ISLAM

Islam is a religious system begun in the seventh century by Muhammad.

It is the world's second-largest religion and the fastest-growing major religion in the
world, with over 1.8 billion followers or 24.1% of the global population, known
as Muslims.

History
The earliest evidence of Islamic influence in England dates to the 8th century,
when Offa, the Anglo-Saxon king of Mercia, minted a coin with an Islamic inscription,
largely a copy of coins issued by a contemporary Muslim ruler, Caliph Al-Mansur. In the
16th century, Muslims from North Africa, the Middle East and Central Asia were present
in London, working in a range of roles, from diplomats and translators to merchants and
musicians.
The first group of Muslims to come to the UK in significant numbers, in the 18th century,
were lascars (sailors) recruited from the Indian subcontinent, largely from the Bengal
region, to work for the East India Company on British ships, some of whom settled down
and took local wives. The earliest Muslim communities were found in port towns.

Shah Jahan Mosque is the oldest purpose-built mosque in the United

Kingdom.
Population
Islam is the second largest religion in the United Kingdom, with results from the United
Kingdom Census 2011 giving the UK Muslim population in 2011 as 2,786,635, 4.4% of
the total population. The vast majority of Muslims in the United Kingdom live in England:
2,660,116 (5.02% of the population). 76,737 Muslims live in Scotland (1.45%), 45,950
in Wales(1.50%), and 3,832 in Northern Ireland (0.21%).

The Muslim population of England and Wales has grown consistently since World War II.

Muslim population of England

and Wales

Year Pop. %

1961 50,000

1971 226,000 +352.0%

1981 553,000 +144.7%

1991 950,000 +71.8%

2001 1,600,000 +68.4%

2011 2,706,066 +69.1%

2014 3,046,607 +12.6%

The settlements with large number of Muslims

are Bradford, Luton, Blackburn, Birmingham, London and Dewsbury. There are also
high numbers in High Wycombe, Slough, Leicester, Derby, Manchester, Leeds and
the mill towns of Northern England. There are also relatively large concentrations in the
Scottish cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Ethnic composition of British Muslims (2011 Census)

Most Muslim immigrants to the United Kingdom came from former colonies. The biggest
groups of Muslims are of Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian and Arab origins, with the
remainder coming from Muslim-dominated areas such as Southwest
Asia, Somalia, Malaysia, and Indonesia.

JUDAISM
Judaism is an ancient monotheistic religion with the Torah as its foundational text. It
encompasses the religion, philosophy and culture of the Jewish people.Organized
Judaism emerged from Babylonian writings. Belief that God has a special contract with
a Hebrew tribe, involving many specific rules of behavior. The first written record
of Jewish settlement in England dates from 1070. The Jewish settlement continued
until King Edward I's Edict of Expulsion in 1290. After the expulsion, there was no
Jewish community, apart from individuals who practised Judaism secretly, until the rule
of Oliver Cromwell. While Cromwell never officially readmitted Jews to Britain, a small
colony of Sephardic Jews living in London was identified in 1656 and allowed to remain.
British Jews number around 300,000 with the United Kingdom having the fifth largest
Jewish community worldwide.

Singers Hill Synagogue, Birmingham, England.

The Star of David has been a symbol associated with Judaism for centuries. A stone
bearing the Star of David in a synagogue in the Galilee dates back to the 3rd century. It
is believed to have been used as a decorative design.

Bah' Faith
The Bah' Faith is a religion teaching the essential worth of all religions, and the unity
and equality of all people. The religion was born in Iran established by Bah'u'llh in
1863.

Seat of the Universal House of Justice, governing body of the Bah's, in Haifa, Israel.
The Bah' Faith in the United Kingdom started in 1898[1] when Mrs. Mary
Thornburgh-Cropper (d. 1938), an American by birth, become the first Bah'
in England.
At the 2011 UK Census, there were 5,021 Bah's in England and Wales.

Buddhism

The earliest Buddhist influence on Britain came through its imperial connections
with Southeast Asia, and as a result the early connections were with
the Theravada traditions of Burma, Thailand, and Sri Lanka.
Buddhism in the United Kingdom has a small but growing number of supporters
which, according to a Buddhist organisation, is mainly because of the result of
conversion. In the UK census for 2011, there were about 178,000 people who
registered their religion as Buddhism.
Kagyu Samy Ling Monastery and Tibetan Centre in Scotland

Hinduism

Hinduism has had a presence in the United Kingdom since the early 19th century, as at
the time India was part of the British Empire. According to 2011 Census of England and
Wales, 817,000 residents (1.5%) identified themselves as Hindus.
Hindus was the fourth largest religious group in the 2011 Census of the United
Kingdom, after Christianity (59%), No Religion (25%), and Islam (5%).

Historical Population

Year Pop. %

1961 30,000

1971 138,000 +360.0%

1981 278,000 +101.4%

1991 397,000 +42.8%

2001 558,810 +40.8%

2011 835,394 +49.5%

Religious Affiliation was not recorded prior

to 2001.
The British Hindu population includes those who came directly from the Indian sub-
continent, descendants of those Hindus who had originally migrated to other countries
but later resettled in the United Kingdom, and those born and raised in the UK. It is not
unusual to find third or fourth generation Hindus in the UK.

The Neasden Temple is the second largest temple of Hinduism in Europe.

 Jainism

Adherents of Jainism first arrived in the United Kingdom (UK) in the 19th century. The
UK, mainly England, has since become a center of the Jain diaspora.
As of 2006, there are around 25,000 Jains in the United Kingdom .
Leicester houses one of the world's few Jain temples outside of India. There is an
Institute of Jainology at Greenford, London

British Jains

Total population

25,000

Languages

English

Indian Languages

Religion

Jainism
The Jain Centre in Oxford Street, Leicester

Sikhism

Sikhism was recorded as the religion of 420,196 people resident in England at the
2011 Census, along with 2,962 people in Wales, 9,055 in Scotland and 216
in Northern Ireland, making for a total Sikh population of 432,429.
The First Sikh Settlers started migrating from the Punjab in 1911, when the first
Sikh Gurdwara was opened in London.

Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha London

 Neopaganism

The Neo-pagan movement in the United Kingdom is primarily represented

by Wicca and Witchcraft religions, Druidry, and Heathenry. According to the 2011 UK
Census, there are roughly 53,172 people who identify as Pagan in England, and 3,448
in Wales, as well as 11,026 Wiccans in England and 740 in Wales.

During the Iron Age, Celtic polytheism was the predominant religion in the area now
known as England. Neo-Druidism grew out of the Celtic revival in 18th century
Romanticism. A 2012 Druid analysis estimates that there are roughly 11,000 Druids in
Britain

Druids' ritual at Stonehenge.