Should I should I not work in the Express Tribune?

[ahmad12]

Assalamu alaykum,

I too am considering a career in the media. Namely as a print/web journalist. I am trying to juggle maintaining my Islamic ideals with pursuing a career which has many negatives. Ultimately you can make a difference even if all your colleagues are secular and anti Islamic, you can establish yourself as the in-house expert on Islam, so they will come to you when they need information about Islam, as opposed to going to non-Muslim 'doyens' or 'experts' for information. But you will have to make a decision on how much you're prepared to sacrifice for your career. You will be exposed to ghayr mahrams on a regular basis, you will have to report on un-islamic events (concerts, festivals) and so on.You will have to interview ghayr mahrams, you will have to follow editorial direction on things like being pro-war or anti-war for example, regardless of your personal convictions.

All I can say is think well before you make a decision.
Thanks.

And being the 'in house expert on Islam' is of no use in the media. How will it help when they write an article on someone who did an honour killing? They won't come to you and say 'is this Islam?' because they have NO desire to explain in their article that this is not an Islamic practice- they just want to sell the story.
Will being the expert help when the pro war editor asks you to write an article with a slant that the invasion should occur? No
Will being the in house expert be of any use when they talk about a stoning in Somalia that may or may not have even occurred? When they ask, you'll have to say 'yes, we believe in rajm' and no matter how it is explained to them, they will dislike it and they won't use up their word count in their articles/news reports explaining how we need four witnesses and how difficult it is to establish the adultery even occurred.
In what way does being the in house Islam expert help anyone? These are all questions that need to be asked and lets face it, they won't help us at all.

[Taalibul Islam]

Assalamu alaykum,

I've found out that the Express Tribune is a Pakistani newspaper, therefore a lot of what I said regarding working in the media doesn't apply. I was talking about working in the media in the West, UK in my case. As I have no knowledge about the media in Pakistan I can't really pass judgement. I was surprised to find that a newspaper in a Muslim country would be secular and more importantly, anti Islamic. May Allah put blessing in whatever you eventually decide.

Thanks.

[qibla]

And being the 'in house expert on Islam' is of no use in the media. How will it help when they write an article on someone who did an honour killing? They won't come to you and say 'is this Islam?' because they have NO desire to explain in their article that this is not an Islamic practice- they just want to sell the story.
Will being the expert help when the pro war editor asks you to write an article with a slant that the invasion should occur? No
Will being the in house expert be of any use when they talk about a stoning in Somalia that may or may not have even occurred? When they ask, you'll have to say 'yes, we believe in rajm' and no matter how it is explained to them, they will dislike it and they won't use up their word count in their articles/news reports explaining how we need four witnesses and how difficult it is to establish the adultery even occurred.
In what way does being the in house Islam expert help anyone? These are all questions that need to be asked and lets face it, they won't help us at all.

ASWW
I have seen a lot of videos showing kuffar understanding Islam after discussions with daees and Muslims. A lot of the media does not really know and understand Islam and are afraid of issues which you have mentioned. At least he can try to influence his office workers or close colleagues.
It will not be easy as others have mentioned.
It is worse to just shun away and run away and hide your self in a cocoon and let them continue dishing out the ignorance.
I bet for them to accord him an interview must show some goodwill on their part, if not the Allah JJ has some good plans for the brother.
Just a side note journalism and politics are 2 fields we Muslims lack in and why do you think this small little Israel is controlling this world?
Its Journalism brother and mainstream for that!

[ahmad12]

ASWW
I have seen a lot of videos showing kuffar understanding Islam after discussions with daees and Muslims. A lot of the media does not really know and understand Islam and are afraid of issues which you have mentioned. At least he can try to influence his office workers or close colleagues.
It will not be easy as others have mentioned.
It is worse to just shun away and run away and hide your self in a cocoon and let them continue dishing out the ignorance.
I bet for them to accord him an interview must show some goodwill on their part, if not the Allah JJ has some good plans for the brother.
Just a side note journalism and politics are 2 fields we Muslims lack in and why do you think this small little Israel is controlling this world?
Its Journalism brother and mainstream for that!

1. No point trying to influence close colleagues if it means doing anti Islamic things at the same time. It's like me trying to join a casino so I can give dawah to the blackjack dealers- shouldn't be done. In the same way, anti Islamic establishments should not be joined in the hope of giving its workers dawah and the media is one such field
2. No one is advocating running into a cocoon (although there is nothing wrong with that if it is to preserve your own imaan)
3. The fact he has an interview doesn't mean they have good will towards him- 'Muslims' get jobs in the western media companies all the time but these companies expect the Muslims to conform to their views, they aren't hired to give a wider perspective or anything
4. We lack in journalism and politics because they are both dirty games that pious Muslims have to avoid. Israel controls it because they control the money and banks which then in turn control the media. To change the media and how they portray Islam, you don't change the low level guys (journalists etc), you have to make change at the top and make it trickle down. But that itself isn't possible to do from within (it would be mean lobbying, banking, etc and all of these contain huge haram elements to them)

[Saaalik]

We lack in journalism and politics because they are both dirty games that pious Muslims have to avoid. Israel controls it because they control the money and banks which then in turn control the media. To change the media and how they portray Islam, you don't change the low level guys (journalists etc), you have to make change at the top and make it trickle down. But that itself isn't possible to do from within

aslm...dont be so strongly biased bro...politics and journalism arent dirty games...in fact politics is a part of islam (siyasat) and journalism is perfectly halal as long as one isnt indulging in anti shariah activities which applies to any other job in their own contexts....so as long as OP is cautious on tht front there is a broad gamut of great work she can do....change neednt be top down as uve said....as long as a muslim is steadfast, Allah swt helps him/her to affect ppl and thereby organisations/institutions bottomup, horizontal or whichever other way one comes into contact...so my humble opinion is tht OP should continue as long as it doesnt compromise on issues such as free/casual interaction across genders, involvement in propagation of anti islamic materials herself etc. Also, from wht i understand the paper isnt about having a core anti islamic agenda to begin with, its just tht its sorry team of journalists currently made it have tht flavor...

After all it just takes a resignation letter when the going gets fishy... : )...may Allah swt help her with what is best for her and ummah....aameen!

[Badrud_Duja]

Express Tribune has replied to this thread in one of their blogs on its website
http://blogs.tribune.com.pk/story/13...press-tribune/

[Acacia]

<sigh> we're all 'famous' now.

Alhamdulillah, the sister asked us for our opinions and we provided same.

[mh16388]

extremists exposing themselves in grand fashion at the tribune. it promotes its liberal version of Islam under the guise of "upholding egalitarian values" and dumps all religions under a box under the title of 'religious freedom'.

i don't make assumptions about jewish lobby etc but it is a clear liberal extremist newspaper with an agenda of promoting and imposing 'liberal Islam' on Muslims.

the good news is that with a little study and research, some dedication and a cool head their arguments can be easily refuted and shown to be exceptionally hollow. we Muslims should make an effort towards this to preserve Islam against this cancer.

p.s to any liberal reading this: this is sunniforum NOT facebook. think before you type.

[mh16388]

many of these people that work at or frequent the tribune hold these beliefs:

- qadianis are Muslims. and a sect.

- there shouldnt be any shia sunni divide. all are Muslims.

- tableegh equates to being nosy, looking down upon others, judging them and telling them they are wrong. hence it is bad.

- islam is not necessarily a solution to our problems. we must use our (secular) education and secular-trained minds to solve problems and break free from the shackles of 'mullahs'.

- Islamic scholars have distorted Islam. it is now being misused, imposed and forced upon. This islam suppresses women, persecutes minorities etc.

- for some Muslims islam is a 'high' (naudhubillah)

- hijab isnt compulsory. women have a choice.

- all religions are equal. i am a Muslim because my parents are Muslims.

- islam or any other religion should not have a part in politics, finance, education etc. keep it to the mosques.

- nationalism is awesome. Muslims persecuted elsewhere are not our problem since they don't belong to our country (includes afia siddiqui, burmese muslims etc) and also Muslims mistreat minorities so they have no right to complain if france bans burqa.

- people have the right to express themselves without fearing 'Islam'. this also extends to sexual preferences and practices.

- whatever people do is fine because we should leave the judging to God. (the same rule doesn't apply when someone practices Islam that is not liberal. also they never use Allah but use God).


i know people that work there. i know these people very well. look at their beliefs and decide for yourself in the light of shariah how to deal with them.

[umar_italy]

Why do we Muslims so often equate "secular" with "Anti-Islam"?

We don't equate "secular" with "anti-Islam".
We equate secularism - an ideology of kufr - with "anti-Islam"