Repairing the social fracture in our times is a more difficult challenge that requires rediscovery and reconciliation of our shared past and rethinking an expansive definition of what it means to be European in the 21st Century.

Minarets in The Mountains, the first non-fiction account by a Muslim writer on this subject, explores the historical roots of the current tide of Islamophobia. Tharik and his family learn lessons about themselves and their own identity as Britons, Europeans, and Muslims. Following in the footsteps of renowned Ottoman traveller Evliya Celebi, they remind us that Europe is as Muslim as it is Christian, Jewish or pagan. Niš is now a modern metropolis and described as “…an orthodox town, with only the faintest whiff of its lengthy Muslim heritage.” Nevertheless, it turned out to be as full of Ottoman history as elsewhere, but there are now pedestrian zones, malls, and shopping centers. There’s a sufficiency of monuments, as well as a fortress of the 1st century AD covering 22 acres of parkland. There were additions to the architecture and plaques confirming 18th century Ottoman origins.

Minarets". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior . Retrieved 2009-08-10. Who knew Serbia’s “dirty little secret”? Who knew that despite the country’s bloody past there existed a “Muslim Serbia” which was once the heartland of the medieval Serbian state of Raška? Today it is the cultural centre of southern Serbia’s Sandzak region with a majority Muslim population. In this idyllic place, lanky minarets are as common as some of the most sacred Orthodox sights, a UNESCO-listed monastery and the oldest church in the country.

I also enjoyed Tharik’s trip up into the mountains with his friend Idar; having worked in a secondary school myself, I loved the contrast between the caretaker’s persona in the UK and his greeting Tharik in Albania “like a Sicilian don in a smart striped shirt and white cotton trousers”. The car journey and the places they visit are very vivid; very evocatively described; culminating in a scene of great tranquillity and self-discovery. Part history lesson, part travelogue and – endearingly – part food journal, local writer Tharik Hussain’s exploration of the Muslim heritage of Europe shines light on a history that has often been denied, supressed or ignored. I don’t read a lot of travel literature so this was something of a new venture for me. I’ve always been a keen traveller, though, so it immediately piqued my interest and I found myself completely absorbed by it. There are a number of passes that cross the Minarets, all of which can be used to gain access to the Minaret of choice. Most of the north or northeast sides of these passes have snow year-round and crampons/axe are advised. Most of these passes are class 2, without significant route-finding issues.

Ritter Pass is the easiest route across the Ritter Range. It is also a bit inconvenient for approaches to the Minarets with the exception of Waller Minaret, and not often used by climbers. Hussain embarked on his trip in 2016, a trying time for Muslims in the West, as Donald Trump, “an openly Islamophobic candidate,” was running for president in the US. The UK was in the throes of an identity crisis stoked by the Brexit campaign “that was selling Britain the idea that Muslim refugees were overwhelming Europe”, Hussain says.