British Muslim Voices From the Age of Modernity

Empowerment and the Subjectivity of the Self

Abstract

This study explores responses to Western modernity through the lens of prominent British and British South Asian Muslim thinkers and practitioners. It examines their evolving engagement with modernity, spanning from the era of empire to contemporary times, and critiques their religious and intellectual positions using a framework informed by Farzin Vahdat’s model of human subjectivity in Muslim thought. This framework highlights the tensions between human subjectivity and divine authority, as well as those between Islamic modernity and democratic ideals. The study also incorporates insights from Postcolonial literature to better understand how South Asian diasporic writers in Britain engaged with the empowerment of the self and negotiate their identity within the context of colonial legacies and the modern world. Through the analysis of six key figures, the article investigates the ways in which their ideas and practices, whether modernist or neo-traditionalist, have contributed to broader discussions about the empowerment of the self, faith, and the reconciliation of Islamic thought with modernity.