Economic Impact

Write an essay on The Impact Of Islam During The Past Forty Years In The Uk.

Islamic religion started quite early in the United Kingdom. At around the 16th century, Islamic religion had already established its roots in UK. This settlement was as a result of the migration of many Muslims from the northern part of Africa, Middle East as well as Central Asia (Amer and Hovey 2005). They settled in London working in a range of roles. They worked in various fields such as diplomats, translators, trade merchants, private workers, servants and musicians. The paper investigates the political, social and economic impacts of Muslims in the United Kingdom during the past forty years (Kaufman, And Love 2003). 

Muslims in the United Kingdom have contributed a lot to the economy of the states in positive and negative ways. In early 1810, the first Indian restaurant was established by one of the Muslim immigrants from Asia in England. This facility positively impacted the life people living in England since it created job opportunities as well as changing their social life (Ibrahim 2001). The founder of the restaurant Bengali Sake Dean Mahomet also came up with an idea of shampoo and therapeutic massage which he later introduced to the people in the UK. The increased number of Muslims has resulted in a devastated economy of states in the UK (Ghayur 1981). The population provides cheap labor; however, the majority of the Muslims are not being absorbed into the labor markets (Anwar and Bakhsh 2003). The 2004 annual community survey has revealed this situation in comparison to the Christian counterparts of the same working ages (Kahani-Hopkins and Hopkins 2002). This evidence shows that Muslims are economically inactive and therefore a burden to the government leading to economic drawback even though they have shown positive changes in the banking sector recently (Marglin 2013). They started developing the states, and these developments have seen in the banking industry where new Muslims’ participation in the banking system is improving the economy by creating job opportunities for the unemployed Muslim (Humphries 1998). Education is a key factor in improving the economy of a state since a majority of the Muslims in the UK are immigrants they are not able to acquire knowledge to enable them to change the economy; this has resulted in adverse impact on the economy of the state (House 2011). Muslims have contributed a lot to the development of infrastructure through construction mosques and other Islamic institutions which are a positive change to the economy.

Political Impact

Muslims have contributed a lot in the political matters in the United Kingdom in the governing and legislation even. In 2005 elections four Muslims were elected into the billing system through the Labour Party (Ansari 2002). The political impact of Islam is also visible in the rules governing the states within the UK where sharia laws have been included within to accommodate the demand of the majority of the population who are Muslims (Kubo 2014). The immigration policies have been changed to enable accommodation of Muslim immigrants into the UK. The number of Muslims in the UK government in 2010 and the census conducted in 2011 shows the increase of the Muslims in the state (Vargas-Silva and Markaki 2011).

 The UK’s population increased significantly in the 18th century when several Muslim sailors were assigned duty by the British East India Company. The arrival of the Muslim communities resulted in several activities in the United Kingdom. The settlement of the Muslims, who were employees of the British East Indian Company triggered rapid increase in the population of the United Kingdom (Bywaters et. al 2003). This increase is because many Muslims followed these workers majority of whom came in as immigrants. The UK witnessed this phenomenon especially when a group of the earliest Muslim community occupied port towns (Whitehead, Edge, Gordon, Scanlon and Travers 2011). The number of Muslims in the UK grew larger as many immigrants arrived in the UK. According to the media, there are still Muslims, who are migrating into the United Kingdom leading to overpopulation in the UK which is a burden to the government (Mouritsen 2012). The Muslim population grew further and recent report reveals that the majority of citizens in the UK are Muslims. Nevertheless, the large population of Muslims is important in terms labor provision. This population increase has resulted in several social impacts to the United Kingdom (Saggar, Somerville, Ford and Sobolewska 2012).

Muslims has changed the dressing styles of the converts as well as the cultural practices where the majority of the people abandon their cultures and adopt Islamic life forms (Moore, K., Mason and Lewis 2008). The Islamic religion has led to the resiliency of their cultural practices in the UK including the use of Sharia Laws (Radcliffe 2004). There has been the loss of lives as a result of the religious persecution in the UK for several years which has affected several people. Islamic activities have also led into violence intimidation and lawlessness in some parts of the states in the UK (Cardwell 2003). There is discrimination based on the religion leading to hatred among them leading to mass loss of lives. There have been several terror attacks coordinated by the Muslims for over several years. Population increase in the United Kingdom is as a result of the Muslims who have advocated for the immigration of their colleagues (Laird 2007). The immigration has led to over population which is a burden to the governments. This is because the immigrants do not contribute much to the development of the nation, but majorly rely on the support provided.

Social Impact

Conclusion

 In the past forty years of Islamic religion in the United Kingdom, several activities have been witnessed in various fields including political, social and economic. The religion has impacted the life of people residing in the UK both positively and negatively (Schbley and Kaufman 2012). The issue of Islamic faith should be taken into consideration in the United Kingdom as well as in the other parts of the globe to help deal with negative impacts resulting from Islamic activities. Muslims on the other hand should be given the chance to participate in the development of the economy to ensure that Islamic activities affect the lives of the people living in the United Kingdom positively rather than in a negative way.   

References

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