The United Kingdom (UK) is a multi-ethnic society which welcomes all individuals from different countries. The UK is consisted of four countries including England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Each country has its distinctive customs, traditions, cultures, religious features and various ways of living.

Cultures, traditions and religious features of communities living in the United Kingdom have a great impact on the diversified people. The United Kingdom welcomes refuges and migrants from different countries, many of them permanently settled in the UK.

It also represents many languages. The mostly spoken languages are South Asian languages which are Punjabi followed by Bengali, Urdu and Gujarati. All these diverse features of languages and religious characteristics help you to easily settle in any area and city in this unique countery.

Those facts allow any individual to perform his religious activities freely without any restrictions. Followers of different religions living there have an easy access to their religious places. For Muslim individuals living in the United Kingdom, there are more than 1500 actual working Mosques that allow them to perform their religious traditions.

There are main four types of communities including the Christians, Muslims, Buddhists and Hindus. They all  have their religious places to worship such as churches for Christians, Mosques for Muslims, Sikh Temples, Buddhists, synagogues and Hindu places of worships. They usually live in shape of communities in order to provide better and good religious teachings to their children.

Lets discuss the features of these communities in detail. According to a report conducted in the United Kingdom in 2011, Islam is the second largest religion in the UK after Christianity. The total Muslim population recently living in the different cities of the UK had reached about 2.7 million which make 4.8% of the total population. The majority of Muslim population is living in Wales and England. There are various Islamic organizations for the help of Muslims including the British Muslim Forum, Islamic Society of Britain, Muslim Association of Britain, World Islamic Mission and various others.

According to the census conducted in 2011, it is suggested that about 558340 Hindus are living in the different cities. Majorities of Hindus are living in England and Wales while least amount of Hindus is settle in Scotland. There are more than 300 Hindus temples and various organizations in the United Kingdom for the help and religious features of Hindus.

Buddhists also make a large part of the overall population. They are small in number but growing with time. According to the report, there are about 152,000 registered Buddhists, and about 336179 Sikh individuals are living in the United Kingdom.

All these individuals of different religion living in the United Kingdom make different communities.

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There is no such thing as “Muslims.” We see these silly phrases everywhere: “Muslims this” or “Muslims that.” It is an unfounded slogan as perverse as it is pervasive. Worst of all, it makes no sense.

As of 2010, the Pew Research Center reported that there were 1.62 billion Muslims in the world, comprising 23% of the global population, living in 223 separate countries and territories, and holding majorities in at least 49 of them.

Are we really suggesting that 1,620,000,000 people are uniformly categorizable? Granted, in Islam there is the concept of the umma, or a global brother/sisterhood of Muslims. But, other than the fact that Muslims all follow Islam, what other possible criterion could possibly be shared amongst 1,620,000,000 individual people that would merit a singular categorization?

Do you see where I’m going with this?

There is no “Muslims.” Just as there is no conceivable rationale for lumping all the adherents of the world’s 2nd most popular religion together. We’re talking about 1.62 billion people; unique, individual people, who come from every corner of the globe, who speak different languages, who have different histories, cultures, customs, and beliefs. But we speak about “Muslims” as if it is one collective group.

Are we seriously suggesting that a 16 year old girl who was born and raised in Los Angeles, California is identical to a 40 year old man from Samarqand, Uzbekistan, or that he is identical to an 12 year old boy from Paris, France, or that he is identical to a 75 year old woman from Xinjiang Province, China, or that she is identical to my wife who was born and raised in Saudi Arabia and moved to the U.S., because each of these individuals follows Islam?

Based on the collection of people I just listed, what if I say, “Muslims are friendly people.” Is it true? What if one of them is a misanthrope who never talks to anyone ever. What if I say, “Muslims need to keep their houses cleaner.” Is it true? What if one of them works as a house maid, and her house is never dirty? What if I say, “Muslims have big families.” Is it true? What if one of them was an only child, or isn’t married because he or she has a career and has no time for a family?

Is this a collection of unique, individual people who are Muslims? YES
Is this “Muslims”? NO

We wouldn’t say Christians don’t support gay-marriage. President Barack Obama does.
We wouldn’t say Jewish people are Israelis. Most Jewish people have never even been to Palestine.
We wouldn’t say Americans support democracy. Anyone remember George W. Bush?

So, if we understand that people are unique individuals that will always defy stereotypes and generic classifications, why is “Muslims” different. Just for an experiment, scan over the titles of the blogs here on Muslim-Academy. How many of us have written one that starts with “Muslims this” or “Muslims that.”

There IS no “Muslims.”

But there ARE Muslims, and every one is unique.

So, if for no other reason, at least be considerate to the 40 year old man in Uzbekistan by not lumping him together with the 16 year old girl from Los Angeles. He is probably a respected lawyer or doctor, while she probably rocks out to Justin Bieber. It doesn’t get anymore incomparable than that.

About the author

Ethan Lazuk

Born in Montana in 1989, I attended high school in Phoenix, Arizona, and college at The University of Montana, from which I recently earned a Bachelor's degree in Central and Southwest Asian Studies. I currently live in Washington D.C.
Although American English is my first language, I also have an intermediate/advanced knowledge of Modern Standard Arabic, with some Lebanese and Gulf vocabulary, as well as a basic knowledge of Farsi-Persian. My academic areas of interest include Cultural Anthropology, Islamic Studies, and Environmental and Human Geography. In 2010, I was a summer intern with the Department of Defense, working on Ft. McNair Army Base in the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies. Additionally, I have traveled in Istanbul, Turkey, and lived in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia.


I am a third-generation American of Polish descent. My great-grandparents fled Eastern Europe during the Bolshevik Revolution and entered the United States through Ellis Island. Today, my parents and sister live in Colorado, where they are surrounded by the beautiful Rocky Mountains. I am also happily married to the love of my life named Dania. Originally from al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia, she came to the United States two years ago as an exchange student. She is a practicing Muslim. But I am a searcher who finds beauty in all religions, and therefore I do not belong to any one religion in particular. But her and I having different religious beliefs has not negatively affected our marriage. In fact, it has brought us closer together. We respectfully embrace our differences, while cherishing our infinite similarities. If being in an inter-faith marriage has taught me one thing, it is that religious differences are not a cause for division, but for collaboration.

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