It became one of the most shared and commented stories of the past week in a United Kingdom continuing to battle with its sense of self.
The Daily Mail tabloid published a piece last Friday, entitled "British towns that are no-go areas for white people", listing places such as Blackburn, Bradford, Dewsbury and Didsbury, where a proliferation of mosques, "dominated by [an] ultra-orthodox sect", had changed the character of these areas for good.
Amid the widespread consternation was barely concealed amusement, too. When I am not in the UAE, I live in Didsbury in South Manchester, and to suggest that its busy cheese shops, cosmopolitan cafes, ice-cream parlours and delis are “no-go areas” is remarkably, hilariously wide of the mark.
I have two teenage daughters. I want to see a country for them, that honours them in public and in private
Still, the reason this piece was published at all was because the Daily Mail had an advance copy of Ed Husain's new book, Among the Mosques: A Journey Across Muslim Britain.
It's a fascinating, sometimes confrontational and necessary look at Britain's relationship with Islam and how Muslim Britain operates in 2021. Husain – a writer, thinker, government adviser and academic – visited mosques across the country to try to understand what integration looks like as intolerance, ignorance and hostility rise in all sections of the community.
Some of the things he found – madrasas focused on literalist Sharia, women banned from mosques and treated appallingly, and a deeply politicised Islam – are both troubling and all too easily seized upon by those who seek to seed division.
In that sense, Husain must have expected the kind of piece the Daily Mail ran. "They printed all of the negative, provocative parts that would be the most sensationalist," he tells The National. "I don't want to shy away from the truth; those problems are there. But there are explanations for them and ways to address them, which I try to provide in the book. So all of that context is ripped out.
"It wasn't helpful," he says. "And yes, it's put lots of people's backs up."
But then, Among the Mosques was never going to be a meek survey of Muslim life in 21st-century Britain, not least because Husain himself has become increasingly concerned by the rise, as he sees it, of a more confrontational, assertive and separatist Muslim identity in the UK.
“I just don’t see that when I travel to the Middle East or when I go to the UAE,” he explains. “They seem to be much more at ease with their religion, whereas here, we seem to front-load it, make it much more weaponised.
“So, combined with what seemed to be going on with Brexit, issues of identity and the conversations about who we are as a people, it felt like there was something disturbing in the UK – I wanted to go round, kick some tyres and see if I’ve read the situation right,” says the author.
His first journey in the book is to the Yorkshire mill town of Dewsbury, home to the Markazi Mosque, the European central office of the largest Muslim organisation in the world, the Tablighi Jamaat. Founded in India, the organisation is the evangelical arm of India's Deobandi Movement.
While they “build bonds of brotherhood and sharing” in the Dewsbury madrasa, when Husain asks a cleric why women can freely walk into a mosque in India, yet cannot do so in Dewsbury, he gets short shrift.
There's an ugly truth that in parts of the country people don't want to get to know their neighbours, have a conversation
“My brother. You are an intelligent man, but there can be no discussion of there being women in the mosque,” he is told.
“And that happened quite often on my travels,” says Husain. “There was a kind of commitment to conversation, but only to a point. But I think people do want to know what is going on in these mosques and the much more hard-line madrasas.”
Husain moves on to Manchester, home to the Didsbury Mosque that women can easily access and is lauded for its vibrant involvement in local life, helping marginalised and needy communities. Husain also points out that it's home to an unregulated "Sharia department" and the place where the suicide bomber of Manchester Arena in 2017 worshipped. The extremist attack killed 22 people and injured hundreds of others after an Ariana Grande concert.
It's a complicated picture, made all the more urgent by a conversation he has with two white men in Blackburn, who are behind the Daily Mail's "no-go area" headline. They effectively repeat every preconceived notion of Britain's immigration policies; their fear of getting jumped by "Asian gangs", not being allowed Union Jack flags; and the belief they will be in the minority before long.
“But they were honest about what they thought and I admired them for that,” says Husain. “They shook my hand and thanked me that someone bothered to talk to them about these issues they just hadn’t been able to discuss. And I think this is part of the problem; we don’t have platforms where we bring different parts of the country together and say: ‘What’s on your chest?’
“There’s an ugly truth that in parts of the country, people don’t want to get to know their neighbours, have a conversation.”
Thankfully, too, Husain doesn't just chase the problems in Among the Mosques. It is largely a worrying book, but his experiences in Belfast – where women run a cheerful, open mosque that welcomes 42 nationalities – or Edinburgh, where the mosque and its kitchen is full of "all sorts of people", represent a seamless British Islam that he feels is needed in England, too.
“What we should be aiming for is a reformed, peaceful, modernised Islam – and I’m driven to dream about this because I have two teenage daughters. I want to see a country for them that honours them in public and in private, I want them to be British women with equal respect and the dignity that law affords everyone here.”
Yet, in many of the mosques, as he writes in this eye-opening book, they would have to wait for him outside. "But Muslim women can go around the Kaaba in Makkah, side by side with men. [This segregation] is just fundamentally wrong – which is why I needed to write this book."
Among the Mosques: A Journey Across Muslim Britain is out on Thursday, June 10, published by Bloomsbury
THE SPECS
Engine: 3.5-litre V6
Transmission: six-speed manual
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Torque: 370Nm
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The President's Cake
Director: Hasan Hadi
Starring: Baneen Ahmad Nayyef, Waheed Thabet Khreibat, Sajad Mohamad Qasem
Rating: 4/5
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
The Limehouse Golem
Director: Juan Carlos Medina
Cast: Olivia Cooke, Bill Nighy, Douglas Booth
Three stars
Book%20Details
%3Cp%3E%3Cem%3EThree%20Centuries%20of%20Travel%20Writing%20by%20Muslim%20Women%3C%2Fem%3E%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EEditors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3ESiobhan%20Lambert-Hurley%2C%20Daniel%20Majchrowicz%2C%20Sunil%20Sharma%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EPublisher%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EIndiana%20University%20Press%3B%20532%20pages%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
The specs
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Kanye%20West
%3Cp%3EYe%20%E2%80%94%20the%20rapper%20formerly%20known%20as%20Kanye%20West%20%E2%80%94%20has%20seen%20his%20net%20worth%20fall%20to%20%24400%20million%20in%20recent%20weeks.%20That%E2%80%99s%20a%20precipitous%20drop%20from%20Bloomberg%E2%80%99s%20estimates%20of%20%246.8%20billion%20at%20the%20end%20of%202021.%3Cbr%3EYe%E2%80%99s%20wealth%20plunged%20after%20business%20partners%2C%20including%20Adidas%2C%20severed%20ties%20with%20him%20on%20the%20back%20of%20anti-Semitic%20remarks%20earlier%20this%20year.%3Cbr%3EWest%E2%80%99s%20present%20net%20worth%20derives%20from%20cash%2C%20his%20music%2C%20real%20estate%20and%20a%20stake%20in%20former%20wife%20Kim%20Kardashian%E2%80%99s%20shapewear%20firm%2C%20Skims.%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
A timeline of the Historical Dictionary of the Arabic Language
- 2018: Formal work begins
- November 2021: First 17 volumes launched
- November 2022: Additional 19 volumes released
- October 2023: Another 31 volumes released
- November 2024: All 127 volumes completed
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
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Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
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Price: From Dh149,900
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
EA Sports FC 26
Publisher: EA Sports
Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S
Rating: 3/5
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
Destroyer
Director: Karyn Kusama
Cast: Nicole Kidman, Toby Kebbell, Sebastian Stan
Rating: 3/5
UAE release: January 31
UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FIXTURES
All kick-off times 10.45pm UAE ( 4 GMT) unless stated
Tuesday
Sevilla v Maribor
Spartak Moscow v Liverpool
Manchester City v Shakhtar Donetsk
Napoli v Feyenoord
Besiktas v RB Leipzig
Monaco v Porto
Apoel Nicosia v Tottenham Hotspur
Borussia Dortmund v Real Madrid
Wednesday
Basel v Benfica
CSKA Moscow Manchester United
Paris Saint-Germain v Bayern Munich
Anderlecht v Celtic
Qarabag v Roma (8pm)
Atletico Madrid v Chelsea
Juventus v Olympiakos
Sporting Lisbon v Barcelona
Bundesliga fixtures
Saturday, May 16 (kick-offs UAE time)
Borussia Dortmund v Schalke (4.30pm)
RB Leipzig v Freiburg (4.30pm)
Hoffenheim v Hertha Berlin (4.30pm)
Fortuna Dusseldorf v Paderborn (4.30pm)
Augsburg v Wolfsburg (4.30pm)
Eintracht Frankfurt v Borussia Monchengladbach (7.30pm)
Sunday, May 17
Cologne v Mainz (4.30pm),
Union Berlin v Bayern Munich (7pm)
Monday, May 18
Werder Bremen v Bayer Leverkusen (9.30pm)
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
