While supporters of a new definition of anti-Muslim hate say that it would protect Muslims from discrimination and harassment, critics of such efforts to create one have raised concerns that it would essentially represent a de facto blasphemy law and curtail freedom of expression over the threat of Islamist extremism (which remains the principal terror threat in the UK).
Ministers launched a working group in February 2025, which is chaired by former Conservative attorney general Dominic Grieve, with their recommendations submitted to the Labour Government last October.
A draft definition, reported by the BBC at the end of last year, included the phrase “anti-Muslim hostility” (instead of the term “Islamophobia”) and referred to the “prejudicial stereotyping and racialisation of Muslims”.
Akeela Ahmed MBE, co-chairwoman of British Muslim Trust (BMT) and member of the working group, has said a new definition would “help provide clarity” as to “what anti-Muslim hatred is, how it shows up, what it looks like, the different ways that it can be manifested”.
There is no doubt that anti-Muslim hatred exists in the UK. The summer 2024 riots across parts of England (as well as Belfast in Northern Ireland) in the aftermath of the horrific Southport atrocity, where three girls were stabbed to death, saw attacks on mosques, with Muslim-owned businesses being targeted.
Much of the blame for this has been put at the door of anti-Muslim conspiracy theories, one being that the individual behind the Southport murders was a Middle Eastern Muslim illegal migrant who arrived in the UK by crossing the English Channel on a small boat.Axel Rudakubana, who committed the mass stabbing spree, turned out to be a Cardiff-born teenager who belonged to a churchgoing family of Rwandan origin.
There are also concerns that there has been an escalation in anti-Muslim sentiments following the October 7 Hamas-led terrorist attacks on Israel and the holding of large-scale pro-Palestine protests over Israel’s response.
As a Muslim, this is why I am sounding the alarm over Labour's new definition of Islamophobia - Rakib Ehsan | Getty Images
However, it is important that freedom of expression is not undermined by group-specific definitions which not only risk such religious communities becoming the beneficiaries of preferential treatment but also conceal the actions of foreign theocratic regimes.
Indeed, this can be a criticism which can be made of the antisemitism definition produced by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which has an overwhelming focus on criticism of the State of Israel and potentially overreaches in terms of discouraging the exploration of how identity is formed, shaped, and constructed among British Jews. These problems should not be replicated when it comes to a definition of anti-Muslim hostility.
While we should avoid grand-sweeping generalisation of entire religious populations living in the UK, British citizens - of all races, ethnicities, and faiths - should have the freedom to express their view on foreign geopolitical events and, admittedly, sensitive matters of immigration, integration, and identity in modern Britain.
The reality is that Britain is home to some of the most robust anti-discrimination protections on the grounds of faith – indeed, it is enshrined as a protected characteristic in the 2010 Equality Act (which was passed after the 2006 Racial and Religious Hatred Act).This already helps to tackle forms of discrimination in areas of life such as employment, housing, and the provision of public services.
The portrait of modern Britain is becoming more complicated by ever-rising levels of ethnic, racial, and religious diversity.
As highlighted by the Policy Exchange think-tank, it is vital that we guard against potentially dangerous and divisive definitions that risk undermining free speech and amount to fundamental thought control. That would do far more harm than good to social cohesion in our multi-faith society.
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