ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the changes, paying specific attention to new forms of religious knowledge and new theological perspectives. The Islamic tradition is in transition, in short; and as this transition has progressed, the question of what the faith's relationship with British society ought to be has become increasingly pressing not least because it has emerged against a backdrop of intense media scrutiny, driven to a large extent by suspicion of Muslims. The Islamic religion circulates outside knowledge. Salvation does not require people to know, but to believe'. Religious knowledge can therefore be placed in the background as being of relatively little significance. Islam is purged' of local culture and is textual in its orientation. The new Islamic initiatives and centres of learning that have been described here operate in a more or less open market and rely upon a desire on the part of young British Muslims to seek out new forms of knowledge.
