PROMISE OF PARADISE. Read                                                The Koran - a revelation: Muslims believe that their holy book is the very word of God. Read                                                         Sunnis and Shi'ites: Islamic divisions date from 632. Read          THE SUNNI MAJORITY. Read                                                 THE BELIEF SYSTEMS. Read                                             SUNNI BELIEF. Read                                                        SHI'ITES BELIEF. Read Key events that have shaped the Islamic world. Read                                                                     CRUSADE VERSUS JIHAD. Read                                       JIHAD: war in the soul and war in an unjust world.  Read WAHHABISM: A deliberate primitiveness. Read                           Rift with the Jews from the start. Read                                                   

WOMEN AND ISLAM: The veiling of women. Read  SHARIA: law, ritual, customs and manners.  Read  There are four roots of sharia. Read                      THE KORAN. Read                                      SUNNAH. Read                                                   IJMA. Read                                                       QIYAS. Read                                                        THE STRUGGLE FOR TRUTH.  Read       STONING TO DEATH. Read                      MUSLIMS IN BRITAIN: A CASE STUDY. Read ISLAMIC ART AND ARCHITECTURE. Read   ISLAM FROM A TO Z: LEXICON AND TERMINOLOGY. Read    

Promise of Paradise

THE images of heaven in the Koran are vivid: "This is the description of the Paradise that has been promised to the pious: rivers whose water never becomes tainted; rivers of milk whose taste changes not; and rivers of wine the delight of those who drink of them; and rivers of honey, all kinds of fruit and pardon for sis."  For the blessed, reclining on couches, "youths eternally young shall go round about them, to attend them with goblets, and beakers and cups of flowing wine, and with fruits that they shall choose to their taste, and the flesh of those birds they most desire". And "there are young virgins with modest looks who have never been deflowered by man or spirit". In some ways, the heaven described is like the Paradise of Adam and Eve, and the same word is sometimes used to refer to either. But sensory pleasures are not the whole story; there is, in some way, awareness of the presence of God. God is certainly the judge of each person. At the very beginning of the Koran, he is called "Master of Judgment Day". At the end of the world, a great trumpet will sound, the world will be rolled up like a scroll and men's bodies will be resurrected and reunited with their souls.  Good and evil deeds will be weighed in the scales to the last atom, and each person will be handed the book of his life. Those who are given the book in their right hands are bound for heaven, those given it in their left for hell. Hell (al-nar) is fiery. Another name for hell, jahannam, is related to the Hebrew gehinnon - or gehenna as it is usually rendered in the Bible - meaning a smoking wasteland. The Koran gives a picture of black smoke, flames and boiling water that burn the skin of the damned. Those who store up treasure on earth and refuse to spend it according to God's commands will find their gold and silver heated in hell to brand them. According to sura 22 of the Koran, those in hell will remain there for ever; but, in sura 11, the Prophet says that "they shall dwell there so long as the heavens and the earth shall last, unless God wills otherwise".  One hadith says that God "shall make men come out of hell after they have been burned and reduced to cinders".

Medieval reactions prompt modern attitudes, says Carole Hillenbrand
Crusade versus Jihad
 

WHEN Pope Urban II made his call to Crusade in 1095, the vast Muslim world that stretched from Spain to Central Asia was divided in both politics and religion. The two great empires of the time, the Fatimids of Egypt and the Seljuks of Persia, were in serious decline. Syria and Palestine, in particular, were in the hands of mutually hostile Turkish chieftains. The religious concept of jihad that had rallied the faithful in earlier centuries to defend and extend the frontiers of Islam lay buried and forgotten. It was a perfect moment for Western Europe to strike. The onslaught of the First Crusade came like a bolt from the blue. It was quite unprecedented. To medieval Muslims, Europe had been of no interest: an area shrouded in fog, lacking in culture and hygiene and far inferior to the Islamic world. The earliest surviving Islamic sources indicate that the Muslims of Syria and Palestine had little idea who their attackers were and why they had come. The fall of Jerusalem to the Crusaders in 1099, with its bloodshed and manifestations of Western Christian fanaticism, aroused widespread indignation. Contemporary Arab poets spoke in moving terms about this invasion of Muslim territory: "How many Muslim women have had their inviolability plundered? How many young girls have begun to beat their necks and throats out of fear of them [the Crusaders]?" Another Muslim voice, that of al-Sulami, a preacher in the Umayyad mosque in Damascus in about 1105, warned presciently of the dangers of neglecting the Crusader threat, and urged the faithful to unite under the banner of jihad.  But his words went unheeded for half a century: against a fragmented, ill-prepared Muslim world, the Crusaders, although a minority, benefited from a dynamic ideology and a clear purpose. They established four states - colonies - on Middle Eastern soil. It was the hitherto dormant spirit of jihad that triggered the unification and encirclement of Crusader lands - the necessary basis for eventual Muslim reconquest. To Muslims, the loss of Jerusalem and the ritual pollution of its Muslim holy places by the mere fact that Christians occupied them, became more and more difficult to bear as the 12th century progressed. Powerful warlords - notably Zengi, Nur . Al-Din and above all Saladin - formed a close bond with the religious classes and, together, they made jihad the focus for their anti-Crusader initiatives. Their major target was Jerusalem, which fell to Saladin in 1187. But Saladin did not finish off the task of ousting of the Crusaders, who simply moved their capital to Acre. However, a new, redoubtable Muslim state, the Mamluks of Egypt - a vibrant, militarised Turkish polity- came to power in 1250 and, in the space of 40 years, wiped out the Crusader castles and strongholds along the coast. Presenting themselves as the upholders of jihad, Mamluk leaders such as Baybars swept all Crusader opposition aside. By 1291, the Franks (as the Crusaders were called) had been expelled from Islamic territory. Over the two centuries of Crusader presence, doctrinaire ideologies frequently gave way to co-existence and co-operation. Each side got to know the other better. Muslim writers singled out for special praise the military skills of Richard the Lionheart. Saladin's companion, Ibn Shaddad, describes Richard as "the man of his age", possessing "judgment, experience, audacity and astuteness". The Spanish Muslim traveller Ibn Jubayr, passing through Frankish territory in the 1180s, stresses Crusader benevolence towards their Muslim subjects: "The inhabitants are all Muslims, but they live in comfort with the Franks". Socially, the Crusaders soaked up Muslim ways of life. The current was almost entirely one-way. Muslims saw very little (apart from superb castle-building skills) to be gained from Frankish culture. The racy memoirs of the twelfth-century Arab patrician Usama bin Munqidh shed fascinating light on the Muslim perceptions of the Franks. Some Crusader knights were "his friends" but, generally, he is both intrigued and amused by their attempts to ape Muslim customs. Crusader leaders, now aware of the great medieval Arab medical tradition, used Muslim doctors - and Usama reserves his sharpest remarks for a Crusader doctor's bungling efforts to cure two patients, both of whom died at his hand. The Arab physician, witnessing this fiasco, shakes his head in disbelief and remarks in a deadpan way: "I returned home, having learned of their medicine what I did not know before." The morals of Crusader women were regarded as loose, and Usama also castigates their men for not being properly possessive towards their wives. In the Middle East, Crusader knights became acquainted with soap and the hammam (public bathhouse). Washing was not, however, practised amongst all classes of Crusader society. When visiting Crusader Acre, Ibn Jubayr comments on the dirt and foul smells, complaining that there were "pigs and crosses everywhere". Of course, the Crusades did not stop in 1291. Indeed, to some modern Muslim thinkers, such as the Egyptian Sayyid Qutb, the Crusades never ended, but continue as a religious struggle between Christendom and Islam. To others, the Crusades are the first acts of Western imperialism, and it is a sober fact that most Muslim countries, from West Africa to Indonesia, have been colonised by Europeans. Analogies are drawn by some between the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem and the state of Israel. The fact that the former was Christian and the latter is Jewish does not undermine, in their view, the basic truth that Muslim space has been encroached upon and polluted by outside aggression. The vast majority of Muslims do not share these extreme views, but it is indisputable that, just as in the West, many stereotypes of the "other side" were formed in the wake of the Crusades. Political leaders still use Saladin and the recapture of Jerusalem as propaganda icons. Jihad remains a rallying cry that appeals directly to the emotions, and Jerusalem occupies centre stage as much today as it did in the twelfth century.

Jihad: war in the soul and war in an unjust world

FEW Islamic principles have been more misunderstood than that of jihad. In Arabic, jihad simply means "effort", and does not automatically connote violence. The Prophet, for instance, said that "the best jihad is a word of truth spoken before a tyrannous ruler". For Muslims, the resonances of the word can thus seem similar to the word "crusade" in the modern English language. This parallel, however, is not exact. In its original context of medieval war against Saracens, a Christian crusade was a bellum sanctum, literally a "holy war". Muslim scholars, by contrast, usually insist that war itself is not holy, although its purposes may be. It is never a good in itself, although a true jihad is hasan li-husn ghayrih (good insofar as it leads to something good). Despite this, the mujahid (the person engaged in a jihad) is honoured for the risks he is taking in the service of his community. Those who give their lives sincerely for God are regarded as shahid - literally "one who bears witness", that is to say, by offering his life to a just cause beloved of God, he bears witness to the sincerity of his faith and to the truth of religion. The Prophet was a saint, and also a warrior. Although only a few hundred people are thought to have died during his campaigns to unite the warring tribes of the Arabian Peninsula, he established an ideal of righteous militancy which is quite different from the pacifism usually associated with Jesus. The Koran does, however, recognise the virtue of turning the other cheek. It also makes space for the idea of just war, an idea which only emerged in Christianity several centuries after the death of Christ. In Islamic law, jihad is valid only if declared by the leading Muslim scholar in a recognised state, said Tim Winters.

 In 1992, the chief mufti of Bosnia declared the country's struggle against Serbian ethnic cleansing to be a legitimate jihad. Armed force used by non-state fighters, such as many Middle Eastern factions, is not generally seen as a jihad. The mutual declarations of jihad by several Afghan groups in the early 1990s were viewed with scepticism by most traditional religious scholars. Muslim scholars have endlessly debated the question of when jihad becomes an obligation. A universal war against all comers is ruled out by Koranic verses such as: "God forbids you not, with regard to those who are not fighting against you for your faith, nor driving you out of your homes, from dealing kindly and justly with them; for God loves the just." Moreover, the Koran states that "reconciliation is good", and that "if they incline to peace, then incline thou towards it also, and trust in God". Law books have much to say on the conduct of war. The killing of noncombatants, women, children and Christian clergy was forbidden by the Prophet. The enemy's property and crops must not be destroyed. The Prophet also forbade the use of cruel weapons, including anything that "kills with fire"; and, on the basis of this, there are some modern Muslims who regard the use of nuclear weapons as incompatible with the spirit of Islam.

Wahhabism: a deliberate primitiveness

WAHHABISM dominates Saudi Arabia and supports its ruling dynasty. Beyond the borders, this religious movement has become increasingly influential, partly because of Saudi money and partly because of Saudi Arabia's central influence as protector of Mecca.  Founded by Mohammed Ibn Abd al-Wahhab (1703-92), it stresses the absolute sovereignty of God. Ibn Abd al-Wahhab also rejected any reliance on the intercession of Mohammed and denounced pilgrimages to saints' tombs, declaring that their domes or shrines should be destroyed. As an opposer of innovation, he advocated a return to what he saw as the purity of the first generation of Islam, the salaf and the teaching of any school of law. His ideas were deeply influenced by the teachings of Ibn Taymiyah (1263-1328), who saw the state as an adjunct of religion and opposed discursive theology. Ibn Taymiyah also branded the Mongols of his day as kafirs (unbelievers), even though they professed the main tenets of Islam. In this, he has been imitated by modern Islamist movements which excommunicate those who profess Islam without following it rigorously. These ideas were further developed in the twentieth century by Sayyid Qutb. Wahhabists enforce public attendance at prayers, forbid shaving and the smoking of tobacco. Their mosques are plain. By the middle of the 18th century, they dominated the Arabian peninsula with the political support of the Al Saud, the family that to this day rules through a monarchy. In 1925, the Wahhabists seized Mecca, but the state has continued to allow pilgrims of all Muslim traditions to observe their rites during the hajj. Even so, the Interior Ministry funds the religious police, who seek out illegal alcohol and ensure shops are shut during mosque time. During the past decade, unemployed young people have been attracted to neo-Wahhabist groups embracing salafiyah, the ideology of primitive Islam, who seek social justice as well as the imposition of Koranic punishments. Today, the exclusivism of Ibn Taymiyah combined with the use of violence advocated by modern ultra-Wahhabists have given rise to cells of activists outside Saudi Arabia, ready to commit terrorist outrages.

Rift with the Jews from the start

JEWS, since they have received God's revelation and recorded it in the Bible, are "People of the Book", like Christians, according to the Koran. "No fear shall be upon them," it says.  The Prophet Mohammed allowed People of the Book freedom of worship in the territory under Islamic control, if they paid a poll tax. Generals setting out on conquest were instructed to let them worship peacefully. In practice, there was antagonism even during the lifetime of the Prophet. He had hoped that the Jews of Medina would embrace Islam. They did not. Two Jewish tribes, the Banu Qaynuqa and the Banu al-Nadir, were banished from Medina after clashes with Arab tribes. When the last remaining Jewish tribe in Medina, the Banu Qurayza, was put on trial, accused of supporting the Meccans during a battle in which the Muslims were fighting for survival, the sentence was harsh. All the men were killed and the women and children sold into slavery. Another battle in Arabia that saw banishment of a Jewish community was at Khaybar. After Mohammed's death, the whole of the Arabian peninusla came under Muslim rule. A deathbed saying attributed to Mohammed declared that, in Arabia, there should be only the religion of Islam. In the Middle Ages, Jewish communities were found in many Islamic territories. The Caliphate of Cordova in the 10th century was celebrated for the mingling of Islamic, Christian and Jewish cultures. The influential philosopher Moses Maimonides lived at Cordova. Sephardic Jewish comunities found refuge in the Ottoman Empire after the expulsion of Jews from Spain in 1492. But in the 20th century, political nationalism and the establishment of Israel led to the abandonment of Jewish quarters in the towns of many Muslim countries. Animosity between Israel and much of the Islamic world continues to be dangerously critical.

Women and Islam: The veiling of women

HOW can anyone justify Islam's treatment of women, when it imprisons Afghans under blue shuttlecock burqas and makes Pakistani girls marry strangers against their will? How can you respect a religion that forces women into polygamous marriages, mutilates their genitals, forbids them to drive cars and subjects them to the humiliation of "instant" divorce? In fact, none of these practices are Islamic at all. Anyone wishing to understand Islam must first separate the religion from the cultural norms and style of a society. Female genital mutilation is still practised in certain pockets of Africa and Egypt, but viewed as an inconceivable horror by the vast majority of Muslims. Forced marriages may still take place in certain Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities, but would be anathema to Muslim women from other backgrounds. Indeed, Islam insists on the free consent of both bride and groom, so such marriages could even be deemed illegal under religious law. A woman forbidden from driving a car in Riyadh will cheerfully take the wheel when abroad, confident that her country's bizarre law has nothing to do with Islam. Afghan women educated before the Taliban rule know that banning girls from school is forbidden in Islam, which encourages all Muslims to seek knowledge from cradle to grave, from every source possible. The Koran is addressed to all Muslims, and for the most part it does not differentiate between male and female. Man and woman, it says, "were created of a single soul," and are moral equals in the sight of God. Women have the right to divorce, to inherit property, to conduct business and to have access to knowledge.  Since women are under all the same obligations and rules of conduct as the men, differences emerge most strongly when it comes to pregnancy, child-bearing and rearing, menstruation and, to a certain extent, clothing. Some of the commands are alien to Western tradition. Requirements of ritual purity may seem to restrict a woman's access to religious life, but are viewed as concessions.  During menstruation or postpartum bleeding, she may not pray the ritual salah or touch the Koran and she does not have to fast; nor does she need to fast while pregnant or nursing. The veiling of Muslim women is a more complex issue. Certainly, the Koran requires them to behave and dress modestly - but these strictures apply equally to men. Only one verse refers to the veiling of women, stating that the Prophet's wives should be behind a hijab when his male guests converse with them. Some modernists, however, claim that this does not apply to women in general, and that the language used does not carry the textual stipulation that makes a verse obligatory. In practice, most modern Muslim women appreciate attractive and graceful clothes, but avoid dressing provocatively. What about polygamy, which the Koran endorses up to the limit of four wives per man? The Prophet, of course, lived at a time when continual warfare produced large numbers of widows, who were left with little or no provision for themselves and their children.  In these circumstances, polygamy was encouraged as an act of charity. Needless to say, the widows were not necessarily sexy young women, but usually mothers of up to six children, who came as part of the deal. Polygamy is no longer common, for various good reasons. The Koran states that wives need to be treated fairly and equally - a difficult requirement even for a rich man. Moreover, if a husband wishes to take a second wife, he should not do so if the marriage will be to the detriment of the first. Sexual intimacy outside marriage is forbidden in Islam, including sex before marriage, adultery or homosexual relationships. However, within marriage, sexual intimacy should be raised from the animal level to sadaqah (a form of worship) so that each considers the happiness and satisfaction of the other, rather than mere self-gratification. Contrary to Christianity, Islam does not regard marriages as "made in heaven" or "till death do us part". They are contracts, with conditions. If either side breaks the conditions, divorce is not only allowed, but usually expected. Nevertheless, a hadith makes it clear that: "Of all the things God has allowed, divorce is the most disliked."  A Muslim has a genuine reason for divorce only if a spouse's behaviour goes against the sunnah of Islam - in other words, if he or she has become cruel, vindictive, abusive, unfaithful, neglectful, selfish, sexually abusive, tyrannical, perverted - and so on. In good Islamic practice, before divorce can be contemplated, all possible efforts should be made to solve a couple's problems. After an intention to divorce is announced, there is a three-month period during which more attempts are made at reconciliation. If, by the end of each month, the couple have resumed sexual intimacy, the divorce should not proceed. The three-month rule ensures that a woman cannot remarry until three menstrual cycles have passed - so, if she happens to be pregnant, the child will be supported and paternity will not be in dispute, wrote Ruqaiyyah Wariss. When Muslims die, strict laws govern the shares of property and money they may leave to others; daughters usually inherit less than sons, but this is because the men in a family are supposed to provide for the entire household.  Any money or property owned by women is theirs to keep, and they are not obliged to share it. Similarly, in marriage, a woman's salary is hers and cannot be appropriated by her husband unless she consents. A good Muslim woman, for her part, should always be trustworthy and kind. She should strive to be cheerful and encouraging towards her husband and family, and keep their home free from anything harmful (haram covers all aspects of harm, including bad behaviour, abuse and forbidden foods). Regardless of her skills or intelligence, she is expected to accept her man as the head of her household - she must, therefore, take care to marry a man she can respect, and whose wishes she can carry out with a clear conscience. However, when a man expects his wife to do anything contrary to the will of God - in other words, any nasty, selfish, dishonest or cruel action - she has the right to refuse him. Her husband is not her master; a Muslim woman has only one Master, and that is God. If her husband does not represent God's will in the home, the marriage contract is broken. What should one make of the verse in the Koran that allows a man to punish his wife physically? There are important provisos: he may do so only if her ill-will is wrecking the marriage - but then only after he has exhausted all attempts at verbal communication and tried sleeping in a separate bed. However, the Prophet never hit a woman, child or old person, and was emphatic that those who did could hardly regard themselves as the best of Muslims. Moreover, he also stated that a man should never hit "one of God's handmaidens". Nor, it must be said, should wives beat their husbands or become inveterate nags. Finally, there is the issue of giving witness. Although the Koran says nothing explicit, other Islamic sources suggest that a woman's testimony in court is worth only half of that of a man. This ruling, however, should be applied only in circumstances where a woman is uneducated and has led a very restricted life: a woman equally qualified to a man will carry the same weight as a witness. So, does Islam oppress women? While the spirit of Islam is clearly patriarchal, it regards men and women as moral equals. Moreover, although a man is technically the head of the household, Islam encourages matriarchy in the home.  Women may not be equal in the manner defined by Western feminists, but their core differences from men are acknowledged, and they have rights of their own that do not apply to men.

Sharia: law, ritual, customs and manners

ISLAM holds that "God has not revealed himself and his nature, but rather his law". This law - in Arabic, sharia - applies to much more than law in the strictly legal sense. It includes details of ritual, and a whole range of customs and manners. The law is there to uphold the good of society and to help human beings attain salvation. Interpretations may vary in accordance with time and place, but the sharia is considered to be a timeless manifestation of the will of God, subject neither to history nor circumstance.

There are four roots of sharia:

1 THE KORAN
As the direct and unmediated Word of God, the Koran is the primary source of law. In the broadest sense, the whole of the Koran is law. However, only about 10 per cent of the Koran's 6,000 verses contain injunctions that can be converted into positive religious or legal requirements. There are prohibitions on pork, carrion, wine, rules concerning family law (marriage, divorce and inheritance), criminal law (including penalties for illicit sexual activity, slander and wine-drinking), rules about witnesses, and commercial regulations including the ban on usury, explained Malise Ruthven.

2 SUNNAH
The Prophet's custom, as recorded in the hadith, provides a much larger quantity of legal material than the Koran. Although Western scholars and some Muslim modernists have questioned the authenticity of many of these hadith, the sunnah remains for the vast majority of Muslims the uncontestable second root of divine law. The sunnah, however, is very far from being self-explanatory.

3 IJMA
In the first centuries after the Muslim conquest, scholars who interpreted the law in urban centres relied on their own consensus and that of illustrious predecessors to reach agreement over which hadith should be accepted and which rejected as sources of law. The idea that ijma should be regarded as a "root" of jurisprudence was enshrined in a hadith of the Prophet: "My community will never agree upon an error."

4 QIYAS
The fourth root of jurisprudence is a form of reasoning. It involved the application of logic to situations not explicitly mentioned in the Koran or hadith. During the formative period of Islamic law, some jurists argued against qiyas on the grounds that it imputed inadequacy to the Prophet and the Holy Koran. The clearest examples of the use of analogical reasoning involve alcoholic drinks. Some jurists would argue that only fermented products of the date-palm and vine are forbidden; others, basing their judgments on qiyas, insist that all alcoholic drinks are forbidden, since the effective cause behind the prohibition is the same in each case.

The struggle for truth

Legal reasoning was one aspect of the effort (ijtihad) needed to fathom the law as revealed by God and his Prophet. The word ijtihad shares the same root as jihad ("struggle").  Thus, the jurist must exhaust himself intellectually to determine the details of God's command. Although jurists continued to exercise ijtihad for many centuries, the doctrine emerged that the "gates of ijtihad" had been closed after the third Muslim century. In Shi'i jurisprudence, however, the "gates of ijtihad" are generally assumed to have remained open. In Sunni Islam, juridical loyalties crystallised around the four leading figures credited with founding the four main leading Schools of Law: the Hanafis, Hanbalis, Malikis and Shafi'is. Their differences are mainly on questions such as marriage and guardianship, with the Hanafis taking a more liberal view than the Malikis. The Twelve-Imam Shi'ites have a school of their own, the Ja'fari, but the legal differences between it and the Sunni schools are not very great. Books on the science of law (fiqh) divided human conduct into five categories, covering everything from murder to social etiquette. The categories comprise the things that are: commanded, or recommended, or left legally indifferent, or disapproved of, or forbidden. This remarkably comprehensive scheme allows no ultimate distinction between religion and morality, law and ethics. All are seen as proceeding directly from the command of God, though there is room for humans to argue about the details. In Muslim societies, the "science of men" administered by the judge provided the connecting link between divine justice and the human world in which it was supposed to operate.

Stoning to death

IN Islamic law, there are a set of unalterable punishments (hadd, plural hudud), deriving mainly from Koranic sources: 

These punishments are exemplary and often not enacted: unless the culprit confesses, illicit intercourse has to be proved by four competent male witnesses - an unlikely circumstance. Some schools of law insist that even in the case of confession, it must be made four times and can be withdrawn. The punishment for illicit intercourse (zina) is vexed by doubts about the validity of the "verse of stoning", said to have been acknowledged as an original part of the Koran by Umar, the second caliph. But most scholars think it improbable that the verse is genuine or that Mohammed authorised stoning. Some crimes concern the rights of God, some men's rights. Those which are against God may bring a fixed penalty of great severity, such as stoning - but God, it is presumed, is merciful and does not desire punishment. Therefore, with crimes that do not affect the rights of men, the transgressor should hide his crime and not confess. He should turn quietly to God, who will accept his repentance if his intention is pure.

MUSLIMS IN BRITAIN: A CASE STUDY

MUSLIMS have been living in Britain for generations.

Dr. Sophie Gilliat-Ray

The first purpose-built mosque, the Shah Jahan Mosque near Woking, Surrey, was completed in 1889, but ports such as Liverpool and Cardiff have a long history of settlement by Muslims from Somalia, Yemen and other parts of the Muslim world. Indeed, the presence of Muslims in Britain extends back to the 16th century, if not further. In 1991 there were said to be 990,000 Muslims in Britain; the estimate now is 1.5 million or more. The 2001 Census will provide more accurate information. Islam has become the second largest religion in the country. The Muslim community, who come from every corner of the globe, grew fastest after the Second World War, when thousands emigrated from the Indian sub-continent - especially Pakistan.  They were encouraged to join the post-war economic boom. Many faced a poor future in their homeland, and there were large numbers of refugees after the creation of Pakistan in 1947. Later, many Asians from Uganda, which had strong colonial ties with Britain, settled here after being expelled by Idi Amin. The distribution of Muslims remains uneven, reflecting the destinations of these postwar migrants. Most went where employment was plentiful: to the large industrial centres in the Midlands, London, Glasgow, Manchester and the mill towns of Yorkshire and Lancashire. However, a sizeable minority ended up in smaller towns and villages. The majority of the first post-war Muslim migrants were uneducated men, who filled factory vacancies for unskilled labourers. Through a process of "chain migration", one man would sponsor the arrival of another into Britain. Many planned to work hard for a few years, saving sufficient capital to return to their families and secure a better future. By the early 1960s, many Britons were voicing concern at the scale of immigration. The 1962 Commonwealth Immigrants Act aimed to limit the influx - though it did not entirely have that effect. Fearful of separation, wives and children of men already in Britain came to join them. As a result, many men opted for permanent family settlement. Gradually, premises were converted or land purchased to build mosques. Shops began to sell halal (ritually acceptable) meat and other familiar and permissible foodstuffs. More and more investment was made in local communities, and fewer resources were sent "home". While ties with Pakistan, Bangladesh or other countries remain strong, the children and grandchildren of the post-war migrants now tend to regard Britain as home. About two thirds of the Muslim community come from the Indian sub-continent, but there is a sizeable Arab segment (mainly in London), who trace their origins back to Turkey, North Africa and Malaysia. The growing number of British converts to Islam - perhaps a couple of thousand a year - adds to the mix. Although they share a common religious identity, Muslims in Britain are a collection of different communities: they speak a variety of languages, observe numerous schools of religious thought and practise many different cultural customs. The 1991 Census showed that almost 60 per cent of Pakistanis and Bangladeshis were under 25, compared with 32 per cent of whites. The 2001 Census is likely to confirm that young people are still the dominant group. The priority of early settlers was to ensure that the basic practices of Islam were preserved. Later, they turned their attention to their children's education. Since the late 1980s, partly as a consequence of the Rushdie affair and the Gulf war, more energy has been invested in establishing Muslim community representation and public recognition. The creation of the Muslim Council of Britain in 1997 was an important landmark. Muslims have now reached the upper echelons of society, with representation in Parliament and senior posts in public organisations. They have established well-respected newspapers and magazines, businesses, publishing houses, schools and academic institutions. Yet challenges remain. Evidence of some discrimination and "Islamophobia" cannot be dismissed, and many Muslims are anxious about the small but vocal extremist organisations, such as al-Muhajiroun, that have taken root in the past few years. Senior Muslim leaders wrestle with the tensions between tradition and modernity, and, as ever, face the question of how to guide and inspire the next generation.

Photo: Saleha Islam, 39, with her three-year-old daughter, Jannah

My day begins at about 7.30, when I get up for Fajr, my sunrise prayers. First, I do the ritual cleansing - so I wash my hands, then my face, my arms up to my elbows, head, neck and feet. Because the children are waking at different times and it's usually a bit chaotic, I pray alone, as does my husband, Nazrul. I kneel on my prayer mat, which faces qibla - the direction of Mecca - and recite passages from the Koran. We both pray five times a day, at set times. My eldest daughter, Nilufa, prays in her bedroom before she goes to college, where she's studying for AS levels, but my 12-year-old, Yasmin, is a bit more erratic and Hanifa, who is eight, is just beginning to pray.  I don't force any of them because praying is about making a direct connection with your Creator. They have to do it for the right motives: it isn't about outward show and it shouldn't be something that children regard as a chore. But I do teach them what I can about Islam, and they also have a private tutor who comes round for two and a half hours on Saturday mornings to read from the Koran and explain aspects of the religion. After prayers, which last about five minutes, I feel relaxed and focused on the day. We have a breakfast of tea and toast or croissants, and then my husband does the school run, while I spend 15 minutes playing with my youngest, Jannah, before heading off to work. My mother lives with us and minds her during the day. At home, I don't cover my head, but I do wear a hijab scarf when I leave the house. Covering your head is about modesty - but it doesn't mean you can't be fashionable. I have more than 150 different scarves in various colours to match my outfits. I mostly wear Western clothes but I'll put on a sari or a shalwar kameez, depending on my mood: it's wonderful to have such a choice. Girls start covering their heads around puberty, when they are becoming socially responsible and accountable for themselves. Nilufa covered her head consistently for eight years, but stopped at 15. I take the view that she'll do it again when she's ready. Of course, we all want the best for our children, but Islam says you must not pressurise anyone into religion. At work, most of my day is taken up with meetings. If they coincide with prayer times, I usually suggest we take a break for five or 10 minutes, but if that's not practical, I can defer prayers until later because Islam is quite flexible like that. In my office, I keep a terracotta-coloured, woven prayer mat, decorated with a motif of the Kabah. Praying is such a part of my routine, of who I am, that I always feel a bit unsettled if I can't do it on time. It doesn't take any longer than making and drinking a cup of tea - and afterwards, I feel energised. My husband goes to the mosque on Fridays, but there's no obligation on women to attend - it's about choice. However, I do go sometimes. There's an area for women upstairs, behind an ornate wooden railing. After prayers, we sit and chat among ourselves - as do the men - and there's a good community feeling. I usually arrive home from work at about seven and spend an hour and a half connecting with the children. During the week, I'm very lucky, because my mother does the cooking. At weekends, I tend to take over: my father was a top chef at the Savoy, and I've inherited some of his skills. We eat halal food, which means no pork. Chicken, lamb and beef must be slaughtered in the halal way, so if we're eating out, we stick to vegetarian food, or maybe prawn dishes if it's a Chinese restaurant. I also make a lot of pasta, and lasagne is a particular family favourite. When Ramadan starts, we say extra prayers and don't eat or drink during daylight hours. For the first few days, you tend to get a headache because you're detoxing, but after that it feels great. The two older children fast, and the eight-year-old joins in because she wants to - we would never insist on it. Friends are often invited round for iftar, when the fast is broken, and we'll tune into satellite television to hear the call to prayer. We cook special meals, featuring 15 or 20 dishes - such as samosas, pulaos and sweetmeats made with dates. Our home is above the family restaurant, so my husband pops up throughout the evening to spend time with the children. We often watch television together. Our favourite programme is EastEnders and the children like The Weakest Link, Friends and Changing Rooms. Like any parent, I supervise what my children watch, but I believe in letting them see the reality of what's happening in society, and then talking about it. On a programme like The Bill, you see people taking drugs and having sex before marriage. As far as I'm concerned, the children are being informed, but they aren't learning how to behave from television. At 8pm, we all pray together. We have our own prayer mats, draped over a stool in the corner of the living room, and the furniture is arranged so there's space for us all to kneel. The littlest one wants to join in, but she doesn't know the movements so she tends to jump on our backs or wriggle across the floor. To the children, prayer is a normal part of everyday life. My husband did hajj in 1994, and took along my mother. When the baby is a bit older, and I don't have to worry about childcare, I'll go with him myself. I've been praying towards the Kabah all my life: being there, with millions of people, would be an incredible experience. There was one scene my husband described that I won't ever forget. It was very early morning. He was praying and watching the birds overhead, when they seemed to be circling the Kabah, just like the millions of people down below. It was as though the whole of creation was connecting to and praying towards the One Creator. When my husband came back, there was definitely an extra sense of calmness about him. But it's not enough just to do hajj - you have to continue to pray and reflect on life, and learn and grow: that's the purpose of being here. Once we've said our evening prayer together, I put the baby to bed and read to her. I must know the Spot books off by heart by now. The other children gradually head off to bed, too, and I turn in at about 12.30am. Then I lie in bed and say a few prayers: you're supposed to look back over the events of the day and think about resolving anything that hasn't been very positive. If I've been angered by someone, I'll analyse my feelings and ask Allah to grant me patience. You can't take for granted that you're going to wake up next morning, so it's important to find peace within yourself before you sleep. Saleeha Islam was talking to Judith Woods.

Islamic Art and Architecture
 

SOME in the West are familiar with Islamic decorative arts: ceramics, glassware, calligraphy in which Koranic verses are worked into architecture and paintings, Persian and Indian miniatures that defy the religious prohibition of representing the human form. A very few will know something of the rich musical traditions of the Islamic world, especially that accompanying the dances of the mystical Sufis. As for poetry, the two most famous Muslim poets in the West are both Persians - Hafez and Omar Khayyam. Omar Khayyam is almost an English classic because of the great translation of the Rubaiyat by Edward Fitzgerald. Probably the only Islamic prose work widely read here is the Arabian Nights. Thousands, however, have visited mosques in Turkey and the Middle East - the best way of getting a sense of the spirit and aesthetics of Islam. My own interest sprang from just such a visit - to the first mosque I had ever entered. Luckily, it was the Friday (or Great) Mosque of Isfahan, one of the jewels of world architecture. I shall write only about those buildings I have seen. Most mosques (even the grandest) still carry a subliminal reference to the modest beginnings of the Faith. The first mosque was in Mohammed's own house in Medina. It seems to have been little more than a large courtyard of sun-dried bricks with a covered area for prayer at one end. This was the fundamental plan of many future buildings: a large open space for the congregation, together with a much smaller covered area. The Arabs, as they acquired their empire, began to build in more permanent fashion. Many famous mosques of the Middle East incorporate ancient columns from churches, classical temples and other public buildings. Some of the finest mosques are astonishingly early - the Ummayad mosque in Damascus was built in the 8th century on the site of a pagan temple and a Christian church. It has a huge central court, surrounded by an arcade and several aisles of massive, re-used Roman columns, and is adorned with mosaics depicting well-wooded landscapes, but no human or animal figures.

Then, there is the mosque of Ibn Tulun in Cairo, built a century later, with a courtyard designed to quarter an army and its horses. With its colonnades of up to five aisles and pointed arches, it has the purity and serenity of form of the greatest Cistercian Gothic architecture, albeit 300 years earlier. The Friday Mosque of Isfahan is an i