Abstract

When I was walking down the Edgware Road in central London ¹ in August 2009, the large number of “Islamic” products and services offered caught my eye. I was there in connection with a research project that explored the proliferation of halal (“permitted”) as a global religious market, with a particular focus on the role of Malaysia and Malays in this market in London. The Islamic market so ubiquitous in the Edgware Road signifies some wider transformations that have taken place during the last decade or so, including a changing Islamic business and entrepreneurial environment in London, but also more globally, as we shall see in this chapter. Most of the shops, restaurants, cafés, money transfer agencies, kiosks, barbers, banks, and estate agencies here are run by Muslims. The growth of Muslim businesses in London reflects the wider growth of and will to invest in ethnic minority businesses in the UK (Ahmed 2008: 655).