South Asian Muslim Identity in the UK

Abstract

This paper aims at examining the specific identity of South East Asian Muslims within the United Kingdom. Recent world events have brought Islam into the public eye and we shall explore the effect these events have had on Islamic faith communities residing within Britain. An affiliation with an internationalised Islamic brotherhood seems to be a comfort zone for many disenfranchised Asian youths who proceed from a Muslim heritage, and we shall look at how this identity may enter in conflict with an ideal of citizenship. The exclusion of these minorities from the discourses of nation can be identified as part of the problem, but we shall also examine issues of class as motivating factors. We shall be very careful to differentiate between a small minority that embraces jihadism, the notion of jahiliyya and other radical positions that are in fact distortions of Islamic faith, and a much broader based faith community that feels trapped between secularism and an ever more polarised radical Islam. We shall elucidate upon how this population of South East Asian Muslims find themselves caught within a complex and sometimes incommensurable dilemma.