What the demise of Quilliam teaches us about Britain and Islam

There was much rejoicing among Britain’s Islamists last week when the thinktank and campaigning organisation Quilliam announced that it was closing. The Islamists were pleased because for the 14 years since its founding Quilliam has been the most prominent Muslim-run organisation arguing for a progressive, non-Islamist Islam.

The exact reasons why Quilliam has shut down are not clear. The co-founder, Maajid Nawaz, has blamed the difficulties of sustaining a non-profit in the era of Covid. Perhaps it is that, or perhaps it is something else. The group never had an easy ride. But the fact that it didn’t, and that so many prominent British Muslims are celebrating its demise, points to a problem worth noting.

I was there in 2007 when Quilliam started. Like a lot of other people, I had spent some years wondering precisely where the reforming Muslims — even the ‘moderate Muslims’ — actually were. After 9/11, 7/7, the Danish cartoons and much more, our country was still going through the early-learning stages regarding Islam. Every time a terrorist attack happened we were assured that Islam was a religion of peace. But when some prominent Muslim organisation was brought forth to reassure us, all too often they tended to be nutters themselves.

Very few British Muslims feel represented by the communal groups who seek to speak in their name

Generally, after every attack they would condemn the attack. But they always had a ‘but’. They might condemn the killing of cartoonists but say that blasphemy was a very serious matter in Islam and that this was something the non-believers had to realise. They tended to condemn the destruction of the World Trade Center, but were by no means against terror if it was aimed against Israel. When they condemned the 7/7 bombings they would go straight on to denouncing British foreign policy and warning of ‘Islamophobic’ backlashes.