The Ummah and Ethnicity: Listening to the Voices of AfricanHeritage Muslims in Leicester

Abstract

The position of Muslims in Europe post 7/7 and 9/11 has come under greater scrutiny as some countries seek to build more cohesive societies and others struggle to accommodate an increasingly distinct Muslim identity. Consequently resources have been poured into projects and studies to increase an understanding of Muslim communities and the challenges that confront them. Whilst over 70% of Britain’s Muslim population is of South Asian origin, there are significant other sections of the Muslim communities who have hardly been given attention as Muslim identity has become synonymised with South Asian identity.

Funded by the African Caribbean Citizens’ Forum (ACCF) and the Leicester City Council, this research report focuses on a community based approach, to increase knowledge around Leicester’s Muslim African and African Caribbean Communities (including reverts and young people); and identify challenges that face these communities, being Muslim in Britain today. The lead researcher, an academic and community activist, was appointed to lead the project and he recruited five community researchers from the African heritage Muslim community, and using a Participatory Action Research Approach, went about finding out issues of concern to the communities under discussion.

This report clearly sets out the rationale for the research against the backdrop of the relevant policies and literature around African heritage Muslim communities in the UK. It then positions the use of Participatory Action Research (PAR) as a preferred methodology to research the community under investigation as well as detailing methodological complexities encountered. It then sets out the findings of the research under themes to be explored in detail. This report concludes with recommendations for relevant stakeholders in relation to issues of concern to African heritage Muslims in Leicester in particular and in the UK in general.