{"id":487221,"date":"2026-03-21T07:08:18","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T07:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/487221\/"},"modified":"2026-03-21T07:08:18","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T07:08:18","slug":"it-makes-me-feel-more-british-muslims-say-religious-diversity-in-the-uk-part-of-identity-ramadan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/487221\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It makes me feel more British\u2019: Muslims say religious diversity in the UK part of identity | Ramadan"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Friday morning, little space remained in Baitul Futuh mosque as thousands of people poured in to mark the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The south London mosque, one of the largest in Europe, offered a glimpse of the Eid al-Fitr festivities <\/a>being celebrated by millions of Muslims across the UK. This year, however, a political furore around one of the most important holidays in the Islamic calendar has divided UK party leaders, drawn warnings of bigotry<\/a> and left members of the community feeling disturbed and disappointed.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, Nick Timothy, the shadow justice minister, claimed Islamic prayers taking place in public are intimidating, un-British<\/a> and an \u201cact of domination\u201d, after a Ramadan event in London\u2019s Trafalgar Square. Reform\u2019s leader Nigel Farage called the event, which has taken place five times without previous incident or controversy, an attempt to \u201cintimidate and dominate our way of life\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Worshippers mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan at Baitul Futuh mosque in south London. Photograph: Martin Godwin\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Taufique Ahmad, 22, standing outside the mosque as people entered for Eid prayers, said the \u201charsh and potentially harmful language\u201d used against the community is \u201cquite disturbing\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe British identity is such a strong thing that it\u2019s not fragile enough that you see a glimpse of diversity that you\u2019ll wither away and shatter,\u201d said Ahmad, a legal intern and member of the mosque\u2019s press team. \u201cAt least my British identity is that strong that if I see other communities practising their faith publicly and peacefully, if anything it makes me feel more British.\u201d<\/p>\n

Politicians<\/a>, legal experts<\/a> and community leaders<\/a> have increasingly warned of a shift of the Overton window \u2013 the range of ideas deemed acceptable in the mainstream population \u2013 concerning political discourse around identity, race and religion.<\/p>\n

While the Conservative party leader, Kemi Badenoch, said Timothy was \u201cdefending British values\u201d, Keir Starmer claimed the party \u201chas a problem with Muslims\u201d. The prime minister\u2019s offensive on Wednesday was welcomed by members of the Muslim community who fear they have been singled out for political leverage they say is capable of translating into real world harm.<\/p>\n

A volunteer prepares to give out fruit baskets to worshippers at the Baitul Futuh mosque. Photograph: Kirsty O\u2019Connor\/PA<\/p>\n

In an effort to combat unacceptable treatment, prejudice and discrimination against Muslims, amid a rise in hate crimes <\/a>, the government has recently adopted an anti-Muslim hostility definition.<\/p>\n

The feeling is one Taahir Ahmad has grown up with: \u201c9\/11 happened when I was a kid,\u201d said the 35-year-old, heading to see his mother after Friday prayers. \u201cIt was horrifying, I was the only brown kid at my school at the time, and kids being kids, they blamed me for everything and what not, it was kind of traumatic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the political rhetoric that has surfaced this week, Ahmad said he believes the aim is to cause chaos and division. If anything, leaders should attend the events, he said, and see how peaceful they are.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you target a certain ethnicity or religious group, you are isolating them and what you\u2019re trying to do is organise the public to go against those people,\u201d said Ahmad, a streamer who lives in Morden.<\/p>\n

The open Iftar Ramadan prayers held at Trafalgar Square drew criticisms from Nick Timothy, the shadow justice minister, who claimed it was intimidating and un-British. Photograph: Tolga Akmen\/EPA<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a tactic, I understand that, not welcome, not appreciated but we learned to live with it, we learned to deal with it,\u201d he added. \u201cWe\u2019re not as bad as the media or politicians portray us to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Such perceptions are out of step too with Michelle Rahman\u2019s experience. As a practising British Muslim woman from east London<\/a> she said the views of a few politicians are not those of the broader public.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe expect our politicians to hold unity in society, so how do I look at it? Disappointed. But what I don\u2019t see is that that defines the United Kingdom,\u201d said Rahman, an NHS worker who is also a youth leader at the mosque.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is not the opinion of the masses,\u201d she added. \u201cThere\u2019s been division throughout society and I see this as just one of those events, but actually it\u2019s not a representation of the broader community.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Friday morning, little space remained in Baitul Futuh mosque as thousands of people poured in to mark…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":487222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-487221","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\/487221","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=487221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/487222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=487221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=487221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=487221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}