In-depth
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The issue of women's rights in Islam is a key arena of the debate between traditionalists and reformers in contemporary Islam. There has been a recent strengthening of traditional, socially-conservative views on women in Muslim societies, even in Western countries - some would go as far as to say that some of these views are misogynist. This article outlines ways towards challenging... | |
History of Muslims in Britain: from Queen Elizabeth I to George I The extensive research of Imtiaz Habib into the English archives has revealed tantalizing information about the first possible Muslims in England. Although it is difficult to identify exactly the Muslim "Moors" and "Blackamores" in the lists of baptisms and burials, Habib's findings demonstrate that from the Elizabethan period on, England began receiving peoples with different religions and skin... | |
How the Western mind reads Islam What does the average person in the West know about Islam? Not a lot! Generally people only know the bits that they hear from TV programmes and in the news. Very few people have read a book explaining Islam and if they have then mostly these just talk about the mechanics of Muslim rituals like prayer and fasting or going on pilgrimage. Even though there are nearly two million Muslims in... | |
Identity, Muslims and multiculturalism Issues of identity and belonging have stimulated strong debates, so much that even Gordon Brown has written and spoken about Britishness. In post 9/11 Britain, successive opinion polls have tied these anxieties and their politicised questions to negative attitudes towards British Muslims. These have become important contemporary issues for civic Britain. British Muslim identity politics... | |
Is religion antithetical to modernity? At times, I cannot help feeling as if there were something quaint, something vaguely archaic, about the public debate over religion and science today. It is as though we were back in the Oxford of 1860 when Thomas Huxley, 'Darwin's bulldog', debated Bishop Wilberforce at a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science (and, by implication, the Retrenchment... | |
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Science and Islam are intimately linked. Islam not only places a high premium on science but positively encourages the pursuit of science. Indeed, Islam considers science as an essential prerequisite for human survival. This sounds odd. We normally think of religion as inimically hostile to science. Wasn't there a long and protracted war between science and Christianity? ... | |
Islam and the West in a post Sept. 11 world The Sept. 11, 2001 attacks against New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon in Washington and subsequent attacks in Europe have reinforced the voices of those in the West who speak of a "fundamentalist" holy war exported to the West. The tendency of many governments, the media and political analysts was to conclude the existence of an inherently anti-Western global ... | |
Muslim engagement with British society in the 20th Century: the Woking Mosque In the late 19th Century, a small mosque 'of considerable beauty' was built in the small and sedate town of Woking, Surrey. Located in a very English rural setting, it surprisingly became the symbol and centre of Muslim activity in Britain during the first half of the twentieth century. For many decades it attracted great interest from Muslims, high and low, in Britain and abroad. ... | |
The nature of law and morality The law plays a central role in Islam and yet, the law is also the least understood aspect of the Islamic faith by Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Some even go as far as thinking that a Muslim who believes in Sharia law is by definition a fanatic or fundamentalist. Yet to accuse every Muslim who believes in Islamic law of fanaticism is akin to accusing every Jew who believes in Rabbinic or Talmudic... | |
Pluralism and its implications for Muslims Pluralism is a buzz-word in the world of politics, economics, ideas and thought, as well as in religion and many other socio-ethical fields. The word 'pluralism' indicates a relationship between a group on the one hand, and on the other a larger society of which the group is a part. Such a contrast may take various forms such as mosques, churches, political parties or voluntary groups, and the state or... | |
The significance of a 19th Century Muslim community in Liverpool In 1887, a Liverpool solicitor converted to Islam after visiting North Africa. William Henry Quilliam adopted the name Abdullah and began to seek adherents to his new faith in his native city. His conversion was announced in the press and presumably created some consternation amongst the city's gentry. Abdullah Quilliam was highly respected in the city. His family members were... |
The views expressed within these articles belong to the respective expert authors,
they do not necessarily represent the views of the Islamic Society of Britain