Clinton Bennett

In this book, James Gilham tells the stories of British converts to Islam beween 1850 and 1950. Primarily, then, this is an historical study, but much of its content resonates with the contemporary situation of Muslims in Britain today. Now, too, Muslims' loyalty to the British state and their religion's compatibility with British values is questioned, and much of what is written about Islam is negative. Now, as earlier , the activities of Muslims attract official (security or legal) scrutiny. Yet, as Gilham demonstrates, far from being a recent import to Britain by foreign-born settlers in the 1960s, Islam has longer and native roots in British soil. The title, Loyal Enemies, highlights how British converts and many British Muslims today struggle to balance and negotiate "sometimes conflicting, diverse national, cultural and religious identities and loyalties" (246). As more British Muslims today are becoming conscious of the story Gilham narrates and claiming this legacy as their own, this is a timely study of considerable significance for scholarship of Islam in Britain. Gilham's study ranges over six chapters, an epilogue, extensive notes, bibliography and index with 16 black and white illustrations. There is also an indispensable list of abbreviations. Throughout the text, a number of issues are systematically explored, especially what about Islam appealed to these converts; how they sustained, practiced, and adapted their new faith in the British contex; what "conversion entailed socially and culturally" (2); and how all this impacted their British identity.