Islam and Cybersecurity

Islamic Resources

Addressing Islamophobia in Western Countries: A Call to Action

The global cybersecurity industry is increasingly becoming a hub for talented professionals from diverse backgrounds, including Arab nationals. However, a concerning trend has emerged in various Western countries, particularly in Europe and America, where Arab professionals have faced significant challenges in the workplace due to racism and prejudice.

Challenges Faced by Arab Professionals

Several manifestations of Islamophobia and racism have been reported, including:

• Workplace restrictions: Employees may be denied breaks for prayer, even if they request only a short time.

• Lack of understanding and accommodation: Muslim employees may face difficulties during Ramadan due to inadequate support from their employer.

• Delayed career progression: Arab professionals may experience delays in permanent job placement, often being offered temporary contracts instead.

• Limited opportunities for growth: Insufficient investment in professional development can hinder employee advancement.

• Undesirable tasks and assignments: Employees may be assigned challenging or undesirable roles that their colleagues avoid.

• Punitive fines: Employees may face punitive measures without a fair process.

• Privileges and access: Limited privileges for certain employees, including constraints on freedom of expression.

• Job insecurity: Arab professionals may experience limited opportunities to apply for jobs, accompanied by intrusive inquiries about their origin.

• Lack of confidence: Employers may lack trust in Arab professionals' abilities or judgment.

• Functional marginalization: Employees from diverse backgrounds may be relegated to behind-the-scenes roles and excluded from customer-facing positions.

A Call to Action

While these challenges do not apply to all workplaces or individuals, they underscore the need for increased awareness, education, and advocacy to foster a more inclusive and respectful work environment. Organizations must strive to create policies that promote equality, diversity, and inclusion, ensuring a fair and supportive workplace for all employees.

THE LAST GREAT PROPHET

From THINK AND GROW RICH by Napoleon Hill Reviewed by Thomas Sugrue

“Mohammed was a prophet, but he never performed a miracle. He was not a mystic; he had no formal schooling; he did not begin his mission until he was forty. When he announced that he was the Messenger of God, bringing word of the true religion, he was ridiculed and labeled a lunatic. Children tripped him and women threw filth upon him. He was banished from his native city, Mecca, and his followers were stripped of their worldly goods and sent into the desert after him. When he had been preaching ten years he had nothing to show for it but banishment, poverty and ridicule. Yet before another ten years had passed, he was dictator of all Arabia, ruler of Mecca, and the head of a New World re-ligion which was to sweep to the Danube and the Pyrenees before exhausting the impetus he gave it. That impetus was three-fold: the power of words, the efficacy of prayer and man’s kinship with God.

“His career never made sense. Mohammed was born to impoverished members of a leading family of Mecca. Because Mecca, the crossroads of the world, home of the magic stone called the Caaba, great city of trade and the center of trade routes, was unsanitary, its children were sent to be raised in the desert by Bedouins. Mohammed was thus nurtured, drawing strength and health from the milk of nomad, vicarious mothers. He tended sheep and soon hired out to a rich widow as leader of her caravans. He traveled to all parts of the Eastern World, talked with many men of diverse beliefs and observed the decline of Christian ity into warring sects. When he was twenty-eight, Khadija, the widow, looked upon him with favor, and married him. Her father would have objected to such a marriage, so she got him drunk and held him up while he gave the paternal blessing. For the next twelve years Mohammed lived as a rich and respected and very shrewd trader. Then he took to wandering in the desert, and one day he returned with the first verse of the Koran and told Khadija that the archangel Gabriel had appeared to him and said that he was to be the Messenger of God.

“The Koran, the revealed word of God, was the closest thing to a miracle in Mohammed’s life. He had not been a poet; he had no gift of words. Yet the verses of the Koran, as he received them and recited them to the faithful, were better than any verses which the professional poets of the tribes could produce. This, to the Arabs, was a miracle. To them the gift of words was the greatest gift, the poet was all-powerful. In addition the Koran said that all men were equal before God, that the world should be a democratic state-Islam. It was this political heresy, plus Mohammed’s desire to destroy all the 360 idols in the courtyard of the Caaba, which brought about his banishment. The idols brought the desert tribes to Mecca, and that meant trade. So the business men of Mecca, the capitalists, of which he had been one, set upon Mohammed. Then he retreated to the desert and demanded sovereignty over the world.

“The rise of Islam began. Out of the desert came a flame which would not be extinguished-a democratic army fighting as a unit and prepared to die without wincing. Mohammed had invited the Jews and Christians to join him; for he was not building a new religion. He was calling all who believed in one God to join in a single faith. If the Jews and Christians had accepted his invitation Islam would have conquered the world. They didn’t. They would not even accept Mohammed’s innovation of humane warfare. When the armies of the prophet entered Jerusalem not a single person was killed because of his faith. When the crusaders entered the city, centuries later, not a Moslem man, woman, or child was spared. But the Christians did accept one Moslem idea-the place of learning, the university.”