London’s Frantic Quest for the Muslim Holy Grail: The Post‐9/11 Evolution of the Relationship Between Whitehall and the British Muslim Community

Abstract

AbstractOver the last 20 years most European governments have sought to find individuals and organizations that could be identified as representatives of their Muslim communities. These efforts have been frustrated by the extreme fragmentation that characterizes these communities, which, in turn, has caused them to lack a unified leadership. In the mid‐1990s British authorities sought to overcome this situation by supporting and treating as sole government interlocutor the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), an umbrella body uniting hundreds of British Muslim organizations. Tensions after the 9/11 and, later, 7/7 terrorist attacks raised thorny and previously unexpected issues in the relationship between MCB and Whitehall, leading to its progressive deterioration and, in 2009, to a temporary suspension of contacts. The article examines the evolution of this relationship and the various factors that influenced it.