Islam and identity politics among British-Bangladeshis

This committed study looks at what is at stake for British Bangladeshis in adopting either a secular ethno-politics or Muslim identity politics; while Ali Riaz, Professor of Politics and Government at Illinois State University, prefers the former over the latter, he also seeks to understand why ‘Islamist’ politics is so resurgent in this community and what can be done about limiting or reversing its impact. The distinction Riaz makes between Muslims and Islamists is a categorical untested hypothesis, namely that the former prioritise human will (read freedom) and the latter the Divine Will regardless of context (read authoritarianism) (pp. 11–12); this distinction places this monograph firmly within the burgeoning genre of anti-‘Islamist’ polemics. ‘Islamism’ thus becomes the name of a pathology, rather than simply being the mobilisation of values, symbols, ideas and traditions by Muslims qua Muslims in the name of Islam in the context of the modern nation-state, a workable definition for a normal subject in political science.