MuslimsInBritain.org is the definitive directory of mosques and Muslim places of worship in the UK. Established in 2005 and continually updated with first-hand information, it is available online in Google Maps on smartphones, desktop format and downloadable for all satnav devices and CSV file format uses.
MuslimsInBritain.org also provides
Google Map and Streetview of every functioning UK masjid and public prayer room, on your smartphone, desktop or downloaded to your satnav.
Directory Status: There are currently 2045 UK masjids/mosques, prayer rooms and shared places such as hired halls and chaplaincies landmarked and 1063 other locations e.g. proposed or no longer used. Last updated 17th April 2018.
Search (desktop) or open the map at your location (location-enabled mobile device).
MuslimsInBritain.org collates the data accumulated from the directory of masjids to produce a report every two years, of the numbers of masjids and prayer rooms in the UK, their affiliations, modes of worship, women's facilities, their managements' cultural and linguistic associations, distribution by capacity, etc. The same data is also analysed against local authority and by Westminster parliamentary constituency, to provide local and electoral perspectives on the Muslim community.
"Islam and Muslims In Britain: A Guide for Non-Muslims" was originally commissioned and published by the City of London Police in 2004 as part of a drive to improve community relations in that part of London through educating police officers. It was subsequently adopted by many other UK police forces and other public organisations, even as broad as the pan-Europe OSCE.
"By far the best thing of its kind which I have seen produced by a public sector body." Rev. Flora Winfield, Assistant Secretary General of Religions for Peace
Notwithstanding fundamental incentives for Muslim militancy in the global context, there are few Muslims in the UK who are inclined towards extremist violence or militant action. For those that are drawn into militancy, nearly two decades of observation and intervention has demonstrated that it is extremely rare for militants to be motivated through any UK-established Muslim institution or preacher hosted therein. Yet in the decades from Bosnia to Afghanistan to Syria, the numbers involved have grown exponentially. MuslimsInBritain.org contends that the failure to tackle this growth lies not in the presence of militant preachers, recruiters and "conveyor-belts", but in the absence of capability within the UK's Muslim institutions, mosques etc., to understand and address the issues. Instead, the same institutions are preoccupied with their own exclusive sectarian and ethnic perspectives. Very often the different sects blame each other for 'extremism' in polemics aimed at securing their own factional interests. Very often Mother-country ethnic exclusiveness buries awareness of the very different preoccupations of third-generation Muslim youth. Among the latter, frustration with defensively factional and ethnic hide-bound mosque management, creates an environment in which extremist and militant undercurrents thrive unnoticed by elders and community 'representatives'.
MuslimsInBritain.org has made significant contributions to the understanding of Muslim extremism and the nature of violent extremism in the UK's Muslim community. Some of this work has been published by official bodies, in particular this analysis originally submitted to the Home Office following the bombings of 7th July 2005.
MuslimsInBritain.org's directory of UK masjids confronts the problematic issues of factional sects and cultural and ethnic exclusivity directly, by displaying each masjid's predominant sectarian 'theme', which at its most generous can be taken as that masjid's customery form of Islamic worship, but in most cases is also a debilitatingly exclusive determinant of who is allowed to perform or speak of anything beyond the basic salaah. The site also shows the cultural and ethnic reference point of each masjid's management committee.
It is vital to understand that there is not a single Masjid in the UK that does not welcome anyone, Muslim of whatever belief, or non-Muslim, attending for devotional purposes within reasonable bounds - the contrary would be considered outrageous. Even so, outrage is curtailed when one third of the UK's masjids - all South-Asian-managed - make no provision for women. Otherwise, the only entity one might consider that explicitly excludes Muslims from entering any of its premises is the tiny but vociferous Ahmadiyya religion that claims a questionable association with Islam.
While masjid managements' sectarianism and ethnic exclusivity are the two biggest obstacles that prevent masjids from addressing extremism effectively, there are many other aspects of masjid governance that show widespread and systematic failure to address the Muslim community's need for positive engagement between the masjids and both their local Muslim community and the non-Muslim neighbourhood in which they live.
The MuslimsInBritain.org Governance pages detail all the numerous things that every masjid must undertake before it can claim to be a responsible participant in the wider community. Failure to do so only demonstrates a failure of the UK's numerous masjids to recognise what outsiders regularly observe, that Muslims in Britain may be in the community but they are rarely of the community. These are the primary points of Governance and Engagement that must be addressed:
The "About" page to which this links, is part of the Blog content, however it sets out all the essential information about MuslimsInBritain.org, its authorship, principles, foundations and motivation that apply to the rest of this website.
To contact MuslimsInBritain.org about any matter other than an update or correction to a specific masjid or place of worship already on the database, please use this form . To submit an update or correction to a specific masjid or place of worship already on the database, it would be most helpful if you would use the Update/Contact form accessed from the directory's individual masjid web page - find the masjid via the "Find Mosque" links above.