Islamophobia Awareness Month was launched in 2012 by a group of Muslim organisations. It was officially inaugurated at an event held at the London Muslim Centre in November that year.
Islamophobia Awareness Month was launched in 2012 by a group of Muslim organisations. It was officially inaugurated at an event held at the London Muslim Centre in November that year. Initially, it was an awareness campaign, but over time, schools, universities, hospital organizations, police forces, business groups and various sections of society began taking part. The campaign has two main objectives: to raise awareness of prejudice and hatred against Muslims and to highlight the positive contributions and role of Muslims in society.
This year’s campaign slogan is “Don’t Let It Slide”, urging people not to ignore Islamophobia and discrimination against Muslims. Organizers say that mocking a student’s religion, treating a woman who wears a hijab differently at work, harassing a Muslim family in the street or damaging a mosque are all signs of an environment in which prejudice is increasingly being treated as normal. The campaign’s message is that silence and inaction can also contribute to the normalization of hatred.
A press release issued for the campaign cites the British Muslim Trust’s report, A Year of Division, which states that an average of one mosque is attacked every five days in the UK. According to the report, the attacks have taken various forms, including arson, knife attacks, damage to mosque property and intimidation. These incidents do not merely target buildings or property; they also undermine Muslims’ right to worship in their places of worship without fear and their sense of security. Figures released by the UK Home Office on October 8, 2026, also highlight the seriousness of the situation. In England and Wales, police recorded a total of 146,825 hate crimes in the year ending March 2026, an increase of 7 per cent compared with the previous year.
The number of religious hate crimes rose from 1,006 to 1,419, an increase of 13 per cent. Meanwhile, recorded religious hate crimes targeting Muslims increased from 4,479 to 5,132, representing a rise of 15 per cent. These figures relate to official police records in England and Wales and are not a complete estimate of all such incidents across the United Kingdom. According to official statistics, Muslims accounted for 46 per cent of recorded religious hate crime victims in the year ending March 2026, while incidents targeting Jewish people accounted for 28 per cent. During the same period, hate crimes motivated by race or ethnicity also increased by 9 per cent.
However, the Home Office has itself cautioned that police-recorded incidents cannot be considered a complete measure of the actual prevalence of hatred in society, as not every victim reports an incident to the police. Furthermore, changes in police recording systems and methods of identifying offences over time mean that long-term trends should be compared with caution. According to the campaign organizers, Islamophobia is not limited to attacks on mosques or openly abusive language directed at Muslims. It can also take different forms in educational institutions, workplaces, hospitals, public transport and everyday social life. Examples include discriminatory treatment of women who wear the hijab, baseless assumptions about Muslims, harassment based on religious identity and hateful content on social media.
The campaign also warns that misleading or one-sided portrayals of Muslims in the media and politics can influence public attitudes and reinforce prejudice. During Islamophobia Awareness Month, schools, universities, mosques, workplaces and local communities have been invited to take part in various activities. These include awareness workshops, discussions, training programs, distribution of educational materials, social media campaigns and gatherings where people affected by Islamophobia can share their experiences.
The campaign’s website also provides separate information and resources for schools, mosques, higher education institutions and the healthcare sector. Organizers say that taking practical action against prejudice requires more than simply condemning incidents. People must also identify and prevent discriminatory behaviour within their own institutions and communities. This year, former England cricketer Moeen Ali has also been featured as a campaign ambassador. His involvement is intended to help extend the campaign’s reach into sporting circles and other areas of public life. The central message of Islamophobia Awareness Month is that tackling hatred against Muslims is not the responsibility of the affected community alone. Every individual, institution and social organization that witnesses prejudice should speak out against it.
