Why Islam is the Fastest Growing Religion in the UK
Islam is the Fastest Growing Religion in the UK.
As per the last Census in 2011, Muslims constituted 4.4 percent of the entire population of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This makes Islam the second-largest religion adhered to in the UK after Christianity. Refer to the chart below for the 2011 Census results regarding Muslims in the UK.
MUSLIMS IN UK
(2011 Census statistics)
AreaMuslims in population Muslims in Percentage of Total populationEngland2,660,1165.02%Wales45,9501.5%Scotland76,7371.45%
Although there has been no official census since 2011, a recent study published by Statista claims that as of 2016:
- There were 4.13 million Muslims in the UK with 1.01 million living in London and its vicinity alone
- Muslims were 6.3% of the entire population of the UK.
The same set of studies suggests that by 2050, Muslims will be 17.2% of the UK population. The statistics for growth are in similar directions elsewhere in the world also. Islam is the fastest-growing religion in world statistics and the second largest religion world over. Let us take a very unbiased approach to the study of causes for the increase in the spread of Islam in the UK.
There are four main reasons for the growth of Islam in the UK:
- High Birth Rates
- Higher Immigration Rates into the UK
- Identity politics
- Conversions from Christianity
High Birth Rates in Muslims in the UK lead to increased growth of Islam:
Between 2005 to 2010, on average Muslim women in the UK had a fertility rate of 3.0. This is higher than the national level of 1.8 across the UK. It is generally believed that Muslims have a higher birth rate. In the UK, immigrants from Bangladesh and Pakistan, predominantly Muslims, have the highest birth rate. The most basic of all reasons for the growth of Islam in the UK is very simple and very biological. There are more Muslims being born each year.
Studies suggest that throughout Europe native populations have lower fertility rates. In contrast, Muslim immigrants have higher fertility rates. The results are pretty inevitable: Muslims are rising in numbers! There are strongly religious and cultural reasons for higher birth rates in Muslims.
There is, however, a conflict of whether this reason will continue to be valid in future decades. Evidence indicates that over the years the gap between fertility rates of native UK residents and Muslim immigrants has shrunk. By 2030, it is estimated that fertility rates for Muslim immigrants will fall down to 2.5 while that of natives will remain the same 1.8. This will take time in leveling off with the national average.
While this may be true that Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the UK, there is no reason to believe that it will be the largest in 2030 as claimed by many over-enthusiastic articles. In light of current statistics, we can only expect that Muslims in the UK will be somewhat around 10% to 13 % of the entire population in 2030.
Higher Immigration Rates is one of the main reasons for the growth of Islam:
The UK is considered one of the most tolerant nations. It has welcomed immigrants from throughout the world with Grace and hospitality. The UK is the most immigrated into the country of Europe when we talk about economic migrations. Apart from major oil-producing gulf countries, many Muslim countries are actually less developed economies struggling with unemployment, lower education rates and low standard of living. Each year, many nationals from these economies immigrate into the UK in hopes of a better economic future.
Unfortunately, many Islamic countries have been embroiled in external or internal wars and conflicts. Immigrants from war-torn countries like Syria, Kashmir, Iraq, Afghanistan, Burma, and Palestine have moved to the UK to leave behind guns, bombs, and terror.
When we say that Islam is the fastest-growing religion inside the UK, we need to understand the role played by the receptiveness shown by native UK people to foreign immigrants and refugees. Researchers believe that the UK has the least hostility records against Syrian and Iraqi refugees. Three fourth of the population does not exhibit hostility or racism towards Muslims and the majority of this population belongs to the age group 16–30. This indicates that the new generation has a positive attitude towards the inclusiveness of all religions; including Islam, in the UK economy. Statistics record that every fifth non-UK born person is a Muslim.
Rise of Islam in the UK is due to Islamophobia:
It may sound a bit strange but some of the rises in Muslims in the UK are not a case of actual rise at all. It is rather a sensitive case of identity politics. Post 9/11, when there was a wave of hatred against Muslims, many of them actually started identifying as Muslims in public. The UK along with many other Western countries became a victim of Islamophobia.
Muslims feel that Islam was being hijacked by extremists. There was a collective attack on their identity by politicians and media. Whenever a group of people sees that their identity is being attacked or categorized wrongly, they start to assert themselves collectively to fight away the attack or the categorization; instead of running away from it. The same happened to Muslims in the UK. They started labeling themselves as Muslims to resist extremists taking over Islam.
Compared to the 2001 census more and more people came out and identified themselves as Muslims in the 2011 UK population census. While many of these people had previously chosen not to declare their religion, they did so proudly in the 2011 Census. In the wake of the war on terror and The Rising wave of Islamophobia, UK is an interesting case study of identity politics.
One of the main indicators of rising in the number of Muslims or a rise in Muslim practices in the UK is the Border Office statistics of people traveling to Saudi Arabia for Hajj or Umrah from the UK. Recently there have been many Islamic travel agents offering cheap Hajj packages or umrah packages across many notable cities in the UK.
Islam is the Fastest-Growing Religion due to Increase Conversions from Christianity:
This is the reason so much popularised by some people who unrealistically believe that Islam will be the dominating religion in 2030, leaving Christianity behind. It is true that with the help of Muslim Missionaries and the collective assertion of Muslims due to identity politics there has been an increase in the number of people who converted to Islam from Christianity.
Despite the radicalization of Islam by some extremist groups, the majority of Muslims have shown a mature approach and continue to remain an important and responsible part of the UK economy. It has softened many’s hearts towards Islam and Muslims.
Either case; whether it is the strength of Muslim Missionaries or The Weakness of Christian church; the empirical evidence is that many Christians have indeed converted to Islam.
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