Walk for miles in parts of Birmingham and you will see mostly "Asian" faces. But look for the "Asian community" and you will be disappointed. No matter how often we use the term, the fact is that it does not exist.

Birmingham supports one of the largest groups of "Asians" in Britain, but like every other city across the country, what it houses is an elaborate variety of communities. Kashmiri [...]

It has become quite fashionable, in certain Muslim circles, to be an ex. We have a number of ex-fundamentalists and ex-fanatics, such as Ed Husain, promoting themselves as experts on fanaticism and terrorism and advising various branches of the government. We have a group calling itself the Council of Ex-Muslims of Britain, which specialises in denouncing all things Islamic. We even have an odd ex-terrorist or two seeking book deals.

My friend Mufti Barkatullah is an unusual chap. He is a fully qualified "mufti", a traditionally educated and recognised expert in Islamic law. You cannot guess by simply looking at him, and his attire would definitely fool you, but in western terms he is also highly educated. He is just the kind of person who can combine tradition and modernity to produce something new that retains the best features of [...]

Farewell, President Pervez Musharraf. The military dictator of Pakistan jumped ship and resigned on 18 August, before he could be impeached. Pakistan is breathing a sigh of relief. There is dancing in the streets. Even the stock market is bouncing back.

Musharraf's departure is no surprise. His popularity had nosedived when his allies lost the February general election. Even the army that brought him into power in 1999 deserted him. [...]

Science has acquired a new meaning in certain Muslim circles. When classical Muslim scholars declared that "whosoever does not know astronomy or anatomy is deficient in the knowledge of God", they were emphasising the importance of the scientific spirit in Islam and encouraging the pursuit of empirical science. But today, to a significant section of Muslims, science includes the discovery of "scientific miracles" in the Quran.

The Quran does contain [...]

The government is to set up a board of Muslim theologians. Once established, it will steer the more radical elements of the Muslim community away from violent extremism and issue fatwas on controversial issues such as the position of women and loyalty to the UK. This is bonkers! And everyone should know it. Who in our diverse Muslim communities would actually listen to such a board?

The suggestion that a [...]

The Taliban have given an ultimatum to Pakistan: leave Peshawar within five days or face the consequences. That a band of terrorists can tell a democratically elected government to quit its own territory says a great deal about the power of the Taliban. Far from being beaten and on the run, as we are constantly being told, the Taliban are stronger than ever.

The ultimatum was issued this past week [...]

Avoid bright lipstick and noisy high heels. The advice to Muslim women, issued last month by the authorities in a north-eastern state of Malaysia, comes from the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), the conservative face of south-east Asian Islam.

Islam in the region is an eclectic mixture of traditionalism and Sufi mysticism, with the accent firmly on mythology and folklore. The more conservative PAS has been strong for decades in rural [...]

The beginning of the end of the war of terror has started. Mullahs in India have issued a fatwa unequivocally denouncing terrorism. So far, the international media have failed to notice, which is not surprising: the levers for changing Muslim minds have been a mystery to governments and media alike. The mullahs I speak of are not just any old mullahs: they are Deobandi mullahs.

The name Deoband, a small [...]

A new mosque will be opening this month in Levenshulme, Manchester. Nothing unusual in that, except that al-Markaz al-Najmi Mosque is eco-friendly. It is built with recycled materials and generates part of its energy from solar panels. British mosques are not re nowned for their friendliness by any barometer, so this is an event worth celebrating.

What I can say about mosques in Britain with some certainty is that they [...]