FOREWORD

by M. A. Zaki Badawi

In the Name of Allah the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate,

Christians Aware is one of the few organisations focusing on introducing and explaining other communities to the wider Christian public in Great Britain. Its assumption is that awareness of each other's true opinion and way of life is the firmest basis for common understanding and harmony. This work covers the Muslim Community in its various groupings in terms of culture, language and race. It presents the Muslims as a deeply religious community translated into the British environment within which it seeks to find a role.

The lot of minorities is never an easy one and the majority community often finds it difficult to relate to the newcomers, particularly if they differ from it racially, culturally, religiously and above all linguistically-

The Muslim community has contributed meaningfully to the economy and the culture of Great Britain; nevertheless it had to face the difficult task of adjusting to a new environment and learning the ways of the British. On the other hand the majority community tended on the whole to regard the Muslim community as exotic, peripheral and transient. As time passed and the immigrant became a citizen, and the transient settled, and the peripheral sought a role near the centre stage; disappointment, frustration and sometimes even anger ensued. It was evident particularly at the time of crisis, (e.g. the Rushdie affair) that neither community was able to convey its concern to the other.

This book will serve to make the Muslim community more real and comprehensible to the larger community. It is a great service to the ideal of religious tolerance, communal harmony and basic humanity for which Christians Aware works with diligence and energy. I cannot adequately express my gratitude as an individual and as a Muslim for the hard work that Mrs. Barbara Butler has devoted to this project, and the Muslim College is most happy to be associated with this splendid endeavour.