10,000 British Muslim Millionaires

CAIRO — British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith has lauded the valuable contributions of two million Muslims to every aspect of life in Britain, the Daily Mail reported on Tuesday, April 8.
"There are an estimated 10,000 Muslims millionaires in Britain," she told the Pakistan National Council of the Arts.

"The Muslim community as a whole is estimated to contribute 3.1 billion
pounds per year to the British economy."

The secretary confirmed the figure widely used by Muslim organizations on the Muslim population in Britain.

"…1.6 million declared themselves Muslims in the 2001 census, and that figure may now be as high as 2 million," said Smith.

This means Muslims now make up nearly 3.3 percent of Britain's total population.

The multi-ethnic Muslim minority is mainly from Pakistani, Bengali and Indian backgrounds.

The government's estimate confirms that the number of Muslims has went up by 400,000 since 2001 - adding more than 50,000 each year.

"Islam is one of many faiths which are practiced in UK communities," Secretary Smith told her Pakistani hosts.

"After Christianity, Islam is the largest faith community in the UK."

Valuable

Secretary Smith insisted that Muslims are making valuable contributions to their society, not only economically.

She noted that such contributions have expanded to almost all walks of life in the UK.

"Muslims play a full and active part in British society: in politics, from Parliament to local government, in the armed forces, policing, the professions, the arts and sports, and of course in business," said the home secretary.

"We are proud to live in such a diverse country."

There are two Muslim ministers in the government of Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Muslim MP Shahid Malik was named last June as a minister at the Department for International Development.

His fellow MP Sadiq Khan was also named as a government assistant responsible for parliamentary affairs.

There are also four Muslim lawmakers and 220 local councilors in Britain.

A recent ICM/Guardian poll showed that 91 percent of British Muslims are "loyal" to Britain and 80 percent wanted to live in and accept Western society.