Manchester Muslims: the Developing Role of Mosques, Imams and Committees with Particular Reference to Barelwi Sunnis and UKIM
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Durham E-Theses Manchester Muslims: The developing role of mosques, imams and committees with particular reference to Barelwi Sunnis and UKIM. AHMED, FIAZ How to cite: AHMED, FIAZ (2014) Manchester Muslims: The developing role of mosques, imams and committees with particular reference to Barelwi Sunnis and UKIM., Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/10724/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 DURHAM UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY Manchester Muslims: The developing role of mosques, imams and committees with particular reference to Barelwi Sunnis and UKIM. Fiaz Ahmed September 2013 Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Declaration I declare that this thesis is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief it contains no material previously published or written by another person except where dueacknowledgement has been made in the text. The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without the author's prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. I | P a g e Manchester Muslims: The Developing Role of Mosques, Imams and Committees with particular reference to Barelwi Sunnis and UKIM Fiaz Ahmed Abstract Using ethnographic data from the Pakistani Muslim community in Manchester, I argue that the role of mosques, Imams and mosque committees has taken place in an environment of conflict in which Pakistani Muslims have struggled to construct a Muslim identity. In part, the British Pakistani Muslim community has established and maintained a religious identity through the negotiation of faith practice in schools, halal meals and the construction of purpose built mosques. These phenomena reflect the growing confidence of a British Muslim identity which must be understood in the context of debates surrounding „multiculturalism‟, „integration‟, „exclusion‟ and „recognition‟ of identity. In addition to understanding the development of religious identity in Manchester, I also examine the radicalisation of a certain section of the Muslim youth and government responses to this perceived threat. I examine the ways in which Manchester Muslims, especially those connected to mosques engage with state political institutions and how they perceive „secularism‟. I offer a typology of the political behaviour of Muslims in relation to participation in the political process. Finally, I argue that a lack of conflict resolution training and an implicit belief in Manichean dichotomies of conflict has fragmented relationships among mosques and Imams in Manchester which has exacerbated the position of British Pakistanis in particular and British Muslims in general. II | P a g e CONTENTS Abstract..............................................................................................................................II List of Figures…………………………………………………………………………VIII List of Tables…………………………………………………………………………….IX List of Maps……………………………………………………………………………..IX Acknoweldgement and Dedication....................................................................................X Manchester Muslims: The Developing Role of Mosques, Imams and Committees with particular reference to Barelwi Sunnis and UKIM ........................................................ II 1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................1 1.1 Arrival of Economic Migrants from Pakistan......................................................3 1.2 Living in a Democratic Society ...........................................................................6 1.3 Ethnicity and Biradari ..........................................................................................7 1.4 Mosques and Migration .....................................................................................12 1.5 Exclusion, Integration, Recognition, and Segregation ......................................16 1.6 Ontological Insecurity and Double Bind Theory ...............................................17 1.7 Thesis Overview ................................................................................................18 2 METHODOLICAL ISSUES .....................................................................................22 2.1 Participation / Observation ................................................................................22 2.2 Defining Ethnography........................................................................................23 2.3 Closed World of Mosques and Imams ...............................................................24 2.4 To Record or Not to Record… ..........................................................................26 2.5 Getting Inside .....................................................................................................27 2.6 Ethnographic Methodologies among Mosques..................................................30 2.7 Studying Oneself................................................................................................33 3 SEGREGTATION, INTEGRATION, EXCLUSION AND (Mis)RECOGNITION ......................................................................................................................................37 3.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................37 3.2 From Segregation to Integration: Desire to be British .......................................40 3.3 Struggle for Recognition - „Black British‟, „Asian British‟, „Pakistani British‟ to „British Muslim‟ ...........................................................................................................42 3.4 Defining Muslims ..............................................................................................47 3.4.1 Looking „right‟: Hybridisation and Competing Patterns .............................. 50 3.5 Emergence of the „Radicalisation‟ and „Extremists‟ Discourse ........................52 3.6 Conclusion .........................................................................................................62 4 MANCHESTER‟S MUSLIM ....................................................................................64 4.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................64 4.2 Muslim Population .............................................................................................65 4.3 Mosques in Manchester .....................................................................................71 III | P a g e 4.4 Manchester Imams .............................................................................................75 4.5 Different Schools of Thought ............................................................................76 4.6 Sectarianism in Context .....................................................................................77 4.6.1 Deobandi Reformist Movement .................................................................... 78 4.6.2 The Tablighi Jamaat ...................................................................................... 79 4.6.3 Deobandi and Tablighi Jamaat in Manchester .............................................. 80 4.6.4 The Al Hidaya Masjid ................................................................................... 81 4.6.5 Masjid Noor – The split From Hidaitul Muslimeen...................................... 82 4.6.6 Imadadiah Mosque ........................................................................................ 84 4.7 The Barelwis ......................................................................................................85 4.7.1 Barelwis in England ...................................................................................... 86 4.7.2 Barelwis in Manchester ................................................................................. 87 4.8 Tha Salaafi / ahle Hadith Mosques ....................................................................90 4.9 Shia Mosques and Imam Bargahs ......................................................................92 4.10 Tha Salaafi / ahle Hadith Mosques ....................................................................95 4.11 The Bangladeshi Mosques .................................................................................97 4.12 Sectarianism in Britain.......................................................................................98 4.12.1 Peak of Sectarian Conflict in Britain 1970s & 1980s ................................... 99 4.13 In the Midst of Munazaras ...............................................................................100 4.13.1 Munazara Sheffield 1980 – „We have won‟ ............................................... 101 4.14 „Hybridisation‟