Abstract
Muslims in the United Kingdom (UK) are diverse and heterogeneous and include different ethnicities, ‘races’, classes and identities. Britain’s colonial history (including in Muslim majority lands), years of migration, and the growth of indigenous white Muslim communities has meant that the British Muslim population is a mosaic of the global Muslim ummah. Therefore the questions that logically precede the writing of this chapter, namely: ‘who is a British Muslim?,’ or ‘what does it mean to be a Muslim in Britain,’ are necessarily complex ones which require nuanced and detailed answers, but which inevitably entail the privileging of particular aspects of these groups—their ‘Muslimness’, as well as to a certain extent, their ‘Britishness’—from within the multiple identifications to which they may subscribe.
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In Scotland and in Northern Ireland, the Census question asked ‘What religion, religious denomination or body do you belong to?’ while in England and in Wales, the question asked only ‘What is your religion?’
- 2.
The breakdown of religion data by gender in Scotland was not available at the time of writing the chapter.
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The 1757 Battle of Plassey in Bengal, where Siraj-ud-Daula, the ruler of Bengal was defeated made the Company de facto ruler of Bengal and accelerated this process.
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See Illustrated London News, 9 November, 1889, pp. 590–591.
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The Twelvers take their name from their belief in a succession of 11 further Imams after Ali, the last of whom, Muhammad Al-Muntazar, is believed to be still alive and awaiting command of God to reappear.
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The Seveners take their name from their belief in the same first six Imams as the Twelvers, but who thereafter accepted the primacy of Ismail, the older son of the sixth Imam.
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The Aga Khanis believe the Aga Khan to be their living Imam.
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See Eweida and Others (Chaplin, Ladele and McFarlane) v. the United Kingdom, 2013.
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See http://www.mihe.org.uk/index.php, and for a detailed discussion on the training and development of Muslim Faith Leaders in Britain, please see M. Mukadam et al. (2010).
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The MINAB Constitution is accessible at: http://minab.lmnocouk.netdna-cdn.com/images/stories/Documents/MINAB-Constitution-Standards-012011.pdf.
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The caliphate was the ruling institution of the Islamic state. The Caliph was the chief Muslim civil and religious ruler and was regarded as the successor of Muhammad. The Caliphate therefore began with the death of Muhammad and the appointment of the first Caliph Abu Bakr Siddiqui. The term continued to be applied to the rulers of various historical Muslim empires, including by the Ottoman Empire until it was abolished in modern Turkey in 1924. Conceptually the caliphate represents the political unity of the global community of Muslims (the ummah), ruled by a single caliph. Thus the re-establishment of the caliphate has become a cause that groups such as Hizb ut-Tahrir aspire to achieve.
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The term purdah implies seclusion. It refers to various practices designed to protect women from men in traditional Muslim societies, including confining women to the company of other women and close male relatives in their home or in separate female living quarters, veiling, self-effacing mannerisms, and the separation of men and women in public places. These practices reflect both social and religious custom. It is important to distinguish the term purdah from the term hijab. Hijab consist of modesty guidelines for males and females as derived from the Qur’an and the Sunnah. The hijab as a concept includes dress code and also behavioural guidelines that Muslim men and women must adhere to. In contemporary society the word hijab is used to describe the headscarf worn by Muslim women.
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Weller, P., Cheruvallil-Contractor, S. (2015). Muslims in the UK. In: Burchardt, M., Michalowski, I. (eds) After Integration. Islam und Politik. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-02594-6_16
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