From the Margins to the Centre

Abstract

Despite recent scholarly focus on Shiʿa minorities in Britain, there has been little exploration of how Shiʿa (re)define what it means to be a British Muslim more broadly. Here, we shift the focus away from inward-looking manifestations of Shiʿa-specific identity and towards the diverse ways Shiʿa Muslims are actively seeking to promote and enact inclusive ways of being Muslim in Britain. Profiling three Shiʿa-led grassroots organisations – Who is Hussain, Love Muhammad and The Muslim Vibe – we explore how the younger generations of British Shiʿa are invested in creating and sustaining a sense of inclusive British Islam which, by drawing on what we call an ‘Islamically-conscious’ ethics, seeks to engage Sunni Muslims and wider society in contemporary Britain.