UK Muslim Mosque Network 2026: The 10 Cities We Cover and Who's Working There

Muslims Help Muslims operates across 10 UK cities. This article is a factual overview of each city's Muslim community — its population, key mosques, local charities, and the kind of help that's already running. If you live in one of these cities and want to ask for help or volunteer to give it, the city's "Help in your city" page is the right starting point. LONDON — 1.3 MILLION MUSLIMS (15% OF GREATER LONDON) The UK's largest urban Muslim community, spread across all 32 boroughs. The community is the most diverse in the country: Bangladeshi, Somali, Arab, Pakistani, Turkish and convert communities all live across the city, with significant differences in income, housing and access to help between Tower Hamlets, Kensington and Hounslow. Anchor mosques: East London Mosque (Whitechapel), London Central Mosque (Regent's Park), Finsbury Park Mosque, Lewisham Islamic Centre, Harrow Central Mosque. Existing infrastructure: Muslim Aid (Whitechapel HQ), Muslim Hands UK regional teams, Sufra NW London food bank (Brent), Newham Community Project. If you live in London: /help-in/london/zakat-help-uk BIRMINGHAM — 342,000 MUSLIMS (29.9% OF THE CITY) The largest proportional Muslim population of any English core city. Densely concentrated in inner-east wards — Sparkbrook, Sparkhill, Bordesley Green, Alum Rock, Small Heath, Aston, Lozells. Historically Mirpuri Kashmiri, with growing Somali, Yemeni and Pashto-speaking populations. The mosque network here is one of the most organised in the country. Anchor mosques: Birmingham Central Mosque (Highgate), Green Lane Masjid (Small Heath), Ghamkol Sharif Mosque, Jame Masjid Sparkbrook. Existing infrastructure: Birmingham Central Mosque welfare team, Islamic Relief UK head office (Moseley Road), Muslim Welfare Trust (Sparkbrook), Birmingham Foodbank network. If you live in Birmingham: /help-in/birmingham/zakat-help-uk MANCHESTER — 359,000 MUSLIMS (12.5% OF GREATER MANCHESTER, 22.3% OF MANCHESTER ITSELF) One of the UK's most active Muslim communities in volunteering and youth work, with a strong student presence around the Curry Mile (Rusholme) and the universities, plus rooted Pakistani and Yemeni communities in Cheetham Hill and Longsight. Anchor mosques: Manchester Central Mosque (Victoria Park), Cheetham Hill Jamia Mosque, Khizra Mosque (Cheetham Hill), Didsbury Mosque. Existing infrastructure: Manchester Central Foodbank, British Muslim Heritage Centre (Whalley Range), Human Appeal UK head office (Cheadle), Manchester Refugee Support Network. If you live in Manchester: /help-in/manchester/zakat-help-uk BRADFORD — 165,000+ MUSLIMS (30.5% OF THE CITY) The highest proportion of any English city. Rooted in the post-1960s Mirpuri migration. One of the most established British-Pakistani communities in Europe, with deep mosque networks across BD3, BD7, BD8 and BD9 — and a long history of cross-community work after the 2001 unrest. Anchor mosques: Bradford Grand Mosque (Horton Park), Jamia Masjid Tabligh-ul-Islam, Bradford Central Jamia Mosque, Suffa-Tul-Islam Grand Mosque. Existing infrastructure: Bradford Foodbank (Trussell Trust), Bradford Muslim Women's Council, Inn Churches winter shelters (Muslim partner mosques), QED Foundation (Manningham). If you live in Bradford: /help-in/bradford/zakat-help-uk LEEDS — 75,000 MUSLIMS (~9%) Combines a long-standing British-Pakistani community in Harehills and Beeston with a fast-growing Muslim student population at Leeds University and Leeds Beckett, plus significant Somali, Yemeni and Iraqi Kurdish communities. Anchor mosques: Leeds Grand Mosque (Woodsley Road), Makkah Masjid (Brudenell Road), Jamia Masjid Bilal (Harehills), Iqra Centre Beeston. Existing infrastructure: Leeds Muslim Women's Group, Leeds Trinity Foodbank network, MEND Leeds regional team, Leeds Asylum Seekers Support Network (LASSN). If you live in Leeds: /help-in/leeds/zakat-help-uk LEICESTER — 85,000 MUSLIMS (23.5%) Dense, organised, politically engaged. Deep Gujarati Sunni and Khoja Shi'a heritage alongside Somali, Yemeni and Bangladeshi communities. Sustains one of the largest concentrations of working Muslim charities outside London. Anchor mosques: Masjid Umar (Evington Road), Madani Masjid (Sutherland Street), Leicester Central Mosque (Conduit Street), Jame Masjid Leicester. Existing infrastructure: Leicester Muslim Welfare House, Action Homeless Leicester, Leicestershire Cares, Highfields Centre community work. If you live in Leicester: /help-in/leicester/zakat-help-uk GLASGOW — 45,000+ MUSLIMS (7%+) Scotland's largest Muslim community. Predominantly Punjabi-Pakistani heritage, with a substantial Sunni majority and active Ahmadiyya community, plus large refugee arrivals (Syrian, Sudanese, Afghan) since 2015 through Scottish Government schemes. Anchor mosques: Glasgow Central Mosque (Gorbals), Madina Jamia Masjid (Pollokshields), Zia ul Quran Mosque (Govanhill), Bait ur Rahman Mosque. Existing infrastructure: Scottish Refugee Council (Glasgow base), Glasgow City Mission (interfaith partner), Muslim Council of Scotland, Amina — Muslim Women's Resource Centre. If you live in Glasgow: /help-in/glasgow/zakat-help-uk EDINBURGH — 16,500 MUSLIMS (3.4%) Smaller than Glasgow's but with a high proportion of students and academic / NHS / civil-service professionals, plus a long-established settled Pakistani-Bangladeshi community in Newington and Tollcross. Anchor mosques: Edinburgh Central Mosque (Potterrow), Annandale Street Mosque, Edinburgh Iqra Academy. Existing infrastructure: Edinburgh Muslim Action Coordinating Council, Scottish Refugee Council (Edinburgh office), Welcoming Association (refugee orientation), Edinburgh University ISOC. If you live in Edinburgh: /help-in/edinburgh/zakat-help-uk CARDIFF — 27,000 MUSLIMS (7%) Wales's largest Muslim community. One of Britain's oldest, with Yemeni seafarers settled in Butetown from the 19th century, and a more recent mix of Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Somali and Welsh-convert communities concentrated in Grangetown, Riverside and Cathays. Anchor mosques: South Wales Islamic Centre (Alice Street), Dar ul-Isra Mosque (Cathays), Madinah Mosque (Crwys Road), Shah Jalal Mosque (Crwys Road). Existing infrastructure: Cardiff Mosque welfare projects, Henna Foundation (Cardiff), Welsh Refugee Council, Oasis Cardiff (refugee support). If you live in Cardiff: /help-in/cardiff/zakat-help-uk BELFAST — 4,500 MUSLIMS (1.3%) A small but rapidly growing community served by the Belfast Islamic Centre. Predominantly centred on Queen's University students and NHS professionals. The Centre serves as mosque, social hub and bereavement support — meaning helpers and seekers often know each other personally. Anchor mosques: Belfast Islamic Centre (Wellington Park), Muslim Family Association of NI premises. Existing infrastructure: Belfast Islamic Centre welfare committee, Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities (NICEM), Embrace NI, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust community teams. If you live in Belfast: /help-in/belfast/zakat-help-uk WHY WE LIST THIS PUBLICLY Most British Muslim charity content online treats "the British Muslim community" as a single block. It isn't. Birmingham is not Belfast. Bradford is not Cardiff. Leicester is not Glasgow. Each of these cities has its own pattern of need and its own pattern of capacity — and any platform claiming to serve British Muslims has to take that seriously, not just gesture at it. Our platform exists because the structures that should connect a Muslim donor in Tower Hamlets with a Muslim seeker in Tower Hamlets, or a working professional in Leeds with a struggling family in Beeston, don't currently exist online in any organised way. Most of this work happens in WhatsApp groups, after-Jummah conversations, and ad-hoc collections at the back of the masjid. That work is sacred. But it doesn't scale, and it doesn't survive when the people who hold those community networks move on. We're trying to give that work a structured, evidence-based, dignified online home. If you're in any of the 10 cities above and want to ask for help or offer it, the city pages are the starting point. — Hamza Ali, Founder Manchester