MUSLIM MIGRATION TO BRITAIN
The earliest presence of Muslims in Britain can be dated far back as the 16th century. Muslim diplomats, businessmen, musicians, and translators were present in the city of London from various countries from North Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East. The exact number of Muslims during the 16th century was not noted, nor was it clear if they were residents in England or merely here for a short period for work purposes. The 18th century saw the first significant number of Muslims migrate to England as Lascars (sailors) from the Indian subcontinent and the Bengal region. The sailors were recruited by the East India Company (EIC) to work on the ships, some of whom settled down and took local wives (Fisher. M H, 20). These early sailor communities were found in port towns, due to accessibility and movement. As the decades went by, the number of sailors visiting the country began to increase. It was noted that by the beginning of the first world war, there were an estimated 51,000 South Asian sailors working on British Ships, the majority of whom were from the East Bengal region (Ansari, H. 2004). The 1932 survey of ‘all Indians outside of India’ carried out by the Indian National Congress reported an estimated 7,128 Indians were residing in the United Kingdom. “Muslims have lived in Britain for hundreds of years; however, it was not until the 1960s that a visible Muslim presence could be observed.” (Hussain. S. p859. 2010) The first mass Muslim migration to the UK took place soon after the Second World War, as a direct result of the damage 20
