Professor Madawi Al Rasheed

Sophie Gilliat-Ray Muslims in Britain an Introduction.  Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010, 316pp, paperback, ISBN 978-0-521-53688-2
With current debates and controversies surrounding the integration of Muslims in Britain gathering momentum, Sophie Gilliat-Ray has written an informed introductory survey of their history, organisations, and struggles to find a place in British society. Muslims in Britain builds on the vast literature produced by academics over the last four decades and provides a clear synthesis of the main issues addressed by a previous generation of scholars.
An historical introduction traces early Muslim presence in Britain that culminates in the formation of communities in the post second World War period. While early Muslims were Turks and North Africans, today the face of British Islam is predominantly Asian.  Nevertheless since the 1970s, Muslims from Africa and the Middle East add to the religious and ethnic diversity of the community. Second and third generation Muslims probably constitute the majority of Muslims in Britain. Those have produced their own understanding of Islam that evolved in the context of interacting with British society and the Muslim world.