Institute for the Impact of Faith in Life
  • March 5, 2024

Report: The social contribution of British Muslims

The Institute for the Impact of Faith in Life (IIFL) commissioned TechneUK, a member of the British Polling Council (BPC), to conduct two surveys – one nationally-representative survey of the general population (1,012 respondents) and a British Muslim survey consisting of 1,001 respondents.

The surveys explored forms of social belonging, attitudes towards family and community, and views on the degree to which Britain offers opportunities for people to fulfil their potential. Respondents in both the general population and British Muslim surveys were asked whether they engaged in the following civic behaviours over the past twelve months: given a charitable donation; unpaid volunteering work in the local community; provided care to an elderly relative; gifted money to a friend (with no desire for and expectation of repayment); and shared homemade food with someone who is not a family member.

In addition to this, the British Muslim respondents were specifically asked about their views on domestic interfaith relations and whether they felt Muslims in Britain were better able to respect their faith whilst participating in wider public life when compared to their co-religionists living in other European countries such as France, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Download the report

Download dataset: The social contribution of British Muslims – general population data

Download dataset: The social contribution of British Muslims – Muslim population data

The key survey findings:

Family and marriage

  • In the survey of the wider general population, 86% of respondents reported a strong sense of belonging in their family life. This rises to 91% for respondents in the British Muslim survey.
  • Nearly seven in ten (68%) British Muslim respondents believe that people have a duty to get married and raise children to be citizens who make positive contributions to British society. This drops to 43% – 25 percentage points – for the wider general population sample.
  • Over nine in ten (92%) British Muslim respondents believed that it is important for younger people to take as much care as possible of their older relatives. This dropped to 81% – 11 percentage points – for the wider general population sample.
  • More than two in five British Muslims respondents (44%) reported that they had provided care to an elderly relative at some point during the twelve months leading up to being surveyed. This drops to 31% – 13 percentage points – for respondents in the wider general population sample.
  • More than three in five British Muslim respondents (63%) were of the view that overall, most people in Britain put their individual interests above the needs of their family members (and the wider community). This figure rose to 72% for British Muslim respondents aged between 18-34 years.

Community

  • Over half of British Muslim respondents (51%) reported having a strong sense of belonging in their local community and neighbourhood. This drops to 35% – 16 percentage points – for respondents in the wider general population survey.
  • Around one in five British Muslim respondents (19%) reported that they participated in unpaid volunteering work in the local community at some point during the twelve months leading up to being surveyed. This is near-identical to the wider general population (which is at the marginally higher figure of 20%).
  • Most British Muslim respondents believe that more should be done to improve relations between Britain’s different faith communities (71%). A total of 22% believe that the right amount is already being done, with only 1% saying that less should be done on this front.

Charitable activities and civic behaviours

  • Three in four British Muslim respondents reported giving a charitable donation at some point during the twelve months leading up to the survey (75%). This figure drops to 68% for the wider general population sample.
  • More than half of British Muslim respondents reported gifting money to a friend (with no desire for or expectation of repayment) at some point during the twelve months leading up to the survey (51%). This drops by 21 percentage points to 30% for the wider general population sample.
  • Nearly two in three British Muslim respondents reported sharing homemade food with someone who is not a family member at some point during the twelve months leading up to the survey (64%). This figure drops by 25 percentage points for respondents in the wider general population survey (39%).

Opportunities in modern Britain

  • In the British Muslim survey, 86% of respondents believed that Britain is a good place to live when it comes to people having the opportunities to progress and thrive in life (with 3% saying that it is a bad place to live on this front). In the wider general population survey, 70% of respondents believed that Britain is a good place to live (with 12% saying that it is a bad place to live in this context).
  • More than four in five British Muslim respondents (83%) agreed with the view that, when compared to other European countries such as France, Germany, and the Netherlands, the UK is a better place for Muslims to be able to practise their faith whilst being involved in wider public life. This rises further to 87% for Muslims living in the Greater London area.

Building on the polling data derived from the surveys conducted by TechneUK, a total of 28 semi-structured interviews were held with a set of British Muslim participants. This group was chosen to be diverse in terms of ethnicity, denomination, occupational background, and place of residence. Whitestone Insight assisted the IIFL with the recruitment of British Muslim participants for this element of the study.

This report also contains a total of ten case studies of British Muslim organisations:

  • The UK Muslim Scout Fellowship
  • Al-Manaar (The Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre)
  • Project Rise
  • Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies (OXCIS)
  • Hamara Healthy Living Centre
  • Islamic Relief
  • Muslim Hands
  • Aishah Help
  • Tell MAMA (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks)
  • Muslims Against Antisemitism (MAAS)

Dr Rakib Ehsan

Dr Rakib Ehsan is a British-Bangladeshi academic specialising in matters of cohesion, identity and immigration, his PhD thesis investigated the effects of social integration for Britain’s non-white minorities.

Dr Jake Scott

Dr Jake Scott is the secretary at the IIFL. An English Christian academic, his PhD thesis was written on populism, popular identity and political theory. He is particularly interested in the social impact of religion and faith.