ABSTRACT
This chapter examines four significant current questions in the field of Islamic studies: who speaks for Islam?, who speaks about Islam?, how do they do it? and what are the implications of these issues? The accurate representation of Islam is vitally important for community relations, in the United Kingdom as well as on a global level, even apart from the simple importance of endeavouring to perceive and locate the truth. Westerners for centuries have been alternately puzzled, attracted, concerned, and curious about the great religious traditions of Islam. It is important to remember that Christian–Muslim relations and the relationship between the world of Islam and the West are not synonymous. Many Muslims, in other words, live in minority contexts outside the frontiers of what is usually called the world of Islam, and equally many Christians do not live in what is usually called 'the West'.
