British Muslim Response to the Post-9/11 Uncertainties

The 9/11 and 7/7 attacks in the US and UK, as well as the subsequent War on Terror and its effects have had a tremendous sociopolitical impact on the British Muslim polity. On the one hand the effects have fostered Islamophobia and the securitization of Muslims. But on the other hand, which is the focus of this paper, the aforementioned events have fostered an atmosphere where sociopolitical and religious reflexivity is taking place among British Muslims.

The paper is based on interviews and virtual ethnography and they identified three main ways in which the Muslim community is changing. Firstly, some Muslims are adopting a literalist reading of Islam, which is performance orientated and piety conscious. Secondly, a small number of Muslims are reading Islam in a liberal reformist way within a modern sociopolitical milieu. The group is composed of born and convert Muslims and ethnically diverse. The reformists tend to focus on human rights, women rights and the rights of the Muslim LGTB community. Finally, an increasingly large number of young Muslims are becoming politically assertive, confidant, and organized. These Muslims in the main are concerned with human rights, especially of fellow Muslims. Like the literalist group, this group is composed born and convert Muslims and is also ethnically diverse. This group adheres to a mixture of reformist and literalist reading of Islam and often receives criticism from the literalists.