[BRIEF NOTE] How to build a history
Dec. 10th, 2005 02:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rfmcdonaldFarrukh I. Younus' article at Islam Online, "1000 years of Islam in Britain", is a classic example of someone belonging to a minority group who tries to demonstrate that his minority--in this case, British Muslims--has can claim just as much antiquity and hence legitimacy as anyone else.
Younus goes on to cite the existence of artifacts indigenous to the British Isles with Islamic motifs (coinage, a single cross), King John's desperate attempt to secure aid against his barons from al-Andalus, and individual English converts of note from the medieval period up to the Victorian era.
Does the author demonstrate a continuous Muslim presence in Britain? No. Individual artifacts and individuals' actions demonstrate a continuous tradition only if some measure of continuity can be traced between these artifacts and these individuals over time. Younus does not demonstrate that. But then, as he himself noted, the picture of a Muslim past in Britain is "nuanced"--there were some things Muslim in Britain's past. In short, there is something that British Muslims looking for some kind of mooring in their homeland of birth or adoption can latch onto. It might be exaggerated out of proportion, true, but the misuses of history in the name of every manner of group, ethnic, or national identity are so well-known regardless that I can hardly condemn the effort. It's not as if Younus' article is wrong in its factual details, after all. There's worse things to do that to try to build up a sense of one's rightful place in your world.
Many of us hold the perception that the Muslim communities of Britain were the result of post-war mass migration, and to some extent this is true. But among the talks during the Islam Awareness Week—an annual week of activities aimed at encouraging knowledge and understanding of Islam across the United Kingdom by engaging local communities—was “1000 years of Islam in Britain” by Mohammad Siddique Seddon of the Islamic Foundation.
Imagine that, a thousand years of Islam in Britain! Well, while this statement needs to be nuanced, it is, however, clear that there has been an Islamic influence in this country for more than a millennium, a heritage that belongs not only to myself as a second generation British Pakistani Muslim, but also to the “native” English who can trace their genealogy on the island back for generations.
Younus goes on to cite the existence of artifacts indigenous to the British Isles with Islamic motifs (coinage, a single cross), King John's desperate attempt to secure aid against his barons from al-Andalus, and individual English converts of note from the medieval period up to the Victorian era.
Does the author demonstrate a continuous Muslim presence in Britain? No. Individual artifacts and individuals' actions demonstrate a continuous tradition only if some measure of continuity can be traced between these artifacts and these individuals over time. Younus does not demonstrate that. But then, as he himself noted, the picture of a Muslim past in Britain is "nuanced"--there were some things Muslim in Britain's past. In short, there is something that British Muslims looking for some kind of mooring in their homeland of birth or adoption can latch onto. It might be exaggerated out of proportion, true, but the misuses of history in the name of every manner of group, ethnic, or national identity are so well-known regardless that I can hardly condemn the effort. It's not as if Younus' article is wrong in its factual details, after all. There's worse things to do that to try to build up a sense of one's rightful place in your world.
