ABSTRACT
The events of 9/11 cast a spotlight on Muslims as never before. In Britain, it influ-enced the way in which individuals, families and entire communities lived day-to-day and how they saw themselves and others. Most importantly, 9/11 and the ‘war on terror’ determined how Muslims came to be seen by majority British society; that is, as bearers of a menacing, destabilising religion whose principles and practice clashed with western liberal democratic values and systems. Over the last 13 years, the war on terror has generated various measures aimed at combating terrorism and violence, including the introduction of harsh immigration legislation, rules and an array of control orders dubbed ‘prisons without bars’. This has had a particularly negative impact on those arriving at British border ports from Muslim-majority countries in the Middle East and North Africa. It has also meant that long-established black and minority ethnic (BME) communities have become the target of increased policing while an all-out attack has been launched on their ‘failure’ to integrate into British society. The principles and practices of liberal multiculturalism introduced since the late 1960s and which created the framework in which ethnic and cultural diversity was managed in Britain, came under an unprecedented attack. 2
