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The Documentary: Salam to Queen and Country

Imam Asim with Soldiers

12/07/2017 GMT

Salam to Queen and Country

BBC World Service - The Documentary, Salam to Queen and Country

Zubeida Malik speaks to Muslim soldiers serving in the British army.

Britain’s last two military campaigns have been fought in predominately Islamic countries and Muslims in the British army have faced criticism from some members of their own communities, who were opposed to what they saw as taking up arms against fellow Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan. When Lance Corporal Jabron Hashmi became the first, and now only, British Muslim soldier to be killed in Afghanistan in 2006, there was an outpouring of sympathy from his local community, but there was criticism from some quarters too. His death highlighted the role of Britain's Muslim soldiers and soon afterwards a plot to kidnap and behead a Muslim soldier was discovered in Birmingham.

Zubeida Malik meets Muslim soldiers who speak for the first time about what it is like to serve as a Muslim in the British army. She hears their stories about why they joined up and how they cope with army life. She asks what it was like to be in the army after 9/11 and during the so called 'War on Terror'?  Does the rise of Islamic extremism globally affect their roles in the army?  And with under 600 Muslim personnel serving in the British Army, Zubeida asks the Chief of the General Staff, General Sir Nick Carter, what is being done to overcome the problems with recruiting young British Muslims into the army today?

(Photo: Imam Asim and Muslim soldiers from the British forces)

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