Islam is the second largest religion in the United Kingdom with a total of 1,591,000 Muslims in 2001. Of these, 1,536,015 Muslims were living in England and Wales, where they form 3% of the population; 42,557 were in Scotland, representing 0.84% of the population; and 1,943 were living in Northern Ireland. Most recent estimates state up to 2 million Muslims in the UK. Majority of Muslims in the United Kingdom are immigrants from South Asia or are descendants of immigrants from that region. The remainder are mainly from Muslim-dominated Southwest Asia.
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Islam is the second largest religion in England. Although Islam is generally thought of as being a recent arrival in England, there has been contact between Britons and Muslims for many centuries. In England, 40% of Muslims live in London, where they make up 8.5% of the population. There are also large numbers of Muslims in Birmingham, Manchester, Bradford, Luton, Slough, Leicester and the mill towns of Northern England.
The East London Mosque
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organises an annual programme to attract people to its services which include ICT training, English classes, a Junior Muslim Circle, Saturday Halaqa (Islamic talks) and Madrasahs. According to the mosque, involvement in its activities has increased and it notes that: the five daily prayers have increased. Especially during Friday Jummah prayers, where it was difficult to accommodate the increasing number of people. During Ramadan, the prayer facilities attracted between 4,000 to 5,000 people every day. Much of these works by the people, show Islamic identity among the Muslims is increasingly rising due to many Islamic groups and facilities available throughout the communities in the UK
The arrival of Islam in Scotland and Northern Ireland is relatively recent. The bulk of Muslims in these regions come from families who immigrated during the late 20th century.
In Scotland Muslims represent 0.84% of the population (42,557),with 20,000 in Glasgow. Muslims are the largest non-Christian group, other than atheists and agnostics. There were approximately 2000 muslims living in Northern Ireland at the time of the 2001 Census.
The Belfast Islamic Centre was established in 1978 by a group of Muslims from the local community. Today, the centre acts not only as a place of worship, but as a community centre, social-cultural centre, resource centre, advice centre and a day centre.
Islam is the largest non-Christian faith in Wales, having 22,000 members at the 2001 Census. The first purpose-built mosque was erected in Cardiff in 1947.
Today, Wales has about 40 mosques, most of them are in Cardiff. Also a college for training Muslim clerics has been established in Llanybydder in west Wales.
Many Muslims in UK face discrimination. Sometimes they also face poor standards of housing, poorer levels of education and are more vulnerable to illness.In addition, there have been cases of threats and attacks on Muslims and on Muslim targets, including an attack on Muslim graves.