Thursday 1 July 2010

Cardiff mosque 'myth'

Sophie Gilliat-Ray, ‘The first registered mosque in the UK, Cardiff, 1860’: the evolution of a myth, Contemporary Islam, Volume 4, Number 2, July, 2010 [scroll down for article, subscription/payment required] "This paper describes how a simple transcription error ‘created’ what appeared to be the earliest recorded mosque in Britain. Research in 2008/9 for a project about the history of Muslim settlement in Cardiff included a check of mosque registration data that revealed the origin of the factual inaccuracy. However, the paper does not simply concern itself with debunking the myth that has evolved concerning a mosque, said to have been registered in the Cathays district of Cardiff in 1860 (which in fact was not registered until 1991). Rather, it seeks to explore its contemporary resonances."