The mosque and the nation

ABSTRACT

The history of the British mosque charts a course through the twentieth century and the making of modern Britain, from colonial to postcolonial to multicultural and beyond. Through this period the concept of nationhood has evolved in response to the nation’s new multi-racial realities. This think-piece asks; as a relatively new architectural typology in Britain, can the mosque both influence and challenge the prevailing post-war discourse of nationhood and belonging?

KEYWORDS:

• British
• mosque
• nation
• racism
• architecture
• identity

Disclosure statement

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

Notes on contributor

Shahed Saleem is an architect and academic based in London. He is the author of, ‘The British Mosque; an architectural and social history’, which was published in 2018 by Historic England and is the first thematic study of the mosque in Britain. Saleem is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Westminster and an Honorary Research Fellow at the Bartlett School of Architecture. Both his design and research work centre on migrant architecture and space-making, and he expands these to look at wider themes of heritage, significance and belonging in the urban environment.

Notes

1 Sailors who worked in the engine rooms of British ships on shipping routes between the UK and its colonies.