UK Mosque Leaders Demand Action as Far-Right Threat Against Muslims Grows

Mosque leaders in Britain are calling for stronger security, better coordination and greater unity across the Muslim community as far-right attacks on Islamic places of worship continue to rise.

At a mosque security event in Birmingham, imams, mosque committee members and community leaders gathered to discuss how Muslim institutions can better protect themselves amid a growing wave of Islamophobic hostility. The event, organised by Faith Associates under the title “Mosque Security: Protecting Places of Worship”, focused on the threat of far-right racism, anti-Muslim hate crime and the urgent need to strengthen protection around mosques and community centres.

The meeting came at a time when British Muslims are facing a deeply concerning security climate. New data from the British Muslim Trust shows that one mosque is attacked in Britain roughly every five days, with more than 70 attacks recorded over the past year. These incidents include intimidation, violence, property damage, harassment, anti-Muslim hate speech, online abuse and vandalism. Home Office data also shows that anti-Muslim hate crime in England and Wales rose by 19% in the 12 months to March 2025.

For many Muslim communities, the issue is no longer abstract. Mosques, Qur’an schools, Islamic centres and Muslim community spaces are increasingly being forced to think like security sites while still trying to function as places of worship, learning and service.

Mosques Are Being Forced Into a Security Crisis

Among the practical responses discussed at the Birmingham event were improved mosque security training, better media engagement, stronger local coordination and renewed pressure on the government to make protective funding easier to access.

Earlier this year, the UK government announced up to £40 million in funding for protective security at mosques, Muslim faith schools and community centres in 2026 to 2027. The scheme is intended to support security measures such as CCTV, alarms, fencing and security personnel. However, mosque leaders and monitoring groups have warned that many institutions are struggling to access the funding quickly, with some facing long delays or unclear rejections.

This has created a dangerous gap between public promises and community reality.

A mosque does not become vulnerable only after it has been attacked. In the current climate, a mosque is vulnerable because it is a mosque. It is visibly Muslim, publicly accessible and often central to the religious and social life of the local community.

That is why many leaders argue that the burden should not be placed on mosques to prove danger after years of rising anti-Muslim hostility. The state has a duty to protect Muslim communities before another attack occurs.

The Deeper Problem: Lack of Muslim Coordination

The Birmingham gathering also exposed another concern: the British Muslim community’s internal lack of coordination.

Some leaders argued that many mosques operate in isolation, with limited communication between cities, councils and Islamic institutions. This weakens the community’s ability to respond to threats, share intelligence, access funding, coordinate media messaging and support mosques that have been targeted.

Sheikh Rafiq Sufi of the Lancashire Council of Mosques argued that Muslims in Britain need a stronger national structure, suggesting the creation of a National Council of Mosques.

“We have been having these discussions for 20 years on how to tackle racism,” he said. “The response has been very slow and we need to achieve better recognition from the establishment on the issue. We need a National Council of Mosques.”

His argument reflects a growing frustration: Muslim communities have spent decades warning about racism, Islamophobia and far-right mobilisation, yet recognition from the establishment remains slow and inconsistent.

But not everyone agreed that a new umbrella body is the solution.

Imam Abu Bakr, founder of the Huddersfield Council of Mosques, argued that the community does not necessarily need another national organisation. It needs to strengthen what already exists.

“One of the issues I’ve seen in my community is we don’t take these incidents seriously enough until they happen to us directly,” he said. “We are very reactive.”

He warned that creating another umbrella body would mean little if existing local infrastructure remained weak.

“We ought to take inspiration from the Holy Prophet and create structured communities wherever we are located,” he said. “It’s about building up the infrastructure that is already in place, working closer together and sharing our resources. We have the money and the resources, but what we lack is the Prophet’s understanding of what an Ummah should be.”

That point cuts to the heart of the matter.

The crisis facing British Muslims is not only about cameras, alarms and fencing. It is also about leadership, unity, responsibility and community discipline.

The Prophetic Model of Community Protection

Islam does not teach passivity in the face of danger. Nor does it teach chaos, emotional reaction or disunity.

The Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, built structured communities. He created bonds of brotherhood, organised responsibility, protected vulnerable people, established consultation and taught Muslims to act with wisdom, discipline and unity.

That Prophetic model is urgently needed today.

Mosques must not wait until they are attacked before they review their security. Muslim leaders must not wait until a crisis before they speak to one another. Communities must not allow local politics, committee disputes or ethnic divisions to weaken the protection of the houses of Allah.

The far-right threat is organised. Anti-Muslim messaging is organised. Online hate networks are organised. Political Islamophobia is organised.

Muslim response cannot remain fragmented.

Far-Right Threats Are No Longer Theoretical

Recent events have made the danger clear.

On 13 July 2026, counter-terrorism officers arrested 12 people in connection with an extreme right-wing terrorism-related investigation linked to a suspected threat against the UK Ijtima, an Islamic gathering held at Shrubland Hall in Suffolk. Police said organisers were advised to close the event earlier than planned as a precaution due to concerns over a possible threat.

The incident sent a chilling message to British Muslims: even large religious gatherings can become targets of far-right attention.

The UK Ijtima case came against a wider backdrop of rising hostility. According to reporting on another major Muslim gathering, Jalsa Salana, organisers increased security by several hundred additional staff and enhanced coordination with police, emergency services and local authorities because of growing anti-Muslim sentiment.

This is the reality many Muslim communities now face. Religious gatherings that should be centred on worship, remembrance, learning and brotherhood are now being forced to operate under heightened security conditions.

Attacks on Muslim Spaces Are Attacks on the Whole Community

The threat is not limited to one city or one type of institution.

The British Muslim Trust has identified London, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands as the top hotspots for mosque attacks. London recorded nine separate mosque attacks, while one mosque in Birmingham reportedly suffered three attacks within 12 months.

In October 2025, the Peacehaven Community Centre and Mosque in East Sussex was targeted in a suspected arson attack. Police investigated it as a hate crime, and the investigation was later taken over by Counter Terrorism Policing South East.

These incidents reveal a pattern that cannot be dismissed as random vandalism.

When a mosque is attacked, it is not only bricks, doors and windows that are targeted. The attacker is sending a message to worshippers, children, elders, volunteers and families: your presence is not welcome, your faith is not safe, and your community can be intimidated.

That message must be confronted politically, legally and Islamically.

Islamophobia Is Treated Differently

One of the strongest concerns raised by Muslim leaders is the stark difference between how Islamophobia is treated compared to other forms of racism and religious hatred.

British Muslims have long argued that anti-Muslim hatred is too often minimised, reframed, delayed or treated as a community relations issue rather than a serious threat to public safety.

When mosques are attacked, the response must not be limited to sympathy. There must be investigation, accountability, prevention and public recognition of the ideology driving the hostility.

Far-right Islamophobia does not appear from nowhere. It is fed by media demonisation, political scapegoating, online radicalisation and public narratives that portray Muslims as a demographic or cultural threat.

Once that narrative becomes normal, violence becomes easier to justify in the minds of extremists.

What Needs to Happen Now

The Birmingham event showed that Muslim leaders are no longer speaking only about fear. They are speaking about readiness.

But readiness must become practical.

Mosques need proper security audits, trained volunteers, emergency response plans, safeguarding procedures, clear reporting systems and stronger relationships with local police. They also need media strategies that allow Muslim communities to speak clearly after incidents instead of being spoken about by others.

At the same time, the government must remove unnecessary barriers from protective security funding and ensure mosques receive support before they suffer serious attacks. Delayed funding is not protection. Complicated access is not protection. Unclear rejection is not protection.

Muslim communities also need to build stronger internal networks. Whether through a new National Council of Mosques or improved local and regional coordination, the priority must be the same: unity, shared resources, reliable communication and collective responsibility.

This is not about bureaucracy. It is about survival, dignity and amanah.

Protecting the Houses of Allah

The mosque is the heart of Muslim communal life. It is where the Qur’an is recited, where children learn their religion, where the poor are supported, where Ramadan nights come alive, where janazah prayers are held and where Muslims stand shoulder to shoulder before Allah.

To protect the mosque is to protect the community.

Britain’s Muslims should not have to choose between openness and safety. They should not have to turn every Islamic centre into a fortress. They should not have to beg for recognition after years of documented hostility.

But the current reality demands vigilance.

The far-right threat is real. The rise in mosque attacks is real. The failure to treat Islamophobia with equal seriousness is real.

The response must now be equally real: stronger security, faster funding, better leadership, deeper unity and a return to the Prophetic understanding of what an Ummah should be.

Not reactive. Not fragmented. Not silent.

Organised, principled and united for the sake of Allah.