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A big thank you and shout out to Dr @SadekHamid for sending me a signed copy of his book. It asks us (again) to move beyond stale Orientalist and worn out tropes between a good and a bad Muslim. 
@SadekHamid Right away, I can empathise with his concern that within the many trends that exist in Muslim communities in the West there is an urgent need to engage with Islam’s intellectual legacy and to focus on reinvigorating “sophisticated intellectual and philosophical ideas”.
@SadekHamid This is in part due to the perceived decline of traditional forms of religious authority creating opportunities for those less formally trained and grounded to claim to be the authoritative voice on religious matters. Form matters over substance.
@SadekHamid This lies embedded within a broader concern of the *perception* of increased religiosity of Muslims.
@SadekHamid However, the book is important in providing nuance to the history & development of Islamic religious activism, though relatively small compared to the general Muslim population, that emerged in the 1990s. The phrase “besieged to belonging” (pg.100) I felt captured this trajectory
@SadekHamid This was operationalised through social movement theory (SMT) which looks at how social movements ‘frame’ issues, the rationalisation of their mission, and the ways in which they mobilise.
@SadekHamid It helped me reflect upon our young Muslim community and the ways they find, articulate, approach and embody their pathways. Some view Islam in a binary relationship with the other, but others, mostly, are seeking to find an Islam that is at home in modern Britain.
@SadekHamid Many have moved from a state of ‘arrival’ to Britain to the ‘contemporary’. This is exemplified in the British cultural scene through “pious art, music, fashion, humour and the widespread availability of Islamic products, services and new media technologies”.
@SadekHamid This paints a promising picture.
@SadekHamid So what factors are leading to this shift? Demographic shifts are obvious. We are younger & growing. As is heightened political awareness among the youth due to issues around Islamophobia & other structural forms of discrimination. Often given scant recognition in policy debates.
@SadekHamid Technology is particularly significant with various actors competing, or should I say “performing” to attract young Muslims to their brand.
@SadekHamid So the concern remains: are we ‘edutaining’ or educating and empowering a young generation of believers who are deeply grounded in a theocentric worldview that is rooted in tradition yet dynamic with contemporary concerns?
