Ramadan Festival UK closed its series of groundbreaking Arts & Cultural events with a storming array of musicians & performers from around the Muslim world. The Barbican Arts Centre provided  an eclectic setting for the unique event. Arts Crafts & literature exhibitions were accompanied by a a performance by Pankaj Silat Mediational Sufistic Martial Arts. Supported by the US Dutch & Egyptian Embassies in London. The Festival has sucessfully partnered  the Notting Hill Carnival with Al Tanoora Whirling Dervishes the V&A in Interfaith tours & Sufi Dhikrs at St Etheburga's Centre for Peace & Reconciliation amongst many others performances.

An innovative 'Fast & Feed a Friend' campaign was also launched in which Mosques were asked to open their  doors  to the British Homeless.

Syed Mohsin Abbas Director of Ramadan Festival UK summarised the month long events as the first ever transnational expression of the Culture of Ramadan with hundreds of events all over Holland Norway & Great Britain said ....

'It was great to see mainstream British society enjoying  Music Visual Arts & food from the Muslim World. The events of this month are already leading to greater dialogue understanding & therefore is bound to lead to enduring friendship between people of different faiths & cultures'....

The Festivals real success lies in engaging grassroots muslims in opening their doors to the British society in the spirit of hospitalty & generosity.

Iftars (Ramadan Hospitality dinners) were organised across the country & will be extended in 2009 with an even greater participation from different communities. The celebration of the auspicious month of Ramadan is not just for muslims but something that everyone can share in & will become regular feature in the British social Arts & Culture calendar which this year showcase has proved is a distinct reality.

When you talk about a community only in terms of its religion & politics without the context of its cultures one gets a distorted view of its values & aspirations-unfortunately British Muslims find themselves in this situation today.Ramadan Festival is a clear message to both Muslims & mainstream British society that it is possible to share common platforms & spaces regardeless of colour creed or religion. Muslims must engage more proactively outside the religious narrative in a language which communicates effectively with the rest of society.

The emergence of creatives & thinkers from the British Muslim community is crucial to providing new impetus to what has become a stale scenario of provocative anti-faith action followed by knee jerk reactions from muslim extremists. The kaleidoscope of opinion that exists between these polarised camps of secular & religious fascists is all too often subsumed by the cacophony of noise generated by self proclaimed community leaders & sensationalist hacks.

The Barbican Art Centre deserves credit for its visionary series of Ramadan Nights- a timely reminder that what  can ultimately unite us all is an aesthetic appreciation the of beauty of human diversity.

The Qawaali took centre stage at the event marrying music & spiritual cultural humanism in a way that made it accessible to all. Sajid Ahmed Khan Qawwal Ensemble  are a great example of  British based muslim artists in this regard -performing devotional music from the shrines of Pakistan spanning Arabic, Urdu and Persian languages with lyrics from Sufi poets and mystics. This art form, popularized by Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan is a combination of rhythmic hand claps accompanied by harmonium Tabla, Dholak and Sitar..Sajid's vocal improvisations created dynamic rhythms which took devotees into transcendental ecstasy & for the general audience the high octane energy of the performance engaged even those who may not have understood the depth of the poetry.