Figure 1.1 The faith communities of Leicester, according to the 2011 Census
The Muslim community is growing rapidly and is now the second largest faith in the city (c. 61,500 people). It is based primarily on five ethnic blocs: Indian Muslims including Indian Africans (the largest), Somalis, Pakistanis, Arabs and Bangladeshis. There are an estimated 60 mosques and over 100 madrassas (supplementary schools). The majority are Sunni places of worship, but there are also Shi’a communities. Leicester houses many faiths but also several traditions within faiths, so the city is home to sub-traditions such as the Ismaili and Dawoodi Bohra communities – both widely regarded as part of the wider Shi’a Muslim fabric. There is an umbrella group called the Federation of Muslim Organisations (FMO), which has been in existence for over 30 years, and a Muslim Burial Council of Leicestershire. It is difficult to be certain about the exact number of Muslims in the city, as it is suggested that not everyone completes the religious affiliation on census forms; similarly, there is no compulsory registration of either mosques or madrassas, so a terraced house could become a ‘house mosque’ or a front room could be used daily as a madrassa with hardly anyone noticing what is taking place. As well as many madrassas, there are also Muslim faith schools in the city.
Hindus are now the third largest faith community in Leicester (c. 50,000) according to the 2011 Census, having historically been second, a fact which has caused unease within the Hindu community. There are large temples, such as Shree Swaminarayan Temple and Shree Sanatan Mandir, with other temples dedicated to gurus or strands within Hinduism. Each caste and sub-caste also have community centres such as Lohana-Brahmin, Prajapati and Mistry. Most Hindus in Leicester are Gujarati by background, with a minority from Punjab and an increasing number of Sri Lankan Tamils and South Indians. Visits by gurus attract many thousands, and Diwali and Navratri are very popular festivals in Leicester, even amongst non-Hindus, and receive national coverage (Sillitoe 2015). The city council estimates that 35,000 attended the Diwali light switch on in 2016 (Visit Leicester 2016). Gujarati Hindus are prosperous, with middle classes moving into wealthier areas such as Oadby and Syston. They are a highly educated community with strong vested interests in India. At a corporate level Leicester is twinned with Rajkot in the Indian state of Gujarat. There is a Krishna Avanti Primary School in Leicester, and permission has recently been granted by the Department for Education for another primary school and a secondary school to be built by the same trust.
The Sikh community has a significant presence in the city and the county; indeed it is the largest Sikh community in the East Midlands. Many of the Sikh community migrated directly from India in the 1950s and were in Leicester long before the so-called ‘twice migrants’ arrived from East Africa. Vaisakhi is a major festival in Leicester. The April 2016 parade involved 15,000 participants (Frodsham 2016). There are Sikh museums at the Guru Nanak and Guru Tegh Bahadur gurdwaras. The Sikh community has a particular interest in the involvement of Sikhs in the British armed forces and makes a point of celebrating their history, of both co-operation and conflict, as the recently launched Sikh Museum Initiative on the Anglo-Sikh wars of 1845–9 makes clear (Anglo-Sikh Wars 2016). Sikhs often hold major collection drives for food and clothing during Vaisakhi. Gurdwaras provide free meals to members of all communities. This community meal is called langar. Each year Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist and Jain communities work with the St Philip’s Centre for a Sewa Day social action charitable project (of which more in Chapter 7). As well as serving community meals, gurdwaras in Leicester also provide community facilities, such as a gym, adult day care centre, pre-school and Punjabi classes. There is a recently established Sikh primary school in Leicester, Falcons School, which celebrated its second birthday in the academic year 2016/17, and began taking in pupils from Reception to Year 4.
There are smaller faiths with hundreds of members in the county too. Jainism has a beautiful temple in Oxford Street in the city, the first Jain temple built in Western Europe. Judaism has two synagogues; one progressive and one orthodox. They both come together each year for the Mitzvah Day social action charitable effort which the St Philip’s Centre is involved in. Baha’is have a small but active presence and there are five Buddhist temples in the county. There is also an active Pagan community, although since Paganism is a very individualistic pursuit it is difficult to ascertain numbers.
It should be noted that faiths do not follow local authority borders. There have always been significant numbers of faiths other than Christian in the university town of Loughborough. The Loughborough Council of Faiths has membership from the Baha’i, Brahma Kumaris, Christian, Hindu, Mormon, Muslim, Pagan, Quaker and Sikh communities. Moreover, recent years have also begun to show a significant move outwards from Leicester of more affluent members of the Asian communities. This has meant that Oadby, just outside the city boundary, has become very multifaith, with places of worship being established. Other areas of the county such as Hinckley, Birstall, Syston, Thurmaston, Great Glen, Glenfield and Market Harborough have smaller numbers at the moment but these numbers are increasing.
There are a number of mechanisms enabling different communities to meet in order to discuss matters of common concern. These include the Faith Leaders Forum, which is chaired by the Bishop of Leicester, the Leicester City Mayor’s Faith and Community Forum, the Leicester Council of Faiths, Loughborough Council of Faiths and the Leicestershire Interfaith Forum.
The ‘Leicester model’
Those who work in integration and community cohesion do sometimes mention the concept of the ‘Leicester model’ of social integration. The ‘Leicester model’ is normally taken as a sign of positive social cohesion. Take the spike in reported hate crime in the immediate run up to and aftermath of the EU referendum in June 2016. Nationally, a five-fold increase was reported, but in Leicester the BBC reported the figure was only double (BBC 2016a). Even a doubling of hate crime is unacceptable, but what caused the increase to be less than the national picture? How has Leicester avoided the problems that some other communities have faced?
There is no simple formula, but a number of factors are relevant. First, there is the size of Leicester. It is a well-networked and compact city which is relatively quick and straightforward to get around. This means it is easy for people to meet each other, and the same people see each other regularly and in a variety of contexts. Those involved in the civic life of the city are able to establish long-term relationships of trust and co-operation. Different-sized communities require different models of integration and engagement. What works well in Leicester will not necessarily work in London or Loughborough, as the former is much bigger and the latter smaller. Second, there is the fact that no one community is truly dominant. Less than 50 per cent of the population of the city is of Caucasian heritage (although that is only a recent development). Equally, the Hindu and Muslim populations are a similar proportion of the overall population of the city. Third, there is significant diversity within the communities. There is no single monolithic Hindu or Muslim or Christian bloc who dominate interfaith engagement. Fourth, many of the ‘twice migrants’ had already lived alongside each other in East Africa before they moved to Leicester. Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs, all of whom had moved from the Indian sub-continent to East Africa in search of work, were in the habit of celebrating each other’s festivals and had similar cultural outlooks. So a Muslim whose family origins were in Gujarat may in fact share more culturally with a Christian or Hindu with the same background than with a fellow Muslim whose family origins lie in Pakistan or Somalia. Fifth, many of those who moved to Leicester had previous experience of running businesses or working in professional trades. They were therefore better able to find good employment quickly and were also better placed to navigate the collapse of the traditional textile industries than those in other cities in the UK. Sixth, the fact of continual migration from a wide range of countries means the city council are continually learning how to welcome new arrivals.
Although these different factors have been listed, they are not in