https://arab.news/vyhae
- New bodies to provide civil, political support to Muslims in UK
- Successive governments have refused to fully engage with established Muslim bodies
LONDON: A number of British imams are in the process of establishing new organizations to represent the UK鈥檚 Muslim communities, The Times reported on Saturday.
A series of governments have refused to engage with established Muslim bodies, including the Muslim Council of Britain, creating a 鈥渧acuum鈥� between politicians and British Muslims, according to community leaders.
Other groups 鈥� such as the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board, the British Board of Imams and Scholars, and Tell Mama, an organization monitoring Islamophobia 鈥� are deemed too small to effectively lobby for or represent the UK鈥檚 3.8 million Muslims.
The MCB represents around 500 mosques, schools and charities in the UK on social issues, but does not issue religious declarations.
The Labour government under Tony Blair had ties with it, but saw those severed in 2009 under Gordon Brown after the MCB鈥檚 then-deputy leader signed a declaration that was viewed as a call for violence against the Royal Navy and Israel.
The current Labour government talks to various Muslim groups on an 鈥渁d hoc鈥� basis, said Qari Asim, senior imam at the Makkah Mosque in Leeds.
A source told The Times that rather than 鈥渟imply a new entity to replace the MCB,鈥� a 鈥渟eries of new initiatives鈥� would be established 鈥渇ocused on increasing connection between British Muslims and the British government and trying to better represent and engage British Muslims.鈥�
Another source told the newspaper: 鈥淚t is a group of people from broad civil society who happen to be Muslim, from lawyers to doctors to economists to accountants.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a huge community (but) there is a lack of serious engagement (from government) and a whole load of expertise and experience not being tapped into by policymakers and others.鈥�
Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor, professor in the sociology of Islam at Coventry University, told The Times that the government is 鈥渕issing a trick鈥� by not engaging with the MCB, warning that there is 鈥渁 lot of suspicion within Muslim communities of new initiatives.鈥�