Product Description

There has been an explosion of research into the experiences of British Muslims, but what has been conspicuous by its absence is a proper historical treatment of the phenomenon. This text aims to address this issue. Reissued with a new cover design in spring 2009, The Indfidel Within remains one of the leading books on the subject.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #262000 in Books
• Published on: 2004-04-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 438 pages

Review
'An excellent job of providing a historical and country-wide account which is not only descriptive but analytical. It is fluently written and easily accessible to a wide range of readers and has the potential of becoming the initial reference text for people starting research in the area as well as a required text for university courses.' --Jorgen S. Nielsen, Professor of Islamic Studies, University of Birmingham

About the Author
Humayun Ansari is the Director of the Centre for Ethnic Miority Studies and Equal Opportunities, and a Senior Lecturer in the Department of History, at Royal Holloway, University of London. He has conducted extensive research into the history of Muslims in Britain, ethnic studies and race relations, the employment and career opportunities of ethnic minorities, and racial discrimination and disadvantage in society. He is co-author of Managing Cultural Diversity at Work. In 2002 Dr Ansari was awarded the OBE for his work in race relations.

Customer Reviews

"(British) Muslims Definitive Account of History & Analysis from 1800 to Post 2001!"
On reading Professor Ansari's voluminous, wide-ranging (historical/analytical) and fascinatingly well-written book : "The Infidel Within" & sub-titled: "Muslims in Britain since 1880", confirmed to me what life would have been like in that period of 1920s-30s depression and with local evidence of the Muslim presence in Burngreave, Sheffield. According to Professor H. Ansari around 50 Muslims lived as settlers in South Shield and my own understanding of this history of Black migration to Britain and events of the 1919 riots in Cardiff/Liverpool/South Shields as commonly described as against 'Black' people, under the umbrella term but on closer examination there were many Muslim victims. Interestingly, Ansari provides so much other information on Muslims to mention a few famous Muslims from 1800 to 1945 including the sad demise of Abdullah Yusuf Ali whose translation of the Q'uran to English in the 1930s is still popular reference point for all Muslims, including me. Others like Allama Iqbal revered as 'philosopher-poet' of the east & founder of Pakistan Mohammed Ali Jinnah - with other snippets of information of the first burial in Britain of an Indian Muslim soldier who died on the western front in November 1914, many Muslim converts including the Lady Evelyn Cobbold probably the first Englishwoman to set foot in Mecca!

Ansari utilises excellent secondary sources through people like R. Ramdin & P. Fryer. Also, his section on Assimilation, Integration, and Accommodation: Aspects of Muslim Engagement with British Society since 1945 and the famous words on Integration by Roy Jenkins (Home Secretary) in 1966 is mentioned twice! Sadly, Ansari fails to recognise/mention the legacy of the Asian Youth Movements (AYM's) when Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus and Christians worked together in the struggle for justice & he does mention the formation of the Indian Workers Association in 1938 by Akbar Khan and two Sikhs! He also does mention the "Muslim Youth Movement" in the late 1970s and early 1980s in Bradford - which seems to overlaps with the formation of Asian Youth Movement in the same period and only a fleeting reference to the AYM on the issue of single-sex schools in 1983.

In addition, Ansari's research is selective and with biases in favour of Pakistanis and which ignores the independent analysis undertaken by Roger Ballard in March 1991: of the strong disillusionment about the way Pakistan has treated Azad Kashmiri Muslims. However, in his debate on "enculturation" He argues: "...people may identify with certain characteristics of another group without forgoing their own ethnic group allegiance, and thereby redefine or update conception of their own ethnicity..." He then quotes from Nasreen Ali's summary on enculturation in her 1999 study of the Kashmiri Community in Luton, seems to suggest his lack of understanding on the issue?

In contrast, his excellent analysis of the Muslim experience of being in three distinct phases starting from the mid 1950s to 1970s of: "radical adjustment to the environment". The second phase from the beginning & end of 1970s decade as: "began to get used to the environment...cope with everyday life". The third phase from 1980s to 1990s was: "...the initial uncertainties were largely overcome and migrants were in a position to participate and to contribute...knew their rights... established cultural and religious institutions and, having achieved a measure of economic success, had acquired greater self-confidence..."

Finally, I found his points on Crusades to Islamaphobia including the Satanic Verses Controversy (Rushdie Affair) impact on the Muslim community up to 2001, very useful when he said: "...can we trace a continuous line from the Crusades through the Ottoman empire and European colonisation and the Islamaphobia of the 1990s..." In recent times, the 'riots' in Bradford in July 2001 and the events of 11th September 2001 (9/11) events in New York, USA which further compounded the Muslim psyche, globally.