In overwhelmingly Muslim spaces of Britain’s second-largest metropolis, overseas flags fly from lamp posts and unpleasant sectarian politics threaten to rip the social material aside, as DAVID PATRIKARAKOS discovers in a devastating dispatch

Last month, a legal attorney from the Perry Barr district of Birmingham used to be charged with cash laundering offences following a National Crime Agency investigation.

Akhmed Yakoob isn’t because of seem at Westminster Magistrates’ Court till the center of this month however on Wednesday he got here out preventing. 

In a video posted on TikTook, the place he has 212,000 fans, he railed in opposition to his arrest by way of counter-terrorism police, claiming that he used to be the sufferer of ‘a politically motivated assault’ brought about by way of his ‘political upward thrust and vocal stances on Gaza‘. He added: ‘This is ready silencing me, no longer justice.’

Until October 7, 2023, Yakoob used to be higher recognized on-line for crowing about his selection of supercars.

The Birmingham-based solicitor – ‘Not a magician however a felony tactician’ – would pose in entrance of, say, a Rolls-Royce or a Lamborghini, whilst dressed in vulgar jewelry and boasting about his wealth.

But following the October 7 bloodbath of 1,200 Israelis by way of Hamas terrorists – the largest mass killing of Jews because the Holocaust – the tenor of his posts modified.

And a month after October 7, Yakoob introduced he would run for West Midlands mayor as an ‘impartial’.

On the face of it, his marketing campaign used to be doomed to fail. After all, Yakoob had no political enjoy and no military of canvassers to head door-to-door selling his purpose.

But that will be to reckon with out the curious personality of politics in Birmingham, Britain’s moment biggest metropolis and one in every of its maximum segregated.

The 2021 census published that greater than 50 in line with cent of the inhabitants used to be composed of ethnic minorities and, extra importantly, 30 in line with cent described themselves as Muslim.

The tale of ways the so-called ‘TikTook attorney’ become a significant political contender just about in a single day provides an instructive perception no longer simply into how Gaza is infecting British politics but in addition the problems which are an increasing number of dividing the inhabitants of Birmingham.

The 37-year-old Muslim, whose father got here to Britain from Pakistan within the 1970s, has turn out to be a significant political contender just about in a single day, and provides perception into no longer simply into how Gaza is infecting British politics but in addition the problems which are an increasing number of dividing the inhabitants of Birmingham

I visited town previous this month to analyze the rising affect of sectarian problems and Islamist entryism on British politics.

My first prevent used to be Small Heath, an inner-city ward which – in step with the 2021 census – is 85.9 in line with cent Muslim, the best proportion in Birmingham.

Women swathed in black burqas float silently alongside the pavement. Men in flowing gowns and cranium caps accumulate to speak out of doors retail outlets and eating places. Palestinian and Pakistani flags fly from lamp posts and store fronts.

To my left is Beauty Queen Cosmetics which has a line of Arabic script above its pink-lettered store signal. It’s the Quranic verse referred to as the Basmala: ‘In the title of Allah probably the most merciful and maximum beneficent.’

To my proper, a garments store promoting itself as ‘Amsons: Your Islamic Lifestyle’ stands proper by way of branches of having a bet chains Coral and Paddy Power, which give a provider forbidden unequivocally by way of Islam.

Small Heath is a converting Britain in microcosm. In the early 20th century, when the realm used to be an commercial and production hub, Irish immigrants stuffed its clusters of terraced properties.

Then, the Birmingham Small Arms Company used to be a distinguished native employer. But the industry collapsed in 1973 and, inside a decade, swathes of housing right here lay derelict.

Cheap belongings costs blended with the metropolitan enchantment of Birmingham introduced in some other massive wave of migration, this time of South Asian Muslims.

By 1991, in step with analysis by way of Oxford University, 60 in line with cent of other folks in Small Heath have been from an ethnic minority background.

It is on this context that Akhmed Yakoob has thrived. At first, extra average individuals of Birmingham’s Muslim neighborhood thought to be his pitch for energy absurd.

‘I brushed aside it as clownish behaviour,’ says Nadeem Afzal, a circle of relatives reinforce employee for Birmingham’s kid products and services, who I meet over breakfast within the Middle Eastern Damascena Cafe in central Birmingham. ‘But other folks from the neighborhood began paying consideration.

‘Over time, his movies used Gaza extra explicitly to push his candidacy. There used to be virtually not anything in his literature about Birmingham or the West Midlands – and if there used to be on occasion, it used to be as an afterthought. So I began posting on Facebook about how this man’s sectarian politics have been unhealthy.’

In the top, Yakoob – working on an unashamedly pro-Palestine price ticket – got here 3rd within the May 2, 2024 mayoral election with virtually 70,000 votes. Emboldened by way of this sturdy appearing, he vowed to do the similar within the normal election two months later.

David out of doors the Shia-Husaynia Mosque, its white dome emerging at the back of black wrought iron gates. Another native mosque used to be the topic of an exposé by way of Channel 4’s Dispatches that claimed one preacher mentioned ladies have been ‘poor’ and some other argued that ladies will have to be ‘hit’ in the event that they refused to put on a hijab

In Birmingham, David got here head to head with the toxic results of sectarian politics, however he additionally met proud British Muslims akin to Nadeem Afzal, who’re fashions of integration and tolerance, decided to talk out

‘I knew then that the election will be the mom of all s**t fights,’ says Nadeem.

Yakoob ran in opposition to the sitting Labour MP Shabana Mahmood within the Birmingham Ladywood constituency – and issues quickly were given nasty.

‘Yakoob’s other folks accused her and Labour of overlaying up for genocide,’ remembers Nadeem. ‘It used to be centered harassment and hate.’

Yakoob did not win. But he got here a detailed moment with 33.2 in line with cent of the vote.

And the ‘independents’ had luck in different places. In the run as much as the 2024 normal election, Ayoub Khan, a Liberal Democrat, resigned from his birthday party (regardless that he stays a councillor), in protest at being ordered to adopt anti-Semitism coaching after wondering the level of crimes dedicated by way of Hamas on October 7.

He ran as an ‘impartial’ for the seat of Birmingham Perry Barr, co-ordinating his marketing campaign with Yakoob within the neighbouring Ladywood constituency. ‘A vote for us is a vote for Gaza,’ proved to be a successful slogan for Khan: he defeated the incumbent Labour MP by way of 507 votes.

Nadeem Afzal despairs. Not least when a bunch of politicians, together with Tahir Ali, the MP for Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley, wrote a letter to the top minister of Pakistan urging him to construct an airport in remote Kashmir.

‘Now the belief is rising that Birmingham’s MPs are extra concerned about airports in Pakistan than infrastructure at house,’ says Nadeem. But what about Birmingham? What about products and services, budgets? Instead, it is ‘Why have not you mentioned the rest about Kashmir or Gaza?’

‘I don’t have any doubt that, according to sectarian vote casting patterns, subsequent yr’s native elections will likely be a massacre for Labour. And if independents flood the councils, not anything gets achieved as a result of all they care about is Gaza. And in any case, none of this makes any distinction to Gaza anyway.’

A proud Muslim and a proud Brummie, he’s obviously distressed on the affect of sectarian politics on his liked metropolis.

A walk down Small Heath’s primary drag, Coventry Road, displays simply how various town’s Muslim inhabitants is – and that is key to its politics.

A couple of doorways alongside from Amsons is Viva Palestina, which specialises in Palestine-themed merchandise

Birmingham City Council information that 17.4 in line with cent of other folks in Small Heath are Bangladeshi, 50.8 in line with cent Pakistani, 1.4 in line with cent Indian, and simply 5.9 in line with cent White. And many are obviously no longer smartly built-in: 36.3 in line with cent of citizens do not need English as their primary language, whilst 15.9 in line with cent can’t discuss English or discuss it poorly.

These tumultuous demographic adjustments are imprinted onto the material of town. Just off Coventry Road is the Shia-Husaynia Mosque, its white dome emerging at the back of black wrought iron gates. To the west, up Green Lanes, is a Salafi Mosque that used to be as soon as the topic of an exposé by way of Channel 4’s Dispatches that claimed one preacher mentioned ladies have been ‘poor’ and some other argued that ladies will have to be ‘hit’ in the event that they refused to put on a hijab.

Around me are Somalian cash exchanges, Bangladeshi banks, Lebanese eating places and Pakistani supermarkets.

I pay a talk over with to Amsons, which sells the whole thing from mugs with ‘Thank You, Allah’ written on them and conventional South Asian gowns to an unending array of accoutrements, continuously within the colors of the Palestinian flag.

In the kids’s guide phase the titles on be offering come with ‘Allah Knows All About Me’ and ‘The Prophet Mohammad’s Stories for Children.’

A couple of doorways alongside is Viva Palestina, which specialises in Palestine-themed merchandise. Zamir, a neighborhood of Pakistani starting place, is speaking to the younger Somalian youngster who’s manning the store. ‘Trying to stay him out of the clutches of the Wahhabis [a strict Sunni Muslim sect],’ he says jokingly.

Outside a smiling guy approaches us. It’s pal of Zamir’s, Dr Majeed, a neighborhood GP. As we attempt to move the street, weaving between honking and screeching automobiles, he says: ‘This is how they pressure in India. My spouse would possibly not pressure in Birmingham as a result of she says she had sufficient of it there.’

Small Heath illustrates no longer simplest how our Muslim inhabitants is rising however, because the web page UK Election Analysis observes, Muslim Britons are possibly to reside in concentrated city spaces.

It implies that those communities are an an increasing number of essential electoral pressure as a result of, underneath the United Kingdom’s first-past-the-post gadget, they represent tough blocs, as Labour is discovering to its value. Until fairly lately, the birthday party may depend on Muslim communities for his or her reinforce.

According to the Labour Muslim Network, there have been – sooner than the hot council elections – over 500 Muslim councillors in the United Kingdom, of whom over 75 in line with cent have been affiliated to Labour. In the 2019 normal election, over 80 in line with cent of Muslims voted Labour.

But issues are converting. And it is not home however overseas politics this is transferring the dial. In the 2024 election, in seats the place greater than 10 in line with cent of the inhabitants known as Muslim, Labour’s vote proportion diminished by way of 11 issues on reasonable – a shift attributed to Labour’s perceived inactiveness on Gaza. In 21 seats the place greater than 30 in line with cent of the inhabitants used to be Muslim, Labour’s vote proportion dropped by way of 29 issues.

One guy who has noticed this phenomenon at shut quarters, after all, is Khalid Mahmood, the Labour MP who misplaced his Perry Barr seat to ‘impartial’ Ayoub Khan final yr.

He tells me that the blended nature of Britain’s Muslim communities used to be key to Khan’s victory, and to the luck of 3 different Muslim impartial applicants who gained seats around the nation on pro-Gaza tickets.

‘In the 4 seats we misplaced, it is noticeable that every one of them had an affordable share of Gujarati Muslims from India and Pakistan,’ says Mahmood. ‘The Gujarati Muslims are very a lot aligned with The Muslim Vote and the Muslim Council of Britain [MCB].’

The Muslim Vote is a force team whose challenge, in step with its web page, is to position ‘Muslim problems at the leading edge… We [Britain’s Muslim community] are an impressive, united pressure of 4 million appearing in unison.’

Mahmood continues: ‘The Muslim Vote could be very a lot an Islamist organisation. I’ve been one in every of their key objectives [since they were founded about a year ago]. Since 9/11, I’ve stood in opposition to Islamists and all their efforts to infiltrate Labour politics, which they have got achieved fairly effectively thru MCB and MEND [Muslim Engagement and Development].’

MEND is some other organisation decided to make its mark on British politics. It gifts itself as campaigning for the pursuits of British Muslims however has been related to – or even shared personnel with – teams as infamous as Cage, which advocated for Yemeni cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who went on to steer al-Qaeda within the Arabian Peninsula.

Despicably, Cage’s analysis director introduced on tv in 2015 that Isis butcher ‘Jihadi John’ used to be a ‘gorgeous younger guy’.

A counter-extremism professional later explains to me why the kind of entryism into British politics noticed in Birmingham is so unhealthy.

‘People suppose it is simply single-issue politics about Palestine and Gaza however it is extra pernicious,’ they inform me. ‘Gaza is wrapped up in a broader Islamist and separatist time table. Note how reinforce for Gaza isn’t according to human rights however Muslim loyalty to Palestine.

‘While the Gaza photographs are appalling, the genocide in Sudan is nearer to house for the various Somalians, Sudanese and Yemenis right here. Yet it animates other folks much less.

‘There is little center of attention at the Rohingya genocide in Myanmar, the place over 700,000 Muslims have fled persecution, or on reviews of as much as 3 million plus Uighurs in camps in Xinjiang in China. This is as a result of Palestine is the purpose celebre of the Muslim Brotherhood and Islamist entryism.’

In Birmingham, I got here head to head with the toxic results of sectarian politics. But I additionally met proud British Muslims like Nadeem Afzal, who’re fashions of integration and tolerance, decided to talk out as a result of they’re principled and courageous.

It is for the sake in their communities, in addition to British society normally, that the boil of sectarian politics and Islamist entryism should be lanced.

It is pernicious, and likewise despised by way of many Muslim Britons, who melancholy at its deleterious impact on their communities and on public lifestyles.

We should assist them to confront it and emerge victorious as a result of, imagine me, the price of defeat will likely be too nice to undergo, for all folks.