Despite having become deeply assimilated into her husband’s country, it was only many years later—when she witnessed her party-going Muslim friends consume alcohol, smoke hashish and still make time to catch up on their missed […]

The search for Salafiyyah was multifaceted and complex for all respondents, revealing the routes to Salafism as varied, seldom straightforward and part of a lifelong process (Roberts and Yamane 2016;108). The overriding theme that emerged […]

Respondents from Muslim countries also expressed this sense of ‘something missing’ and of feeling ‘lost’. However, they expressed their identity crisis more in terms of feeling the repercussions of “accelerated globalization” and rapid modernisation taking […]

Like their African-Caribbean Non-Muslim Heritage and French Muslim-Heritage (MH) respondents, British MH respondents also felt a sense of exclusion and a lack of belonging. Fatima, who grew up in a tiny minority Bangladeshi community in […]

Adding to the “cohort” or “generational effect” was the fact that all Muslim Heritage (MH) respondents cited the significance of ‘9/11’ as part of the search for Salafism in their conversion narratives. This was particularly […]

The damaging effects of “misrepresentation” or “nonrepresentation” of identity (Weedon 2004:29) for second-generation Muslim Heritage (MH) respondents from Europe (and other parts of the world) bore a strong resemblance to those of their second-generation Non-Muslim […]

Rahima’s case also involves multiple sources of unhappiness: she grew up as her poorly mother’s primary carer, with little help from her stepfather and none from external agencies such as social services. Rahima connected her […]

These childhood experiences often perpetuated further problems during adolescence, thereby exacerbating the identity crisis. For instance, all respondents except one who were from African-Caribbean backgrounds and raised by their mothers or grandmothers also became young […]