Muslims in Britain - a presentation by Dr Humayun Ansari

1 December 2003

I am delighted and privileged to be here with you today to celebrate the launch of the Islamic Experience Exhibition and to be with you for Eid celebrations.

Download the MRG report 'Muslims in Britain' by Humayun Ansari I am very impressed by the services provided by the Muslim Welfare House to meet the social and educational needs of the wider community. I know that the facility is used by people from many different nationalities, with cultural and language disparity, and all involved should be proud of this achievement.

To have succeeded in putting together this wonderful Exhibition is, for me, one of the many signs throughout British society that the Muslim community is a permanent and a positive part of the UK population, and I hope this Exhibition will be enjoyed both by Muslims and by those of other faiths.

For me, this Exhibition is visible evidence of the fusion that has taken place between Islamic culture and British culture and society generally. Islamic culture has not merely been transplanted to Britain, but rather it has made a major contribution to the constructing of European civilisation. The impact of Muslim achievements in textiles, carpets, metal- and leather-working, glass-making and bookbinding can be found across medieval and early modern Europe. Silk and paper was brought to the West by Muslim hands, as was the cultivation of sugar, cotton and citrus fruit. A substantial Arabic input into European languages across a broad range of activities cannot be ignored (‘magazine’ from makhazin meaning storehouse, ‘traffic’ from tafriq and ‘check’ from the Arabic sakk). Through Arabs came advanced knowledge in mathematics, astronomy, optics, astrology, alchemy, geography and medicine. Muslim civilisation drew heavily on Greek and Hellenistic ideas and advanced them to new levels. Having developed this classical inheritance, Islam transmitted it to Europe where it was subsequently absorbed by European scholars and taken to new heights. In Britain, artists and musical composers greatly valued Islamic arts, and naturally studied, borrowed and adapted from the Muslim world. Composers found fresh harmonies and rhythmic potential, a different sound world, particularly of percussion and wind, from which they derived stimulation, revitalising their own craft in the process.

In other aspects of life, inspiration was drawn both technically and visually. For instance, in relation to architecture, tiles and lattices were incorporated because of their intrinsic aesthetic value. Distinguished buildings, rooms and gardens were extensively shaped by so-called ‘Moorish’ and Islamic styles, effectively blending them with European forms. Various Muslim fashions were similarly reflected in the design of British theatres. Cinemas had Mughal-like external appearances and names such as Alhambra and Granada matched their architectural style. The Prince Regent's 'Pavilion' in Brighton, Lord Leighton's Arab Hall at Leighton House in Holland Park and the durbar hall at Queen Victoria's Osborne House between them represented perhaps the most outstanding examples of this fusion.

This cultural fusion has continued to the present day. We can see this, for example, through the fusion of popular music forms in the West, such as rap, with traditional Punjabi, Gujarati or Bengali forms; through the growing involvement of young Muslims in the performing arts – for instance, Asian bands such as Kaliphiz and Fundamental in 'pop' music; through Yusuf Islam's (formerly Cat Stevens - an icon of the 'pop' world of the 1960s and 1970s) return to music at a recent concert at the Albert Hall; through the dance remixes of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan's compositions by Massive Attack and the Real World's popularisation of Must Must; and through the growing engagement in theatre, cinema, television, journalism and literature. These are all instances of Muslim contributions to British art and culture inspired by the Islamic heritage.

How, then, have we reached this point of increasing fusion today?

The Muslim population in Britain has a dynamic, and sometimes surprising, history. There is some evidence of Ottoman Muslims - merchants and sailors - travelling to England from the end of the sixteenth century. The frequency and duration of Muslim sailors and traders visiting British ports increased during the nineteenth century with some taking up permanent residence. Significant 'settler' communities evolved from the middle of the nineteenth century in Manchester, Cardiff, Liverpool, South Shields, and in the East End of London. As well as sailors, these Muslims included merchants, itinerant entertainers, servants, princes, students and a sprinkling from the professional classes. As more Muslims settled in Britain, they gradually established institutions that they hoped would enable them to meet their material and spiritual needs. Indeed, the formation of mosques for communal worship was the central architectural achievement of the early Muslims. For example, the construction of the first purpose-built mosque in Woking, Surrey, in 1889, in an Indo-Arab design, became, and still is, a major architectural feature of the area.

During the late 1800s the centre of the Muslim community in Britain effectively shifted to Woking, where the mosque served a significant Muslim community in an environment that was becoming virulently hostile from top to bottom. The Muslim community stressed tolerance and was prepared to engage in the rational debate on important and controversial issues of the day. It became a symbol of the world-wide Muslim community in Britain during the inter-war period. Muslim dignatories invariably made a point of attending at the Mosque on their visits to Britain. Implicit in the visits by prominent figures from such diverse environs and denominational backgrounds was the acceptance of the non-sectarian character of the Woking Muslim Mission - something that British Muslims are again striving to achieve at the beginning of the new Millennium.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, there were an estimated 10,000 Muslims living and working in Britain. It would not be unreasonable to suggest that the total number of Muslims is now around two million. These Muslims in contemporary Britain span the religious spectrum – from devout adherence to orthodox Islamic practice to nominal affiliation.

Let us take a few moments to consider the diversity of today's British Muslim community.

The majority of Muslim immigrants entered Britain at the bottom of the socio-economic ladder. Nevertheless, Muslims have been resilient in overcoming adversity and have constantly sought to improve their lives. In the early 1990s the proportion of Pakistanis in professional occupations, for instance, already exceeded that for whites; successful business ventures in property, food, services and fashion have emerged. Small-scale enterprises, in particular Sylheti-owned restaurants, have continued to expand. Many Pakistanis have moved to affluent suburbia. There is also a high proportion of highly skilled Arab settlers employed in professional positions as engineers, professors, doctors, and business people. Recent research also suggests that there are currently well over 5,000 Muslim millionaires in Britain, with liquid assets of more than £3.6bn.

What, then, is the experience of this currently diverse community of Muslims in Britain?

Irrespective of their socio-economic status, it is clearly the case that many Muslims have been subject to religious discrimination, as well as wider racial discrimination. The new Employment Equality Regulations, coming into force tomorrow, are therefore a welcome introduction of legislation outlawing discrimination on grounds of religion or belief. This is something that has long been needed to protect Muslims particularly in the workplace.

Persistent attacks on Muslims, increasing threats to civil liberties in the name of security measures, a resurgence of the far-right, a crackdown on refugees fleeing persecution - is one of the most pressing issues facing British society today.

‘Islamophobia’, defined as ‘dread or hatred of Islam and fear or dislike of Muslims’, continues to have a detrimental impact on British Muslims' lives. The fall-out subsequent to the events of 11 September 2001 was appalling. Vandals attacked mosques and Asian-run businesses around the UK; alcohol bottles, firebombs and excrement were thrown through letterboxes; and death threats were made against Muslims. Pigs’ heads were dumped outside a mosque in Exeter.

The impact of the 'war on terrorism' remains with us. The media’s widespread prefacing with ‘Muslim’ of words such as ‘extremists’, ‘terrorists’ ‘fundamentalists’ and ‘fanatics’ has only served to perpetuate the view that Muslims and Islam are violent and frighteningly dangerous. In a survey of the coverage of Islam and Muslims in the British media before 11 September, persistent stereotypes relating to Muslims were identified. Parts of the media continue to create negative perceptions and a climate that is not conducive to bringing together all of our communities that make up the UK.

Soon after 11 September, the British Prime Minister, Tony Blair, seeking to clarify that the events had nothing to do with Islam or Muslims per se, stressed that Muslims should not be targeted in any way.

But since then, unfortunately, Government ministers and other influential politicians have resumed the old business of portraying Muslims, indiscriminately, as an alien, threatening, problematic presence in 'our' midst. On the one hand there have been policies and practices developed to match the reality of an ethnically, culturally, and socially plural Britain. On the other hand, current plans for compulsory citizenship classes and tests, a new loyalty oath and strictures on transcontinental arranged marriages seem to promote an essentially populist assimilationist perspective, so forcefully, but unsuccessfully, driven by the Thatcherite Right in the 1980s. The use of the term 'swamping' in relation to asylum-seekers and condemnation of 'intolerance in the guise of cultural difference', by the Home Secretary, or criticism of Muslims as 'isolationist' by Peter Hain (a Foreign Office minister) reversed the earlier harmonising gestures of this Government. This denigrating trend has continued, the most recent instance being Denis MacShane's speech in the aftermath of two bombings in Istanbul. He seemed to be singing from the same hymn sheet as Margaret Thatcher. Echoing her comments after 9/11, that she had not 'heard enough condemnation from Muslim priests' regarding those atrocities, the MP for Rotherham and a Foreign Office minister challenged the 'elected and community leaders of British Muslims yet again to make a choice - 'in a clearer and stronger language' - between the "British way" of political dialogue or Islamic terrorism, implying, as others have done, that he doubted the genuineness and intensity of British Muslims' denunciation of terrorism.

These opportunistic diatribes misrepresent the position of the vast majority of British Muslims. They alienate British Muslims from the mainstream, and they have the potential to drive, at least some of those who believe that they are once again being stereotyped, into the arms of extremists. Most importantly, they fail to distinguish between the minute minority of extremists and the vast majority of peaceful and law-abiding Muslims.

Beyond disadvantage and discrimination, there has been considerable exclusion of Muslims from public life. However, in 1997, for the first time, a Muslim, Mohammad Sarwar, was elected to Parliament. A record 53 Muslim candidates then stood in the 2001 general election. There are currently two Muslims members of Parliament and one who is a member of the European Parliament. Meanwhile, five Muslims have been appointed as peers. In addition, Muslim participation in local politics has expanded.

However, Muslim politicians have remained largely sidelined. By the late 1990s, there were still no Muslim leaders of local councils, and only a handful of deputy leaders. Muslims have faced resistance in selection processes because of negative stereotypes. Muslim networking, for example, has been seen as 'undemocratic', and Muslims have been accused of opportunism, illegal recruiting practices, bribery, corruption, and using politics for personal gain, despite the fact that there is little evidence to show that their conduct is any more open to suspicion than that of their white counterparts. There is obviously still a long way to go before Muslim involvement in these aspects of British life is not tainted by negative assumptions.

Bearing in mind the lengthy history of a Muslim presence in Britain, and the ways in which Muslims have put down roots in this country, British Muslims need to be looked at not as “newcomers”, “the other” and as “alien”, but very much as a people whose roots, increasingly, are in the UK. Young British Muslims are, obviously, from ‘here’ – if they are told to ‘go back home’ then it is to London, Bradford, Glasgow or Cardiff that they should go, not Pakistan, Bangladesh, or Somalia.

Under these circumstances, people in Britain need:

· To recognise that Muslims make positive contributions across the whole of our society

· They need to stop automatically seeing Muslims as a threat to Western society; and

· They need to start to think of Muslims as 'us' rather than as 'them'.

Unless the root causes of Islamophobia are addressed, the deep divisions in our society will remain. This process of addressing the problem of Islamophobia, I hope, is beginning to happen, and centres such as the Muslim Welfare House certainly project a very positive and welcome message to wider society.

As wider British society perhaps begins to move away, albeit hesitantly, from negative images and stereotypes to a more positive understanding of Islam and Muslims, we can also detect an increasing recognition in the Establishment of the needs, concerns and aspirations of British Muslims. During the past few years, for instance, there has been greater acknowledgement of the Muslim contribution to the development of British business.

A couple of years ago, the Queen gave her backing to Britain's Muslims in her first public comment on the war against terrorism and acknowledged the contribution made by the Muslim community to British life. It is gratifying to note that, right at the top, Prince Charles has understood this changing environment and has reached out to the British Muslim community. This has been reflected in his indication that he wishes to be the Defender of Faiths (as opposed to being the Defender of the Faith, i.e. the Church of England).

Muslims, too, are demonstrating their wish to enter into meaningful dialogue in a spirit of reconciliation and full participation.

However, with the Iraq situation, Muslims feel fearful of what this will mean for them in Britain. There is a great deal of anger. There is much anxiety across the Muslim community. The link between the local and the global has been established; between affluence on the one hand and poverty and deprivation on the other; between local and global injustices. It is not only Muslims in Britain who have protested against the war in Iraq. Many, indeed the vast majority of those who have demonstrated and expressed their concerns, including during the recent visit to the UK from the US President, have been non-Muslims. This anti-war movement has done wonders for integration.

All these recent events and images suggest that we have come a long way from those book burnings of 1989 when we were lampooned by the media as intolerant Nazis totally out of touch with the tenor, traditions and values of British society. Thankfully, important lessons have been learned. Muslims who had isolated themselves at the margins, seem to be now much more part of the mainstream.

Muslims and non-Muslims need to grasp this tightly with both hands and build on the progress that we have made so that we, together with subsequent generations, can realistically anticipate a bright future.

Thanks and God bless you.