LONDON: Police in England and Wales recorded a 15% rise in anti-Muslim hate crimes in the year ending March, Home Office figures released on Thursday show.
Offences targeting Muslims increased from 4,479 in the previous reporting year to 5,132. The Annual totals include data from the Metropolitan Police Service.
However, the Home Office excludes the force from longer-term comparisons because it changed its crime-recording system. Across all categories, police recorded 146,825 hate crimes, an increase of 7% over the previous year.
Separately, the British Muslim Trust (BMT) warned that hostility was shifting from mosque buildings towards people inside them. The trust published its report, “A Year of Division”, on Thursday.
The trust recorded 78 incidents involving 64 mosques across the UK and the Channel Islands. Those cases covered July 21, 2025, to July 30.
Under its seven-level severity scale, 62.7% of incidents recorded since November 2025 fell into the top four categories. Earlier, between July and October 2025, that share stood at 22.2%.
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Those categories cover threats and sustained harassment, weapons or death threats, arson or direct violence, and alleged mass-casualty plots.
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While warning about political rhetoric, BMT urged public figures to be more careful when discussing immigration and integration.
It argued that policy criticism could become difficult to distinguish from hostility towards British Muslim communities. BMT Chief Executive Akeela Ahmed said, “Many Muslims today are scared to go about their everyday lives”.
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She called for action against the causes of anti-Muslim hatred alongside measures to protect communities. Police recorded an increase in offences targeting Muslims, while the British Muslim Trust warned that mosque incidents were becoming more severe.
