My Year as a British Muslim: Why Wasn’t I Radicalized?

By Sarah Swick, Minaret of Freedom Institute, www.minaret.org

As details emerge about an alleged plot by some British Muslims to blow-up planes flying from the U.K. to America, once again we are faced with the question: “Why?” After last year’s London tube bombings, the media and analysts raced to uncover why British citizens would be willing to sacrifice their lives to kill others. Specifically, they wanted to know how these young men became ‘indoctrinated with radical Islam.’ (see Suspects Recalled as ‘Just Normal Guys or Many Muslims in Britain Tell of Feeling Torn Between Competing Identities)

In this brief commentary, I do not hope to reveal the ultimate answer to these questions, but simply to add some personal insight to the debate. Having converted to Islam while living in London, for over a year I identified myself as a British Muslim with American heritage. (Since leaving the U.K almost two years ago, I now have accepted my American Muslim identity). During my year in London, I spent a considerable amount of time in the Muslim community in East London and Walthamstow, the focus of the recent investigation.

At first glance, these areas are idyllic for a Muslim—there are plenty of halal meat shops and a place to pray every few blocks. As someone who has never visited Mecca, stepping off the bus in Whitechapel seems the closest to the diversity one would expect to see in the Muslim Holy Place—as East London streets are filled with Muslim men, women, and children of all different backgrounds in one place. But while it seems idyllic, this scene is evidence of the isolation of the Muslim community.

This isolation permeates into the mentality of British Muslims. Isolated physically from mainstream British society, they have created a culture of fear to protect their vulnerable community from “hostile outsiders.” This fear leads not only to Muslims being closed off from the outside World, but also, and more dangerously, to an overall mentality closed to the exploration of controversial taboos within the Muslim community and Islamic jurisprudence.

Like several of the accused plotters, I was also a student in London and active in the Islamic Society at my university (The London School of Economics). My experience as a woman struggling for recognition within the Muslim community is evidence of this closed-mindedness. While I was there, the Islamic Society refused to allow a woman to run for President; men and women were consistently segregated; and women speaking in front of men, even through a speaker, was controversial. Unlike other universities, the Islamic Society at LSE was considered by British Muslim standards to be “liberal,” but there were still threats and bullying from organizations such as Hizb-ut-tahrir which feed the culture of fear and intimidation within the Muslim community. (To read more about Hizb-ut-Tahrir, see my paper “From London to Andijan: The Rising Global Influence of Hizb-ut-Tahrir Among Muslim Youth.”) I’m sure there are moderate British Muslims who reject many of the conservative madhhabi teachings, yet they were rarely heard, presumably because of the culture of fear.

This closed-off mentality also reflects the Islamic literature widely available in London. Mosques and organizations (usually funded by Saudis) distribute mass leaflets, brochures, and books to student Islamic societies that preach a conservative brand of Islam that prohibits the questioning of 1,000 year-old Islamic scholarly work. Unlike in America, where Muslims, in the past, have rejected some of this material, young British Muslims eager to explore Islam readily accept these texts, perhaps because alternative literature is difficult to come by (or frankly costs money).

Some analysts have cited the problem of radical preachers, but these analysts seem to ignore the fact that preachers typically preach where their words are welcomed. This is a problem that the Muslim community, itself ,must face. When the rare moderate speaker would preach, groups like Hizb-ut-Tahrir would stack the audience with their supporters in an effort to combat the speaker’s ideas. On the other hand, I never witnessed Muslims physically demonstrating against the visit of a radical preacher, perhaps because of the culture of fear and intimidation. In addition, in the U.K there aren’t organizations like the Minaret of Freedom Institute that encourage young Muslims like myself to explore Islam through a different lens.

As I reflect back on my year as a British Muslim, I ponder the influences that prevented me from also falling prey to a more “radical” Islam as I certainly was exposed to it. Why didn’t I become “indoctrinated” like the alleged plotters? One answer is clearly my family who, despite distance and some tension after converting, kept me grounded in the realities of my life. In constant phonecalls, emails, and visits, my family didn’t alienate me as many families of converts do–leaving them vulnerable to radical groups.  The other answer is the handful of Muslim friends that allowed me to explore and question my faith and protected me from radical influences. But I wonder, if I didn’t have my family grounding me and my friends supporting me, would, I too, have been caught up in the frustrations and injustices of being Muslim today?

Sarah