Green Light Muslim Youth Forum

Green Light (GL)

Muslim Youth Forum

IDENTITY - COMMONGOOD -
REGENERATION - CITIZENSHIP

Green Light Muslim Youth Forum has been making innovative inroads into the Muslim and wider community, locally and nationally, making headway in Muslim youth engagement and guiding vulnerable young people from falling prey to criminal radicalisation.

Green Light (GL) Muslim Youth Forum (Dudley) is a non-profit making, values orientated, youth empowerment organisation providing services in the Dudley Metropolitan Borough since December 2004. Green Light is an independent organisation working in partnership with local voluntary and statutory organisations. Green Light’s principal aims are to improve youth provision through facilitating citizenship based recreational, educational, health, inter-faith, charitable and spiritual projects.

Green Light was established because it had become evident that young British Muslims were under pressure from the media and due to the focus on the Muslim community following the tragic events on 9/11. Before and after the tragic events of July 7^th, and the increased wave of Islamophobia that followed, Green Light have made inspiring ‘active citizenship’ and building ‘community cohesion’ a key priority. Green Light started with a handful of determined young people and within the first years the membership numbers swelled to hundreds, and reaching out to about two thousand people which demonstrates a clear need perceived by young Muslims to fill a void with a much needed bridge to engage with the wider community. 

Green Light is a grass roots Muslim youth forum committed: To inculcate a proud sense of identity, responsibility, belonging and citizenship in the youth; To empower youth and facilitate young person led projects by being a hub for wider youth engagement and to actively build community cohesion; To provide mainstream cultural and religious re-training to prevent young people falling prey to fanaticism and to robustly challenge Islamaphobia; To innovatively cater for the intellectual, educational, recreational, creative, moral and spiritual regeneration & well being of young people; To reach out and connect with the wider community to build partnerships and common good alliances to create safer, stronger and more engaging communities.

All Green Light activities are provided by a committed and talented team of male and female volunteers who provide their skills services in a part time capacity. GL executive leadership team to their credit have been able to inspire other Muslims within the Midlands by their success to setup further GL type youth Forums in places like Tipton and Birmingham. Now the British Muslim Forum (BMF) have adopted Green Light as their official youth wing, which they want to roll out nationally.

Green Light Youth Charter

As British Muslims and a sizeable minority in Europe, we have to act responsibly as we are duty bound to shape a positive image of ourselves and create a secure future for subsequent generations as citizens and active contributors to western society.

Green light aims to:

• Promote mainstream Islam
• Enhance the sense of identity and citizenship in young Muslims
• Promote the traditional, broad and diverse principles of Islam to engage with all faith communities
• Encourage innovation in our intellectual, educational and spiritual endeavours to overcome cultural rigidity.
• Be proactive in sharing our magnanimity with the wider community
• Actively challenge all forms of criminal extremism together
• Work towards eliminating the rise of anxiety and tension within communities
• Raise the collective voice of the law abiding majority
• Improve the profile of the Muslim community as valuable citizens
• Educate and guide British Muslims to be more open, involved and inclusive in society
• Encourage engagement with the diverse sections of communities to build cohesion
• Promote compassion and civility towards all humanity

GREEN LIGHT Initiatives

GL Tacking all forms of criminal extremism together 

Green Light engaged with the Home Office to facilitate and coordinate the establishment of a Tackling Extremism Together (TET) Forum in Dudley that was launched on 3rd July 2006 under the title of ‘Building a Fair and Tolerant Borough’. This initiative was convened & led by Mr Ghulam Rasool Green Light Chair with support from Mr Waqar Ahmad that was delivered in partnership with the local LSP and support from the Dudley Borough Churches Forum, Dudley Muslim Forum, Dudley Borough Interfaith Network, Centre for Equality & Diversity (CfED) and their Far Right Monitoring Group. The aforementioned networks form the Alliance for Community Cohesion. The launch consultation resulted in the establishment of a community cohesion advisory group for the LSP, which ensured that specialist professional advice and support were available for the Borough’s approach to community cohesion. The TET Forum also meant that a multi agency approach to tackling all criminal forms of extremism was being undertaken.

The TET agenda is to help facilitate a framework of operation and sharing of good practice to engage all key partners of influence to establish similar forums. The Preventing Extremism Together (PET) report highlighted that the responsibility for tackling criminal extremism and radicalisation in all its forms was the responsibility of the society as a whole. Hence the solutions lay in the medium and longer-term measures of tackling inequality, discrimination, deprivation and inconsistent government policies collectivley. 

 

The successful coordination of a Tackling Extremism Together (TET) Forum in Dudley by Green Light has received national recognition and has been mentioned in the recent White Paper for the Department of Communities and Local Government (DCLG) as a model of good practice. TET is one of Green Light’s core priorities for which they are actively working and further developing projects to meet current and future challenges. The Attorney General Lord Goldsmith, Shadow Attorney General Dominic Greave and the Chief Secretary to the Treasury Stephen Timms all have visited the Green Light offices and held consultations with all the TET Forum partners in appreciation of the groundbreaking work. Green Light’s TET commitment has successfully led to Green Light making a presentation to the Prime Minister at No. 10 in September 2006, further acknowledging Green Light’s work and input in working towards tackling extremism at a grass root level. 

 

Green Light has delivered a programme of de-radicalisation lectures in Islamic Theology classes, Islamic Spirituality, Prophetic biographical analysis and principles of Qur’anic Studies. GL has been actively inviting mainstream scholars to provide discourses in English, promoting the teachings of mainstream Islam and giving access to young people to put their questions and concerns to reputable scholars endorsed by the British Muslim Forum and the Sunni ‘Ulema Council Black Country. Green Light is committed to challenging and de-radicalising criminal extremists both within the Muslim community and dispelling misconceptions from the wider community. 

 

Green Light regularly holds cultural and religious retraining classes, which provide young people who maybe at threat from being negatively influenced, an opportunity to learn Islamic morals, ethics and citizenship in an open, frank and secure environment. These classes give young people, men and women, the chance to ask questions and to establish links with role models who are recognised and respected figures of the community. Green Light take the approach of challenging all theologies of hate by proactively promoting inter and intra faith dialogue and citizenship’, as an essential strategy for preservation of universal norms of humanity by tackling this root cause of some religious criminal extremism. GL Chair Mr Ghulam Rasool stated that ‘We are looking forward to the opportunity to roll out the Green Light vision and its Tackling Extremism Together model to the member organisations of the British Muslim Forum throughout the UK.

GL Youth Club

Green Light Youth Club was recently setup in light of the overwhelming demand for organised youth recreational activities which resulted in consolidating all individual activities into the Youth Club. The GL Youth Club has secured funding that has allowed this project to build its capacity and to develop its ongoing partnerships with established voluntary and statutory organisations. Staff are being trained in Youth Work Training, Child Protection, Induction to Youth Work, Dealing with Conflict & Aggressive Behaviour and training is planned to help identifying symptoms of criminal radicalisation.

 

The Youth Club has had a successful start and many young people are using the service in the small space of time that it has been open. Greater numbers are expected in the coming months. Membership is fast approaching one hundred members, including a significant number of 'New Arrivals’ into the UK. The new-arrivals include members from Sri Lanka, Palestine, Albania and South Africa. Green Light feels it is important to provide services for theses immigrants, allowing them to integrate better with the local community. Green Light are especially glad that these immigrants and other young people, including Christian and Hindus who are new members, feel a sense of ownership with the Youth Club, thus fostering harmony between communities and across faiths.

The GL Youth Project team is also building its capacity and empowering young people to take on roles of leadership. Young people are being trained to develop young people led projects within the ethos of Green Light. Presently a new exciting Green Light initiative is being developed that has launched the Duke of Endingburgh (D of E) scheme for the under represented BME young people which has the recipe and potential for success. GL Youth Club Co-ordinator expressed he was ‘very pleased that young people are being trained in new skills and Green Light are helping to develop and expand youth led projects.’

GL Islamic awareness Exhibition

The ‘Green Light Living Islam’ exhibition is an interactive and engaging Islamic exhibition experience targeting the non-Muslim community. Green Light in the past year has hosted a series of exhibitions in partnership with Dudley Central Mosque, Dudley Interfaith Network, Dudley Racial Equality Council and the Sandwell NHS. Also the exhibitionwere visited by the Attorney General and Shadow Attorney General. The exhibition experience includes PowerPoint presentations, thematic display galleries, Islamic contribution to science and civilisations posters, story telling, quizzes, prizes, enacting of plays and Halal refreshments. 

 

Green Light have found that the ‘Living Islam’ exhibitions helped to build better understanding and dispel many myths about the religion of Islam and the Muslim community resulting in building real trust and enhancing community cohesion. The project engaged the elderly, secondary and primary school children, disabled children and the general public including adults and young people from the Muslim community. On each occasion the different project themes have been extremely successful and received positive feedback from elderly, children, adults and young people alike. Visitors well in excess of five hundred people have attended the exhibitions. The exhibition has been successfully co-ordinated by a local Dentist Miss R Farooq with support from the exhibition team. 

 

GL Interfaith

Following the increased wave of Islamophobia and community unrest over the past two years, Green Light has worked tirelessly to promote better relations with other faith communities. Green Light’s inter-faith and cultural exhibitions; theological, empowerment and tolerance lectures; and ‘drop-in’ job shop & youth centre; and organised group discussions have been very popular and well attended by members of other faiths and representatives from the local voluntary and statutory organisations. Green Light enhanced capacity and effective delivery of activities has had a very positive effect on relations between the Muslim and other faith communities and dispelled many misconceptions. The Green Light has six members involved in the Dudley Borough Interfaith Network (DBIN) of which two serve on DBIN executive and a make representation on SACRE on behalf of the Dudley Muslim Association. The overall impact of interfaith work has been to improve the quality of good relations between faiths resulting in reduction in apprehension, challenging misgivings and replacing anxiety with reassurance. 

 

In October 2006 Green Light set up an Art’s Day where local young people, boys and girls, aged 8-19 were invited to make Eid Cards at the Green Light for sick children in hospital so that they may share in the celebration of Eid at the end of Ramadhan. Green Light were fortunate to acquire the voluntary services of two local artists, a brother and sister team, Rohail Aslam and Naurin Ahmed. The kids had a great time making the cards, then on the day of Eid, the cards were given to poorly children on the Children’s Ward of the local General Hospital. The ill children came from many different ethnic and faith backgrounds and were very happy to receive this small gift. Green Light feel that projects such as these do much to improve the atmosphere of relations between Muslim Youth and other young people from different backgrounds. 

 

At the end of Ramadhan Green Light hosted a Grand Ramadhan Interfaith Feast, sharing the breaking of the fast, an event that reflected the collective thoughts of both Christians and Muslims on Fasting. It was an occasion to partake in its interfaith virtues, symbolism, spiritual challenge, development and learning from each other’s shared experiences. The event was in partnership with Dudley Central Mosque and attended by about a hundred people. This event was organised by young people who were involved in sharing an important Islamic Pillar with the wider community. The chief guest was Reverend Mark Stobert, the Chair of local Interfaith Network (DBIN) and the local Hospital Chaplain. Green Light firmly believe events like these improve relationships between people and communities of faith, increase awareness, create real interaction and foster long term partnerships in areas such as social integration, grass-root change and help to dispel misunderstandings. 

 

GL Summer camp

Green Light organises summer residential where young Muslim males are taken to a camp resort to develop their life skills and to create an environment in which they learn and practice mainstream Islam as well as engage in fun activities as abseiling, canoeing, archery, orienteering, football and develop their general camping and outdoor skills. The young people are taught via brief lectures and PowerPoint presentations on self-awareness and understanding the tolerant and inclusive principles of Islamic citizenship and to highlight to them positive Muslim role models. Green Light facilitate planning and organisation of the camp through a team of committed young volunteers.

GL Sisters only activities

Green Light Sisters partake in all aspects of Green Light planning, financial management, organisational development and project implementation. The Sisters run women only recreational and spiritual activities to bring sisters together. Activities include: sisters led kick boxing, Seerah, theology and spirituality lectures, Nasheed singing as well as their heavy involvement and support in the ‘Green Light Living Islam Exhibitions’. These have proved to be affective tools of engagement for appealing to their peers and counterparts. This strategy has resulted in developing Sisters only ‘Sisters Green Light in Birmingham’ (SGLB) that successfully hosted a Schools Nasheed Competition, fundraising for a school library in Palestine and launching the Birmingham Ramallah Twinning Initiative for Birmingham schools. 

 

GL Summer supplementary School Support

 

This is a summer holiday initiative where children attending the Dudley Mosque for Qur’anic & Islamic education are given the opportunity to experience teaching in an innovative way. The teachers are given the chance to see how pupils react to new approaches and how modern school teaching and learning techniques could be incorporated into the Mosque teaching environment. This again is a youth led project organised and delivered by volunteers. 

 

GL Tutoring Academy 

 

Tutoring academy is an exciting new Green Light project that has huge potential to improve community relations and tackling under achievement across the borough. The Tutoring Academy is a free one to one tuition service, delivered by a team of academic and gifted & talented volunteers, each with different educational areas of expertise. The tutors are from a wide spectrum of backgrounds, both non-Muslim and Muslim, male and female, young and old. The free service is used by students who will get learning support in KS3 to SAT’s, GCSE KS4, and A-level core subjects. The Tutoring Academy is open to all young people and provides a real service to the parents and young people of the Dudley Borough.

GL Job Club

The Green Light Job Club project aims to help young people out of the poverty trap by empowering them with the necessary skills and experiences needed for engaging with the employment market. The Job Club also helps to get young people volunteering within the wider community and is part of Green Light’s Active Citizenship strategy.

Final words for now…

Green Light Chair Mr Ghulam Rasool thanked all those who have supported their vision and efforts especially the Dudley Muslim community, Dudley Central Mosque, Dudley Muslim Association, Dudley Muslim Forum, Sunni ‘Ulema Council Black Country, Dudley LSP, Dudley Council, Dudley Police, Ian Austin MP and Hazrat Sultan Bahu Trust. Mr Rasool thanked the British Muslim Forum (BMF) for recognising Green Light’s endeavours and achievements by inviting them to join and lead the BMF youth wing and incorporating Green Light into BMF’s broader national strategy.

Chair

Green Light Muslim Youth Forum