List of claims about Muslims in Britain reappears on social media

A post circulating on Facebook makes a number of claims about Muslims in Britain—almost all of which are either wrong or unevidenced.

We’ve written about versions of this post that have been shared on social media a number of times in recent years.

False or misleading claims about specific religious groups have the potential to harm individuals and groups. Online claims can spread fast and far and are difficult to contain and correct. Internet companies must take responsibility to ensure that they have clear and transparent policies on the treatment of misinformation on their platforms, and then apply them consistently.

Muslim mayors

The post claims that the cities and towns of London, Birmingham, Leeds, Blackburn, Sheffield, Oxford, Luton, Oldham and Rochdale all have Muslim mayors.

While all of these have had a Muslim mayor in the past, only some do currently.

In England and Wales, there are two types of mayor: those who are directly elected, for example in London and Greater Manchester, and civic or lord mayors who carry out ceremonial duties or chair the council, but are not responsible for running local services like directly elected mayors.

The religion of mayors is not always a matter of public record. We do know that the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is Muslim, and some of the other towns and cities listed (such as Oldham and Blackburn) also appear to currently have mayors who are Muslim, but not all. For example, Birmingham’s Lord Mayor Chaman Lal is from a Sikh family.

Mosques, sharia courts and councils in the UK

The post claims there are “Over 3,000 Muslim Mosques”, “Over 130 Muslim Sharia Courts” and “Over 50 Muslim Sharia Councils”.

There is no official tally of the number of mosques in the UK. However unofficial figures suggest there are fewer than 3,000.

In 2018, in answer to a question in the Lords, the government said it estimated that there were “1,500 mosques and prayer halls in England”.

In 2020, the Muslim Council of Britain said in written evidence to the Lords Public Services committee that there are “about 1,200 mosques” in Britain.

A more up-to-date list of mosques is published by the organisation Muslims in Britain, which currently says there are 2,711 premises used for worship, including 1,858 “actual masjids”, as well as other facilities like prayer rooms, hired halls and chaplaincies.

This figure also includes 568 defunct premises, including “former hired halls, places once proposed as masjids and also madrassahs that were formerly used as masjids.”

There is also no official count of the number of Sharia councils or courts in the UK.

Sharia councils, also sometimes referred to as Sharia courts, usually involve a group of local religious scholars who advise on issues principally relating to Islamic marriage and divorce. A 2018 Home Office review of Sharia law in the UK stated that these councils have “no legal status and no legal binding authority under civil law”.

The same review estimated that there were between 30 and 85 such councils in England and Wales and to the best of the review’s knowledge, none in Scotland—we’ve not found any more reliable up-to-date figures.

“Muslims-only no-go areas”

Claims that certain areas in the UK are “no-go zones” or “no-go areas” for non-Muslims have been circulating for a number of years. We’ve written about some such claims in the past.

There are no areas in the UK that are not covered by UK law, or can’t be policed by UK police forces.

As we’ve previously written, diplomatic premises may be a possible exception to this, as although they are UK territory they can’t be entered without the consent of the Ambassador or Head of Mission. However any offences committed on these premises “are triable under the ordinary principles of English law, subject to the principles of diplomatic immunity for those who have it.”

Muslims claiming benefits and housing

The post also claims that 78% of Muslim women and 63% of Muslim men “don’t work and are on FREE benefits/housing”.

2021 Census data found that people in England and Wales who identified as "Muslim" had the lowest percentage of people aged 16 to 64 years in employment, at 51.4%. Just under half (48.6%) of adults who identified as "Muslim" were in employment.

This data found that 37% of Muslim women aged 16 and over were in employment, and 60% of Muslim men—meaning the figures mentioned in the post are incorrect.

We’ve found no official data breaking down benefit claimants by religion. Census data found that, among households where all residents who answered the religion question identified as "Muslim", 27.8% in England and 24.0% in Wales lived in socially rented housing (though it’s worth noting social housing doesn’t mean it’s free).

Halal food in schools

The post also claims that “now all UK schools are ONLY serving HALAL MEAT”.

This also doesn’t appear to be true. In 2019 the government said that its school food standards “do not specify food requirements in terms of cultural and religious needs.” This appears to still be the case in England.

Schools in England have no obligation to only serve halal food, although some schools and local authorities may choose to do so. The law on school food regulations does not specify any measures for providing food that abides by religious dietary restrictions.

Image courtesy of Philip Perry