Social Integration of Young British Muslims in the Information Age: Focusing on “Knowledge” of Islam

Sociologists have defined “knowledge” as a social frame that gives people a specific reality and have discussed religion as a type of knowledge. Religious knowledge was historically produced by religious and political elites and was used to control the population in their territories. However, the situations surrounding religious knowledge have changed dramatically due to the emergence of the “information age.” In the information age, information of any kind is unregulated and freely accessible, and people can personally manage and even produce religious knowledge, free from interference by religious authority. Recent studies have demonstrated that this “democratization” of knowledge production influences young Muslims' understanding of Islam and their attitudes towards integration in wider society. Nevertheless, there has long been a gap in sociological research on the influence of Islamic “knowledge” on young Muslims partly because, in the UK, ethnicity has trumped religion. This paper aims to discuss the changes in young Muslims' relations to Islamic “knowledge” and the role of Islamic “knowledge” in their integration into British society. The data in this research were collected from interviews conducted in Coventry and examined using a thematic analysis. In interviews, participants pointed out three contexts concerning relations between young Muslims and Islamic “knowledge”; firstly, the development of religious infrastructures; secondly, being Muslim in a non-Muslim society; and thirdly, social pressure and suspicion of Muslims. These contexts prompt informants' personal research on and reinterpretation of Islamic “knowledge” in order to present Islam as more adaptable to democratic society. The analysis indicates that further developments of religious facilities and networks, which contribute to a deep understanding of Islam, are required to support young Muslims' integration into wider society.