But in the past ten years the publishing scene has been transformed. Most Muslims here are now native to Britain. Often poorly acquainted with the languages of their parents, these young Muslim men and women are eager to understand their roots. But they are used to good English and to the packaging of a slick media world, and inevitably look with embarrassment on much of the literature imported from the Muslim world. 

Some Muslim publishers that have sprung up recently attempt to use the language of the inner cities to get across their Islamic perspective. Community leaders lament that many of these take advantage of the confused mental landscape of young Asian Britain and the inability of established ulema to present traditional orthodoxy to the new generation, thus propagating some points of view which can be quite unorthodox.  

Those Muslims who are more educated, or who have been disillusioned by the infighting of the politicised or anti-orthodox movements in the inner cities, are sometimes in danger of wandering outside the circle of Islam altogether. There is a real risk, many believe, of Islam's image being irreparably damaged by what is seen as the arrogance and exclusivism of some groupings, leading to a crisis of confidence in the teachings of the faith. 

The Quilliam Press is seen as the most successful example of a Muslim publishing house that has consistently advocated the viewpoint of mainstream Sunni Islam, thus challenging the sectarian and fissiparous tendencies of the young British Muslim scene. It takes its inspiration from the fact that over ninety-nine percent of Sunni Muslim scholars down the centuries have adhered to a coherent body of doctrines (aqida) and practice (fiqh). Quilliam's understanding is that such a successful experience of unity has to be the basis of any realistic agenda for Muslim unity here in Britain. 

Orthodox Sunni Islam is best represented in the works of classical scholars such as al-Nawawi, Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Ibn Daqiq al-Id, and al-Ghazali. All these men explained that the Four Schools of Fiqh, Ash`ari doctrine and the recognised orthodox tariqas of Sufism, were intrinsic parts of the faith, corresponding to the degrees of Islam, Iman and Ihsan. In his commentary on Bukhari, Ibn Hajar, for instance, recommends the reading of the famous Risala of Imam al-Qushayri, the most fundamental text of Sufism, for the sake of purifying the heart. 

But for British Muslims, there is a catch here. The classical works are often huge multi-tome compilations written in ancient Arabic. Even if the resources existed to render them into English, it would be unreasonable to expect most Muslims today to find the time to read them. 

The Quilliam solution is to translate works by those ulema who have noticed the weakening intellectual stamina of the Umma. In particular, Quilliam publishes the writings of Imam Abdallah al-Haddad, regarded as the 'renewer' (mujaddid) of the twelfth Islamic century. This great Yemeni scholar and descendent of the Holy Prophet distilled the inherited wisdom of mainstream Islamic scholarship, and produced books which have always been revered by the ulema as models of how to combine brevity with depth. 

The Arabic originals of the works of Imam al-Haddad are readily available in the Arab world. Most carry introductions by Shaykh Hasanayn Makhluf, the former Grand Mufti of Egypt, who recognised their importance for the current generation. But Imam al-Haddad's books have also been translated into languages as diverse as Swahili, Indonesian, Turkish and French. 

Imam al-Haddad's recent descendant, Imam Ahmad Mashhur ibn Taha al-Haddad (may Allah give him light in his grave), continued this impressive tradition of popular scholarship until his death in 1995. Like his ancestors, Imam Ahmad was tireless in his work for da'wa. A native of the Hadramawt valley in South Yemen, cradle of thousands of scholars and Muslim missionaries, he brought Islam to remote areas of Uganda and Zaire, where thousands converted at his hands in the 1950s and 1960s. More recently he settled in Jeddah, where he revived the flagging spiritual life of a region destabilized by the twin dangers of superficial Salafism and crass Americanizing materialism. 

Imam Ahmad's influence in the United Kingdom was profound, although discreet. He was the spiritual patron of gatherings of remembrance (dhikr) held up and down the country, which, unlike some of the other groups attempting to hold on to a spiritual dimension of Islam, attracted many young people and successfully united Muslims of every ethnic origin. 

Imam Ahmad's best-known book Key to the Garden is an explanation, in straightforward language, of the pure monotheism (tawhid) of Islam implied in the 'Noble Phrase' La ilaha illa'Llah. He takes the reader through the basic doctrinal understanding of tawhid, and shows how Islam is not a ritualistic faith without intellectual or spiritual depth, but enshrines layer after layer of profound wisdom and illumination. 

Quilliam's mission is also apparent in its support for the growing convert community. One of its recent publications is Desert Encounter by Knud Holmboe, a Danish journalist who converted to Islam and narrates his extraordinary experiences of life under European rule in North Africa in the early 1930s. Holmboe refuses to idealize the Arab communities he meets, but successfully contrasts their gentleness and natural piety with the arrogance and violence of the Europeans who had taken their lands by force and settled them with Christian colonists. Particularly vivid and harrowing is his account of Mussolini's atrocities in Libya. It is angering to learn that those who gassed and murdered a quarter of the Libyan population in the early 1930s were excused punishment by the same powers that sent Nazi leaders to their deaths at Nurenberg. The narrative of European holocausts against Muslim peoples, as the introduction reminds us, has been suppressed. Hence the importance of Holmboe's account: as a reminder of extreme Muslim suffering under a 'civilized' European order it usefully reverses the stereotypes so dear to many in the Western media. It is significant that Desert Encounter was recently translated into Bosnian by Enes Karic, the Bosnian Minister of Culture. 

Another book by a convert is Ruqayyah Waris Maqsood's hugely successful Muslim Marriage Guide. Maqsood was once called Rosalyn Kendrick, a Protestant who took a degree in theology and wrote on Biblical themes for several mainstream publishers until she became a Muslim in the mid-1980s. For her, Islam has been a liberation, and her enthusiasm overflows onto the pages of her books. This energetic Yorkshirewoman has already written over a dozen volumes on Islam, but it is the Marriage Guide, which has assured her celebrity status. 

The Muslim Marriage Guide starts by acknowledging that the British Muslim community has serious problems when it comes to defining norms and mores for relationships. One problem is the importation of sub-Continental village culture, with its anxieties about honour and sexuality, and its large-scale borrowings from the Hindu ancestry of many Muslims in the region. The Sunna, she points out, requires that dowries be paid to the bride, not to the husband's family: yet many Asian Muslims do the exact opposite by following Hindu traditions which require a payment to the groom. 

But there is another source of trouble for British Muslim marriages: the often corrosive and confused values of modern Britain. These are absorbed in the schools and through television, and see relationships basically as opportunities for taking, rather than giving. Maqsood shows that the Islamic model, which teaches that human fulfilment comes about through the honourable discharge of duties rather than the incessant enjoyment of rights, is the best foundation for a happy and lasting relationship. 

More controversial are the last two chapters of her book. Here the author challenges some conventional attitudes and writes very frankly about sexual problems. She reminds us that the ulema of the past were refreshingly candid in their approach to sexuality: in fact, a great scholar like Imam al-Suyuti wrote no fewer than nine books describing ways of improving one's sex life! She also points out that many men in the 'Asian' community, reluctant to discuss sexual issues, are unaware of important aspects of women's sexuality. She quotes the Islamic sources to show that the Shari'a imposes upon a husband the duty to ensure his wife's physical satisfaction. 

The book ends with a fascinating glossary of terms, explaining the Islamic viewpoint on everything from abortion, through contraception, homosexuality, impotence, nagging, to Shari'a methods of purification. 

In all its publications, Quilliam derives its inspiration from the proud tradition of the Anglo-Muslim heritage. The company itself was founded in 1989 to mark the first centenary of the official creation of Britain's first Muslim community. Abdallah Quilliam, the Manx lawyer who led the Liverpool Muslims through a series of severe challenges from a hostile local population, is remembered among Anglo-Muslims as the creator of a lively mosque, school and orphanage, and also as the editor of Britain's first Muslim magazine, The Flaming Crescent. 

Quilliam's mission was to bring the teachings of Islamic brotherhood and unity to Victorian Britain, then in the grip of extreme social inequalities which were reinforced rather than challenged by the established church. He also realized how educated people were losing their religious faith because of the paradoxes implicit in Trinitarian doctrine, and strove to show the English that Islam represented a more rational form of religion which was well-suited to an age in which few can happily believe in mysteries. 

Abdallah Quilliam is believed to have converted several hundred people, no mean feat in an age of British imperial, religious and racial confidence. His legacy lives on in many ways, but most conspicuously in the publishing venture which is proud to carry his name, and represents British Islam not just here, but around the world.