The introduction of a madrassa curriculum at a secular state school in Birmingham and talk of Christian pupils at risk of ‘cultural isolation’ seem to have come as a revelation to non-Muslim Britain. They should not have. Islam in Britain is dominated by a very specific, and rather illiberal, version of the faith — one that, if anything, seems to be becoming more conservative over time.
As the Muslim population became more established, one might have assumed that a westernised form of Islam would have come to dominate Britain’s mosques. According to a database of British Islam, however, only two out of 1,700 mosques in Britain follow modernist interpretations of the Koran.
It’s not the same elsewhere in the West. In a 2011 survey of Islam in the United States, 56 per cent of mosques described themselves as following an interpretation of Islam adapted to modern circumstances. This has not happened in Britain.
[A COMMENT] One particular piece of information struck me. Someone brought up the subject of the Pakistani "diaspora" in the West, and how they might positively influence the problem developments and extremism in Pakistan.
This notion was greeted by the experts with great scepticism. One (a cleric I think) said he had spent some time in the UK and his impression was that Pakistani Britons were overall significantly more extreme than mainstream Muslims in Pakistan itself.
[ANOTHER] The predominance of the Deobandi influence explains a great deal and this is the first time I have seen a clear explanation of their numbers and influence.
If the Deobandis control almost half of the mosques in the UK, then when politicians and left-leaning members of the media trot out their catch-phrase of "the vast majority of ordinary, moderate Muslims..." we know they are talking rot.
Given that the Deodandis are not the only extreme sub-sect of Islam operating in UK mosques, we can assume a majority of British Muslims are anything but "moderate". [The Spectator] Read more
