Exploring changing perspectives of Muslim families over time involves assessing how significant social and political developments in British society have contributed to dominant understandings of Muslim family life. Considering this wider historical context is necessary in providing a solid foundation for exploring Muslim family life in the present. The chapter begins by drawing attention to how historical events and processes connected to colonialism, empire and its breakup shape the experiences and family histories of the majority of British Muslims. It then moves on to consider connections between family life and post-Second World War patterns of migration, including how changing immigration controls influenced when and how family reunification started to occur. It explains how problematizing accounts of Muslim families gradually began to emerge due to growing concerns about how to manage increased ethnic diversity and accommodate cultural and religious differences. This includes how ideas informing the advance of colonialism and empire have continued to influence the private domain of Muslim family life through privileging nuclear family and companionate marriage norms. It shows how, by the late 20th century, the private domain of Muslim family life had become a public issue.

The chapter engages with the changing politics of identity and critiques of multiculturalism, both of which facilitated a shift towards a sustained focus on cultural and religious differences and on Muslim family life as problematic. It shows how, by the early 21st century, Muslim families had come to be seen as a site for the reproduction of problematic, potentially dangerous beliefs and values and deviant, conflict-ridden relationships. A key contribution of the chapter is in identifying two significant, related processes of representation that have emerged over time, contributing to problematizing perspectives of Muslim family life in contemporary Britain. The otherness of Muslim family life is shown to be firmly connected to a preference for extended family arrangements, which are underpinned by collectivist ideals and result in Muslims being seen as having too much family.

Colonialism and empire

Muslims have been present in Britain for longer than is commonly assumed. Although there is historical evidence of a Muslim presence from the 8th century onwards, the number of Muslims increased substantially during the 19th century due to the expansion of the British Empire (Runnymede Trust, 1997; Gilliat-Ray, 2010, pp 3–28).