Tag: Innes Bowen
Dispelling myths about British Muslims
Many people have come to regard Muslims as a backward group of religious extremists estranged from wider society and incapable of coming to terms with what it means to be British. This impression has been heightened by misleading press reporting and inflammatory statements from senior politicians. The so-called "Trojan horse" controversy concerning an alleged Muslim takeover of Birmingham schools – based on what looks like a fabricated document – has brought fresh ugliness to an already putrid public debate.
There are elements of truth in the popular narrative about British Islam, but much of it is based on ignorance. A 2011 Demos survey showed that Muslims are more patriotic than other Britons (83 per cent said they were proud to be British as opposed to 79 per cent of the general population), and are more integrated than is often thought to be the case. So the publication of these two books could not be timelier. Medina in Birmingham, Najaf in Brent: Inside British Islam by Innes Bowen and The Muslims Are Coming! Islamophobia, Extremism and the Domestic War on Terror by Arun Kundnani.
Innes Bowen, a BBC radio journalist, has written an admirable and clear- headed study which has much to teach anyone with an interest in British Islam. She explains the beliefs, historical background and political engagement of the main Muslim sects and organisations: Deobandis, Barelwis, Tablighi Jamaat, Muslim Brotherhood, Salafis, Shia and Ismailis.
Bowman dispels a long list of myths about the role of Saudi teaching in mosques, the influence of Iran among British Shia (very little), the connection between the doctrines of Tablighi Jamaat and terrorism (none), and the alleged shortage of British-born imams (there are plenty). Bowen's book is gentle and optimistic. She suggests that over time there is no fundamental contradiction between Islam and the modern Western state.
Arun Kundnani has written a very different kind of work. It is angrier and more polemical. Yet it too is grounded in research from both sides of the Atlantic. The case studies from the United States are shocking. He shows how Muslims there can be ensnared by the FBI into so-called plots which have been devised by the US government, arguing convincingly that Islam has taken over the role of public enemy from communism. It dispels myths, pointing out that "there is no Islamic doctrine of 'kill the unbelievers' as anti-Islam propagandists often maintain. Islam, like other religions, provides a broad moral framework for thinking about questions of violence." Again and again this book challenges your assumptions. It is worth reading for its examination of the word "extremism" alone. Martin Luther King, Kundnani points out, was denounced in this way. Kundnani is fiercer and more pessimistic.
Author Euro-IslamPosted on 14th July 2014 Categories Discrimination and Xenophobia, Immigration and Integration, Issues in Politics, Public Opinion and Islam in the Media, Radicalization, Security and Counterterrorism, United KingdomTags Arun Kundnani, BOOK, book review, british muslims, Discrimination, Innes Bowen, islamophobia, Muslim Communities, radicalisation, radicalisation thesis, Research, Shia, UK, Xenophobia