Young British Muslims: Between Rhetoric and Real Lives

Young British Muslims continue to generate strong interest in public discourse. However, much of this interest is framed in negative terms that tends to associate them with criminality, religious extremism or terrorism. Focusing instead on other aspects of being young, Muslim and British, this volume takes a multidisciplinary approach that seeks to ‘normalise’ the subjects and focus on their everyday lived realities. Structured into three sections, the collection begins by contextualising the study of young British Muslims, before addressing the sensitive social issues highlighted in the media and finally focusing on a variety of case studies which investigate the previously unexplored lived experiences of these young people. With contributions from scholars of religion, media and criminology, as well as current and former practitioners within youth and social work contexts, Young British Muslims: Between Rhetoric and Realities will appeal to scholars who have an interest in the fastest growing, most profiled minority demographic in the UK.

Sadek Hamid is currently a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Liverpool Hope University. He has written widely about Islam in Britain, young Muslims and Islamic activism. He is author of Sufis, Salafis and Islamists:The Contested Ground of British Islamic Activism (2016) and co-editor of Youth Work and Islam: a Leap of Faith for Young People (2011).