How the story of Britain’s Muslim Soldiers can forge a national identity

September 7, 2011

A new study from Policy Exchange, supported by Pears Foundation, finds that the long and proud record of Muslim service in the British armed forces provides much evidence to combat divisive propaganda that Islam is a barrier to pursuing both a military career and full participation in British society. 

Author Shiraz Maher points out that during British rule in India, Muslim authorities successfully countered propaganda even when Britain was at war with the Ottoman Caliphate, the supreme authority in Islam at that time.

He shows that this shared history can provide a shared future, helping to form the basis for boosting Muslim recruitment into the British armed forces of today.

Among the study’s recommendations are:

• The notion that Britain is at war with Islam needs to be confronted more effectively.
• The heroic record of Commonwealth soldiers in the two World Wars should be more fully reflected in the history curriculum.
• The MoD should exercise caution in its consultation with self-appointed community groups over the appointment of faith-specific chaplains.
• Contemporary leaders need to increase effort in the same way as Indian Muslim leaders during the First World War who successfully counteracted the propaganda of Germany, the Ottoman Empire and pan-Islamists.

Read the report Ties that Bind