Elham Asaad Buaras

The government is under pressure to combat Islamophobia in general and within its ranks after its own records revealed that anti-Muslim hate crimes accounted for nearly two out of every five hate crimes in England and Wales.

According to Home Office figures released on October 5, there were 3,452 (39%) anti-Muslim attacks in the year ending March 2023, meaning Muslims have remained the most targeted group since police started compiling hate crime statistics in 2011.

To put the extent of anti-Muslim hate crime in context, the next most targeted group last year was Jews, who were attacked 1,510 times (17%), while Christians were targeted 649 times (7%).

There were also 308 (3%) attacks against Sikhs, 291 (3%) attacks against Hindus, and 19 (<1%) attacks against Buddhists.

Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) Secretary-General, Zara Mohammed, expressed alarm but not surprise at the latest figures, citing the “highly divisive rhetoric dominating political discourse which has a devastating impact on the lives and lived experience of British Muslims.”

Mohammed referenced a speech by Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, in the Commons on September 7 as she delivered a statement on the Prevent strategy, in which she labelled the view the far-right polemicist Douglas Murray as “mainstream Conservative commentary.”

MCB says Murray’s “extremely Islamophobic assertions are a matter of public record. Citing his speeches in which he said: ‘conditions for Muslims in Europe must be made harder across the board’, called Islam an ‘opportunist infection’, Muslims a ‘demographic time bomb’ and that mosques should be ‘pulled down,’ as documented in his notorious ‘What are we to do about Islam?’ speech.”

“It has been troubling to see the Conservative London Mayoral candidate deploying dog whistle Islamophobia in her campaign against London Mayor, Sadiq Khan and the Home Secretary’s endorsement of a known Islamophobe at the dispatch box,” said Zara Mohammed.

“The normalisation of Islamophobia across sectors of society only serves to foment and exacerbate anti-Muslim sentiment. It is therefore not surprising which such a backdrop, the rise in hate crimes against Muslims.

“The MCB urges our government to show leadership by tackling Islamophobia head on starting with decisive rhetoric by some in the party.”