ABSTRACT
Muslim active citizenship has been a fact of life in many Western states for decades. Often unnoticed and generally unpoliticised, Muslims have grown roots in Australia, Germany and the UK for decades, gaining education, getting jobs and working their way up the social ladder as ordinary members of society. Records of individual lives have not followed a linear path. Socio-economic obstacles and engrained suspicions of ‘outsiders’ have been common challenges facing Muslims. But many Muslims have managed to negotiate around these obstacles on an individual level, especially when the formal legal and political system provides protection and recognition. The Australian and UK legal systems have banned discrimination for many decades and this has reduced barriers for Muslim members of society to gain a visible foothold in the public and private realms. National multicultural policies and open citizenship regimes have further facilitated this public presence. In comparison, Muslims have been less visible in Germany, despite their demographic size, due to the absence of policies to encourage and protect public representation of diversity. This disadvantage was partly remedied by the 1999 reform on formal citizenship requirements, contributing to an unprecedented rise in political activities.
