Muslims In Britain Research Articles

Introduction to political storytelling: populists, Islamists, far-right groups and nostalgic nationalism in Europe and beyond

ABSTRACT This Special Issue shows that narratives of domination are political storytelling that promises its audience that ‘becoming the people' is possible via a shared history that can continue to exist if an obscure ‘they’ and its subjectivity are obliterated. Nowadays, systematic killings and starvation of Palestinians, rampant attacks and murdering Muslims in Britain and Queer peoples in the USA are good examples of why listening closely to political storytelling is called for. It has become paramount to listen closely to political storytelling, its dehumanisation and inhuman capacities and distortion of historical facts since 7th October 2023. The suffering and struggles of Palestinians, the destruction of Gaza and the genocide are misused to either mobilise and appease right wing populism in Western Europe (especially the Netherlands and Germany) or mobilise religious populism in states where Islam is constitutionally acknowledged primary religion (especially Islamic Republic of Iran and Pakistan). Listening closely to political storytelling is about teasing out populism as doing politics rather than thin fables emerging from misinformation and disinformation or deception and malintention.

Muslims in Britain: History, Diversity, Socio-Economic Status

This paper examines the growing presence of Muslims in the United Kingdom (UK), a community that, despite being a minority, is expanding rapidly according to data from the Oxford-based Migration Observatory. This research examines the diverse origins, cultures, languages, and religious beliefs of British Muslims, setting the stage to explore the multifaceted emergence of Islam and Muslims in the UK. The study investigates the various phases of Muslim migration, pinpointing the principal reasons for their arrival and the routes chosen by individuals from countries such as Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Syria, Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Yemen to settle in cities like London, Glasgow, Birmingham, Cardiff, Bradford, Liverpool, Hull, and Sheffield. It identifies key factors driving the formation of Muslim communities in the UK, including political instability, ethno-religious conflicts, natural disasters, civil unrest, decolonisation, and labour shortages. Additionally, the paper assesses the socioeconomic status of Muslims in England and concludes with strategic recommendations for policymakers. JEL Classification: A14, Z1.

(Re)connecting anti-racisms: Islamophobia and the politics of police/prison abolition in contemporary Britain

In recent years, questions of policing, prisons and the wider criminal justice system have increasingly taken centre stage in discussions and practices of anti-racism in Britain. More specifically, the Black Lives Matter movement, the Covid-19 pandemic and the introduction of the Conservative government’s Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts (PCSC) Act have all contributed to the emergence of a nascent movement for police and prison abolition. At the same time, ongoing resistance to state-sanctioned Islamophobia – the majority of which has been driven by Muslim-led organisations and communities – has focused on the securitisation of Muslims in Britain and beyond. Yet these two key strands of anti-racist work have tended to remain politically and analytically distinct. This article seeks to develop a dialogue between the theory and practice of police/prison abolition and the issue of Islamophobia in Britain, exploring the possibilities for solidarity-building in the current moment. I consider how (1) sociological theories of race, racism and racialisation, and (2) an engagement with British histories of radical anti-racism (specifically British Black Power) offer resources for revealing key connections between the policing and imprisonment of differently racialised populations and associated forms of resistance. I then explore how a more ‘joined up’ analysis might facilitate coalition-building on the ground in the current moment, before expanding the discussion beyond Britain to consider the Palestinian struggle as a model for developing international, abolitionist solidarity attuned to the relationality of race and racisms.

From the Margins to the Centre

Abstract Despite recent scholarly focus on Shiʿa minorities in Britain, there has been little exploration of how Shiʿa (re)define what it means to be a British Muslim more broadly. Here, we shift the focus away from inward-looking manifestations of Shiʿa-specific identity and towards the diverse ways Shiʿa Muslims are actively seeking to promote and enact inclusive ways of being Muslim in Britain. Profiling three Shiʿa-led grassroots organisations – Who is Hussain, Love Muhammad and The Muslim Vibe – we explore how the younger generations of British Shiʿa are invested in creating and sustaining a sense of inclusive British Islam which, by drawing on what we call an ‘Islamically-conscious’ ethics, seeks to engage Sunni Muslims and wider society in contemporary Britain.

Responding to Islamophobia: British Muslims “Talk Back” to the UK

This study explores how second and third generation Muslims in Britain resist calls to become “normal” good Muslims and are less willing to respond to accusations of “clashing civilizations,” and instead seek to unapologetically assert their particularized racial and religious difference through cultural expressions of dissatisfaction. I analyze forms of British Muslim cultural production, including visual art, fashion, music, and poetry including a focus on forms particularly expressed on digital platforms. Social media, for example, offers a new discursive landscape where British Muslims are actively using aesthetic driven communities to produce self-expressed visual content. I look at how these forms of sub-cultural expression function as sites of contestation, where Muslim minorities reframe their experiences, challenge dominant messages about their group identity, problematize the essentialism of Muslims, and construct a counter-public—a distinct British Muslim public discourse and cultural narrative specific to Muslims in Britain.

The Attitude of Young Sunnī Muslims in Britain Towards Religious Authority

The absence of one single religious authority for the whole Muslim community in Britain results in the emergence of various religious authorities due to ethnic and sectarian differences. Muslim communities in Britain have generally been ghettoized around ethnic and sectarian identities, and thus establishing mosque and religious authority accordingly. This paper investigates what the sources of religious authority for British born young Sunnī Muslims are. The data was gathered via an ethnographic research made in Leeds, one of the most cosmopolitan cities of Britain, interviewing young Sunnī British Muslims who are between 18 and 30 years old. The main aim of this study is to reflect on how and where these young Muslims get religious advice for their daily religious lives. This paper presents the preferences of the informants in seeking religious authority in the context of Britain. It is particularly significant to discover the orientation of British born Muslims from that aspect. Based on the preferences of young Sunnī Muslims in searching religious authority in Leeds, this paper initially introduces four mosque imāms, who lie at the centre of religious authority for ordinary Muslims. By dealing with them, I expose the role of mosque imāms in the life of Sunnī Muslims in Britain. The types of the questions raised by the mosque attendees and their methods in approaching the imāms are reported while each imām’s profile is examined. Then, I focus on two famous figures who issue religious rulings and have a special importance in the religious lives of Muslims in Leeds. Finally, the Internet is examined as a virtual platform in seeking religious authority for ordinary Muslims living in Britain. Thus, this study offers two main results: From different sectarian orientations, such as Deobandī, Barēlwī and Jamāʿat-i Islāmī, they generally admit that following a school of law (Ḥanafī, Mālikī, Shāfiʿī, and Ḥanbalī) in current is essential for a lay person. Therefore, the tendency among them in seeking religious guidance initially starts from local mosque imāms, and then widened with more expert ʿulamāʾ repudiated across their ethnic and sectarian oriented communities.

“It is like second nature”: informal giving among Pakistani Muslims in an English city

This article explores how the Islamic principles underpinning zakat and sadaqah aid the development of localised informal support networks in an English city. The article draws on interviews conducted with Pakistani Muslim men and women living in areas of high deprivation. Participants self-identified as a ‘community’ that was multigenerational yet built largely on traditional and conventional Muslim practices. Presenting empirical data that demonstrate the existence of Muslim philanthropic activity, participants provide their own interpretations of zakat and sadaqah while making a distinction between ‘charity’ and more general ‘good deeds’. The findings address a gap in knowledge surrounding the role that informal support plays in supporting Pakistani Muslims in Britain who possess a lower socioeconomic status. The data reveal that the motivations surrounding engagement in informal support have consequences for (dis)engagement with some formal welfare support services.

Ethnic Identity Construction of Young Turkish Muslims in Britain

This paper examines how young Turkish Muslims in Britain construct their ethnic identity by looking at their relationships with their families, the Turkish community, the host society, and their religious attitudes and practices. The focus of this study is certainly young Turkish Muslims who have been relatively ignored in multicultural British society. By the youth, I refer to the generation who were born in or arrived in Britain at an early age, who live in two different cultural spaces, who are more open to social and cultural changes in their everyday lives — particularly through school, college, and other institutions — than their parents, and who thus construct their ethnic identities through two ‘geopolitical dimensions’: ‘inside-out’ and the ‘outside-in’. This means that the identity process is built, not just in relation to individuals’ relationships with their family, inside the community, and so on, but also in relation to outsiders’ attitudes, treatments, and perceptions. What is important to grasp here is that there is a dynamic interaction from the inside-out and the outside-in. Britain allows one to better explore the effects of these two dimensions on the ethnic identity construction of young Turks. On the one hand, it is home to many social, cultural, political, and religious organisations which are promoted by Turkish communities to circulate and strengthen their identity. On the other hand, it also enables those young people to have relations with the wider society, especially the majority group. Thus, their identity negotiations are influenced both by internal and external forces.A review of the literature demonstrates three primary deficiencies. Firstly, the past research conducted on the issue of young Turkish Muslims’ ethnic identity in Britain is few and far between. Secondly, these studies have overlooked either the internal or external dynamics of that community which significantly influence ethnic identity construction in younger generations. Lastly, these studies, except one, are now over twenty years old. By focusing on the views, feelings, and experiences of young Turkish Muslims in Britain in relation to their families, the Turkish community, the host society, and their religious attitudes and practices, this paper aims to fill these gaps in the literature.This article draws on semi-structured in-depth interviews with young Turkish Muslims who were born in or who arrived in Britain at an early age. Interviews were conducted in London and Bristol between 2016 and 2018 with 14 young Turks and, ranging in age from eighteen to thirty years. I also conducted unstructured interviews with 3 older Turkish people who gave information about the Turkish communities existing in Bristol. The interviews were sampled using the snowball technique, which served the purpose of accessing the participants and establishing trustworthy relations with them. To facilitate the coding of the transcripts, I used NVivo. I employed thematic analysis to identify and analyse patterns of meaning in the dataset.The findings of the research show that the ethnic identity construction of young Turkish Muslims has taken place on a tension line that arises between their own culture and the dominant culture. Most of my young respondents are aware of their ethnic identities and the cultural, social, and religious values which are the building blocks of their identities. Their relationships with the family, Turkish community, friends, and the host society, and their religious attitudes and practices have positively influenced the construction and maintenance of their ethnic identities. In this respect, this study makes a significant contribution to the literature on the ethnic identity formation of young Turkish Muslims in Britain.

A Critical Analysis on the Representation of Muslims in Britain in the Daily Mail Newspaper: Applying Discourse Analysis

The pervasiveness of mass media has become an inevitable side of our daily life; the ubiquity of the latter has allowed an unprecedented influx of information that is not necessarily value free and objective. The news that is present on our devices is full of ideological insinuations and is undoubtedly value laden. News corporations have spread enormously and reached different homes, especially with the advent of technology which permitted an outreach to distant various communities with a simple click. There are daily articles released claiming to have the most breaking and exclusive scoops of news that was not covered. Nevertheless, people find themselves overwhelmed and unable to differentiate between what is authentic and what is not. Not only that, but they ostensibly newspaper claim to have an innocent editorial line that matches worldwide media ethics, the truth is certainly a far cry from what is publicized. Every day, covert ideologies and doctrines are passed through news articles that target specific communities that either tend to vilify it exclude to perpetuate certain clichés and stereotypes about it. So this paper aims to critically analyze an article in the Daily Mail British newspaper which was written on British Muslim minorities, it address the issue of religion in a generalized way using extreme categorization, so as to infiltrate and increase division and animosity in British community. The paper uses a set of critical methods of discourses analysis to uncover hidden and even explicit messages ideologies in the article that. The analysis shows how implicit strategies are utilized to display a binary line between US and THEM. The THEM group is synonymous with extremism, irrationality and oppression against women whereas US is portrayed as a group serving justice and eradicate fanaticism and radicalism.

Methodological Eclecticism: Feminist-Pragmatist Reflections on Re/centering Muslims in Research about Islam

For over a decade, researchers have consistently asserted that Muslims in the West are ‘research weary’ (Sangera and Thapar- Bjökert 2008: 544), ‘tired of too much research about them’ (Alvi et al. 2003: p. xv) and are concerned about ‘not being given the opportunity to shape research that is about them (Scott-Baumann et al. 2020). Research on Muslim in Britain and in the West are further complicated by social hierarchies and popular discourses that often position Muslims as the ‘different other’. Working within a feminist-pragmatist epistemological framework this chapter will bring together methodological reflections from a decade of research of Islam and Muslims in the West. It asserts the need for research paradigms that are grounded in partnership and positionality, and which maintain intellectual rigour while also being accountable to the people who are the subjects of research.

Activities of Islamic Sharī’ah Council and Muslim Arbitration Tribunal to Apply Islamic Law in England and Wales

The UK is a Christian majority country with several minority religious groups like Muslims, Hindus, Jews and Sikhs who have been living there for a long time. All faith groups have their own laws. Likewise, Muslims also have their specific laws called “Sharī’ah law” or “Muslim Family Law”. This paper attempts to represent a prospect of how Islamic law deals with the issues faced by the Muslims in England and Wales. There are many “The Islamic Shari’ah Council (ISC)” and “Muslim Arbitrational Tribunal (MAT) to solve the family concerns in England and Wales, for instance, marriage, child custody, divorce and other issues related to their matrimonial life. These councils play a prime role in implementing Islamic law among Muslims in Britain. Since ISC and MAT play a crucial role in applying Islamic law, it will be the focusing component of the paper. This study examines how ISC and MAT resolve the legal problems of the Muslim families and to which extent sometimes it is allegedly not compatible with England and Wales's domestic legal settings. Moreover, the main aim and object of the paper is to find out the internal functions and the processes of the Islamic Sharī’ah Council and Muslim Arbitration Tribunal in England and Wales

Learning about Islam and Muslims online: Reflections on the design and delivery of a massive open online course (MOOC) 2014–2019

AbstractThis article evaluates the design, delivery, and main outcomes of Cardiff University's first “Massive Open Online Course” (MOOC) entitled “Muslims in Britain: Changes and Challenges,” delivered to over 20,899 international learners between 2014 and 2019. I explore the design principles underpinning the course and offer a detailed quantitative overview of our learner‐base. The paper examines the experience of course delivery, as well as providing an evaluation of the outcomes arising from the course in the short, medium and long‐term. It also explores some of the distinctive aspects of learning about religion (and Islam, in particular) online as a result of our course, thereby contributing to discussion about the pedagogy of Religious Studies in the digital environment.

Introductory Note and Editorial

Introductory NoteIt is a great honor to introduce myself as the new Co-Editor of the American Journal of Islam and Society. Developing the future of this journal is a considerable intellectual trust that I can only envisage as a collective effort to be undertaken with the journal’s excellent editorial team. Under Dr. Ovamir Anjum’s editorial leadership in the last few years, the journal established a very successful trajectory, combining high academic quality and timelytreatment of topics of interest to diverse communities of readers.In this introductory note, I would like to begin by expressing my commitment to the vision behind the recent name change from the American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences to the American Journal of Islam and Society. The new name captures the multidisciplinarity of the journal’s current content. This multidisciplinarity is reflected too in the editorial team’svaried areas of expertise, to which I bring my primary academic interest in Qur’anic and tafsīr studies; my work and experiences in developing Islamic Studies as a subject in its own right in Britain, which led to my involvement in founding and launching the British Association for Islamic Studies (BRAIS); and my more recent work on Islam and Muslims in Britain. Somecommon threads run across these different academic interests and activities, but one mode in which they have significantly intersected for me is through questions of gender, both conceptually and institutionally. It is this last aspect of my work that I am keen to draw upon as Co-Editor of the journal.Building on the achievements of the current editorial team, I see publishing research on Islam, gender, and sexuality to be an important and strategic area of growth. Scholarship on related topics has exponentially expanded both in quantity and quality. However, a great deal of current research is clustered around narrowly defined approaches and goals, themapping of which remains a future task. Suffice it to say here that central to my vision is to see the journal become a platform for rigorous gender-focused research which critically pursues as well as challenges the intellectual agendas and societal concerns on which the study of gender and Islam has turned until today.This intellectual dimension I see as concomitant with structural changes that allow broader and less siloed representation of women academics in the study of Islam and Muslims. One of my main goals is to work with the editorial team to formulate editorial policies and strategies which lend support to early-career female researchers and facilitate intellectual mentoring through reviewing processes.Finally, I would like to thank all those who have supported the journal throughout the years and helped build it up into a strong publication. I look forward to working with you and to receiving manuscript submissions from scholars across the multitude of fields which study Islam and Muslims. Shuruq Naguib, Co-Editor, American Journal of Islam and SocietyLecturer, Department of Philosophy, Politics, and ReligionLancaster University, Lancaster, UK

A New Co-Editor Joins the American Journal of Islam and Society

It is a great honor to introduce myself as the new Co-Editor of the American Journal of Islam and Society. Developing the future of this journal is a considerable intellectual trust that I can only envisage as a collective effort to be undertaken with the journal’s excellent editorial team. Under Dr. Ovamir Anjum’s editorial leadership in the last few years, the journal established a very successful trajectory, combining high academic quality and timely treatment of topics of interest to diverse communities of readers.In this introductory note, I would like to begin by expressing my commitment to the vision behind the recent name change from the American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences to the American Journal of Islam and Society. The new name captures the multidisciplinarity of the journal’s current content. This multidisciplinarity is reflected too in the editorial team’s varied areas of expertise, to which I bring my primary academic interest in Qur’anic and tafsīr studies; my work and experiences in developing Islamic Studies as a subject in its own right in Britain, which led to my involvement in founding and launching the British Association for Islamic Studies (BRAIS); and my more recent work on Islam and Muslims in Britain. Some common threads run across these different academic interests and activities, but one mode in which they have significantly intersected for me is through questions of gender, both conceptually and institutionally. It is this last aspect of my work that I am keen to draw upon as Co-Editor of the journal. Shuruq Naguib, Co-Editor, American Journal of Islam and SocietyLecturer, Department of Philosophy, Politics, and ReligionLancaster University, Lancaster, UK Download

The Muslim Council of Britain: Progressive Interlocutor or Redundant Gatekeeper?

Since its inception in 1997, the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) has evolved to become one of the most enduring British Muslim organisations. It is a representative body for over 500 member bodies (‘affiliates’) including mosques, schools and charities. During the course of the last two decades, it has been subject to external comment and sometimes critique by academics, media commentators, policy-makers, and others. This special issue of the journal Religions has provided a welcome opportunity for the current leadership of the MCB to write about the organisation from ‘within’, based on their long-standing time volunteering with it. This paper is based on an oral history methodology involving extended interviews with the oversight of a research director, supplemented by reference to existing academic and other sources. Therefore this paper is essentially a type of ‘edited transcript’ aggregated wholly from a series of first person interviews undertaken with the current senior elected leaders of MCB; reorganised for clarity and drafted out with added ‘prose’ allowing for it to be presented in essay form. The result is the first documented ‘insider’ perspective on the ways in which the MCB has tackled issues such as internal governance, the challenge of ‘representation’ in view of the diversity of British Muslim communities, changing relationships with government, and policy work. It becomes apparent through the paper that the MCB has matured into a constructively self-critical, pro-active, and more strategically professional body, that contributes to the flourishing of Muslim communities and the place of Islam in British society. The production of the paper is itself an indicator of the growing confidence and capacity of the MCB, and its ability to contribute positively to academic discourse and debate about Muslims in Britain.

Muslim Youth, Education, and Islam in Britain

Abstract This review essay discusses four recently published books that in various ways concern Islam and Muslims in Britain, especially Muslim youth. Particular attention is paid to the two issues of generation and education, which are central in the reviewed books and provide fruitful conceptual frames for analysing Muslims in Europe.

Shedding Light on the Modalities of Authority in a Dar al-Uloom, or Religious Seminary, in Britain

‘God is the Light of the heavens and the earth…’ This article sheds light on the modalities of authority that exist in a traditional religious seminary or Dar al-Uloom (hereon abbreviated to DU) in modern Britain. Based on unprecedented insider access and detailed ethnography, the paper considers how two groups of teachers, the senior and the younger generation, acquire and shine their authoritative light in unique ways. The article asserts that within the senior teachers an elect group of ‘luminaries’ exemplify a deep level of learning combined with practice and embodiment, while the remaining teachers are granted authority by virtue of the Prophetic light, or Hadith, they radiate. The younger generation of British-born teachers, however, are the torchbearers at the leading edge of directing the DU. While it may take time for them to acquire the social and symbolic capital of the senior teachers, operationally, they are the ones illuminating the way forward. The paper discusses the implications of the changing nature of authority within the DU is likely to have for Muslims in Britain.

التحديات العقدية التي تواجه المراکز الإسلامية في بريطانيا

فهذا بحث عنوانه (التحديات العقدية التي تواجه المراکز الإسلامية في بريطانيا). وموضوع البحث يتعلق بالتحديات التي تواجه في تعليم العقيدة الإسلامية الصافية، وشبهات حول الإسلام وعقيدته، ومن خلال تواصل ومعايشة للمسلمين هناک، نلحظ للوهلة الأولى أن خللا ظاهرا في التعامل مع قضايا العقيدة الکبرى، ويضاف عليها الانحرافات المنتشرة في تلک البلاد کظاهرة الإلحاد وإنکار الأديان، کما أن أزمة التطرف والإرهاب التي تعاني منها المجتمعات هناک أزمة مؤثرة على حريتهم في العبادة، ودعوتهم لغير المسلمين؛ لذلک کله أراد الباحث الدخول إلى عمق المشکلة، وتحليل التحديات العقدية التي تواجهها المراکز الإسلامية في بريطانيا، وقدرتهم على التعامل معها، ومن الله تعالى استمد العون والتوفيق والسداد. فإن العقيدة الإسلامية هي أهم ما يجب على المسلم تعلمه، والمسلمون في بريطانيا لديهم تساؤلات عديدة حولها، ويجب معرفة تساؤلاتهم والطريقة الصحيحة للتعامل معها، وکيفية تعامل المراکز الإسلامية في بريطانيا مع التساؤلات حول المسائل العقيدة، والتحديات والصعوبات التي تواجهها حول ذلک، فهذا البحث يناقش التحديات العقدية التي تواجه المراکز الإسلامية في بريطانيا. والهدف من کتابة ها البحث هي :معرفة مدى اهتمام المراکز الإسلامية في بريطانيا بالمسائل العقدية.معرفة قدرة المراکز الإسلامية في بريطانيا على التعامل مع المسائل العقدية التي تطرح عليه.معرفة مدى توفر المراجع العلمية العقدية عند المراکز الإسلامية في بريطانيا.معرفة قدرة المراکز الإسلامية على التعامل مع التحديات المتعلقة بالإلحاد والتطرف. ويعتمد هذا البحث على المنهج الوصفي؛ للوصول إلى معرفة التحديات العقدية التي تواجه المراکز الإسلامية في بريطانيا، وکيفية تعاملهم معها. ويتکون هذا البحث من مقدمة، وثلاثة مباحث، وخاتمة؛ وهي کالآتي: المقدمة والمبحث الأول: تعامل المراکز الإسلامية في بريطانيا مع المسائل العقدية المطلب الأول: مفهوم العقيدة الإسلامية وأهميتها. المطلب الثاني: تحليل نتائج دراسة تعامل المراکز الإسلامية مع المسائل العقدية. والمبحث الثاني: تعامل المراکز الإسلامية مع ظاهرتي الإلحاد والتطرف المطلب الأول: مفهوم الإلحاد والتطرف وخطورتهما. المطلب الثاني: نتائج الدراسة حول تحديات ظاهرتي الإلحاد والتطرف على المراکز الإسلامية. Extract This is a research entitled The nodal challenges facing Islamic centers in Britain. For non-Muslims, therefore, the researcher wanted to get into the depth of the problem, analyze the nodal challenges faced by Islamic centers in Britain, and their ability to deal with them, and from God almighty to draw help, success and payment. The Islamic faith is the most important thing that Muslims should know, and Muslims in Britain have many questions about them, and their questions must be known and the right way to deal with them, and how Islamic centers in Britain deal with questions about issues of faith, challenges and difficulties that Faced with this, this research discusses the nodal challenges facing Islamic centres in Britain. The aim of writing this research is to know the extent to which Islamic centers in Britain are interested in nodal issues. Islamic centers to deal with challenges related to atheism and extremism. This research is based on a descriptive approach to learn about the streptococcal challenges facing Islamic centres in Britain, and how to deal with them. This research consists of an introduction, three investigations and a conclusion: Introduction The first topic: Islamic centers in Britain deal with nodal issues The first requirement: the concept and importance of the Islamic faith. The second requirement: to analyze the results of the study of the treatment of Islamic centers with nodal issues. The second topic: Islamic centers's dealings with the phenomena of atheism and extremism . The first requirement: the concept of atheism and extremism and their seriousness. The second requirement: the results of the study on the challenges of the phenomena of atheism and extremism on Islamic centers. Keywords: Challenges, Streptococcal, Islamic Centers, Britain, Creed

Creating a Diasporic Public Sphere in Britain: Twelver Shia Networks in London

ABSTRACTSince the 1980s, the Borough of Brent, in north-west London, has been a major global hub of transnational Twelver Shiism. With the influx of Iraqi refugees, many clerical leaders of Twelver Shia Islam established their European headquarters in Brent, and, in addition to Damascus and Tehran, London became a major centre of Iraqi diaspora politics during Saddam Hussein’s regime. The transnational networks and organizations based in Brent engage in an Islamic ‘transnational public space’, which Bowen defines as a globally operating discursive ‘field of Islamic reference and debate’. Based on ethnographic research in London, the article provides novel insights into the Twelver Shia Muslim organizational field in Britain and its engagement in ‘an alternative diasporic public sphere’ that articulates issues and contestations specific to Shia Muslims living in Britain: what does displacement and migration mean for Shia Muslims who have often escaped oppression, war and civil conflict; how do Shia Muslims in Britain define their relationship to Sunnis in the context of rising sectarianism in the post-Arab Spring Middle East; how do Shia Muslims position themselves towards Iran and its aspiration to be the political leader of global Shiism?

Answering for Islam: Journalistic and Islamic Conceptions of Authority

Media representations of Muslims in Britain have often disappointed both faith practitioners and scholars. Imputed failings include distorting beliefs or practices, essentialising the faith, and amplifying voices that are not representative of Islam. This last factor hinges on questions of authority: what journalists and Muslims recognise as authority can differ in important ways. Drawing on studies of journalism practice, prior professional experience, and ethnographic fieldwork and qualitative interviews in Scotland, I discuss the conventional preference among journalists for “official sources” and the problems this can present in terms of hierarchy in Islam. I contrast this with a less-studied imperative, also present in newsrooms, for “real people”. This category matches well with Islam’s decentralised tradition and presents an opportunity to understand how different kinds of sources are presented in media coverage. It is possible for journalists to ensure that these differing claims to authority are represented properly, though this requires knowledge and responsibility.