Muslim Women in Britain w/ Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor

This year’s Ibn Rushd lecture will bring to life and honour the hidden histories of Muslim women in Britain.

Professor Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor, co-editor of a groundbreaking new book on the subject, will tell the stories of Muslim women who lived in Britain between the mid-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries, from Victorian times to the years immediately after the Second World War—just before immigration profoundly affected the size and composition of Britain’s Muslim communities. It reveals a rich variety of experiences, including Muslim women who travelled to or away from Britain, and many who converted to Islam within the British Isles.

Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor’s presentation for the Ibn Rushd lecture this year will reinstate Muslim women as actors, storytellers and storymakers who have shaped the history of Britain and of ‘British Islam’.

About the book

The history of British Islam and British Muslims is a growing area of interest among historians and the general public. But, whilst Muslim women have featured in some research, their lives and experiences prior to the present day have remained obscure, if not ‘hidden’, in both academic and popular discussion. Uncovering Muslim women’s experiences and contributions to society in past generations is essential for us to build a full picture of Muslim life in Britain, then and now.

This is the first book to address that gap, telling the stories of Muslim women who lived in Britain between the mid-nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries, from Victorian times to the years immediately after the Second World War—just before immigration profoundly affected the size and composition of Britain’s Muslim communities. It reveals a rich variety of experiences, including Muslim women who travelled to or away from Britain, and many who converted to Islam within the British Isles.

Underpinned by feminist historical approaches, this groundbreaking book aims to make women visible where they have been hidden from or within history. Its fascinating accounts will reinstate Muslim women as actors, storytellers and storymakers who have shaped the history of Britain and of ‘British Islam’.

About the author

Sariya Cheruvallil-Contractor is Professor in the Sociology of Islam at Coventry University. Funded by the British Academy, she has written about Muslim women’s lives in Britain’s earliest mosques.