Open Writing

When I sat down to dinner this evening I was very conscious of being the only female in the room with bare forearms. The women seated around me showed no part of their bodies except for their hands, faces and in some cases their hair.

I briefly wondered whether I ought to cover my arms but I thought "No, this is who I am, stick with it." I then forgot all about it and had a very enjoyable conversation with the young lady next to me. Nobody commented on my clothing or made me feel the least bit uncomfortable.

In case you haven't guessed already, I was one of a handful of non-Muslims attending an Islamic society dinner. It was held on Brunel University campus after a talk on Muslims and integration into British society given by broadcaster Ajmal Masroor and media expert Noureddin Miladi.

The talk began with a reading from passages of the Koran that stressed Muslims' friendliness towards Jews and Christians. I learnt this week that Muslims revere Jesus and wait for his second coming. Where they differ from Christians is that they do not believe he was the son of God.

Both Masroor and Miladi touched on the current atmosphere of hostility towards Muslims in modern Britain, but instead of dwelling on it they spoke in an uplifting way about the benefits of integration.

I hesitate to sum up what they said as I wasn't taking notes and I'm starting to forget which man said what, but their overriding message was that Muslims and non-Muslims should make more effort to understand each other.

Masroor reminded the audience that Islam is a hospitable religion and encouraged his listeners to invite non-Muslims into their homes. He said Muslims have a duty of care to their local communities regardless of whether their neighbours follow Islam or not.

He also spoke about the necessity of Muslims and non-Muslims being open with each other about their beliefs. With that in mind I took the bull by the horns and spoke frankly to the women I ate dinner with.

It was clear that they wanted me to understand them, so I wanted them to understand me. After the inspiring talk on integration I felt that I had to be completely natural and not adapt myself to how I imagined that devout headscarf wearing Muslims would want me to behave.

It was for that reason that I didn't cover my forearms. (Although I must admit that if I had been wearing a backless dress or a low cut top I would have kept my coat on. There are limits!)

I spoke about my belief that all religions are equal and explained that I didn't like the practice of women and men being seated at separate tables. My dining companion responded with absolute courtesy and we had a very interesting chat about it.

I write about my bare arms and my scintillating conversational skills not because they are remarkable but because I want to help combat the misconceptions about devout headscarf wearing Muslims that have grown up since 9/11.

The popular perception among some sections of the British public is that headscarf wearing Muslims are very intolerant of people who aren't like them. My experience throughout Brunel University's Islamic Awareness Week has completely contradicted that prejudice.

All this week members of the Brunel Islamic Society have been manning stalls in the student union building, giving away free information about their religion. My non-Muslim friend and I stopped to talk to them on Monday lunchtime.

A fierce looking gentleman with a big beard, wearing traditional Pakistani dress and a cap asked my friend whether she believed in God. She said that she did but stated very firmly that she believed that religion was good for nothing except causing wars.

I gulped when I heard my friend say that because I wondered how the fierce looking gentleman would respond. To my prejudiced mind he looked as if he might be a little intolerant. In truth he shifted from foot to foot and spluttered in exactly the same way as a Christian evangelical or a Jehovah's Witness would when caught with a slippery customer.

In other words he was a perfectly normal religious evangelical and I was prejudiced for gulping.

I have learnt a lot about Islam this week. For example I had no idea that the Koran was so tolerant towards other religions or that Islam was so community minded.

Sadly I also learnt that many young British Muslims are under the impression that non-Muslims know nothing about them whatsoever. This in large part must be due to the racism encouraged by the prevalence of anti-Muslim stories in the British press.

There is a serious problem with community relations in this country. Non-Muslims and Muslims are not talking to each other properly because of barriers of misunderstanding and prejudice.

My prejudice was that traditional devout headscarf wearing Muslims would not want to listen to non-Muslims rambling on about religious diversity, seating arrangements and the evils of organised religion. This week I was shown to be completely wrong.