Islamophobia Part 2

16 A 20th-anniversary report PART II: MAPPING Islamophobia: Still a challenge for us all 17 3 British Muslims: An overview Serena Hussain Introduction Becoming a faith community There has been a Muslim presence in Britain for Until the 1980s British Muslims were viewed hundreds of years (Ansari 2004). However, it was primarily in terms of their ethnicity and countries of not until the 1960s that visible Muslim settlements origin, rather than as members of a collective faith occurred. As a result of labour shortages after group. In part this was due to an overall perceived the second world war, citizens of the British decrease in the importance of religion in Britain. Commonwealth, many of whom were Muslim, were Weller (2004: 5) argued that, in keeping with the recruited to take up work in the United Kingdom. secularization thesis, there was an assumption that Unsurprisingly, because of the availability of work in religion would overwhelmingly be removed from the the industrial sectors, migrants headed for some of public into the private sphere for all Britons, including the main industrial centres and communities began any newcomers. However, as non-European-origin to emerge in areas such as Greater London, the communities became more established in Britain, South East, West Midlands, West Yorkshire and the emphasis on religious practice did not decrease. Lancashire in England; central Clydeside in Scotland; A well-known study conducted by Modood and the ports of South Wales; and Northern Ireland’s colleagues using the Fourth National Survey of Ethnic capital, Belfast (Hussain 2008). Minorities (Modood et al. 1997: 356) demonstrated clearly that when compared with the sample of White Once the labour shortage was taken care of, the British 16–34-year-olds – among whom only 5% felt British government introduced legislation to end that religion was ‘very important’ in how they lived large-scale migration. However, families of workers their lives – nearly 20% of Caribbean-origin and were still permitted to join them, and did so until around 35% of South-Asian-origin respondents in the the 1970s. In addition to those from South Asia, same age group reported it being so. who were primarily economic migrants, a different type of migration phenomenon occurred from the For some groups the separation of religion from the 1970s onwards. Those coming from the Middle East public domain was particularly problematic, especially to Britain appeared to have a much more diverse those for whom regular practice throughout the profile, originating from various national and social day, such as the five prayers, was a requirement. backgrounds. Arabs who had taken advantage of Modood et al. wrote, ‘Religion is perhaps the key their financial gain from the oil crisis of 1973–1974 area where the minority groups manifest a cultural invested in property and businesses. In addition, as dynamic which is at least partly at odds with native political unrest increased in the region, professionals British trends’ (1997: 356). Authors such as Yousif from the Middle East took up employment in Britain (2000) and Merry (2004) discussed how minority (Jalili 2004). groups would often have to repackage their faith practice as part of ‘cultural preservation’ in order to The number of refugees from Muslim lands began access public resources and support for faith-based to grow as a result of ethno-religious and communal activities (Merry 2004: 127). conflicts, famines, and natural disasters in a number of locations. This included refugees from Somalia There was a growing body of evidence from the and East Africa, as well as the Middle East; however, early 1990s that not only supported Modood’s from the 1990s onwards, there began a much more findings but suggested that religiosity and religious apparent arrival of asylum-seeking communities identification was becoming more salient than ethnic in the form of European Muslims from Bosnia and identity among second- and subsequent-generation Kosovo, as well as Kurds and Afghans. Despite this, Muslims (Hutnik 1985, Ballard 1994, Saeed et al. as will be discussed below, the majority of British 1999). A popular explanation for the apparent lack of Muslim have their origins in South Asia as a result of religious acculturation was that Muslim communities the British colonial legacy. in Britain were feeling more marginalized than other groups (Ballard 1994). Globally, developments such as communal tensions in South Asia, as well as the genocide of Muslims in the former Yugoslavia, highlighted persecution based on faith affiliation. In 18 A 20th-anniversary report Britain itself many Muslims felt unsupported in their both perceiving themselves and being perceived had reaction to Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses and moved beyond simply ethnicity and racism. faced a backlash from those who they felt prioritized freedom of speech above respect for minorities The availability of ‘hard facts’ on Muslims was argued (Khan 2000). by the Muslim Council of Britain as an important step in recognizing the needs of this faith group in a more In addition, data collected for the 1991 National meaningful way. Active campaigning took place for Census of Population for England and Wales the inclusion in government surveys of an official found that Pakistani and Bangladeshi (Muslim- category for religious minorities, as many Muslims majority) groups were demonstrating higher levels of continued to be hidden among ethnic and country- disadvantage across a number of measures. Such of-birth categories. Britons of Turkish descent, findings increased frustrations over inadequate service for example, ticked ‘White’ when presented with provision for Muslims living in Britain. The Muslim no specific category of their own. It was therefore Council of Great Britain, established as an umbrella impossible to know how many Muslims there were in body for mosques and other Islamic organizations, Britain using ethnicity data alone, or what their needs began lobbying for greater religious-group monitoring. as a faith group were. In 1997, the Runnymede Trust published findings which supported much of what was suspected The campaign for comprehensive countrywide data among grassroots communities: that Britain’s Muslim was an example of how Muslims emerged as political groups faced discrimination on the basis of their faith, group of actors, pushing their concerns onto policy and that global events were affecting the way Muslims and research agendas. In 2001, for the first time, were being perceived. The report – Islamophobia: demographic data on Muslims across the length and A Challenge for Us All – was one of the first breadth of Britain became available. This information publications to highlight how the way Muslims were was seen as an imperative tool in both understanding Table 3.1: The number and percentage of people belonging to a faith group in England and Wales Change in Percentage Percentage Population percentage Population of total Population of total Faith group change, of total count 2001 population, count, 2011 population, 2001–2011 population, 2001 2011 2001–2011 All people 52,041,912 100 56,075,912 100 +4,034,000 – Christian 37,338,486 71.75 33,243,175 59.28 −4,095,311 −12.47 Buddhist 144,453 0.28 247,743 0.44 +103,290 +0.16 Hindu 552,418 1.06 816,633 1.46 +264,215 +0.40 Jewish 259,928 0.50 263,346 0.47 +3,418 −0.03 Muslim 1,546,625 2.97 2,706,066 4.83 +1,159,441 +1.86 Sikh 329,356 0.63 423,158 0.75 +93,802 +0.12 Other 150,721 0.29 240,530 0.43 +89,809 +0.14 religions No religion 7,709,267 14.81 14,097,229 25.14 +6,387,962 +10.33 Religion not 4,010,658 7.71 4,038,032 7.20 +27,374 −0.51 stated Source: 2001 and 2011 National Census of Population for England and Wales, Office for National Statistics. Islamophobia: Still a challenge for us all 19 and countering discrimination and disadvantage The increase in the number of Muslims significantly (Hussain 2008). influenced by their younger demographic profile compared with the national population as a whole: Understanding the Muslim profile 33% of Muslims are aged 15 or under compared with 19% of the total population. This is a consequence In 2001 and 2011 the National Census for of the age at which most people migrate from Population collected data on religious minorities. one country to another; as discussed above, the The remainder of the chapter will provide an majority of Muslims who migrated to Britain entered overview of what we now know about Muslims in the country as labourers – overwhelmingly they Britain based on the availability of comprehensive were young men, who later brought their wives and statistics on faith groups. children to join them. Although the earliest migrants have now reached retirement age (4% of Muslims The 2001 census found there to be just over compared with 16% of the population as a whole), 1.5 million Muslims in England and Wales. As births among Muslims continue to outnumber demonstrated by Table 3.1, 77% of people in deaths, and as a result the population has increased England and Wales reported belonging to a religion. rather than declined (Simpson 2013). The largest faith group was Christian, at 72% of the total population. This was followed by Muslims, who comprised just under 3% of the population, and Ethnicity and country of birth Hindus (1%), with all other groups making up less Today almost 50% of British Muslims are born in than 1%. Those with no religion made up 15% of the UK, as was the case in 2001. In terms of other the population. regions of birth, 28.5% of British Muslims were born in South Asia, 6.5% in the Middle East, 6% in other By 2011 the Muslim population increased to European countries and 10% in Africa.

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