of our muslim colleagues go for prayers and then take awfully long time to come back so of-course it is an objectionable and no company will not tolerate it .

Salam,

You, Mr Ramadan, seem to have invited somebody who share your point of view concerning discrimination, minoritization process. You repeat the idea of struggle against the “victimized mentality” (which can refer to different realities) to become a contributor in our society. If you feel discriminated or minirotized, you only should stand up as an individual citizen owning rights and refer to your colleagues, your superiors or the different courts to defend them.
And what if all this very heavy process, that only few people detaining sufficient resources can go through it, does not succeed? I am thinking about the Babyloup affair in France ?
What about the way of fighting concretely against the “victim mentality”? Self-bashing ? Individually fighting for one’s rights as individual citizen. Be (individually) contributor, very competitive, competent for the sake of one’s company ? This discourse is directly inspired by the neoliberal system even through the Islamic thought insist on the notion of “excellence”. But there are different ways of using it as there are different ways of dealing with processes of construction of the inequalities, aren’t they ?

First of all, thanks a lot for this video, it’s very important, and somehow it makes things clear and well understandable.
Actually, I’m a student in Master M2 in France, and I’m willing to have a job here in order to get an experience before coming back to my country, I’m a muslim woman by the way and I’m wearing hijab also.
Due to what happened here in France, I’m talking about charlie’s event, I really want to ask you if the happening now will have an effect on the fact of getting a job as a Muslim. What do you think ? I mean by wearing hijab and the way they are looking at us now are making things worse.

Sincerely,

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu,
I struggled within myself for years and wore hijab off and on.
Now I would feel awkward without it, Alhamdulillah.
However, even still today going out to Barnes and Noble, I know I made some people feel uncomfortable, or a bit angered to see me. So much, I smile and try to send a warm message their way, and not one of fear or anger, or even a thought that I am ignorant or oppressed, but that I am normal and just as American apple pie as anyone else, because I am that.
In my work, Alhamdulillah I am privileged to work from home, at times I may go to the office, and while I know it’s a very tolerable group, deep down they would prefer I go back to not covering as they saw me in years past.
I’d like to be able to tell everyone that wearing my scarf and outer coat is a reminder for me of the love I have for my Creator and the comfort it gives me now.
Just as a nun is comfortable in her attire, so am I in mine.
I wish people were more educated about the true peaceful Islam and accepting to this additional clothing. It’s just clothing!
SubhanAllah, extremism is not found in the headscarf. Personally I don’t prefer the niqab as I think it hides a person’s identity too much, but that is another topic for more discussion.
Extremism in Islam is those who kill not out of self defense, but out of anger, fear, misinterpretation and out of hatred and desperation, which I believe totally goes against Islam.
As professor Ramadan said in a different video once, we have to learn to forgive somebody even if they killed your whole family. That’s a true Muslim!
Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuhu,
Laura

Some important issues are raised here. I have done my undergraduate and master studies in France and stay there for seven years. During this experience, I refused to think that because I am Muslim or Arab, I am going to be discriminated against in order to get a job. I didn’t have any scholarship during the whole period (7years), so I managed to get different jobs from working in kebab shops, supermarket to being receptionist in hotels during the night. If I was discriminated, I don’t think I will be able to get any of these jobs. Muslims in the west need to come out of the sphere of criticizing the west and blaming the west for all their problems. I am not denying the existence of discrimination in countries such as France but we shouldn’t generalize. The same country was paying for my higher education and social security and giving me a job to feel I am part of the society and I can assure you that it is the case for most of its immigrants (the case is particularly true for North African: i.e. Moroccan, Tunisian etc…). Even my own country of origin didn’t care I was studying abroad.

So the best way to deal with this issue of discrimination is to open a dialogue with people and educate them more about who we are so they also don’t make the mistake of putting all Muslims in one basket.

On the other hand, the west has also its responsibility in giving Muslims the right to practice their own religion and the right to be who they are including practicing their religion freely (that’s also democracy by the way).

If you can’t go to the bar to socialize with your colleagues then that’s fine just explain that to your colleagues don’t hide who you are, you are Muslim and you should be proud of it.

Personally, as a scientist, I think it is very challenging and hard to network without being in event where you fellow scientists don’t drink alcohol and that’s fine again, drink soft drink, water and everyone who is educated enough with a sense of rational should respect that.

To conclude, being Muslim in the west is an opportunity that we Muslims should profit from to educate our selves, to excel in our respective fields. By doing so we will gain the respect we are all looking for. Stop being a victim, act and be part of the society you are living in because that’s also the teaching of Islam.

Regards,

IZ