Islamic art of integration

Islam is not a culture. It's a spiritual path, and therefore it has no form. English people
can be Muslims, as well as Arabs or Chinese people, or African people-- it doesn't
have an identity as such.

I've found for the exhibition a group of people who I consider are integrated into this
society but not assimilated.

My heart usually says, yes. I don't like to dissect it too much.

I was quite keen to actually use the flags of the saints. So we used the flag of Saint
David, Saint Andrew, Saint George, and Saint Patrick.

It is a big exhibition, and I'm a bit reluctant to edit it down. It's a big space, and I felt
we needed to be a presence in this place without it being too crammed. So it's getting
there. It's kind of an urban exhibition.

I began the project without really any clues what I was going to photograph.
There are a few people that I met who I felt inspired me. And I felt they were what I
would call integrated.

I'm a great admirer of Peter Sanders' work. I think that he has really opened our eyes,
literally, to the diversity of British Islam.

I wanted to introduce this part of the community that people haven't met before with
my pictures within themselves and with what they do, that was really the idea and
the intention behind it.

The photograph in Peter's exhibition is a photograph of me lying on a grassy knoll, and
in the background is my coal-fired power station with its accusing finger pointing up
in the air.
It's a very clear statement of integration. The way that the scarf is wrapped is very
much as a Muslim woman wears her scarf. It's very clear. It's a very positive image of
integration.

I love the fact that this exhibition is going around the world. And I love the fact that
there's nothing judgmental about it. You can be a Muslim of any type. He's just
interested in portraying that diversity.

I actually had built the exhibition a year and a half ago. And we were looking for
somewhere to launch it in the UK, and then suddenly we got told they want to have it
in Egypt.

But then Bahrain wanted it, so then it went to Bahrain, it went to Kuwait, it
went to Qatar. And the thing started kind of a life of its own as people heard about
it-- even Washington, Tel Aviv, and even Baghdad, I'm told.

Through the work of Peter Sanders that more people can really appreciate the beauty
of Islam, and appreciate the values and see them, understand that they are not
dissimilarly with their own, but we share that morality, we share that value as human
beings. We all want the same.

It was only when Peter said that he was putting this together that I understood the
importance of it. And now when it's being exhibited, and the number of people who've
come back to me to tell me how they've seen it in other countries in a completely
different context.

There's immediate thought when you talk about integration that you're talking about
assimilation, and I was very clear that the two things weren't the same.
It helps us understand how the outside world can see Britain as a place that looks
after the people that are here.

It's really a conversation that we need to have about what does it mean to be British
and be Muslim. And I think it's a conversation that can go on for a long time. Because I
don't know what it means. I'm still working it out.