Viral post about number of Muslim Mayors in UK is
'misleading'
by Reuters Fact Check
June 12, 2024
Source
Misleading, partly false assertions about Islamic
prominence in Britain have resurfaced online and been
shared widely in the aftermath of Sadiq Khan's
re-election as London Mayor.
The posts, one of which has received more than 20
million views, opens new tab on X and has been shared
widely on Facebook, claim there are Muslim Mayors in,
-
London
-
Birmingham
-
Leeds
-
Blackburn
-
Sheffield
-
Oxford
-
Luton
-
Oldham
-
Rochdale
It also says Britain has more than
3,000 mosques and 180 sharia courts or councils and that
every school in the UK is required to teach lessons
about Islam.
"It is only a matter of time
before native Brits are required to submit to Islam
or flee the country as refugees," said one comment
under
a post on X.
But the claim is partly false because
several of the cities or towns did not, at the time of
the post on May 4, have a Muslim Mayor.
Of the nine listed constituencies, five had Muslim
Mayors as of May 4. Three did not, and one is unknown.
The Mayor of Oldham told Reuters over the phone that he
is Muslim. Luton's Mayor also identifies as a Muslim.
The Mayors of London, Blackburn, and
Oxford, did not respond to a request for comment at the
time of publication, but all have previously spoken on
the record about their Islamic faith.
The Mayors of Birmingham, Sheffield and Rochdale told
Reuters they were not Muslim. The office of Leeds' lord
Mayor declined to comment.
Sheffield has previously had a Muslim Mayor.
Former Mayors of Birmingham, Rochdale and Leeds all signed a
letter by the Labour Muslim Network in October 2023
calling on the party's hierarchy to push for an
immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
As well as being partly false, the claim is also
misleading because it conflates two different mayoral
roles.
Khan is an executive Mayor elected by voters for a
four-year term and has a budget of around £20.4 billion,
with responsibilities around transport, policing and
housing.
All the others mentioned are ceremonial
Mayors with
little real power.
Usually chosen by their fellow
councilors for a one-year term, they represent the
authority at civic receptions and council meetings,
according, to the Local Government Association.
Many of the cities or towns are within the
constituencies of directly elected executive Mayors.
For example:
Leeds and the Mayor of West
Yorkshire; Sheffield and the Mayor of South
Yorkshire; and Oldham and Rochdale and the Mayor of
Greater Manchester.
Reuters has spoken to the offices of
all of them to verify none identify as Muslim.
The Mayor of the West Midlands, who
has Birmingham in his constituency, did not respond.
MOSQUES IN THE UK
The website
muslimsinbritain.org, which keeps a
directory, of UK mosques and prayer rooms, said there
were 2,122 as of May 14, 2024.
Its data shows there are 1,858
mosques, with the remainder made up of prayer rooms,
hired halls, chaplaincies and temporary spaces.
In written evidence for the House of Lords Select
Committee on Public Services in 2020, the Muslim Council
of Britain said there were 1,200 mosques
SHARIA COUNCIL
NUMBERS
The number of sharia councils operating in
England and Wales is unknown, according to a 2018
independent review, into the application of sharia law.
It said academic and anecdotal
estimates put the number at between 30 to 85. It said
that to the best of its knowledge, there were no such
councils in Scotland.
It said there is no clear definition of what constitutes
at sharia council, but the review considered them as
being a,
"voluntary local association of
scholars who see themselves or are seen by their
communities as authorized to offer advice to Muslims
principally in the field of religious marriage and
divorce".
"Common misconceptions around sharia councils often
perpetuate owing to the use of incorrect terms such
as referring to them as 'courts' rather than
councils or to their members as 'judges'," said the
review.
"It is important to note that
sharia councils are not courts and they should not
refer to their members as judges.
It is this misrepresentation of
sharia councils as courts that leads to public
misconceptions over the primacy of sharia over
domestic law and concerns of a parallel legal
system."
ISLAM ON THE CURRICULUM
"The government does not specify
the content for religious education, what should be
taught as part of it, or how it should be
delivered," a spokesperson for the Department of
Education said in an email to Reuters.
"Content is determined locally, and it is for
individual schools to plan and organize their
curriculum."
VERDICT
Missing context. Five of the nine towns and cities
mentioned had a Muslim Mayor at the time of the post on
May 4, 2024.
