British race law excluded Muslims as a multi-ethnic religious group until late

Evidence

Legislation therefore failed to afford protection to multi-ethnic religious groups such as Muslims and Christians, something that may have necessitated –legislatively at least – Muslims to begin to see themselves differently from ‘black’ and ‘Asian’ communities. It therefore became unlawful to discriminate against blacks, Asians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, and so on, as well as Jews and Sikhs, but perfectly within the law to discriminate against someone on the basis of their being Muslim: a loophole that was exploited by far-right political groups following the attacks of 9/11. Legislatively therefore, Muslims were being earmarked as separate even if the communities themselves had not yet come to think about or perceive themselves in such ways. This was again furthered in civil anti-discrimination legislation when the first criminal offence was introduced on racial hatred in the Public Order Act 1986. Here, mono-ethnic religious communities were also protected from incitement of hatred. Consequently in a setting where a significant shift in prejudice and discrimination as well as emerging identities was underway, so an anomaly existed that made it legal to incite hatred against multi-ethnic religious groups such as Muslims. — Chris Allen, Islamophobia, 60

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s earlier chapter on the RRA76 ‘racial group’ definition and its exclusion of religion, and to how legal categories construct group identity. — connects to: British Muslims were ethnicized before being recognized as a faith group — A. Hussain, N. Meer, Framing Muslim Integration, 185; British Muslims are a diverse minority diaspora, not a monolith — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 535; British racial categories for Muslims changed labels while retaining racist content. — A. Hussain, N. Meer, Framing Muslim Integration, 168 (+6 more)
• ADDENDUM: Relevant to ‘Complaints About Immodesty Go Way Back’ only tangentially; more directly it bears on how legal protection gaps became identity-forming and politicizing — supports a follow-up on how law’s exclusions manufacture prejudice.

Related

• British Muslims were ethnicized before being recognized as a faith group (similarity 0.81)
• British racial categories for Muslims changed labels while retaining racist content. (similarity 0.80)
• NSW law denied Muslims race protection absent linkage to a specific ethnic origin (similarity 0.79)
• Suspicion of Britain’s Muslims predates modern biological racism (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• British racial categories for Muslims changed labels while retaining racist content. #expands (0.85) — A. Hussain, N. Meer, Framing Muslim Integration, 168
• Muslims were told anti-Muslim racism cannot exist because Muslims are not a race #expands (0.85) — Runnymede Trust (ed. Farah Elahi & Omar Khan), Islamophobia, 583
• Census ethnicity categories poorly capture British Muslim experience as proxies #expands (0.82) — Runnymede Trust (ed. Farah Elahi & Omar Khan), Islamophobia, 112
• Ethnic categories fail to capture the distinct experience of British Muslims. #expands (0.80) — A. Hussain, N. Meer, Framing Muslim Integration, 59
• Whiteness by law was defined as Christian, excluding Muslims from citizenship #corroborates (0.80) — Khaled A. Beydoun, American Islamophobia_ Understanding…, 150
• Religious and ethnic disadvantages in Britain must be separated analytically to explain Muslim outcomes. #expands (0.75) — A. Hussain, N. Meer, Framing Muslim Integration, 271
• British Muslims are a diverse minority diaspora, not a monolith #expands (0.72) — Arsalan Iftikhar, Fear of a Muslim Planet_ Global…, 535