What does it mean to be British AND Muslim?

In the wake of yesterday’s discussion initiated by Eric Pickles, I want to share with you my thoughts on what it means to be British and Muslim – and whether those things are mutually exclusive as some will assert, or whether they are actually compatible. 

To be clear: I am just a woman and a Muslim. I’m not a scholar, I won’t be quoting the Quran at you, I just want to talk to you as a person about my thoughts. Nor is this an academic essay, it is just me speaking.

I want to approach 2 things as I see them: British values & Islamic values. I started researching what are quoted as ‘British values’ and it’s really wholly unclear what these are, officially. But hey, I’ve been English my whole life – I’m sure I can think of a few…

Love thy neighbours… Not really practised in much of this country sadly but rallying community support is important to us British. It’s also important to Muslims. Islamic values teach us to treat our neighbours well, whichever faith or culture they come from. 

Family support… Interestingly here I think Muslims actually beat the British hands down. How many British adults are told to move out & ‘become independent’ from their family home at 18-21 years of age while our Muslim counterparts bring home their wages to contribute to the family & live at home together until they have they own family? How many British people pack their elderly parents & relatives off to care homes while Muslim families do all they can to care for their parents in the family environment, indebted to them for the previous years of caring for them as children?

So what about schooling, work? I went to Church of England schools & learned about all other faiths much like many of my Muslim friends. I paid for myself to go to university by working hard at several jobs. I work for a company that even has ‘British’ in its name, and I am proud to do so. I’m still also Muslim. Being Muslim encourages me to be educated, to work hard. 

What about tolerance? I think that by comparison to some reported activity in other nearby countries, most moderate Britons are generally tolerant. Yesterday I was told that it appears from an outside perspective that Islam is not tolerant. What is tolerance then? Is it the man who runs the curry house who feeds many drunken customers (who arrive drunk from their night out) into the small hours before they go home to sleep off their stupor? The drunkards who appear to be bereft of manners, being loud, impolite, even offensive while the Muslim restaurant owner politely serves them without comment or judgement? Does he refuse them service because his religion teaches him that consumption of alcohol & the resulting behaviour is a sin? No he doesn’t. Is that not tolerance? What about the hijabi on the bus who has racist & anti-Islamic comments shouted at her, who is even spat on, while she does not reply or respond – is that not tolerance? What about the 1.6 billion Muslims being accused of being in some way to blame & made to apologise for the horrific acts of terror, who politely do speak out against terror in every way they have the means to do so, rather than arguing back that we cannot be held responsible for the acts of a few? Is that not indeed tolerance? 

On the subject of curry, it turns out that curry is Britain’s second favourite food to consume. Most British people know that ‘curry night’ is something many of us love… Is this well know British dish actually British? With the origins of curry being on the Asian continents, who brought it here? Not Muslims, surely?!

Ok so what about a quote from the British film “Lock, Stock & 2 Smoking Barrels”: “The entire British nation was built on cups of tea”. I agree, it was! The national grid spikes during the advert breaks of our favourite soaps because we put the kettle on. Anytime a British person has an issue or is upset, undoubtedly someone will “pop the kettle on”. It’s so English, so British… Yet does tea originate in The UK? Again, no, brought to us by trade links with Asia. 

Ok then… Coffee. Coffee is integral to our culture, I think we’ll agree. Coffee was actually discovered & utilised first by Muslims who found it to be an incredible way to stay awake for longer to be able to pray through the night. So, I’m sorry to tell you that you also have Muslims to thank for coffee. 

What else is properly British? Standing in queues? When I’m in the supermarket queuing, Muslim customers also join the queue… Talking about the weather? Muslims do that too. Celebrating the birth of Jesus? Jesus is a prophet in Islam, Muslims love him too. 

What about Islamic values? I will admit I’m new to the faith, I’ve only read maybe 15 books so far, visited 5 mosques across UK & Europe & met maybe 10 Imams to learn from. I’m a baby Muslim for sure. So I’ll tell you what I’ve learned so far:

Islam teaches you to be charitable. In fact it’s a pillar of Islam to give to charity (meaning something that every Muslim MUST do). The Muslims I know give away more of their wealth (even the poorest ones) than anyone else I’ve met.

Islam is kind. Muslims believe that on judgement day, we alone will be judged for our actions. Everything we have ever done will be told, and God will judge us. A good Muslim tries to remember this every day, in every action. This also means that a good Muslim strives to be peaceful, non-judgemental, thoughtful in every action.

More than anything, every section of the Quran, every Islamic lecture, every conversation with a scholar, every Hadith, Sunnah that I have read or seen has taught me these principles over & over again.

As an example of this, last year during our month of mourning – Muharram – there was a National campaign to donate blood to the National Blood service. It was picked up by National news & was very successful… So if you were to get injured & go to hospital, it may be through the donations of these Muslims, in the honour of a great Imam, that your life is saved. In fact, the nurses & doctors who treat you may also be Muslim. 

Speaking of the NHS, which is paid for by the UK tax payer, have you considered that tax paying Muslims who choose not to drink alcohol because they are fully aware of the negative & damaging effects of alcohol on the body, mind & community, still contribute their taxes even though they do not agree with the irresponsible behaviour of people who cost the NHS upwards of £2.8BILLION a year? 

See, the underlying accusation from Eric Pickles letter is such to suggest that we are not integrated into society, but I ask you to think and determine; is this really so? We work alongside you, we support our country, we pay taxes, support communities, we are charitable. There are no Islamic values that are not compatible with British values… Incidentally really what are those anyway? Are they the actions of EDL? Do the epitomise Englishness? I hope we can agree not.

Yes, there are people in the East who dislike the West – for many reasons – these are socio-political and economic reasons, and they are not reflective of every person in the East, nor are their complaints reflective of what everyone in the West is. This aside, and more worryingly for us British Muslims, there seems to be the assumption that all Muslims come from the East and that all Muslims agree the exact same image of the West. They do not. We do not. You cannot group the socio-political and economic arguments of the world along with religion and assume that we all think, act or believe the same. Maybe I have blonde hair – by this same logic that means that everyone who is blonde should have the same values as me and agree with me on everything. This is just not so. 

The way I see it, British values and Islamic values are fundamentally intertwined. If it wasn’t for immigration & international trade, GB would not be what it is today. Being British would not mean what it means today. Likewise the support, the items, and the values embedded into Britishness come from those who brought these things with them. People of many faiths and cultures across the world. So could we be British without curry? Without tea or coffee? Without queuing, discussing the weather (Muslims do these too…)? Without loving thy neighbour, honouring thy parents, being charitable – because those are all Islamic values too? I am British, I was born here, as was my family as far back as we can trace – many, many generations. I am also Muslim. To me it makes the most perfect sense to be both.

May God be with us all while we try to better understand one another and live alongside each other. Thank you for reading.