history discusses the British Yemeni community in the wider contexts of Arab communities in Britain and the related issues of visibility and recognition by local and national governments in terms of their specific needs and concerns. It is evident from the studies referenced and cited that there is a large degree of marginalization when it comes to addressing both the misrepresentations of the many diverse Arab communities in the UK, as either pathologized ‘Islamic terrorists’ operating as al-Qaeda ‘sleeper cells’ or ‘rich petroldollar Shaykhs’ who inhabit the nightclubs and casinos of London. Coupled with the subject of representation beyond misleading stereotypes has been the previous problem of establishing an accurate population statistic for the number of Arabs in Britain before the new inclusions in the 2011 census statistics.
The works of Madawi al-Rasheed and Camilla Fawzi El-Solh provide startling and powerful arguments for more nuanced representations and greater academic research into Arabs in Britain. The emergence of Arab community mobilization as a direct result of 9/11 and the subsequent US-led ‘War on Terror’ initiatives; the invasion of Afghanistan and, then later, Iraq, the intensive securitization of Arab communities in US, Britain and Europe, and the high numbers of ‘extraordinary renditions’ – the cruel euphemism for the numerous unexplained disappearances of Arab Muslims from across the globe into US-facilitated incarcerations, devoid of any human rights – have all witnessed a high degree of organized British Arab responses. For example, the ‘Stop the War’ campaign supported by the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) attracted large numbers of young British Yemenis into its ranks. Further, the current pro-democracy movement sweeping across the Arab-Islamic Middle East has seen rallied support from the Arab communities in Britain, manifest through many demonstrations, fund-raising events and representations of the various revolutionary movements in the British media. This is particularly true in the case of the British Yemeni community towards the final days of Ali Abdullah Salih’s presidency.
Another issue is the question of Fred Halliday’s asserted ‘invisibility’ of the British Yemeni community which is addressed in the Epilogue through a specific case study of the population statistics according to the 1991 and 2001 Census for the Yemeni community of Eccles, Greater Manchester, and the subsequent local authority’s responses to the prevailing socio-economic conditions of that community. The case study records the dramatic shift in local authority funding and resources once a serious discrepancy between the ‘official’ population figure and a much higher figure, based on quantitative ethnographic research, had been established for the Yemeni population. Thus, almost immediately transforming that particular community from being ‘invisible’ and underdeveloped into one that is both visible and organized.
The politicization of Muslim identity appears to be an increasing inevitability for Muslim minorities in the post-9/11 political climate of western societies. Yet how much is this phenomenon actually internal to the experiences and realities faced by young British Yemenis is an interesting question. Current research into ‘British Muslim Arab’ identity has been undertaken by Carol Nagel and Lynn Staeheli, which included a significant proportion of young British Yemeni respondents. Their research findings have been examined as a means of exploring the idea of ‘Muslim’, as both a public and political identity, based on the qualitative research interviews in their study. Surprisingly, they noted that while levels of personal religiosity varied, most respondents appeared to reject the idea of a ‘British Muslim’ identity because it was both inherently politicized and largely unrepresentative of their personal experiences of religion and politics. What is clear from the detailed study is that the majority of the views of the young British Arabs questioned are in counterdistinction to the perpetuated association between Islam and political extremism, whilst acknowledging the place of religion and religious identity in the public realm.
Finally, this study concludes with a concise discussion on the notion of traditional tribal belonging in the particular context of transnational and diaspora Yemeni networks. Translocal tribal politics often forms part of the intra-community dynamics of the British Yemeni communities. However, the tensions and disputes between various tribal allegiances only occasionally surface and may even remain invisible to the outsider. Moreover, the need to conform to the collective conventions of tribal traditions and mores is essentially self-imposed, particularly in the diaspora. Global dimensions of Yemeni identity, both religious and cultural, have become unique features of ‘Yemeniness’ and aspects of ‘translocal tribalism’ are important facets of identity for young British Yemeni males. The cumulative affects of the modern manifestations of prologue | what it means to be both British and Yemeni have produced an amazing and resilient community of Arab Muslims in the UK who have established themselves for almost 200 years as the country’s oldest settled Muslim community, complete with its own unique and fascinating historical narrative.
As Arabic is the literary language of Yemenis and Islam, Arabic terms have been used and explained throughout the book, and a glossary of the major words appears at the end. Spellings considered to be correct by the wider Muslim academic community have been adopted: for example ‘Shaykh’ and ‘Muslim’ rather than ‘Sheikh’ and ‘Moslem’. Diacritical marks have been used for unfamiliar Arabic terms except where standard names, placenames and terms are commonly used. In quotations, the terms and spellings used by the original authors have been reproduced so that variant spellings such as ‘Mohammed’, ‘Moslem’, ‘tariqa’ and ‘sheikh’ are found. The italicization, punctuation and spelling in the quotations all appear as they do in their original texts. It is customary for peace and salutations to follow the names both of Islamic Prophets and Muhammad’s companions, but these have been omitted in this book.
A map of modern Yemen
YEMEN: A BRIEF HISTORY OF ARABIA FELIX
THE PORT OF ADEN at the tip of southern Yemen has been historically described as the ‘gateway to China’ largely because ancient Arab mariners used the port as a midway point in the maritime trading routes between the eastern coast of Africa, the Mediterranean, via the desert caravan routes, and India, China and Malay.1 The oceanic ‘super highways’ created by Yemeni and Omani merchant seamen ensured that Arab colonies were well established in East Africa and India long before the advent of Islam in the seventh century CE. In the Yemeni context, these important trade routes were traditionally dominated by the two ruling tribes of the Kathīrī and Qu˓aytī emanating from the fringes of Ḥaḍramawt in al-Ruba˓ al-Khālī (‘The Empty Quarter’) desert of the southern Arab Peninsula. Ancient histories of Middle Eastern civilizations make very little reference to Yemen, focusing instead on the wonders of Babylon and Pharoanic Egypt. The general absence of any narrative of ancient Yemen, however, cannot deny its unique importance in the economic development of the region from around 2000BCE until 700CE. In this period, Yemen was a flourishing area ruled by a number of important kingdoms who advanced the region’s prosperity and technological development. The pre-Islamic civilizations of Awsān, Ḥaḍramawt, Ḥimyar, Ma˓īn, Qatabān and Saba’ were ancient kingdoms whose histories shaped the very nature of what we know today as Yemen.2 It is only their remoteness in relation to modern population centres that have made the abandoned desert ruins of these previous civilizations the subject of myth and legend.
In more recent times, Yemen’s virtual encapsulation, as a result of almost a thousand years of Zaydī Imāmate-rule, cut the region off from the rest of the world, resulting in a further ignorance of the country’s rich and epic history. It is only in the last 200 years that Western explorers, often at great personal risk, have been able to penetrate Yemen’s unforgiving landscapes of remote and rugged mountains and vast barren deserts to reveal many of its important archaeological sites and lost ancient settlements. Modern excavations of these now isolated sites have revealed not only their former glory as centres of advanced civilization, but also their key role in the extremely lucrative trade in rare spices and expensive incenses. The abandoned ancient trading entrepôts were vital to the commodities and rites of the ancient world. In Pharoanic Egypt and ancient Babylon, the use of frankincense and myrrh in the religious rituals of mummification and the employment