Introduction

Current controversies about faith in the public realm have been stirred by historical and contemporary developments and events relating specifically to Islam and the perceptions of, and by, Muslim people in the UK and in the wider world. This chapter brings the perspectives of two Muslim authors to the exploration of Muslim experience in the cultural context of Britain where public expression of faith is often met with unease or even hostility.

Muslims are now the largest religious minority in the UK. Like other recently settled minorities, they stand out because most are not white, and their customs and beliefs are not implicit in British tradition. Muslims have a visibility out of proportion to their numbers. Nationally and internationally, Islam has gained a special status from both terrorism and the ‘War on Terror’. There is a grim litany. On the one hand, there have been cruel terrorist atrocities from the US embassy bombs in Kenya and Tanzania through 9/11, Bali and Madrid to 7/7 in London, and hatred disseminated through speeches and the World Wide Web by small but vociferous groups campaigning in the name of Islam for the overthrow of the world order. On the other hand, there have been military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq; security clampdowns; and, underlying everything, the festering sore of Palestine, Israel and Lebanon. Consequently, significant numbers of Muslims are seen, and seem to see themselves, as engaged in a struggle against the rest of society, including, perhaps especially, other Muslims.

Unsurprisingly, there is worldwide concern about the trajectory of Muslim communities. In September 2005, Trevor Phillips, as Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality, responded to the London atrocities of 7 July 2005 with a speech entitled, ‘After 7/7: sleepwalking to segregation’, in which he explored ‘the causes of 7/7, the legacy of multiculturalism, and the place of Muslim communities’ (Phillips, 2005). Muslims, he believed, were turning their backs on their neighbours. Muslim segregation continues to be hotly debated. In January 2008, Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester, argued that some Muslims have created ‘no-go’ areas for all who do not adhere to ‘the ideology of Islamic extremism’ (Nazir-Ali, 2008).