Number of British Muslims will double to 5.5m in 20 years

• Muslims to make up quarter of world's projected population of 8.3billion
• 72 countries already have one million or more Muslims
• Britain to have more Muslims than Kuwait by 2030
  

The Muslim population in the UK will almost double to 5.5million within 20 years, it has been claimed.

Immigration and high birth rates will mean nearly one in ten Britons will be Muslim by 2030, according to a worldwide study about the spread of Islam.

And the forecasts mean Britain will have more Muslims than Kuwait.

Rising: Nearly one in ten people in Britain will be Muslim by 2030 because of immigration and high birth rates. The report comes amid continuing debate over the views of Muslims in Britain and attitudes towards them

From 1990 to 2010 the number of followers of the Islamic faith around the world increased at an average rate of 2.2 per cent annually. Last year there were 1.57billion around the world.

The British increase in the Muslim population from the current 2.8million will be mainly driven by immigration, according to figures prepared by a Washington think tank.

Projections by the respected Pew Research Centre said the 40 years between 1990 and 2030 will see a fivefold rise in Britain.

In 1990 there were 1.1million Muslims in Britain, representing two per cent of the population.

By last year that figure had risen to 2.8million, or four per cent. By 2030 the number will hit 5.5million - eight per cent of an estimated 68million population, Pew researchers said.

In the U.S., the number of Muslims will also double by 2030 - rising to 6.2million from 2.6million today. But the percentage of Muslims will remain lower than the UK because the total population is five times bigger there, with around 300million at present.

Last May, official figures showed that there could be 70million people in Britain by 2029 - largely fuelled by the migrant boom.

By comparison, in the same year the Arab state of Kuwait is expected to have a Muslim population of 3.6million, it forecast.

The report said one in four migrants to the UK are Muslims.

In Canada, the number of Muslims is set to nearly treble to 2.7million in 2030 from 940,000 at present, the study found.

Man, 32, arrested 'for burning Koran in city centre anti-Muslim protest'

• U.S. pastor who threatened to burn Koran banned from UK
  

A 32-year-old man has been arrested after a Koran was allegedly burned during an anti-Islamic rant in Carlisle.

He was held after a man was reported to have stood on a street in the city centre loudly making pronouncements against the Muslim religion in front of a large crowd.

The incident came as controversial American preacher Pastor Terry Jones who caused an international storm by threatening to burn the Islamic holy book was barred from visiting the United Kingdom.

Controversial: Pastor Terry Jones sparked outrage with his plan to mark the anniversary of 9/11 by burning copies of the Koran

In Carlisle, the man is then alleged to have set fire to the Koran he was holding before discarding it on the floor and hurrying away.

Officers arrived at the scene a short time later and are now investigating.

A spokesman for Cumbria Police confirmed that a 32-year-old man has been arrested.

He added: 'Just after midday on Wednesday, police received reports that a Koran was being burned by a man in Carlisle city centre.

'Police have seized the remains of the book and a 32-year-old male has been arrested on suspicion of using racially aggravated threatening words or behaviour.

'The man remains in police custody where he is helping officers with their inquiries.'

One witness said: 'A huge crowd gathered in the city centre and the man was basically burning the Koran in the middle of town.

'He didn't throw the book to the ground, but carried it around while it was burning.

'He then dropped it before leaving. He had been shouting anti-Islamic comments.

'People were absolutely horrified, it was shocking to see that in Carlisle, the whole thing lasted about three or four minutes.'

A shop worker who did not wish to be named said: 'The first we heard of it was through the link radio we have, that alerts us to trouble.

Provocative: Dove World Outreach Center church pastor Terry Jones speaks to the press about his planned Koran-burning session

'I thought it was really weird, you don't expect to hear that someone is burning a Koran outside your shop.

'People are entitled to their opinions, but it is wrong to voice them in such a way.

'I think it probably had something to do with the right-wing American who has been banned from the country.'

Pastor Terry Jones was banned by the Home Office under laws forbidding entry to people who may incite hatred.

He had threatened to burn copies of the Islamic book at his Florida-based church to mark the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on America last year.

He had been invited to England by a group called England Is Ours, next month.

Speaking on BBC 4's Today programme, Pastor Jones told of his disappointment at being refused entry to the country, before describing Islam as 'wrong and of the devil.'

He told John Humphrys: 'I believe that the Bible and Christianity and Jesus Christ is the only way. That means that Islam and all other religions that point to salvation other than Christianity are wrong and of the devil.

'That is actually normal Christian doctrine.'

Pastor Jones then added: 'We have always tried to make it clear we are not against Muslims or the Muslim community.

'We have always spoken out in relationship to the radical element of Islam. We believe in freedom of speech, we believe in freedom of religion.

Global anger: Pakistani lawyers carry a burning U.S. flag during a protest in the aftermath of Pastor Jones' comments

'From a religious aspect, from a Christian aspect, we would consider the religion of the devil, so would the Anglican Church, even though they might not say that.

'That’s because no one has the real guts to stand up and say what they actually believe because of fear of prosecution and of being called a hate preacher.

The Home Office has decided that Pastor Jones's presence here 'is not conducive to the public good'.

A Home Office spokesman said: 'The Government opposes extremism in all its forms which is why we have excluded Pastor Terry Jones from the UK.

'Numerous comments made by Pastor Jones are evidence of his unacceptable behaviour.

'Coming to the UK is a privilege, not a right, and we are not willing to allow entry to those whose presence is not conducive to the public good.

'The use of exclusion powers is very serious and no decision is taken lightly or as a method of stopping open debate.'

Pastor Jones was to speak at a series of demonstrations against the expansion of Islam and the construction of mosques in the UK.

A spokesman for England Is Ours said he hoped other members of Pastor Jones's outreach centre would be able to visit and speak to the group if the controversial preacher was unable to get the decision overturned.

Barry Taylor, secretary of the activists' group based in Milton Keynes, said Pastor Jones had planned to visit in mid-February to attend a number of meetings with other similar organisations.

He said: 'I'm very disappointed. The whole object of the exercise is to have a discussion about the Islamification of the UK and just have dialogue about the problems.

'The idea isn't to cause trouble or kick up a stink. These things do need addressing and people do need to speak about them. We shouldn't be frightened about them.'

Mr Taylor added he had expected around 100 people to attend events organised for Pastor Jones including around 30 members of England Is Ours.

'It's quite possible that other members of his outreach may be able to come,' he added.

'I understand Pastor Jones is planning some visits to nearby European countries and we will be able to go and visit him there.'

Ashamed Iraqi man 'killed his daughter, 19, after she was recruited as suicide bomber by Al-Qaeda'

An Iraqi man killed his 19-year-old daughter out of shame after he discovered Al-Qaeda had recruited her as a suicide bomber. in the town of Mandali, about , searching for her on suspicion she had become involved with terrorists.

Najim al-Anbaky was arrested at the family home in the town of Mandali, about 60 miles northeast of Baghdad.

Security forces had carried out a raid after suspecting his daughter Shahlaa had joined the terror group.

Killed: Iraqi police said a father had admitted killing his 19-year-old daughter in Baqouba after learning she had been recruited as a suicide bomber by Al-Qaeda

The father at first denied his daughter had any links to the terror group, but after further questioning admitted to killing her.

He described it as an attempt to protect the family's dignity and said his daughter had been recruited by al-Qaida to be a suicide bomber.

Al-Anbaky then showed police his daughter's grave.

The father remains in custody and is under investigation, but no charges have been made yet.

A police official said authorities were investigating the possibility that the woman had a boyfriend in al-Qaida. The official said that according to local police records, the man killed a sister in 1984 in what was described as an honour killing.

Al-Qaeda has been recruiting women for suicide attacks because they can pass police checkpoints easier than men by concealing explosives under an abaya - a loose, black cloak worn by conservative Muslim women.

Suicide bombers have been the terrorist group's most lethal weapon in Iraq, killing hundreds of civilians and members of Iraq's security forces.

A female suicide bomber was behind one of the deadliest attacks this year in Iraq, after she detonated explosives among Shiite pilgrims in Baghdad in February, killing 54 people.

In a separate incident, a Shiite militia leader, his wife and three children were killed in a bomb attack on their home south of Baghdad.

The blast, in the early hours of Saturday morning, levelled the militia leader's home in Haswa, according to Babil province spokesman Major Muthana Khalid. Four people were also wounded in the blast.

Abdul-Salam al-Maamouri, a local policeman, identified the man as a commander in the Mahdi Army - the militia loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.

The militia terrorised Sunni neighbourhoods during the height of Iraq's sectarian fighting in 2006 and 2007, and its fighters have been targets of retribution.

Taliban ends opposition to education for girls, claims Afghan education minister

• Major U-turn revealed by Farooq Wardak on visit to UK
• 38% of students and 30% of teachers are now female

The Taliban has abandoned its opposition to the schooling of girls, according to the country's education minister.

Farooq Wardak suggested that ongoing negotiations with the Taliban would not compromise achievements in expanding the number of children at school in Afghanistan since the overthrow of the radical Islamist movement.

Under the hardline Taliban regime from 1996 to 2001 women were forced to wear the burka, a garment covering the whole body and head, and banned from working or getting an education.

Moved on: There has been a change in attitudes to women in eduction according to Afghanistan's education minister

Mr Wardak, who visited Britain this week for the Education World Forum, claimed there had been major shifts in views about schooling in Afghanistan since 2001.

'It is attitudinal change, it is behavioural change, it is cultural change,' he said.

'What I am hearing at the very upper policy level of the Taliban is that they are no more opposing education and also girls' education.'

'I hope, Inshallah (God willing), soon there will be a peaceful negotiation, a meaningful negotiation with our own opposition and that will not compromise at all the basic human rights and basic principles which have been guiding us to provide quality and balanced education to our people.'

Afghan officials are engaged in secret behind-the-scenes peace talks with Taliban leaders in an attempt to end the bloody insurgency that has wracked the troubled country for more than nine years.

Mr Wardak's words suggest that the negotiations have gone beyond issues like the release of prisoners to touch on areas of government policy.

Hardline: During the Taliban era the percentage of girls among the one million students in Afghanistan was zero

The education minister admitted that historically opposition to schooling extended beyond the Taliban to the 'deepest pockets' of Afghan society.

'That is the reason that in many provinces of Afghanistan we do not have either male or female teachers,' he said.

'During the Taliban era the percentage of girls of the one million students that we had was 0%.

'The percentage of female teachers was 0%. Today 38% of our students and 30% of our teachers are female.'

Mr Wardak also criticised the UK for not providing more money for schools in his country.

'My expectation is from the British Government that they should make more contribution,' he said.

The UK's Department for International Development (DFID) spent £12 million on schooling in Afghanistan in 2009-10.

A spokeswoman said: 'We remain committed to improving education in Afghanistan.

'Last year, the British Government financed the salaries of 169,000 teachers through the Afghanistan reconstruction trust fund.

'Through the national solidarity programme, we have helped Afghan communities to build schools in every province of the country.

'Under the Taliban, there were around one million children in school, almost none of whom were girls.

'Now over five million attend school - over a third of whom are girls - and more than a quarter of all new teachers are women.'

How 100,000 Britons have chosen to become Muslim... and average convert is 27-year-old white woman

• About 5,200 people in UK adopted faith last year alone
  

The number of Muslim converts in Britain has passed 100,000, fuelled by a surge in young white women adopting the Islamic faith.

The figure has almost doubled in ten years – with the average convert now a 27-year-old white woman fed up with British consumerism and immorality.

The numbers, revealed in a study by multi-faith group Faith Matters, have led to claims that the country is undergoing a process of ‘Islamification’.

The survey of converts revealed nearly two thirds were women, more than 70 per cent were white and the average age at conversion was just 27.

But the organisation’s report argued that most converts saw their religion as ‘perfectly compatible’ with living in Britain.

It said: ‘Converts do not represent a devious fifth column determined to undermine the Western way of life – this is a group of normal people united in their adherence to a religion which they, for the most part, see as perfectly compatible with Western life.’

Convert: Lauren Booth, the sister-in-law of former Prime Minister Tony Blair, attracted a lot of publicity when she announced she had adopted the Islamic faith last year

The report estimated around 5,200 men and women have adopted Islam over the past 12 months, including 1,400 in London. Nearly two-thirds were women, more than 70 per cent were white and the average age at conversion was 27.

In 2001, there were an estimated 60,000 Muslim converts in Britain. Since then, the country has seen the spread of violent Islamist extremism and terror plots, including the July 7 bombings.

Converts who have turned to terror include Nicky Reilly, who tried to blow up a restaurant in Bristol with a nail bomb, shoe bomber Richard Reid and July 7 bomber Germaine Lindsay.

But the report said the number of converts sucked into extremism represented a ‘very small minority’.

The survey, conducted by Kevin Brice from Swansea University, asked converts for their views on the negative aspects of British culture.

They identified alcohol and drunkenness, a ‘lack of morality and sexual permissiveness’, and ‘unrestrained consumerism’.

More than one in four accepted there was a ‘natural conflict’ between being a devout Muslim and living in the UK. Nine out of ten women converts said their change of religion had led to them dressing more conservatively. More than half started wearing a head scarf and 5 per cent had worn the burka.

More than half also said they experienced difficulties after converting because of negative attitudes among their family.

Last year Lauren Booth, sister-in-law of former prime minister Tony Blair, attracted widespread publicity when she announced that she had converted to Islam.

Fiyaz Mughal, director of Faith Matters, said: ‘Conversion to Islam has been stigmatised by the media and wrongly associated with extremist ideologies and discriminatory cultural practices.’