Thinking Congregationally about British Muslims

ABSTRACT

British mosques are growing, both numerically and in terms of their capacity. While there is a burgeoning body of literature that examines mosques for their historical significance, their symbolic resonance, or as sites of conflict and contestation, no studies have yet explored the congregation and the mosque. This article argues that there is value in thinking congregationally about British Muslims and contends that the congregation is emerging as the primary means of doing religion together amongst Muslims in diaspora, replacing older and historical means of association amongst Muslims. Seeking a better understanding of the operation of congregations provides a project that can unite textual and sociological scholars, ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’, and which will potentially have an impact on policy for authorities, and benefit for academic understanding, as well as for mosques and Muslims themselves. Before considering the Muslim congregation, however, the article reviews the field of congregational studies, which has been predominantly focused on churches, and identifies the tools and approaches that can be utilized by scholars wishing to research Muslim congregations.

KEYWORDS:

• Islamic studies
• congregational studies
• British mosques
• Muslim congregation

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The 2011 census counted 2.6 million Muslims in Britain. A more recent estimate by the Pew Research Centre (2017) calculates a Muslim population of 4.1 million. An ad hoc estimate by the Office for National Statistics (2018) calculates a Muslim population of 3.3 million. It is reasonable to conclude that the current Muslim population in Britain is somewhere between 3 and 4 million.

2 A solitary article, emerging from computer sciences, proposes algorithmic approaches to counting congregation sizes at the Masjid al-Ḥarām in Mecca (Sajid, Hassan, and Khan 2016). While not directly relevant to the topic of this article, it nonetheless raises new possibilities for gathering data on congregation sizes in the future, should such technology become more reliable.