ties that bind - sep 11

conflict.A study produced in 2009 by the Department for Communities and Local
Government, entitled ‘The Pakistani Muslim Community in England:
Understanding Muslim Ethnic Communities in England’, found:
Young people consulted for the study defined being British as an essential part of their
identity...however, according to young respondents, the identity issue has become very critical
post 9/11 and 7/7...[Some] feel unsupported by the British system and culture, and [are]
made to feel like strangers in what they consider as their home. 20
Yet the challenges facing young Muslims today are not unprecedented. They
existed even more acutely almost a century ago, when the Ottoman Caliph
claimed suzerainty over all Muslims. When the Sultan sided against Britain in the
Great War, there were real fears that Muslims in the Indian Army might rebel.They
did not. Instead, Indian Muslims were largely able to manage, almost seamlessly,
these supposedly competing claims for their allegiance. There are important
lessons contained in that history for British Muslims, the State, and wider society.
Popularising their story, particularly in the context of their military contributions,
almost invariably reveals episodes of selfless sacrifice and valour.
Such examples need not always be that distant, either. In 2006,
Lance-Corporal Jabron Hashmi was killed after suffering injuries in a Taliban
rocket attack on his Platoon House in Helmand. He is the only British Muslim
serviceman to have died in combat since 2001. I visited the Hashmi family at
their home in Birmingham in 2009 and interviewed Jabron’s older brother
Zeeshan, who also served in the armed forces, completing two tours of duty in
Afghanistan. Lost among rows of anonymous terraced housing in Small Heath,
an area with a large Muslim population, Zeeshan and his sister, Zoubia, told me
about their brother over cups of coffee.
‘[Jabron] went to Afghanistan hoping to build bridges between the East and the
West. He combined his love of Islam with the love of Britain and his main reason
for joining the army was to make a difference. He certainly did that’, Zeeshan
said. 21 Jabron’s commitment is something that the family is keen to honour. Two
beaming pictures of him dressed in full military regalia with a glowing smile have
pride of place in their living room, alongside copies of the Quran and rolled-up
prayer mats.
Both brothers were born in Pakistan’s lawless North-West Frontier Province.
After moving to Britain in 1994, they completed their education before enrolling
in the armed forces. ‘I chose to be here’, Zeeshan said, ‘and we should be like
anyone else and give back to our society in whatever way, whether it’s joining the
army or the civil service or being a doctor – that’s up to you’. 22
Zeeshan was most keen to point out the significance of Jabron’s death. Coming
just days before the first anniversary of the July 7 attacks, he contrasted the
positive contribution that young Muslims can make with the horrors which a
small minority have sometimes perpetrated. ‘We all have to break the barriers
ourselves. Jabron’s death reflects on Muslims generally, not just my family’, he
said. ‘Being Muslim does not restrict us from bring British’. 23 Yet significant
segments of Muslim opinion believe it does. This pamphlet explores why such
controversy surrounds Muslim participation in the armed forces today – and how
this particular tradition of Muslim service can once again be revived.
Introduc�on
20 The Pakistani Muslim
Community in England:
Understanding Muslim Ethnic
Communities (Department of
Communities and Local
Government, March 2009), p.37.
DCLG produced 14 different
reports, each examining a
different ethnic Muslim group.
21 Shiraz Maher, ‘My brother died
for Britain and Islam says family of
first soldier to be killed fighting
the Taliban’, Sunday Times, 10
February, 2008. See: http://www.
timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/ar
ticle3341040.ece
22 Ibid.
23 Ibid.
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