Global Arab Network | The hope for integrating British Muslims

Translate this article to your language:

GANPublications

e-Publications

Add Site to Favorites

Add Page to Favorites

Make Homepage

Share This Page

RSS Feed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| |

The hope for integrating British Muslims

Global Arab Network - - Mohamed Tamer

Wednesday, 23 February 2011 01:10

London - Dr. (S. M.) Atif Imtiaz recently published Wandering Lonely in a Crowd: Reflections on the Muslim Condition in the West, a collection of talks and essays examining the lives and conditions of British Muslims over the last decade. The book balances theory and personal experience and offers insights for Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

Imtiaz, who holds a Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the London School of Economics, has worked in Bradford on equality and diversity for the National Health Service and is currently Academic Director at the Cambridge Muslim College. I spoke to him recently about his book and about the state of Muslims in the UK today.

The work examines how British Muslims experienced the George W. Bush era, which you refer to as the “post-9/11 period”. Are we still living in post-9/11 Britain and, if so, how should we understand the significance of the 7 July 2005 bombings in London that killed 52 people and injured hundreds more?

Atif Imtiaz: The London bombings had a profound impact on the Muslim community. People were hoping that there would not be a terrorist attack, but the bombings have made the Muslim community take the terrorist threat within Britain much more seriously. I think we are moving beyond the post-9/11 era. The major turning point was the election of US President Barack Obama. He stood and was elected as a “change” candidate and though there is still some way to go, progress is being made, albeit slowly.

Can UK Muslims exist independently of the international politics you analyse? How might the relationship between world engagement and local concerns differ for Muslims and non-Muslims in Britain?

Imtiaz: It is very difficult for UK Muslims to exist independently of international politics. There is a greater sense of internationalism amongst UK Muslims than [non-Muslims] in Britain because of a greater sense of universality within [Islam’s teachings]. But we should seek to determine our own manner of political engagement and not have it defined for us by external actors or events. However, there is also a strong feeling of local identity [for UK Muslims], without any sense of contradiction [with their faith], which I think is a good thing.

An autobiographical episode in your book reflects the difficulty for Muslim intellectuals to engage and include the UK Muslim community. You describe how, when you try to discuss community relations with a group of Muslim youths from Bradford, they ”seemed to be present but distant. After a while, it became clear that they didn’t understand some of the words I was using, not just the jargon, but sometimes just longer words. They were interested in our conversation, but couldn’t participate.”
Is your blog an attempt to address such alienation, and how else can this challenge be overcome effectively?

Imtiaz: This is a very big challenge and is mostly due to declining educational standards in general, and within the Muslim population in particular. It can only be improved through a massive change in culture towards education. The blog was set up to provide a space to challenge the narrative that has begun to develop in the UK around the Muslim presence – a narrative that is mainly negative and stigmatising. It requires a response and my blog is an attempt to provide that response.

Why has the moderate majority of British Muslims been unable to establish a more strongly unified platform of high profile figures in opposition to extremist personalities like Abu Hamza, a Muslim cleric who preaches violence?

Imtiaz: I think they have – the MINAB (Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board) is an example. But the media prefers drama and hyperbole to reasonableness and common sense.

The tabloids are blamed for reproducing, rather than challenging, misconceptions about Islam. You praise the more accurate commentary of magazines like emel, yet the reach of such journalism is predominantly limited to a Muslim audience. Is this the result of exclusion in the mainstream or self-segregation?

Imtiaz: This is the result of exclusion in large parts of the mainstream. As I suggest in the book, ”to integrate” is a passive verb, not an active one. One can only ask to be integrated. It is up to others, those who represent the mainstream, to integrate those who are not like them. Almost ten years after September 11 we can see that this is taking a long time. This is not because Muslims are not seeking (indeed demanding) inclusion. Rather, it is because in many cases they simply aren’t being let in. That is why, as my title suggests, though we may be part of society, there is a certain sense of alienation that accompanies ”being together”.

Global Arab Network

* Thomas McGee is a freelance journalist working in London and the Middle East. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).

Add comment

The opinions of the authors in articles published are theirs alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Global Arab Network
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Published comments are the opinions of private individuals and do not reflect the views of Global Arab Network