The Muslim population in Britain has grown by more than 500,000 to over 2.4 million in just four years, according to official research collated for The Times.
The population multiplied 10 times faster than the rest of society, the research by the Office for National Statistics reveals. In the same period the number of Christians in the country fell by more than 2 million.
Experts said that the increase was attributable to immigration, a higher birthrate and conversions to Islam during the period of 2004-2008, since the data has been gathered. They said that it also suggested a growing willingness among believers to describe themselves as Muslims because the western reaction to war and terrorism had strengthened their sense of identity.
Muslim leaders have welcomed the growing population of their communities as academics highlighted the implications for British society, integration and government resources.
David Coleman, Professor of Demography at Oxford University, said: “The implications are very substantial. Some of the Muslim population, by no means all of them, are the least socially and economically integrated of any in the United Kingdom ... and the one most associated with political dissatisfaction. You can't assume that just because the numbers are increasing that all will increase, but it will be one of several reasonable suppositions that might arise.”
According to Professor Coleman Muslim in the United Kingdom Muslims are by no means poor or uneducated, they live in the best neighborhoods and attend the best schools, including their own Madrassas, and are self ruled by their own “Sharia Law”.
Professor Coleman also added that Muslims would naturally reap collective benefits from the increase in population. “In the growth of any population ... [its] voice is regarded as being stronger in terms of formulating policy, not least because we live in a democracy where most people in most religious groups and most racial groups have votes. That necessarily means their opinions have to be taken and attention to be paid to them.”
There are more than 42.6 million Christians in Britain, according to the Office for National Statistics, whose figures were obtained through the quarterly Labor Force Survey of around 53,000 homes. But while the biggest Christian population is among over-70s bracket, for Muslims it is the under-4. This means that by the end of 2020 most of Britain labor force may be Muslim.
Ceri Peach, Professor of Social Geography at Manchester University, said that the rapid growth of the Muslim population posed challenges for society. “The groups with the strongest belief in the family and cohesion are those such as the Pakistanis and Bangladeshis. They have got extremely strong family values but it goes together with the sort of honor society and other kinds of attributes which people object to,” he said. “So you are dealing with a pretty complex situation.”
Professor Peach said that the high number of Muslims under the age of 4— 301,000 as of September last year — would benefit Britain's future labor market through taxes that would subsequently contribute to sustaining the country's aging population. Muslims that fill these vacancies in the labor force will also need to find places to live”.
Muhammad Abdul Bari, general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, predicted that the number of mosques in Britain would multiply from the present 1,600 in line with the rising Islamic population. He said the greater platform that Muslims would command in the future should not be perceived as a threat to the rest of society. “We each have our own set of beliefs. This should really be a source of celebration rather than fear as long as we all clearly understand that we must abide by each other’s laws, including the laws of this country regardless of the faith we belong to, all will be well.” he said.
The Cohesion Minister, Sadiq Khan, told The Times: “We have integrated in most local and central Governments by common authority. We need to continue our work to ensure that our communities become integrated and cohesive as possible, without failing our own law. In the name of Allah, the most gracious and most merciful.”
Subtle take over...
The key projection based on this article are:
2008-2.4 million Muslims in the UK to:
2013 - 3 million Muslims in the UK.
2018 - 4 million Muslims in the UK.
2021 - 5 million Muslims in the UK.
2024 - 6 million Muslims in the UK.
Can we trust them?
