{"id":469806,"date":"2026-03-11T14:56:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T14:56:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/469806\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T14:56:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T14:56:08","slug":"muslim-council-of-britain-rejects-u-k-islamophobia-definition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/469806\/","title":{"rendered":"Muslim Council of Britain Rejects U.K. ‘Islamophobia’ Definition"},"content":{"rendered":"

Britain\u2019s largest umbrella organization for Muslims rejected the government\u2019s definition of \u201cIslamophobia,\u201d a day after the long-awaited definition\u2014rebranded as \u201canti-Muslim hostility\u201d\u2014appeared<\/a> on a government website.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are unable to endorse such a definition at the present time,\u201d Wajid Akhter, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), which has faced long-standing accusations of ties with Islamists, specifically the Muslim Brotherhood, stated<\/a> in a press release.<\/p>\n

Debating Islam cannot be taboo. Why is this religion being given protected status in the UK?<\/p>\n

\n Richard Tice, MP and Deputy Leader of Reform UK\n <\/p>\n

Complaining that the definition \u201cappears to be a diminished<\/a> version of that recommended by the Government\u2019s own Independent Working Group last year,\u201d the MCB expressed concerns over \u201cthe dilution\u201d of the definition and \u201cthe motivations of some of those driving the dilution.\u201d<\/p>\n

On March 9, the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government released the definition<\/a> with nine pages of interpretive guidelines<\/a> offering assurances that mocking, criticizing, and insulting Islam will continue to be protected by law. The definition controversially includes \u201crace\u201d and \u201cethnicity\u201d as factors fueling the \u201cprejudicial stereotyping of Muslims.\u201d<\/p>\n

Definition Articulates Anti-Muslim Hostility as a Form of Racism<\/p>\n

Clarifying that this is a \u201cworking definition\u201d which may \u201cneed to evolve\u201d as \u201cunderstanding of the issues develops,\u201d the government defines anti-Muslim hostility as \u201cintentionally engaging in, assisting or encouraging criminal acts\u201d that are directed at Muslims.<\/p>\n

The definition includes verbal, written, or digital communications under criminal acts and expands the category of \u201cMuslim\u201d to cover anyone who is \u201cperceived to be Muslim,\u201d including where that \u201cperception is based on assumptions about ethnicity, race, or appearance.\u201d \u202f<\/p>\n

The guidelines acknowledge that Muslims come from diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds and that race and religion are distinct protected characteristics under U.K. law, but insist that \u201cfor many, anti-Muslim hostility can be articulated as a form of racism.\u201d<\/p>\n

The definition covers individuals and institutions who engage in \u201cunlawful discrimination\u201d with the intention of disadvantaging Muslims in public and economic life.<\/p>\n

The guidelines concede that the definition is \u201cnon-statutory\u201d and \u201cmust not be confused with legislation.\u201d It clarifies that the definition does not restrict criticism, ridiculing, or insulting Islam or academic and political debates.<\/p>\n

The demand of Islamists that \u201cIslam be treated as a race, and that any attack on it be treated as racism, isn\u2019t in the definition itself, but is reflected in the supporting text,\u201d political advisor Andrew Gilligan pointed out in The Spectator<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Secularists Welcome Definition With Reservations<\/p>\n

Some groups that had opposed an earlier proposed definition of \u201cIslamophobia,\u201d including Humanists UK, welcomed<\/a> the new definition for restricting speech harmful to Muslims while protecting speech that criticizes Islam as a religion.<\/p>\n

The secularist organization commended the government for omitting the \u201cmisleading term\u201d of \u201cIslamophobia,\u201d which, it observed, falsely conflates prejudice against Muslims with legitimate criticism of Islamic beliefs and is also used by hardline Islamic states to suppress dissent.<\/p>\n

The National Secular Society exhibited greater reservation in its endorsement. \u201cThe Government\u2019s new social cohesion strategy contains welcome language on free speech and liberal values\u2014but reveals a continuing tendency to pander to faith-based pressure, Stephen Evans, the organization\u2019s CEO, wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe good news is that the language of \u2018Islamophobia\u2019 has finally been jettisoned,\u201d Evans stressed. \u201cIslamists will be disappointed but may be comforted by the line that the definition \u2018may need to evolve over time.\u2019 Ongoing vigilance will be necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lawmakers and Activists Slam Definition<\/p>\n

However, several parliamentarians and free speech campaigners attacked the definition, warning that it would be used as a covert anti-blasphemy law to severely curb freedom of expression and legitimate criticism of Islam.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Focus on Western Islamism, Tim Dieppe, head of public policy at Christian Concern, a think tank headquartered in London, described the definition as \u201cquite sinister.\u201d Dieppe, an Islamic scholar who has written extensively on the definition, warned that \u201cthere is no doubt this will have a chilling effect on speech about Islam.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRaising concerns \u2018in the public interest\u2019 is protected, but who decides what is in the public interest? Is discussing the Islamic nature of grooming gang abuse in the public interest?\u201d Dieppe asked. \u201cMany have tried to silence such talk even without a formal definition.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe government\u2019s Islamophobia definition has had a rebrand, but the underlying challenges remain the same. Its loose wording will shut down public services trying to combat grooming gangs, FGM, and terrorism, and yet it will do nothing to change the law on harassment and abuse,\u201d Claire Coutinho, a Conservative MP, tweeted<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIdentity politics is a dead end, not a route to a cohesive society,\u201d Shadow Communities Minister Paul Holmes added<\/a>. \u201cThis definition is so broad and subjective that it risks creating a back-door blasphemy law, with a chilling effect on free speech and legitimate criticism of Islamist extremism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnti-Muslim hatred is unacceptable, but Britain already has strong laws to tackle hate crime and discrimination, and they should be enforced,\u201d he emphasized, accusing the Labour-led government of \u201cpandering to the politics of sectarianism.\u201d<\/p>\n

Muslim Lawmaker Used Definition to Silence Anti-Islam Discourse in Parliament<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Richard<\/p>\n

\u201cDebating Islam cannot be taboo. Why is this religion being given protected status in the UK? Islamic extremists cause a huge amount of terrorism across the West. Islamic men [are] responsible for a huge amount of grooming gang scandals. Am I now going to be prosecuted?\u201d Richard Tice, MP and Deputy Leader of Reform UK, asked<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In a lengthy post on X, Nick Timothy, MP, slammed<\/a> the definition as \u201ca very predictable betrayal\u201d by the Labour Party. The parliamentarian warned that the definition \u201cconfuses racial and religious identities,\u201d asking if critics could \u201cassert the relevance of racial and religious identity in the crimes of the rape gangs\u201d comprised mostly of Pakistani Muslim men.<\/p>\n

\u201cIs a primary school free to say no hijabs? Is a secondary school able to say no ritual prayer on the premises? Is a newspaper able to report that a terrorist shouted Islamic slogans? Are we free to identify entryism in public institutions?\u201d he asked. \u201cShould Christians and Sikhs have their own definitions?\u201d<\/p>\n

Labour MP Afzal Khan, who was forced<\/a> to apologize for sharing a post referring to the \u201cIsrael-British-Swiss-Rothschilds crime syndicate\u201d and \u201cmass murdering Rothschilds Israeli mafia criminal liars,\u201d published<\/a> a video celebrating the \u201chistoric\u201d moment on social media and equating anti-Muslim hostility with racism.<\/p>\n

Muslim parliamentarians like Iqbal Mohamed have already used the definition to restrict criticism of Islam. Hours after the definition was published, Mohamed asked if it could be used to sanction lawmakers in the House of Commons and the House of Lords for engaging in \u201cIslamophobic\u201d discourse.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is for the House authorities to determine what happens with Members of this House, but the Honorable Member is right to point to the huge concern that we should all share about the unacceptable level of hostility and abuse directed at Muslims,\u201d Steve Reed, Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, responded. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Britain\u2019s largest umbrella organization for Muslims rejected the government\u2019s definition of \u201cIslamophobia,\u201d a day after the long-awaited definition\u2014rebranded…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469807,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-469806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469806\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469807"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}