Despite the obvious need for more Muslims to get themselves heard in the ‘West’, particularly to write more for the print media, online-editions of the papers and other news outlets as well as to appear more on TV and the Radio, we have to be ultra careful that it doesn’t backfire – neither on an individual level and more importantly, on a collective level.

A recent email I received was requesting more Muslim bloggers to get involved in the chaotic mess which is “Comment is free” from the online Guardian site – a request not from Muslim bloggers, but non-Muslim bloggers.

It’s hardly surprising though – with the massive interest in anything Islamic, from when we change our undies to brushing our teeth, the greater public are just literally dying to read or hear what we have to say.

Back in the day, we’d be more worried about the different people representing us in the media and bringing shame, humiliation and ignorance upon the Muslim community. Although that still exists to some extent, we have a large pool of people who are well capable of speaking/writing for the Muslims but the danger now is the intrinsic wilful mischief from different sections of the media and their associated forums. You might write something for the Guardian but be prepared to ridiculed over it. Expect your 20 minute interview for Channel M to be cut into two damning sentences. Know that your BBC TV interview will give you no time to say anything, but rather only allow you to answer a closed question.

I think I do my fair share across the range of media that contact me these days and I always believed myself to be savvy to the nuances of journalists and their lies and tricks, but I’ve been stung a few times. Well, actually, more than a few times...

It feels even worse, maybe more so for my naivety, when the journalists are Muslims.

So for now at least, let me warn potential spokespeople of a certain Abul Taher who writes for the Sunday Times – that’s "butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth Abul Taher" – who tried every single trick in the book (legal and illegal I may add) to try and catch me on certain details of the Aisha Azimi niqab story last week – in the end, after a real tug-of-war, he still went ahead and deliberately misquoted me in yesterday’s Sunday Times.

All for his big story. What a petty price my brother, a petty pathetic price.

The details are irrelevant, but the lessons invaluable. Of course we all know the stereotypical yet true nature of the media, not just trash tabloids but the ‘respectable, quality’ sections as well, but that doesn’t mean we still shouldn’t be careful. These people make themselves out to be so sincere and honest but believe me, they can never and must never be trusted. That’s the only reason I write this as no doubt Abul Taher and others read this: do not trust anyone in the media if asked to comment, speak or write about anything to do with Islamic issues.

I’ve started to slowly cut down on such responsibilities, doing much less writing these days but conversely I’ve been reading a bit more and it’s heartening to see that there are eloquent, Islamically educated, astute, well-grounded Muslims out there in the “Islamic Blogosphere” that could represent the Muslims more – people such as Yusuf Smith, Zaid Shakir, Tariq Nelson, Amir Butler, Haroon Moghul, Osama Saeed, Umm Zaid and Riyadh Nadwi just to name a few and of course there are so many more – all doing a noble job and who need to step up to the next level yet it must be with caution for as the opportunities and needs present themselves, so will the dangers.

As long as they remember all the normal golden rules which we often so forget in that pressure situation, and always refer to the people of Knowledge in issues of doubt, then hopefully we can be those who are a credit to the Da'wah and not a evidence against it.

"Our Lord! Make us not a trial for the Disbelievers."