In British politics today, there is so much talk of identity, of what it means to belong, of shared values. Sometimes it is assumed that we must all trace our values back to Hellenic roots, as if this were the foundation of civilisation. Yet my heart has always felt comfort in the Semitic pathway. As …
In 1996 when I went to study at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) – a college of the University of London – I watched as a fellow student when through what he thought was a radical transition in his views. Given the nature of the college, many white students came in with …
Although Lesley White’s article focusing on the social life of the British Muslim community in this weekend’s Sunday Times was not particularly negative, it has irritated me. There seems to be an underlying assumption that the United Kingdom is defined by a monoculture, outside which lie the Muslims. It is not. I am a native …
In an opinion piece on a US website last week, a British Muslim journalist lamented the growth of pop culture within the Muslim community. She was commenting on the response of female audiences to the nasheed (song) performances in a central London concert hall which in her opinion resembled a boy-band fan club. “Eminent scholars …
The man behind the bar said he could tell what any man was like Just by looking at him. Well he got me wrong. He thinks I am nothing, Just like you do. He said he is never wrong. Well, perhaps he’s right; Based on your beliefs. Like you think anyone who doesn’t drink beer …
I couldn’t understand what he was talking about, but it sure sounded cool. I knew he had all my money in his future and that was red. Red like a London Bus. Did he understand me? I shouldn’t think so. Give me a pint of petrol I said. He didn’t understand that. Well why would …
He told me I was the blackest white man he had ever met Because I listened to reggae? Or danced to the hip-hop beat? A nice idea, perhaps he thought, Put blackness in a package? I think he bought his stereotyped ideas, When he tried to lose his cultural baggage. “Oh, individuality. Don’t bother me …
