Sufis, Salafis and Islamists: The Contested Ground of British Islamic Activism (Library of Modern Religion) - Hardcover

Hamid, Sadek

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1784532312 ISBN 13: 9781784532314

Publisher: I.B. Tauris, 2016

Synopsis

British Muslim activism has evolved constantly in recent decades. What have been its main groups and how do their leaders compete to attract followers? Which social and religious ideas from abroad are most influential? In this groundbreaking study, Sadek Hamid traces the evolution of Sufi, Salafi and Islamist activist groups in Britain, including The Young Muslims UK, Hizb ut-Tahrir, the Salafi JIMAS organisation and Traditional Islam Network. With reference to second-generation British Muslims especially, he explains how these groups gain and lose support, embrace and reject foreign ideologies, and succeed and fail to provide youth with compelling models of British Muslim identity. Analyzing historical and firsthand community research, Hamid gives a compelling account of the complexity that underlies reductionist media narratives of Islamic activism in Britain.

About this title

About the Author

Sadek Hamid is currently a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Lecturer in Islamic Studies at Liverpool Hope University. He has written widely about British Muslims, young people and religious activism and is the editor of Young British Muslims: Between Rhetoric and Real Lives (2016) and co-editor of Youth Work and Islam: a Leap of Faith for Young People (2011).

Review

'It is a pleasure to recommend this book by one of the leading scholars of Islam in Britain. Sadek Hamid has the perfect combination of personal biography and experience, allied to academic rigour and attention to detail that makes this a nuanced, timely, well-informed contribution to debate about Islam in Britain today.' - Prof. Sophie Gilliat-Ray. Author of Muslims in Britain: An Introduction 'Sadek Hamid has written an invaluable study illuminating and evaluating the changing landscape of Islamic activism in Britain over the last thirty years. He devotes a chapter each to four faces of activism: reformist Islamist, radical pan-Islamist, Salafi and neo-Sufi. Their transnational origins, history, evolution and mutual rivalries are mapped and assessed in a measured, non-sensational and accessible manner. He also explores the extent to which they are positioned to respond appropriately to the experiences and questions of a new, media savvy generation of British Muslims. Indispensable for policy makers, academics, students and the general reader.' - Dr Phil Lewis. Author of Young, Muslim and British,'Sadek Hamid's book is absolutely essential reading for anyone who wishes to further their knowledge of the dynamics of Islamic activism in Britain. It rescues Islamism from the rhetoric of terrorism and highlights the essential differences between 'islamicisation' and 'radicalisation.' - Prof. Ron Geaves. Author of Islam in Victorian Britain: The Life and Times of Abdullah Quilliam

Edition details

• Publisher: I.B. Tauris
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1784532312
• ISBN 13: 9781784532314
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 224