A disturbing rise in Islamophobia across the UK is revealed in a new report from the race equality think tank, The Runnymede Trust. Its title, Islamophobia: The Intensification of Racism Against Muslim Communities in the UK*, links last summer’s racist riots to the previous year’s escalation in anti-Muslim sentiment and points to a disquieting portrayal of Muslims as outsiders in British political discourse, especially around protests over the Gaza conflict.

The report, supported by notable personalities, such as Lady Warsi, Amnesty International UK, and the Muslim Council for Britain, argued that rhetoric against Islam has been normalized to portray British Muslims in the open as the very threat to their nation.

This shift comes across in sectors as broad as education, healthcare, and the justice system.

Islamophobia Reaches New Heights

Dr. Shabna Begum, chief executive of The Runnymede, points to recent years as the time when overt Islamophobia has dramatically increased. “The sense that Muslim communities are a threat to Britain no longer lurks euphemistically in coded conversations but has become overt and direct,” she states. From parliamentary debates to the mainstream media, Islamophobic narratives prevail and cast more excellent shadows on stereotypes, handing deep invasions over to societal divisions.

The report depicts alarming statistics that have illustrated the scale of the impact of Islamophobia on everyday life. There is escalating abuse of Muslim students, and Muslims are statistically overrepresented in deprived areas, prisons, and counter-terrorism referrals. The pattern raises questions about the ability of British institutions to be fair.

Systemic Discrimination Across Sectors

Reportedly, the most vital areas where Islamophobia has been institutionalized include:

Education: A third of all Muslim students report experiencing Islamophobic abuse, so to that extent, academic environments are hostile.

Economic Inequality: Muslims are overrepresented in the most deprived regions by nearly half a million more Muslims living in economically disadvantaged areas since 2011.

Health and Counter-terrorism: In the NHS, Muslims are said to have eight times more profiles than non-Muslims and are thus alleged to be discriminated against in profiling.

Criminal Justice: In the UK, Muslim people constitute 6% of the population, but still, they make up 18% of the prison population. This shows that there are considerable inequalities in the justice system.

Baroness Sayeeda Warsi calls on the Government to end its disengagement from Muslim civil society, she says, which merely serves to deepen the isolation of Britain’s Muslims. “It is no longer possible simply to hope this hostile climate will improve. We require dedicated efforts to fight Islamophobia and the rise of far-right racism in Britain.

The Far Right and Demonization of Muslims

The report delves further into the impact of far-right extremism on Muslim communities. The latest anti-Muslim riots, which resulted from misinformation campaigns, target mosques and all other Muslim spaces. “The danger here is that the association in the far right’s minds between far-right extremism and Islamophobia is perilous because pro-Palestinian advocacy is usually misrepresented as supporting terrorism,” said Zara Mohammed, Secretary-General of the Muslim Council for Britain.