Umme Thara

Born to Guyanese and Pashtun Parents, Umme Thara was in and out of foster care as a six month-old child till 1 and a half years due to the violent situations at home. Eventually becoming the care and custody of her step-uncle, for 15 years she suffered physical, mental and sexual abuse by family members. After attempted suicide, she finally decided to report the perpetrators – but the case was dropped due to insufficient evidence. In foster care again, left in schools with no proper qualifications, she was married off at the age of 16 years. At the age of 19, she was convinced of working towards an ‘Islamic State’ via through talks organised by Hizb ut Tahrir based at the local college she attended. Angry with the world, (moreso the judicial system), she was convinced that the world needed a change – it needed Khilafah where her perpetrators could be brought to justice. Both Umme Thara and her husband were determined to join a more active ‘cult’ Al Muhajiroun in 1997. In 1997, Umme Thara and her husband were the first recruits in West London to join a political party that called for the whole of Muslims to work towards the Khilafah – the Islamic State. Umme Thara was actively seeking new recruits to a utopian ideology adamant that it would replace Capitalist ideology. She was proactive in setting up culturing sessions for women, participated in missionary stalls, attended demonstrations—but moreso, disrupting and even hijacking other functions to promote the Islamic ideology. At the same time, she had to cut off from friends/family who either weren’t Islamic/or were considered too mainstream—all due to the fact that the exodus was about to take place, leading us to the Khilafah, be it in Pakistan, Afghanistan, or the Middle East. Both Umme Thara and her husband then travelled to Mauritius to become proactive and began setting up groups, and even culturing contacts. In 1999, she organised a Self defence training for women, deluded by the fact that another possible genocide could take place in Britain (as it did before in Bosnia) and therefore women had to be prepared to defend themselves. After the ‘seed of doubt’ began to sink in, the puzzles of the religious text (that were manipulated) began to unravel. The finale of her decision to renounce violence came about when her best friend provided her with the following reflective point ‘whenever anything affects your Iman (faith), be sure it’s not from Islam’. The turning point for her to leave meant the party’s demise moreso to the women’s wing. During her time with Al Muhajiroun, mainstream education was totally prohibited by a ruling declared by the Cleric Sheikh Omar Bakri. By leaving the group, she returned to mainstream education. With no formal qualifications she took a daytime job as a cleaner in the local bed and breakfast, then attended night schools. It was a starting point to reconnect with the world and the life she had missed out on. Post 9/11, after a backlash against the Muslim Community and the greater divide it was causing, she then established a new group called the Muslim Women’s Forum, where she liaised with a Spiritual Counsellor to run a 6 months healing workshop for those who were experiencing depression, isolation, or were victims of abuse. This was a crucial step to protect those who were vulnerable to the extremist ideology, and to provide adequate help to those in need to moral support. In 2004 – 2006, she designed and coordinated shows for a community-based radio ‘Radio Reality’ discussing some of the socio dilemmas faced by the Muslim Community. Since post 7/7 attacks she has been heavily involved in youth-based projects such as M.Y Voice and to ensure violent ideologies/narratives are challenged by inviting specialist organisations to deliver effective workshops and volunteering opportunities to enhance in employment/future careers. On March 2008 she appeared in Channel 4’s ‘Dispatches: Iraq the Betrayal’. She became the co-founder of MAWAH September 2008 (Muslim Active Women Around Hounslow) and has worked to deliver interfaith projects – Know Thy Neighbour and Interfaith Cafes. She bases her vision to ‘Educate, Empower and Engage’ women to become proactive citizens in their communities. She has worked with the local government as a Beacon Coordinator from 2009 – 2010 to disseminate good practice to build ‘Cohesive & Resilient Communities’, both on a local and national level. In her work she mentored Slough, Kingston, Ealing in to delivering strategies in the remit of Community Cohesion and the Prevent Agenda Delivered a conference ‘Empowering Our Youths for Change’ where invited key speakers to deliver insight to extremism from a broad prospective, gang culture, far-right and other violent extremists' methods of recruitment. She is currently pursuing a Joint Honours BA Degree in Sociology/Criminology at Kingston University. Her focus is now to work with grassroots organisations like WLI to help steer young people away from extremist ideologies and to work on projects based around peace such as developing ‘Critical Thinking’, ‘Emotional Intelligence’ and ‘Social Enterprise ’. She recently facilitated a joint conference with the U.S Officials and Representatives from UK Specialist Consultants ‘ H.Y Talks – Question Time ‘UK & US Relations and US). Following the death of Osama Bin Laden, she liaised with the Foreign Commonwealth Office to facilitate a ‘Question Time’ event in a local Secondary Schools between pupils and the British High Commissioner’s to Islamabad - Adam Thompson She has recently participated on the Summit Against Violence Extremism 2011 hosted by Google in Dublin where she met some real movers and shakers of the community. It was a life changing experience for her where she witnessed healing, compassion, and the value of forgiveness… A definitely new life after hate!

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