British Muslims are taking matters into their own hands, as Islamophobia surges across the UK. This week, Akeela Ahmed MBE, former chair of the Government’s Anti-Islam Hatred Working Group, and a number of other prominent British Muslims, have launched the British Muslim Network, a new initiative aiming to bridge the gap between policymakers and the realities of Muslim communities lived experiences.

Ahmed tells TRT World, British Muslims are excelling in various fields, yet their voices remain absent from policymaking. This means, the Government has been "missing key insights into positions from British Muslim communities”, she adds.

Ahmed, and her co-founders, hope the British Muslim Network will offer a structured platform to engage with the Government on issues such as Islamophobia, which has now reached alarming levels.

A rising tide of hate

Tell MAMA, a UK organisation monitoring anti-Muslim hate, reported a staggering 5,837 verified incidents in 2024 alone—the highest since its inception in 2012. The organisation also recorded a 73 percent increase in Islamophobic assaults, largely driven by global events such as Israel's war on Gaza and the Southport murders, which fuelled last summer’s far-right riots.

“We are at a nexus point where it is clear that anti-Muslim hate needs a coordinated action by His Majesty’s Government,” Iman Atta, the organisation’s director, tells TRT World. “We urge those in positions of influence and public authority to consider how their language risks stereotyping communities and how it unduly influences discussions online and offline”.

The consequences have been dire. Attacks on mosques and Islamic institutions have skyrocketed, with Faith Associates, a consultancy group documenting 4,971 incidents, including arson and vandalism, between October 2023 and September 2024. In January 2025 alone, seven mosques, Islamic centres, and Muslim schools were targeted in London, in the space of two weeks.

One such attack was on Thornton Heath Islamic Centre in south-east London, where worshippers arriving for dawn prayers discovered "Stop Islam" graffitied on the mosque. Despite providing CCTV footage to police, the centre has yet to receive any meaningful response. “I would have thought that the police would have taken this seriously, especially when you give them evidence, [but] we haven’t heard anything at all,” says the centre’s manager Altaf Haroon. “We are just going to be more vigilant now.”

Muslims speak out

Many British Muslims say they feel abandoned by the Government.

Last month, Abdul Maalik Tailor, a London-based tour guide specialising in Muslim history, received over 1,000 abusive comments on social media after posting a video about his tours. Some of the messages said Islam is a cancer and that he should be deported.

“I've never heard of anyone else being targeted like this,” he says. “When anyone else suffers from Islamophobic attacks I always tell them to report it. But in my case, I feel like, what’s going on here? I’ve had 1,000 comments and I haven’t even met with the investigating officer. You think to yourself, is it being taken seriously?”

Tailor is one of tens of thousands of Muslims in Britain who have been personally affected by increasing anti-Muslim hatred over the past year.

Others like legal professional Rabania Khan from Luton in southeast England, experienced Islamophobic harassment on public transport, when two English men started talking loudly about Muslims being to blame for all of Britain’s problems. Khan decided to answer back and a heated argument ensued. Khan says that although the men did not harm her, it left her with the realisation that Islamophobia has become normalised in public spaces.

“No one intervened. No one told these men to stop spewing their hateful rubbish. No one offered support. It was as if this kind of discrimination is normal and not worth acknowledging.”

London-based teacher and author, Nadeine Asbali, says she feels particularly vulnerable as the mother of two children who are both Muslim and visibly from ethnic minorities.

“I constantly get looks on public transport and get people in shops or cafes being sterner with me than with other non-Muslim customers, especially as I wear a hijab,” she says. “In my hometown of Northampton, a halal takeaway was vandalised recently and a Muslim primary school close to me was attacked with Islamophobic vandalism.

“Since the riots last summer, things feel more tense. As Ramadan approaches, I know that people are feeling cautious this year about going to and from the mosque at night dressed in visibly Muslim attire.”

Government silence

Despite the previous Conservative government acknowledging that almost 2 in 5 religious hate crimes in the UK are committed against Muslims, since the Labour Party took helm of the Government following its General Elections win in July 2024, there has been no detailed plan of how it plans to lower these worrying statistics.

When Bradford East MP Imran Hussain questioned Prime Minister Keir Starmer on the issue in November, Starmer's response was vague, offering commitment but no concrete strategy.

Muslims in the country are feeling deflated, believing that Starmer either does not know how to tackle anti-Muslim hatred, or is not interested in doing so.

“There is no real accountability for those who engage in open Islamophobia,” says Khan. “Hate speech against Muslims is rarely met with consequences, even when it comes from public figures or politicians. The lack of protection on public transport, where such incidents are common, only reinforces the sense of vulnerability many of us feel.”

The current Government’s lack of engagement with existing Muslim organisations such as the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), only further adds to British Muslims’ sentiment that Islamophobia is not a priority.

Akeelah Ahmed and the British Muslim Network aim to change this narrative by ensuring British Muslim voices shape policy rather than being sidelined. “Past engagement with British Muslims lacked depth and consistency,” she says. “We want to change that.”