This is a work of collaboration by two friends committed to understanding and making sense of Islam, especially as lived within the many different Muslim communities in Britain today. Both of us have written on Islam in Britain. 1 One of us is an insider, the other an outsider. Philip has spent thirty years building bridges across the different religious and secular traditions, learning to share public and civic life in Bradford, as the Inter-faith Adviser to a series of Anglican bishops in

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... city. For fi fteen years, he also lectured on 'Islam in the West' and 'Religions, confl ict and peacemaking in a post-secular world' in the Peace Studies Department at Bradford University. Sadek has also engaged with different British Muslim communities for over three decades as an activist, youth and community development professional and academic. He has taught Islamic Studies at the Universities of Chester and Liverpool Hope and is currently a Research Associate at the Oxford University Centre for Islamic Studies. He has written widely on issues relating to British Muslims, young people and religious identity formation. We have sought to write a short and accessible book which aims to offer insight and perspectives about Islam and Muslim communities in Britain today. We draw upon existing scholarship on contemporary Islam and material produced by British Muslims. However, our primary audience is not other academics, but professionals such as teachers, social workers, journalists and politicians working with Muslim communities, frequently bombarded with contradictory images of Islam and British Muslims. We hope this viii