YouTube Video:
https://youtu.be/viY0DplG2BA?si=h2OzFebokTRxMIyQ
Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad sits down with Dr William Barylo to discuss his latest book, Muslims in the Neoliberal Empire, exploring questions of community, leadership, and responsibility, with particular attention to the role of grassroots initiatives, the evolving function of mosques, and the social and ethical challenges facing Muslim communities today. The discussion also considers the impact of modern political, economic, and technological pressures, including the rise of influencer culture and emerging technologies.
Amazon:British Muslims in the Neoliberal Empire: Resisting, Healing, and Flourishing in the Metacolonial Era (Oxford British Muslim Studies):
William Barylo
More than twenty years after 9/11, what has changed for Muslims in the West? From the occupation of lands, the world has entered a new era: the occupation of minds. State strategies have evolved to offer a dangerous gamble to people from post-colonial diasporas: remain at the margins or silently blend-in for the sake of an illusory liberation. From power-hungry Muslim politicians in elite private clubs to politically apathetic social media influencers, multi-million-pound neo-colonial 'humanitarian' charities, Muslim far-right sympathisers, and Muslim white supremacists, this new form of colonialism - Metacolonialism - has effectively turned the oppressed into the new oppressors. Under the promise of financial stability and representation, it has effectively put God for sale at the cost of people's culture, ethics, identity, and faith.
However, in the wake of the new Roaring Twenties marked by social justice movements, Muslims in Britain have crafted creative responses inspired by their faith in order to resist, heal and flourish despite minimal resources and support. Informal and independent from institutions, they have established pioneering alternatives in the fields of mental health, community organizing, the protection of the environment, heritage, the arts, and more. Since leadership divides, they have undertaken a duty of stewardship: considering the world and humanity as one ecosystem that one needs to care for future generations. This work is both a diagnosis and a toolbook looking at the initiatives that reshape public debates and offer working ideas for building a fair and just society.
William Barylo, Research Fellow, Sociology Department, University of Warwick
William Barylo is a Sociologist and visual artist using film and photography to explore issues around race, class, gender and belief through the perspective of decoloniality, restorative justice and stewardship. He looks at how grassroots initiatives in Europe and North America navigate societal challenges and find ways to resist, heal and flourish. Committed to diverting power from the ivory tower and developing practical solutions through his research findings, he co-creates fictions, documentaries and experimental works with community artists and activists.
YouTube Video:Did I make a mistake when choosing Islam? Pt1:
Dr William Barylo - Faith & Sociology-April 28,2023
YouTube Video:My Journey to Islam Pt.2 – Love & Hate Reactions:
Dr William Barylo - Faith & Sociology -April28,2023
YouTube Video:Polish Muslims: an unexpected meeting - full documentary:
Light Inc. by William BaryloDec 12, 2014, Documentary about Muslims in Poland shot in Warsaw, Katowice, Bialystok, and the Tatar villages of Bohoniki and Kruszyniany.
Amazon:Young Muslim Change-Makers:
William Barylo
The Muslim charity sector is stronger than ever, attracting thousands of volunteers and millions of pounds in donations. In times of mobile internet and social media, young people have set up small scale charities in urban areas, providing general social services to Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Breaking away from bureaucratic non-governmental organisations and traditional faith-based charities, these smaller local associations are an attractive alternative to young people.
This book offers an exploration of the Muslim charity sector, from multi-million pound NGOs to discrete grassroots charities who are quietly giving rise to the next generation of Muslim entrepreneurs, scholars, politicians and other influencers. From studies of eleven charities across France, Poland and the UK, it investigates key questions around this young and dynamic movement. What motivates these young Muslim volunteers? What shapes the socially-engaged behaviour of young Muslims? What is the place and the role of Islam in their involvement and commitment to their causes? What social impact do these organisations have in their local area? How do they understand religion, faith, participation and citizenship? What challenges do they face and how do they overcome these? The book also examines how these grassroots are successful in helping to prevent extremism, curb Islamophobia and challenge colonialism.
The analysis of these small, local and original initiatives is fundamental in understanding the role of religiosity for these younger generations who are trying to articulate their multiple identities, cultures and traditions in a modern, secular society. Rich, detailed and vivid, the booksheds new lights on a popular field of research, unveiling exclusive key information on the subject of young European Muslims.
YouTube Video:The Empire Within: Muslim Subjectivity and the Umma: Ummatics and Dr William Barylo - Faith & Sociology-May 30,2026
Muslim life in the West has often been examined through the visible structures that shape belonging: state policy, surveillance, institutional regulation, and public debates over integration. Yet some of the most powerful forms of domination today may no longer operate primarily from above, but from within: through culture, aspiration, consumption, and the internalization of dominant norms. If colonial power once governed through direct rule, what happens when it begins to shape how Muslims understand themselves, relate to one another, and imagine their place in the world? This session explores that question by examining how contemporary forms of power shape Muslim subjectivity and collective life in Euro-American contexts. Moving beyond classical accounts of colonial domination, the discussion introduces the concept of “metacolonialism” to describe a more diffuse system of control that operates through neoliberal values, social conformity, and the pressures of legitimacy. At the same time, it asks whether localized forms of resistance—community organizing, alternative spaces, and practices of healing and renewal—can move beyond survival toward a broader horizon of collective agency. In this context, the deeper question emerges: can the Umma still be imagined not only as a shared identity, but as a meaningful form of social and political organization? Dr. William Barylo (@williambarylo) is a scholar of Muslim communities, decolonial thought, and political sociology, with research focused on the intersections of coloniality, neoliberalism, race, and Muslim collective life in contemporary Europe. His recent book, British Muslims in the Neoliberal Empire: Resisting, Healing, and Flourishing in the Metacolonial Era (Oxford University Press, 2025), examines how Muslim communities navigate structures of domination while creating alternative spaces of belonging, resistance, and renewal. His work brings together critical theory and grounded ethnographic engagement to rethink the possibilities of Muslim agency in the present. The discussion was moderated by Dr. Hamdija Begovic.
