Comparative Study of Jews and Muslims in the UK

Workshop: Wednesday 29th November 2006

Royal Holloway, University of London

Egham, Surrey

Workshop Convenors: Professor Humayun Ansari & Professor David Cesarani

Summary Report

Introductory remarks – Professor Humayun Ansari

A total of eighteen delegates were welcomed by Professor Humayun Ansari, who referred to this workshop as a groundbreaking event within an overall project funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council in the UK. This workshop followed on from a UK-focussed series of seminars held in autumn 2005 and spring of 2006, which was supported by the Stone-Ashdown Charitable Trust. It also followed and linked to an international academic workshop held at the end of June 2006 which had attracted academics from the UK, Europe and North America.

Professor Ansari commented that the overall global and local focus on Muslims had increased interest in and support for the Forum, and had raised awareness of the increasing importance of comparative work on Muslim and Jewish communities. There had to date been little comparative research in this area, despite the topicality of the subject. Muslim-Jewish relations are presently complicated by political developments, particularly in the Middle East. The workshop therefore aimed to give an opportunity to bring into sharper focus experiences of inter-faith dialogue in practice in the UK, and also to engage in fruitful discussions about attitudes and practices that feed into the broader themes of racism, Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism.

Jews and Muslims in the West represent two very important minority faith groups, who share many similarities in terms of migration, diaspora and identity. At various different times they have been forced to migrate, often as refugees or during periods of political and economic uncertainty, and have subsequently faced the challenge of establishing their communities in new, and sometimes alien, settings.

In the case of Jews, their decision to migrate, whether in the nineteenth or the twentieth centuries, was often forced upon them by political circumstances that frequently transformed them into refugees. For Muslims, political pressures have also played a part in their becoming migrants. In some cases, they migrated to the West to escape the upheavals and uncertainties that followed decolonisation and independence. In others, they were drawn by the economic opportunities on offer. Alongside these similarities, however, there have also been important differences in terms of experience, linked for instance to the broader context in which processes of migration and community formation have taken place.

European and American societies were very different places in the late nineteenth century, when large-scale Jewish immigration started to occur, to what they had become by the late twentieth century which was when Muslim community formation got underway. There have also been significant differences in terms of the extent to which Jews and Muslims have been able to integrate themselves into wider society and into political life. Jews in many cases were able to penetrate these circles while Muslims – perhaps because they are more recent migrants on the whole – have yet to do so with the same level of success. Factors such as these have influenced the levels and nature of wider social integration that has taken place, as well as perhaps the degree of acceptance of community practices and beliefs.

In addition, while Jewish communities are far from uniform in terms of their composition, there would seem to be far greater diversity, in ethnic and linguistic terms alone, within their Muslim counterparts, again a factor that has important consequence for issues such as community identity. Better understanding of these kinds of distinctions will place into clearer perspective the range of experiences involved in processes of migration and diaspora-formation.

Introductory comments to the morning session – Professor David Cesarani

Professor Cesarani introduced the morning session by welcoming the workshop as aiming to discuss the ‘nuts and bolts’ issues - the kind of stumbling blocks that those who engage in dialogue between Jews and Muslims have encountered, what they have in common that can facilitate dialogue, as well as what divides them which unfortunately tends to be much more familiar, and certainly attracts much more attention.

Key points from the presentations and discussions

There were twelve formal presentations throughout the day, with space for discussion interspersed throughout. There were presentations about interfaith dialogue in the UK, and two from Australia, the latter providing an international perspective. Delegates welcomed this workshop as a space for discussion which has to date not been widely available, and particular comment was made that comparative work in the academic world was vital for practitioners, to support them in their work.

There were many common points made by the speakers from the diverse backgrounds represented. A list of delegates is attached in the Appendix, and reports of their full presentations will be made available.

This workshop was an opportunity to highlight differences and areas which would need to be tackled in future within inter-faith dialogue events.

Inter-faith activity overall is in many ways more developed in the UK than in other European countries, or indeed in some other countries around the world. There have been major developments in the inter-faith field over the last 20 years, and especially over the last 4 or 5 years, which of course is linked to the fact that very often the reason why there is impetus for inter-faith relations is because of unfortunate events around the world or in our country. So, not necessarily the best of reasons for deepening dialogue, but nonetheless an impetus for doing so.

There are several inter-faith organisations in the UK which themselves have a wide network of member organisations. These include the Inter-Faith Network, The Alif-Aleph Foundation and the Three Faiths Forum. Work at a government level was through the Home Office, but is now via the Cohesion and Faiths Unit which is within the Department for Communities and Local Government. A number of the national inter-faith organisations focus on bilateral dialogue. A number focus on trilateral dialogue in terms of the Abrahamic faiths. And there are a number that are concerned with dialogue on a multilateral basis. Some have a special focus in terms of a particular strand of activity – for example the UK branch of the Religions for Peace focuses on questions of international peace and justice. Others traditionally focus rather more on the theological and spiritual dialogue.

In addition to the inter-faith organisations at various levels, there are of course important contributions being made by a range of educational and academic bodies and an increasing number of higher education institutions – for example the Centre for the study of Jewish-Christian Relations and the recently established Centre for the study of Muslim-Jewish Relations, both at the University of Cambridge, and the work of the Centre for Ethnic Minority Studies at the Royal Holloway University of London.

There has also been quite a significant development in the bilateral conversations between central government and different faith communities. Most notably in relation to issues relating to the Muslim communities. And that clearly is very much a factor in the current institutional and conversational landscape, as are issues about the relationship between regional assemblies and multi-faith bodies at regional level and similarly at local level.

Turning more specifically to Jewish-Muslim dialogue, one aspect is that Jewish and Muslim dialogue is part of a broader pattern of dialogue between the Abrahamic faiths – Jews, Christians and Muslims. As well as of course being part of the wider multi-faith, multi-lateral dialogue.

Although some had tried to set aside the issue of Palestine and Israel in dialogue between Muslims and Jews in the UK, and to focus on UK issues, this had not in general been found to lead to meaningful dialogue. The subject could be set aside in the initial stages of dialogue, but always needed to be borne in mind as the wider context for interactions in the UK.

Jews had a history of hiding their Jewishness whereas, on the whole, Muslims had not. This led to different experiences and attitudes to integrating into wider society. The issue of Jewish people hiding their identity was not a recent issue and related to past experiences of discrimination against them because of their public manifestations of their religious practices.

There have been wonderful meetings between Jews and Muslims – good news stories - but the media are not interested – they are more interested in the divisions between our communities.

On Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism, there is lots of work done on Anti-Semitism, but there is very little about Islamophobia that has been done on an analytic, academic basis. The two academic departments represented at this meeting (Ed Kessler’s work, Cambridge, and Humayun Ansari’s work, Royal Holloway), and maybe some of that could be documented in ways that would be constructive.

Examples were given whereby lessons could be learnt from a different context. For example, there is a large, well-established number of Jewish lawyers, judges and so on, in Australia, who have been looking at some aspects of integrating or creating an intersection between Jewish law and in particular Australian law, but also in the UK and the US. To try and resolve problems, for example in relation to access to divorce proceedings, without having some of the community politics involved. In the UK and the US there is an emerging group of Muslim lawyers who are looking at some of the ideas that the Jewish community has come up with.

Comparative points were made with the experiences of Jews and Muslims in Australia. Australian Jews are very much part and parcel of Australian society. By and large they are very well integrated and very much part of the establishment, especially in the legal professions. Muslims, on the other hand, have always been on the peripheries of society. Project Abraham, in Australia, was not just a dialogue between religions, it was also a dialogue between two totally different social classes.

What was unique about the project was that not only was it interfaith, but the communities got together and focussed on a social justice problem of that particular rural town. And that moved beyond the interfaith dialogue. Working on a community related project means that it is a more long-term relationship.

One interesting thing to be observed in the US context is the argument that there has been an increase in ethno-cultural definitions of the nation, where we see an increasing tendency towards defining being American along either ethnic or cultural-religious lines – an undesirable consequence to perceive the essence of being American as either being white Anglo-Saxon or being Christian. So, clearly there is evidence in the United States that that is happening. It’s a very interesting question whether this might be happening in the United Kingdom amongst the white Christian population.

Research has highlighted three major shortcomings, serious obstacles to human development within Arab countries. They are: absence of freedom; gender inequality; and knowledge deficit. Although these findings relate to Arab countries, they apply to all Muslim societies.

History of integration of all minorities in Britain has followed a certain pattern – whether they be Jewish, Irish, Afro-Caribbean or others. Initially, they are despised because of their language, culture or colour. They are treated as a threat to British values, even a fifth column or enemy within. They are told who is in charge, and what is their place in society. Minorities adjust to these pressures, begin to engage, build bridges and begin to find a space. For Muslims it is too early to be definitive as to why the Muslim community has become an “odd one out” and not following the same pattern.

The theme of the Noahide Laws can be seen as providing contemporary Jews with a universal and inclusive perspective on humanity. The person who accepts these laws is a ‘righteous’ Gentile.

In the UK, the teaching of the Noahide Laws has been included in the OCR (Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations) Board GCSE Religious Studies. This is a useful step forward for promoting understanding of the Jewish community in wider society.

The next step is to communicate within our communities. The inter-faith dialogue used to be Jews and Christians, but now there are Jews, Christians and Muslims dialogues. There are several common issues for Jews and Muslims, however there are some problems that need to be addressed for effective dialogue. For example, it is important to establish boundaries. It would be all to easy not to tackle difficult areas, and to run away from each other. Next steps in inter-faith dialogue would be with other faiths – how, for example, do Muslims, Jews and Christians come to terms with Hinduism and Buddhism?

It can be intimidating to work on interfaith dialogue. If there is a real appetite for this to work, we need to respect each other.

The real dialogue, to address issues of Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism, has to be had with the secular society.

Concluding remarks

This was a wide-ranging, enriching discussion, addressing issues from a broad set of perspectives. Looking at issues relating to the two communities of Muslims and Jews in this way helps identify what needs to be done to address problem areas.

One of the questions which arises is: how can we harmonise the communities in the UK? This has to be in the context of local, national and international political situations. There is a need to create an environment which is safe to discuss these issues, and this workshop was considered to be an important step in this process.