Rediscovered by Islamic converts in the late 1960s and post-war migrants in Liverpool in the 1970s after he had been largely forgotten, British Muslim interest in Abdullah Quilliam has grown significantly, especially in the last decade. Although not without his contemporary critics, there is a strong hagiographic tendency that puts Quilliam forward as a founder figure in British Islam. Contemporary appropriations of Quilliam center on questions of British Muslim belonging, which is drawn out in debates on racism and effective preaching (da‘wa), and about Islam, politics and patriotism. This chapter argues that, within his overarching role as progenitor, Quilliam’s reimagined afterlives as patriot or rebel, reformer or traditionalist, or community builder or preacher, reveal tensions and developments among British Muslims today.
Bill Burch Urban Forestry Pioneer, Compassionate Community Builder
