Muslims in Britain; a Most Diverse Community
The history of Muslims in Britain has been stretched for over 1000 years. For example, in the eight century, King Offa minted coins bearing the Islamic Arabic inscription ‘In the name of God, the most Merciful, the Most Beneficent.'
The largest segment of the British Muslim community originates from South Asia. There are many Arab and African segments as well as Muslims from Southeast Asia, the Balkans and Turkish.
There are also many Muslims who have converted to Islam from other faiths. The latest census puts Britain’s Muslim community at some 2.8 million.
Muslim communities are spreading throughout the British Isles and are represented in all areas of British economic, cultural and political life. From small businesses to restaurants, from law and accountancy to IT, from the National Health Service knows as (NHS), to teaching, transport, and public services, from politics and the media to sport, art, and fashion, Muslims are making a valuable contribution to Britain’s multi-ethnic, multi-faith society.
About 47 percent of Muslims were born in the UK. There are 290,000 Muslims between the ages of 9-14 years; 53.9 percent of Muslims are under 19 years of age.
"The first group of Muslims to arrive in the 18th century was lascars (sailors) recruited from the Indian subcontinent to work for the British East India Company…”
Muslims have a long association with the British Isles, from Elizabeth the First, to Elizabeth the Second; from shops offering sherbets in Shakespeare’s London to Muslim soldiers responding to the call to arms.
There have been trading ties with the Muslim world. But it was not until the rise of Empire did Britain see a deepening relationship with Muslims. The Eighteenth century saw the first large groups of Muslims arriving in Britain.
By 1841, around 3,000 Muslim seaman, or ‘lascars’, were visited Britain every year. During the same period, Victorian high-society too were attracted to the teachings of Islam. The fifth Baron of Headley and a noted civil engineer who constructed the road between Baramulla and Srinagar in the mountainous region of Kashmir converted to the faith; William Quilliam, a lawyer and poet who established Britain’s first mosque; and novelist and translator of the Holy Quran, Mohammad Marmaduke Pickthall. Britain’s first purpose-built mosque was opened in Woking, Surrey, in 1889.
The First World War (WWI) best exemplified the enduring contribution made by Muslims to Britain exemplified by the hundreds and thousands who took part in the war.
By the 1950s, Muslims once again responded to the call responding to the shortfall in labor following the Second World War (WWII). This saw large-scale migration, largely from South Asia, that largely makes up the bulk of the British Muslim community today with many settling in mainly in the inner-city areas of London, the industrial towns of the Midlands and the textile towns of Lancashire, Yorkshire, and Strathclyde.
Today, Muslims living in Britain come from a vast range of national and cultural backgrounds. The population includes a significant number of British and European converts to Islam. Others have come from war-torn countries to find a better life in Britain.
Source: Islamic News
