"The Infidel Within": Muslims in Britain since 1800

by Humayun Ansari

Overview

Muslims constitute Britain's second largest religious grouping, and writing about their experiences has found a new audience in recent years-though not always through a positive lens. But a proper historical treatment of their arrival, settlement and establishment had been conspicuously absent until Humayun Ansari's seminal work, reissued here in an updated edition. "The Infidel Within" draws together rich archival research and first-hand experience into a broad, integrated history of the Muslim presence in Britain. Among the topics addressed are migration and settlement in Britain before 1945, the evolution of a British Muslim identity, Muslim women and families, Muslims and education, and the growing mobilization of Muslims in Britain's political, religious and economic life. This definitive and sympathetic history, brought right up to date, is a must-read for anyone seeking to understand modern Britain.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190935023
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	08/01/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Humayun Ansari is Professor of the History of Islam and Culture at Royal Holloway, University of London. He has conducted extensive research into the history of Muslims in Britain, ethnic studies and race relations, the employment and career opportunities of ethnic minorities, and racial discrimination and disadvantage in society. In 2002 Dr Ansari was awarded the OBE for his work in race relations.

Table of Contents

Glossary Preface to New Edition 1. Is there a British Muslim Identity? The context The issues Muslim identity and 'native' British converts to Islam Young British Muslims PART I ARRIVING, 1800-1945 2. Muslim Migration and Settlement in Britain before 1945 Early Muslim migration to Britain: visitors, sailors and settlers Imperial connections Seafaring sojourners Muslim migration to Britain, 1914-45 Fluctuating fortunes New opportunities 3. Muslim Engagement with British Society up to the First World War Contact, channels of communication and early arrivals in Britain Carving out a niche: interaction during the early nineteenth century Changing British attitudes towards Muslims Measures to administer relief to 'deserving cases' Muslim life in late Victorian Britain Encounters with the opposite sex The class factor: the case of the Munshi and the Court Perfidious Turks and despotic Orientals Quilliam's Liverpool Muslim congregation Pan-Islam and the First World War 4. 'Being Muslim' in Early Twentieth-Century Britain Social engagement during the interwar years Relations in the workplace Demanding the rights of citizenship 5. 'Weaving the Cultural Strands Together': Institutionalising Islam in Early Twentieth-Century Britain Quilliam and the Liverpool Mosque and Institute The Working Mosque and the Muslim Mission Process of institutionalisation among the Muslim communities of Cardiff and South Shields Sheikh Abdullah Ali al-Hakimi and the Alawi tariqa PART II STAYING-1945 ONWARDS 6. Muslim Migration to Britain after the Second World War Phases of postwar migration Chain migration and the role of pioneers 'Push' factors The case of postwar Yemeni settlers Government intervention and immigration controls The 1970s onwards 7. Contours of Muslim Life in Britain Since 1945 The size of the British Muslim population Geographical distribution Households and housing Demographic characteristics: age and gender distribution Education, qualifications and skills background Jobs: employment patterns Problems of discrimination 8. Assimilation, Integration, Accommodation: Aspects of Muslim Engagement with British Society Since 1945 Patterns and processes of interaction The context of majority-minority encounters Degrees of British Muslim assimilation The generation gap: British Muslims and youth culture Segregated leisure and sport? Matters of law Muslim political engagement in Britain 9. Muslim Women and Families in Britain The impact of migration Muslim women and family relationships Migration, Muslim women and waged work Changing dynamics in British Muslim families Muslim women resist sources of oppression The changing position of Muslim women in British society 10. British Muslims and Education: Issues and Prospects Early history Muslims and 'under performance' in education Multicultural education and Muslims-1970 to the mid-1980s Muslim education-from the mid-1980s to 2001 The struggle for voluntary-aided Muslim schools Muslim education in the 1990s 11. The Evolution of Muslim Organisation in Britain Since the Second World War Early history Laying the foundation stones: Britain's network of mosques and Muslim organisation The evolution of Sufi orders in Britain Umbrella organisations from the 1980s onwards Organisation of welfare, social and cultural services Muslim youth organisation Organising Muslim women Institutionalisation of Muslim minority sects in Britain: the Ismailis 12. Conclusion: British Muslim Identities Notes Bibliography Acknowledgements Index

Editorial Reviews

"Striking diversity is the most distinctive feature of the Muslim community in Britain. Yet, as Ansari argues in this history of Islam in Britain, British Muslims have consistently been portrayed as denizens of a monolithic and undifferentiated world, ill at ease with modernity, secularism and democracy. Through painstaking research, and an inspired exploration of the issues of identity, Ansari sets out to dispel this absurd, but widely held, myth." — The Independent

"[Humayun Ansari does] an excellent job of providing a historical and country-wide account which is not only descriptive but analytical. It is fluently written and easily accessible to a wide range of readers and has the potential of becoming the initial reference text for people starting research in the area as well as a required text for university courses."— Jorgen S. Nielsen, Professor of Islamic Studies, University of Birmingham

From the Publisher