Dear Infidel is the debut novel of British Muslim, Tamim Sadikali.

There are so many parallels throughout the novel that resonate with every British Muslim today.

From the daily struggle to fight Islamophobia to battling to accept ones Muslim identity, the book is a refreshingly honest insight.

When Aadam is watching a news headline during a work meeting, his boss immediately reprimands him, ‘We don’t pay you to be preoccupied with the war on terror, understand?’ Then there is Pasha who tries his utmost to get up early on Eid for fajr prayers, all whilst fighting his physical urges.

‘He could have really done with his girlfriend right now. He regretted asking her to leave and cursed his bad decision.’ The reader is also introduced to Imtiaz who has a disconcerting penchant for porn, “the more I sink into fantasy, the further I get from reality'.

Dear Infidel is evocative of the frustrations and challenges faced by British Muslims as the gravity of world politics has a domino effect on their own lives.

Like Salman who resents the way he is expected to dress on Eid calling the shalwar kameez and leather jacket combination ‘undignified.’ It’s a simple yet poignant dichotomy. Made worse when workmen refer to him as ‘Osama'.

Pasha is the ‘coconut’ who enjoyed studying in Durham because ‘virtually no-one had an issue with his colour'.

Pasha reflect on his first sexual encounter with his girlfriend who brazenly turned up at his hotel room in nothing but ‘a nightdress and a face full of makeup'.

Pasha did not turn her away, but instead thought, ‘British women; they don’t have the élan of the Italians, the femininity of the French or the sheer native beauty of the Spanish.

No. But they had a rawness, a baseness, a kind of prostitute-quality that really worked for him'.

It’s the things that we don’t talk about that Tamim has so masterfully captured in ‘Dear Infidel'.

Nazneen is a fiesty character. Following a complex breakup with her white boyfriend, Nazneen married Aadam, who is ‘decent. And smart, responsible and driven. And Muslim.’ And admittedly, ‘he did nothing for her. Absolutely nothing.’ The recurrent theme throughout the book is a very real issue: Can Muslims be loyal citizens in Britain or will their first allegiance always be towards the Ummah.

From debates about whether the US helped to create the Taliban to whether Islamic fundamentalism is as old as Islam.

The juxtaposition of being British and being a Muslim is a profound dilemma explored by Tamim.

This book has an amalgamation of the cultural clash, cricket, heated debates about Islam, and covert addictions to porn. Dare I say, the perfect reading material for a bloke.

Dear Infidel is available to buy here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Dear-Infidel-Tamim-Sadikali/dp/1906190704