A Brief Overview of the History of the Black British Urban Artistic Expression of Islamic Urban Rap & Poetry 

Presented by Ismael Lea South at The Muslims in Britain Research Network Conference - Exploring Contemporary Muslim Arts Culture and Heritage, 2017

Ex-BBC and CH4 journalist and now founder of the 'Muslim Netflix' Alchemiya, Navid Akhtar's story is about growing up as a Pakistani in 60's London and navigating societal norms in Britain.

Born to an upper-class family in pre-partition Hyderabad, Sultana Walajahi's story of an affluent life of parties in palaces and exclusive badminton clubs is far from the usual partition story. 

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It’s 1971, and in Hampshire, a baby girl has just been born.  She will grow up to become a nurse, midwife, and health visitor- Lena Abdu, and one day invited to Buckingham Palace to honour the achievements of the nursing profession that she later joined. “My full birth name was Fiona Caroline James”.

Arts Consultant & Theatre Creative, Hassan Mahamdallie's story of growing up as a mixed-race, Muslim boy in South London in the 60's.

Khalil Martin's journey of finding Islam and a '...sense of connection with God...' began by first reading the bible at boarding school.

‘I was 44 years when I came to this country and I will tell you that I didn’t look forward to it, because I had my friends, my family, close relatives in Nigeria, and then I had to leave them behind. It was really really, really tough for me.'

Born in 1942 in pre-Partition India. Sheekeb Syed's early life is inflicted by the consequences and restrictions of Partition. But, his passion for travel and his 'pen- friendship' with Terry in Whitby leads him to overcome his early challenges and build a life in England.