Islam in Britain
Islamic Studies · Key Stage 2 · The School
A longer history than people expect
Muslim sailors and traders were in British ports from the 1600s onward. Britain's first recorded mosque opened in the 1880s; the Shah Jahan Mosque in Woking dates from 1889. Large communities arrived after the Second World War from South Asia, and later from Somalia, the Arab world, Turkey and eastern Europe.
Today
Around four million Muslims live in Britain, most born here. They are doctors, drivers, shopkeepers, teachers, footballers and MPs. Communities differ enormously by heritage — a Bradford Pakistani family, a Somali family in Cardiff and a Turkish family in London share a religion and little else about their daily life.
What a mosque does locally
Beyond the five prayers, a British mosque typically runs weekend classes for children, a food bank or soup kitchen, funeral services, marriage registration, and often open days for neighbours. Many are also the place people turn to in a local crisis — which is one reason RE lessons visit them.
1860s: Yemeni and Somali sailors settle around the docks in Cardiff and South Shields. 1889: the Shah Jahan Mosque opens in Woking, Britain's first purpose-built mosque, followed the same year by a Liverpool mosque. 1960s–70s: large-scale migration from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh and East Africa. Today: around four million Muslims, and mosques in almost every town. The line starts a century earlier than most people expect.