MEND STATEMENT: RELEASE OF NEW REPORT ‘WE BELONG HERE TOO: A HISTORY OF MUSLIM CONTRIBUTIONS TO BRITAIN’

MEND is pleased to announce the release of its new report titled, We Belong Here Too: A History of Muslim Contributions to Britain.

The report provides a broad sweep of some key moments in which Muslims played seminal roles in either directly shaping, or indirectly influencing, the history of our country’s sociocultural, political and economic development.

The release of this report is incredibly important, coming when, in the context of the 2024 General Election, far-right actors are increasingly spreading hateful disinformation that tries to cast the ‘Britishness’ of Muslims, and their loyalty to Britain, into doubt. This grotesque Islamophobia was recently on display in a Sky News interview with President of Reform UK, Nigel Farage, who erroneously claimed that a “growing number” of Muslims “loathe” British values.

Of course, this kind of divisive rhetoric is not new, and not very often does it go challenged by a historically informed counter-argument about the positive role that Muslims have played in Britain for hundreds of years. Indeed, the purpose of this report is to provide people with that broad knowledge. Among other things, the report shows how Muslims and the Islamic world have played a vital role in securing and preserving Britain’s national security, challenging the twenty-first century rhetoric of the War on Terror that has generally tried to frame Muslims as a national security threat.

The report also provides policy recommendations that MEND feels ought to be followed by politicians, the media and education sectors, aimed at fostering a greater public consciousness around the huge contributions made to Britain by its Muslims. It is hoped that through such awareness-raising, we can forge a more cohesive and equal society, where the value of all groups is recognised.

Download a free copy of the report here