Muslim civil society in Britain

We live in a world in which narratives around human rights apply to the world out there, leaving our consciousness to inadvertently play down human abuses at home. While there are pressing issues within the international arena, there is a real danger of being too preoccupied with it, and at the expense of grim issues within our neighbourhoods. This preoccupation is damaging to our psychological frame of mind – particularly our youth – who grow up with a sense of futility regarding the horrific stories  with which we are bombarded at every waking moment.

Muslims in particular are preoccupied with the international world. I worked in Tower Hamlets for two years. There is so much to celebrate in that borough, particularly the rich diversity and the growing spiritual awaking. But yet it is entrenched in raw issues, such as poverty and growing drugs use. The truth is that top-down policies from central and local government are not enough to change a locality despite spiel to the contrary. Change is a dynamic process and needs to come about from people themselves. 

My reflections are not at odds with Islam’s notion of an Ummah. We ought to care about Muslim suffering around the world, but yet we are also enjoined to care about the well being of our neighbours – from those of faith to none. Muslims need to urgently step up to the challenges of British civil society. I am proud of the thriving London Muslim activist scene, but we should not  be satisfied merely with the attending of talks. Talks create awareness but can sometimes achieve little by way of tangible outcomes on the ground.

I believe Community organising is one of the most potent methods of transforming our neighbourhoods. It is a particular method of bringing about social change and can be summed up as the building of broad-based alliances in order to build power in order to act for the common good. This building of power allows communities to negotiate tangible outcomes for themselves; poverty, safer streets, refugee rights and so forth. Britain’s primary broad-based alliance is London Citizens. 

A basic foundation of community organising is people coming together face-to-face to learn about each others values, aspirations and day-to-day lived realities.  I am convinced that this aspect of community organising is particularly important for British Muslims. The relationships built through community organising are more powerful than those through interfaith discussion –  while the latter is necessary and builds dialogue on theological matters, community organising allows us to humanise one another further through the discovering of common issues, at a time when Muslims are being increasingly vilified. What-is-more, knowing one another from those of faith to none, is a powerful way to tackle the fragmented society around us and particularly the spectre of the growing far-right. A community which knows each other also feels each other’s pain and gives a damn. And  acting together on those concerns is what really cements those relationships.