Muslims as Minorities in non-Muslim Lands with Specific Reference to the Hanafi Law School and Britain. A social and legal study of Muslims living as a minority in Europe, particularly Britain; focussing on how traditional Islam facilitates Muslims to practice their faith within this secular context. Item Type Thesis Authors Mohammed, Amjad M. Rights <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by- nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a <a rel="license" href="http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Licence</a>. Download date 01/10/2021 22:14:11 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10454/5409 1.0 Introduction Earnest application makes accessible every remote affair, and industriousness opens every locked door. The creature of God most worthy of grief, is a man of high aspirations who is worn out by a life of straightened circumstances. Proof of divine destiny and its wisdom are in the afflictions of the wise and the easy life of the fool. Lack of wealth will nourish intellectual power they are opposites; how far apart are the two (Muḥammad b. Idrīs al-Shāfiʿī). 1.1 Background The religion of Islam is one that lays down provisions for both the public and private aspects of a believer‖s life. Therefore a Muslim is viewed within the context of the society in which he or she lives. For the vast majority of history Muslims have lived in what could be termed the ―lands of Islam‖ or Muslim dominant/Muslim-led countries, for a more up to date definition. Nevertheless, the twentieth century has seen large numbers of Muslims migrate to lands that are ―non-Muslim‖, primarily in North America and Western Europe. In fact, classical Islam does possess the ability to ascribe to its adherents minority status in this situation as history has witnessed. An example is the Muslim tradesmen who established themselves in China, to such an extent that the emperors declared Islam as a semi-official religion of the state (Gladney, 2003; Israeli, 1981). Therefore, the notion of Muslims living in non-Muslim lands is not novel however, the extent of the 1 immigration coupled with the changing nature of the world since the time that classical manuals of Islamic law were compiled, means that this area is in need of urgent exploration. Also, with this demographic change and mass migration of Muslims many questions have entered the mind of the Muslim and non-Muslim alike, which require answers in order for the Muslim to know how he keeps his relationship with the ―Other‖ (Abedin, 1992). The importance of understanding this topic is now more keenly felt because of the intense scrutiny to which Muslims in Britain are now exposed. The 7/7 London bombings, together with the wider political and media discussions regarding Muslim ―integration‖ within a multi-cultural Britain, makes such a study all the more urgent. Furthermore, due to a growing impulse towards normative Islam within an increasing number of the Muslim population, especially amongst younger people, it is vital to explore the nature of a Muslim presence as a minority in Britain from the writings and theory of the Sunnī legal school to which they mostly belong. 1.2 Historical Background – Economic Migrants to Citizens The census of 2001 has thrown up some interesting facts about the ―Muslim‖ population of Britain. The census results stated that there were 1,591,000 self-identified ―Muslims‖, which is 2.7% of the entire population (Abbas, 2005). It is reported that the majority, in fact around 1 million of this total “originate from South Asia (…two thirds of whom are from Pakistan, under a third from Bangladesh and the remainder from India). The other 0.6 million are from North 2 Africa, East Europe and South East Asia. More than half of all British Muslims are under the age of seventeen. The Muslims of Britain are also concentrated in older post-industrial cities and conurbations in the Southeast, the Midlands and the North” (Abbas, 2005, p. 17). The overwhelming majority of Muslims, who have migrated to Britain, in particular after the Second World War, are from poor, lowly educated, rural backgrounds of South Asia. The number of Muslims increased dramatically over the years from 50,000 at the beginning of World War II to 100,000 in 1951, 750,000 in 1971 and 1,500,000 in 1991; with the added characteristic that approximately two-third are citizens of Britain, not migrants (Kettani, 1996, p. 29). These individuals were motivated primarily by economic deprivation and hence were classed as ―lower‖ order or ―working-class‖ by their own social structure (Eickelman and Piscatori, 1990, p. 6) and therefore a significant number of Muslims in Britain found themselves inhabiting the “lowest socio-economic levels within British society” (Bradney, 2000, p. 183). Anwar (2008, p. 129) describes a number of ―pull‖ factors which he asserts brought about this mass migration and lists them as economic and social development within Britain and due to possessing membership of the New Commonwealth, especially because of the existence of no restrictions prior to 1962. As for the ―push‖ factors he lists high unemployment, lack of economic opportunities and underdevelopment within the Indian Subcontinent. These immigrants have tended to settle in towns and cities that require a low skilled labour work force and in particular they have chosen the inner city due to cheap housing and accessible local amenities. As wives migrated from their homelands and the subsequent arrival of the first British-born 3 generation, the community started to grow and establish itself. The community‖s requirements needed to be fulfilled hence mosques, ḥalāl butchers and Muslim funeral directors were established within the local community (Kettani, 1996, p. 18). With this and other developments, the Muslim community has distinguished itself from the rest of the population and become a ―Muslim minority‖ with its own voice and distinct identity (Bloul, 2008, pp. 9-10). These local facilities, particularly the mosques, became the focal point and the seed of the fast growing community; in fact, historically cities and towns in Muslim lands were also centred on the mosque (Johansen, 1999, p. 153), hence this development seems to be more by choice than chance. Within a relatively short space of time due to high immigration, tendency to have large families and the indigenous ―white‖ population moving towards the outskirts of the city, significant sections of these cities became predominantly Muslim, to such an extent that all primary schools and a significant number of secondary schools in the area, became exclusively made up of Muslim pupils (Nielsen, 1992, p. 54). Ramadan (1999, pp. 186-7) describes the development of these, as he terms them, ―social microcosms‖ whereby Muslims live amongst themselves with little contact with the indigenous population as a means to protect identity. Therefore, the aim as he puts it is to be ―at home‖, or saying it another way ―to live in Europe but at home‖. He goes on to say that this identity is not an Islamic identity as such but rather an Asian model of Islam, which, when questioned or challenged in order to reconsider it due to the new environment, is understood as a betrayal of Islam which could jeopardise the religious identity. However, Phillips (2003) puts forward a different suggestion, he asserts that the benefits of living together in ―ethnic clusters‖ need to be considered; feeling ―safe‖ and relatively safe from racial harassment, mutual 4 support of family and friends, being catered for in terms of worship, restaurants, cloth houses, video stores and so forth. In fact some pose the question as to whether this is happening by design as the Muslim population is a growing population hence will be seen to increase rather than the view that the community is migrating to Muslim-only areas (Finney and Simpson, 2009). Incidentally, Finney and Simpson (2009) do challenge the current political view within the public sector and media on a number of pertinent issues from immigration to integration. I would adopt a path between the two and say that both are influencing the current geographical location of the community; which as a result means that members of this community have adopted a number of different social stances with respect to the wider indigenous population, which the following section will detail. This section has highlighted the mass migration of Muslims to Western Europe, and will be investigated in depth in chapter two. 1.3 Relationship to ―Other‖ – Isolationist, Integrationist or Assimilationist? The position Muslims, or any minority group for that matter, take with respect to the dominant community can be generalised by the following terminology; Isolation, Integration and Assimilation (Khalidi, 1989, p. 425; Wolffe, 1994, p. 160, Ramadan, 1999, pp. 181-2). Israeli (1981), Forbes (1982) and Krishna (1986) have used different terminology, namely, Secession, Coexistence and Assimilation with respect to Muslims in Thailand and China; and Conservative, Moderate Integrationist and Radical Integrationist with respect to the Muslim‖s voice in Indian politics. More recently, Toronto (2008, pp. 64-5) puts forward Isolation, Assimilation, External Participation and Integration as a means to define the Muslims of Italy; my analysis of Toronto‖s description reveals that 5 those who assimilate according to him could hardly be recognised as Muslims and I find Integration is akin to Liberalism whilst External Participation is actually Integration. I accept Wolffe‖s proposal, as it is more encompassing and relevant to this thesis, however instead of two middle courses as he suggests (redefinition and integration) I have opted for one; in fact this choice has been substantiated by a recent study on Muslim women in Europe (Silvestri, 2008, p.