Islam in the United Kingdom

This article is about Islam in the United Kingdom as a whole. For Islam in each of its constituent countries, see Islam in England, Islam in Scotland, Islam in Wales, and Islam in Northern Ireland.
"British Muslim" redirects here. For the satellite television channel, see British Muslim TV. For the list of notable British Muslims, see List of British Muslims.

Islam in the United Kingdom
The Bradford Grand Mosque is the largest mosque by capacity in the United Kingdom, and the largest in Yorkshire and The Humber.
Total population
United Kingdom United Kingdom: 3,998,875 – 6.0% (2021)
England England: 3,801,186 – 6.7% (2021)[1]
Scotland Scotland: 119,872 – 2.2% (2022)[2]
Wales Wales: 66,947 – 2.2% (2021)[1]
Northern Ireland Northern Ireland: 10,870 – 0.6% (2021)[3]
Regions with significant populations
Greater London1,318,754 – 15.0%[4]
West Midlands569,963 – 9.6%
North West England563,105 – 7.6%
Yorkshire and the Humber442,533 – 8.1%
Religions
Majority Sunni Islam with sizeable Shia and Ahmadiyya minorities
Languages
English, Punjabi, Sindhi, Urdu, Bengali, Gujarati, Arabic, Turkish, Somali, Persian[5]
Islam in Europe
by percentage of country population[6]
  95–100%
  90–95%
  50–55%
  30–35%
  10–20%
  5–10%
  4–5%
  2–4%
  1–2%
  < 1%
Islam by country
World percentage of Muslims by country
Africa
Asia
Americas
Europe
Oceania
Islam portal

Islam is the second-largest religion in the United Kingdom, with results from the 2021 Census recording just under four million Muslims, or 6.0% of the total population in the United Kingdom.[7][8] London has the largest population and greatest proportion (15%) of Muslims in the country.[9][10][11] The vast majority of British Muslims in the United Kingdom adhere to Sunni Islam,[12] while smaller numbers are associated with Shia Islam.

During the Middle Ages, there was some general cultural exchange between Christendom and the Islamic world.[13] Nonetheless, there were no Muslims in the British Isles; however, a few Crusaders did convert in the East, such as Robert of St. Albans. During the Elizabethan age, contacts became more explicit as the Tudors made alliances against Catholic Habsburg Spain, including with the Ottoman Empire. As the British Empire grew, particularly in India, Britain came to rule territories with many Muslim inhabitants; some of these, known as the lascars, are known to have settled in Britain from the mid-18th century onwards. In the 19th century, Victorian Orientalism spurred an interest in Islam and some British people, including aristocrats, converted to Islam. Marmaduke Pickthall, an English writer and novelist, and a convert to Islam, provided the first complete English-language translation of the Qur'an by a British Muslim in 1930. Under the British Indian Army, a significant number of Muslims fought for the United Kingdom during the First and the Second World Wars (a number of whom were awarded the Victoria Cross, Britain's highest honour). In the decades following the latter conflict and the Partition of India in 1947, many Muslims (from what is today Bangladesh, India and Pakistan) settled in Britain itself.

Today, South Asians constitute the majority of Muslims in Britain in terms of ethnicity,[14][15] although there are significant Turkish, Arab and Somali communities, as well as up to 100,000 British converts of multiple ethnic backgrounds.[16] Islam is the second most widely practiced religion in the United Kingdom, with its followers having the youngest average age among major religious groups.[17] Between 2001 and 2009, the Muslim population increased almost 10 times faster than the non-Muslim population.[18] Reports suggest each year, approximately 6000 Britons, primarily women, choose to convert to Islam.[19][20]

  1. ^ a b "Religion, England and Wales: Census 2021". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  2. ^ "Scotland's Census 2022 - Ethnic group, national identity, language and religion - Chart data". Scotland's Census. National Records of Scotland. 21 May 2024. Retrieved 21 May 2024. Alternative URL 'Search data by location' > 'All of Scotland' > 'Ethnic group, national identity, language and religion' > 'Religion'
  3. ^ "MS-B21: Religion". Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. 22 September 2022. Retrieved 7 January 2023.
  4. ^ "TS030 - Religion Edit query". www.nomisweb.co.uk. Nomis: Official Census and Labour Market Statistics. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
  5. ^ "2011 Census: Quick Statistics". Retrieved 17 May 2014.
  6. ^ "Muslim Population Growth in Europe Pew Research Center". 10 July 2024. Archived from the original on 10 July 2024.
  7. ^ "Religion, England and Wales - Office for National Statistics". www.ons.gov.uk. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  8. ^ "Religion (detailed) - Office for National Statistics". www.ons.gov.uk. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
  9. ^ "2011 Census: KS209EW Religion, local authorities in England and Wales (Excel sheet 270Kb)" (xls). Office for National Statistics. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  10. ^ "Scotland's Census 2011 – National Records of Scotland Table KS209SCa – Religion (UK harmonised)" (PDF). National Records of Scotland. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  11. ^ "Religion – Full Detail: QS218NI" (xls). Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. Archived from the original on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  12. ^ UK Masjid Statistics Archived 11 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine Muslims In Britain (18 August 2010)
  13. ^ Lewis, Bernard (February 1957). "The Muslim Discovery of Europe". Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies. 20 (1): 409–416. doi:10.1017/S0041977X00061954. ISSN 0041-977X.
  14. ^ Shaw, Alison (4 April 2011). "Review of Crime and Muslim Britain: Culture and the Politics of Criminology among British Pakistanis by Marta Bolognani". Journal of Islamic Studies. 22 (2). Oxford Journals: 288–291. doi:10.1093/jis/etr020.
  15. ^ Muslims in Britain: an Introduction, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp.xvii + 318, ISBN 978-0-521-83006-5
  16. ^ Nye, Catrin (4 January 2011). "The white Britons converting to Islam". BBC News. Retrieved 2 September 2020.
  17. ^ 'UK Census: religion by age, ethnicity and country of birth' Archived 6 May 2016 at Wikiwix 16 May 2013, Ami Sedghi, The Guardian
  18. ^ Muslim population 'rising 10 times faster than rest of society' 30 January 2009, Richard Kerbaj, The Sunday Times
  19. ^ "British Muslims Monthly Survey for June 2000, Vol. VIII, No. 6". Women convert. Archived from the original on 14 February 2008. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
  20. ^ Nye, Catrin (4 January 2011). "The white Britons converting to Islam". BBC News. Retrieved 2 September 2020.