Yahya Birt is a community historian who has taught at the University of Leeds. He has an M.Phil. in Social and Cultural Anthropology from the University of Oxford. He has published over a dozen peer-reviewed articles on Islam in Britain, and co-edited British Secularism and Religion: Islam, Society and the State (2016), Islam in Victorian Liverpool: An Ottoman Account of Britain's First Mosque Community (2021), and The Collected Poems of Abdullah Quilliam (2021). His first book of poetry, Pandemic Pilgrimage, was published in 2022. Birt's commentary has been cited in a number of outlets, including the BBC, the Guardian, the Economist, the Intercept, and The Muslim News. The Economist describes Birt as "an influential British Muslim." He lives in West Yorkshire with his family and cat, likes walking and enjoys being grumpy about the state of the world. He can be reached at @ybirt.