ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces the key protagonists of the book, the individuals and groups associated with the Muslim Brotherhood and Jamaat-i-Islami in Britain. It describes their historical background, and the various ways in which they have been conceived and classified by other observers. The chapter provides the platform from which the rest of the book follows, since it not only provides the global and British historical context of the emergence of the revivalist network but also describes and analyses the key debates in which these individuals and groups have featured. Whereas some analysts view them as non-violent but subversive ‘Islamists’, others see them as a progressive force for Muslim activism. These debates, the chapter concludes, help to identify the key players and provide some useful background information, but provide an incomplete picture of the network in Britain. It is the task of the remainder of the book to complete this picture.
