Abstract
Writing ahead of the next ‘Independent Review’ of the United Kingdom’s counter-terror strategy, this article presents two inter-related arguments. First, that the current counter-terror legislation is counter-productive, according to its own logic, in achieving social integration. Second, that Islamic practices and conceptualisations associated with charitable giving hold potentials to offer a more inclusive understanding of social integration than that currently utilised in the United Kingdom. The actions of Muslim charities and practitioners within Britain (exemplified by service provisions during Covid restrictions) serve as an important tool for social integration. Thus, by exploring the potentials of Muslim charitable giving, an alternative solution to social integration in the United Kingdom is presented. Drawing from participant interviews with a range of Muslim charitable practitioners, this article argues that supporting British Muslim charities would assist social integration and the construction of ‘shared values’ assumed by UK counter-terror strategies to be a tool in combating ‘extremist’ narratives.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 916-113 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | British Journal of Politics and International Relations |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Early online date | 26 Jan 2023 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Feb 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Gratitude as always to the staff, and especially the students, of the University of Aberdeen – you continue to be the most insightful and amiable ‘Guinea pigs’. The author is indebted to the two blind reviewers whose attention to detail and suggestions exemplify the benefits of a rigorous review system. Finally, enormous thanks to all who gave their sadaqah by participating in this research.Keywords
- counter-terror
- Muslim charity
- shared values
- social integration
Access to Document
- May_BJPIR_Muslim_Charity_In_VoR
© The Author(s) 2023. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits any use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access pages (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage).