Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Professor of Islamic Studies and female Muslim theologian, known for her analysis of controversial Muslim issues and Thought for the Day.
On the island
Eight records
It's just a lovely, lovely, lovely, love song. And sometimes that's all you need for a pickup in the day.
When I was in primary school, we had a music teacher who used to play classical music when we all walked into the assembly hall. And every day there was a new piece of music, and I was just entranced. And I think this was the first piece I heard. And I thought, I want to play music in my life.
Tum Ko Dekha To Yeh Khayal Aaya
This is A Ghazal, which is a love song sung to music.
Red Red WineFavourite
I think again it's one of those songs that is lovely to hear, great great words, great beats, great rhythm, but also it was in the charts at a time when I was going through a rather difficult period emotionally, and it was played all the time and it's just stayed with me.
Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major, K. 331: III. Alla Turca
it's a piece I heard around about eleven, twelve years ago. And it just brought back this kind of intense longing, if only I hadn't given up the piano.
Bhar Do Jholi Meri Ya Muhammad
this is a famous kawali which is really religious poetry that's sung to music. And the first time my mother went to Pakistan, one of my uncles gave her two C D's and one of them was by the Sowbury brothers because he knew that I really enjoyed music. And I was a convert to the Qoalim genre after that.
Remembrances (from Schindler's List)
My middle son who plays the piano and the violin, he has been um really improving his violin recently. He's on grade eight now. And I was upstairs doing my work and I heard him practice this piece and I was stunned because it's suddenly I realized that he'd gone from a little boy practising his violin pieces to actually playing something that was so moving.
Cello Suite No. 1 in G major, BWV 1007: I. Prélude
Do you know, I think that sometimes we have absolute perfect moments in life, and we never forget them. And this was a perfect moment. I was in a restaurant, I'd just about finished a meal, and I was sitting there, and the sun was streaming in, and this was being played.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:42Where does religion, where does being a Muslim, sit in your life? Is it important?
It's obviously part of who I am, but I'm a a person who happens to be Muslim rather than a Muslim speaker. But I think partly because of the way media talks about and identifies people, and partly because of the way it needs to encapsulate in short statements exactly who you are, you become defined as a Muslim speaker. I do find that problematic at times.
Presenter asks
4:09What did they expect of you, and what did you expect of the job [as the first female Muslim chair in Islamic Studies in Scotland]?
Well, right from the very beginning when I came to Glasgow University, I was involved in some kind of radio work. So linking me with the media was automatic for people. So I think for a lot of people my main contribution was how do I reflect on issues to do with Islam and religious and ethical debates in public life.
Presenter asks
8:53Can you remember anything about early life in Pakistan?
Very little. I just remember a play that I took part in and I had to dress up as a bride. And I was ecstatic because I didn't actually have to say any lines, but I just had to look good. And I just sat there for two hours, just dressed up as a bride, as a Asian bride should be, just quiet and sitting there. And my best friend played the groom, and that's the only ma image I have.
The keepsakes
The book
I don't know if there is a book out there like this, but it would have to be the top ten short story collection. There must be, mustn't there? I want a book that has Mansfield, Maugham, Chekhov, Hemingway, everybody.
The luxury
Tea has been a constant presence in my life and when I was about two months old I had hooping cough and my father had given up the doctor's given up that that was going to be my last night and my mother said I sat up with you all night and I dropped tiny little droplets of warm plain tea into your mouth hoping that it would keep you warm and and I prayed and prayed and prayed and by next morning you were fine.
Presenter asks
10:25What kind of father was he?
They were both of them were very strong presences in our life. I mean, my father, now when I look back to the kind of environment he grew up in, which was a small village in India. He came from no privilege to the UK and made a huge life for himself and for his family. And I think that kind of journey is far more um inspiring than the kind of journeys I will make with my children because they have so much more, you know, that is available to them, whereas he had so little. But both my parents were avid readers. There were always books in the house. But now when I think about the kind of reading my father did, I realise how exceptional he was. He knew Arabic, he knew Persian, he knew Hindi, he knew Urdu, he knew English. He would buy books, he would talk to us about various books. I suppose I never really appreciated that about my father till after he died.
Presenter asks
17:31How did you meet your husband to be?
Well, it was arranged largely through uh family friends, but I met him and he was in Glasgow and that's why I moved to Glasgow when I got married.
Presenter asks
26:40What is it that provokes some Muslims to such a violent reaction [to satirical cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad]?
I think the problem is that people that the Muslims who are protesting don't want to understand that this kind of freedom comes at a cost. No one is saying to Muslims that by printing this you aren't entitled to practice your faith. What they're saying is that we are allowed to hold everyone up to derision, and that in some ways nothing is sacred anymore. That just isn't understood by a lot of people. How can you say nothing is sacred anymore? Now, unfortunately, it expresses itself through violence because violence becomes the most obvious way of showing your anger, rather than well thought through opinion pieces and people on television talking about this.
“I have never shied away from speaking about issues that I think are important, and I know that a lot of what I say is controversial for many Muslims as well. But I think you have to have an ethical imperative to say things and if you are in a privileged position, you know, in a free academic environment, then I think you also owe the public something. And you should speak up about issues that matter.”
“I think diversity has to be negotiated with multiple voices. It has to have people who feel they have a stake in society. And a lot of the time I think we're actually ticking boxes that do we have the right colour, the right religion, the right gender, the right this and that in various workplaces. The most important thing in diversity is the question which I'm increasingly beginning to ask myself is: can people of really diverse backgrounds and cultures live meaningfully together?”
“I think that you can't sacrifice all your aspirations for somebody else, because it would just destroy you internally. But I think you do have to make choices. I couldn't possibly have made a choice that would have saddened my parents.”
“where you have no security or safety for your children or for yourselves, that could never be home.”