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There were 1,318,755 Muslims reported in the 2021 census in the Greater London area. In the 2021 census Office for National Statistics, the proportion of Muslims in London had risen to 15% of the population, making Islam the second largest religion in the city after Christianity. [1]
The first Muslims to settle in London were lascars, that is, Bengali and Yemeni sailors from the 19th century. Many Muslims from the Indian sub-continent served in the British Army and British Indian Army in the First and Second World Wars. In the wave of immigration that followed the Second World War, many Muslims emigrated to the UK from these Commonwealth countries and former colonies to satisfy labour shortages and seek new opportunities for themselves. Following the partition of India, many came from Pakistan especially the Punjab and Azad Kashmir in addition to the Indian state of Gujarat. This initial wave of immigration of the 1950s and 60s was followed by migrants from Cyprus, Sylhet in Bangladesh, formerly East Pakistan. Many Muslims also arrived from various other countries, although the percentage is far smaller than from South Asia. Amongst those from other countries, Muslims from Yemen, Somalia and Turkey have significant numbers, whereas those from Malaysia Iraq, Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya represent smaller fractions. Today, London's Muslims come from all over the world and there is a small but growing group of converts.
Following waves of immigration over the previous decades, London now has one of the most diverse array of Muslim communities in the world.
London's Muslims are geographically dispersed with settlements principally shaped by earlier patterns of immigration. The greatest concentration can be found in the east London boroughs of Tower Hamlets, Newham and Waltham Forest, where Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, and Indians tend to predominate.
Outside of east London, Bangladeshi Muslims have settled throughout the city, in boroughs like Camden, Southwark, and Hackney.
North London's Muslims are concentrated in the boroughs of Haringey, Islington, and Enfield, with older communities of Turkish Cypriots more recently being joined by Algerians, Somalis, and mainland Turks.
The traditional homeland of London's Arabic-speaking Muslims is in the City of Westminster, Knightsbridge ,Edgware Road with the initial settlement around Marylebone since spreading to Kensington & Chelsea, Hammersmith & Fulham, Wandsworth, Brent, and Ealing. [2] These six boroughs contain the highest proportion of Arabs in the UK, the majority of whom are Muslim - the recent 2021 census put the figure between 3 and 8%. In recent years, refugees and migrants from countries such as Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Algeria, Morocco, and Yemen have joined these various communities, in many cases setting up their own mosques, such as the Iqraa Foundation in Harlesden. [3]
Indian and Pakistani Muslims have settled in significant numbers further west in Hounslow and Southall, but in a much smaller proportion to their Hindu and Sikh neighbours.
Muslims are a much smaller minority south of the river, although significant communities of west and east African Muslims have formed in Peckham, Camberwell and around Old Kent Road, including Nigerians, Ghanaians, Ivorians, and Somalis. As in earlier years, Muslims have often been met with hostility by the local white population. In the years since 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq, nativism has often targeted Muslims in particular, with anti-immigrant sentiments channelled through the lens of Islamophobia. [4] In spite of this context, certain Muslims have been able to rise through the ranks of society, most notably the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.
In 2013, it was reported there were 13,400 Muslim-owned businesses in London, creating more than 70,000 jobs and representing just over 33% of Small to Medium Enterprises in London. [5]
The mosque is first and foremost a place of prayer. There are estimated to be almost 2,000 mosques and Islamic prayer rooms in the UK, serving 4.1 million Muslims, or 6.3% of the UK population. About 1500 of those Mosques were located in London as of 2016. These mosques in the UK range from humble and small 'house mosques' in residential areas to larger, purpose built mosques such as Regents Park Mosque in London (discussed below). [6]
London's first mosque was opened by Hajie Mohamed Dollie in 1895, in Albert Street, modern Camden. Ron Geeves states this in his biography of Abdullah Quilliam.[ citation needed ] The mosque moved to Euston Road in 1899, where the present Wellcome Collection stands. Mohamed Dollie was of Scottish and Malay ancestry. [7] [8] [9] Mohamed Dollie died in 1906 and is buried at the Willesden New Cemetery. [10]
The Fazl Mosque was the first purpose-built mosque in London. It was founded in 1926 in Southfields, as a project of the Ahmadiyya community. Since 1984, the mosque and its surrounding buildings have been the residence of the Khalifatul Masih caliphs and therefore, the international headquarters of the Ahmadiyyas.
One of the city's first large mosques opened in 1976 on Brick Lane, in a listed building which started life as a Huguenot church in the 18th century and was converted into a synagogue serving Ashkenazi Jews in the 19th. Soon afterwards, two large Sunni mosques were built, the East London Mosque (with the adjoining London Muslim Centre and Maryam Centre) on Whitechapel Road, and the London Central Mosque in Regent's Park.
Other mosques in Inner London include the Brixton Mosque, which serves a predominantly Caribbean community, and the Finsbury Park Mosque.
The Suleymaniye Mosque on Kingsland Road serves a largely Turkish community. Named after the famous landmark in Istanbul, it was purpose-built and opened in 1999. Shacklewell Lane Mosque was the first Turkish mosque in the United Kingdom. [11] It was established by Turkish Cypriots in 1977 in a converted synagogue. [12] [13] The nearby Aziziye Mosque in Stoke Newington was converted from a cinema.
In Outer London are the Croydon Mosque, the very large Baitul Futuh Mosque in Merton, and the Abbey Mills Mosque in Stratford. Also notable are the Central Mosque Wembley, Leytonstone Mosque, and Harrow Central Mosque.
The Islamic Centre of England is a Shia mosque and educational establishment that opened in 1998. London is also home to The Islamic College, a college and university which offers A-levels, BA, and MA degrees in coordination with Middlesex University.
Police forces recorded 110 hate crimes directed at Muslim places of worship (Mar.-Jul. 2019) This number is up from 47 over the same six-month period in 2016; attacks have doubled over past year. [14] For example, last year, a jury convicted a man of murder after he drove a van into Muslim worshipers outside a London mosque, killing one person and injuring nine others. Overall, the number of anti-Muslim hate crimes reported across Britain increased by 593% after the Christchurch shooting. The British government has been making vast efforts to reduce these deadly attacks. [15]
Islam is the second-largest religion in Canada practised by approximately 5% of the population. Canadian Muslims are one of the most ethnically diverse religious groups across the country. Muslims have lived in Canada since 1871 and the first mosque was established in 1938. Most Canadian Muslims are Sunni, while a significant minority are Shia.
Islam is the second largest religion in the Netherlands, after Christianity, and is practised by 5% of the population according to 2018 estimates. The majority of Muslims in the Netherlands belong to the Sunni denomination. Many reside in the country's four major cities: Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht.
The documented history of Islam in the Republic of Ireland dates back to the 1950s. The number of Muslims in the Republic of Ireland has increased since the 1990s, mostly through immigration. For the 2022 Irish census, 81,930 were counted.
The Lahore Ahmadiyya Movement for the Propagation of Islam, is a separatist group within the Ahmadiyya movement that formed in 1914 as a result of ideological and administrative differences following the demise of Hakim Nur-ud-Din, the first Caliph after Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. Members of the Lahore Ahmadiyya movement are referred to by the majority group as ghayr mubāyi'īn and are also known colloquially as Lahori Ahmadis.
Islam is the second-largest religion in the United Kingdom, with results from the 2021 Census recording just under four million Muslims, or 6.5% of the total population in the United Kingdom. London has the largest population and greatest proportion (15%) of Muslims in the country. The vast majority of British Muslims in the United Kingdom adhere to Sunni Islam, while smaller numbers are associated with Shia Islam.
Islam is the second-largest religion in Australia. According to the 2021 Census in Australia, the combined number of people who self-identified as Australian Muslims, from all forms of Islam, constituted 813,392 people, or 3.2% of the total Australian population. That total Muslim population makes Islam, in all its denominations and sects, the second largest religious grouping in Australia, after all denominations of Christianity.
Islam is the third-largest religion in New Zealand (1.3%) after Christianity (37.3%) and Hinduism (2.7%). Small numbers of Muslim immigrants from South Asia and eastern Europe settled in New Zealand from the early 1900s until the 1960s. Large-scale Muslim immigration began in the 1970s with the arrival of Indian Fijians, followed in the 1990s by refugees from various war-torn countries.
Islam is one of the smallest minority faiths in Costa Rica, whose state religion is Catholic Christianity. Without an official number by any state entity, it is considered that the number of Muslims in Costa Rica could be between 1000 and 1500 people, mostly emigrants from Algeria, India, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon, Morocco, Egypt, Somalia, Pakistan, Palestine and Syria. This number includes Muslims who have immigrated to Costa Rican territory as well as those Costa Ricans who have embraced the Islamic faith through conversion, whose number is estimated to be at around 100. The number of Muslims corresponding to the Sunni and Shia factions is also unknown, although it is generally considered that the Sunnis are the majority.
London has centres of worship for many faiths. According to the 2021 Census, the largest religious groupings are Christians (40.66%), followed by those of Atheism (27.05%), Muslims (14.99%), no response (7%), Hindus (5.15%), Jews (1.65%), Sikhs (1.64%), Buddhists (1.0%), and others (0.9%).
Islam is a minority faith in Wales followed by 2.2 % of its population with about 64,000 adherents recorded as per 2021 Census up from about 46,000 adherents in the 2011 Census. The earliest recorded connections between Wales and the Muslim world dates back to the early 12th Century. There has been a Somali and Yemeni Islamic community in Cardiff since the mid-19th century, founded by seafarers to Cardiff Docks. The first purpose-built mosque was erected in Cardiff in 1947.
The latest (2022) population estimate for the City of Sheffield is 566,242 residents. This represents an increase of about 17,000 people since the last census in 2011.
Islam in England is the second largest religion after Christianity. Most Muslims are immigrants from South Asia or descendants of immigrants from that region. Many others are from Muslim-dominated regions such as the Middle East, Afghanistan, Malaysia and Somalia, and other parts of African countries such as Nigeria, Uganda and Sierra Leone. There are also many White Muslims in the country, of which most have Slavic and Balkan backgrounds, as well as some ethnic English converts.
Mirza Masroor Ahmad is the current and fifth leader of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. His official title within the movement is Fifth Caliph of the Messiah. He was elected on 22 April 2003, three days after the death of his predecessor Mirza Tahir Ahmad.
The Ahmadiyya branch of Islam has been subjected to various forms of religious persecution and discrimination since the movement's inception in 1889. The Ahmadiyya Muslim movement emerged within the Sunni tradition of Islam and its adherents believe in all of the five pillars and all of the articles of faith required of Muslims. Ahmadis are considered non-Muslims by many mainstream Muslims since they consider Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, the founder of the movement, to be the promised Mahdi and Messiah awaited by the Muslims.
Islam is a minority religion in the island nation Tuvalu. With the introduction of Ahmadiyya religion in 1985 by Ahmadi Muslims, there are approximately 50 Ahmadi Muslims in the country, of which all are members of the Ahmadiyya movement. Due to the country's small population of 10,679, this represents 0.46% of Tuvalu. The Tuvalu Mosque, in Funafuti, the capital of Tuvalu, is the only mosque in the country.
Ahmadiyya, officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at (AMJ) is an Islamic messianic movement originating in British India in the late 19th century. It was founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908), who said he had been divinely appointed as both the Promised Mahdi and Messiah expected by Muslims to appear towards the end times and bring about, by peaceful means, the final triumph of Islam; as well as to embody, in this capacity, the expected eschatological figure of other major religious traditions. Adherents of the Ahmadiyya—a term adopted expressly in reference to Muhammad's alternative name Aḥmad—are known as Ahmadi Muslims or simply Ahmadis.
Jihadi tourism, also referred to as jihad tourism or jihadist tourism, is a term sometimes used to describe travel to foreign destinations with the object of scouting for terrorist training. US diplomatic cables leaked in 2010 have raised concerns about this form of travel. Within intelligence circles, the term is also sometimes applied dismissively to travellers who are assumed to be seeking contact with extremist groups mainly out of curiosity.
Ahmadiyya in Pakistan are members of the Ahmadiyya Community. The number of Ahmadiyya in the country has been variously estimated to between 0.22% and 2.2% of Pakistan's population. Hence, Pakistan is the home to the largest population of Ahmadis in the world. The city of Rabwah in the province of Punjab used to be the global headquarters of the Ahmadiyya Community before they were moved to England.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was established in United Kingdom was established in July 1913 as one of the oldest Islamic associations in the UK. The community has built its presence with the establishment of significant sites such as The London Mosque in 1926. Over the decades the community has grown and become known for its annual convention the Jalsa Salana, interfaith dialogues and humanitarian efforts. The UK has also served as the headquarters of the community since 1984 currently in Islamabad, Tilford, in Surrey.
Ahmadiyya is a religious community in Norway, under the spiritual leadership of the caliph in London. In the history of the Community it is stated that two Norwegian women converted in the 1920s. However, it was not until 1957, during the era of the Second Caliphate, when Kamal Yousuf, then a missionary in Sweden, moved to Oslo to establish the first Ahmadiyya mission in the country. Today, there are a number of mosques, including the largest mosque in Scandinavia, the Baitun Nasr Mosque, representing an estimated 1700 Ahmadi in the country.
