Protecting your mosque: keeping your building and congregation safe, responding to hate crime, and where to get help

A recent report by the British Muslim Trust laid bare a disturbing reality: mosques across the UK are being attacked at a rate of roughly one every five days — around 70 attacks in a single year — through vandalism, intimidation, violence, symbolic religious abuse and harassment. It comes against a wider backdrop of record levels of anti-Muslim hatred: Tell MAMA has recorded its highest-ever number of incidents, and Home Office figures show anti-Muslim hate crime rising sharply. For a Muslim community, the mosque is far more than a building — it is a spiritual home and a community anchor — and an attack on it is felt as an attack on people's safety and belonging. This is a practical, supportive guide to keeping your mosque and congregation safe, responding well to hate crime, and finding the real help that exists. It is general information, not advice — for security and legal matters, take specialist advice and always involve the police where there is a threat to safety. Above all, this is a guide to preparation and support, not fear: a community that is ready and well-supported can keep its doors open with confidence.

What the report tells us

The picture is serious, and worth facing calmly rather than fearfully. In the year to mid-2026, the British Muslim Trust documented around 70 attacks on mosques and Muslim faith institutions — an average of one every five days — including vandalism, property damage, violence, anti-Muslim hate speech, and acts of symbolic and religious abuse intended to intimidate. The attacks were concentrated in London, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands, and some mosques were targeted repeatedly. This sits within a broader rise: Tell MAMA has recorded record numbers of anti-Muslim incidents, and official figures show anti-Muslim hate crime up sharply year on year. These attacks are one visible expression of a wider climate of anti-Muslim hatred and Islamophobia — one that reaches Muslim communities well beyond the mosque door, from everyday conversations to the financial exclusion experienced by Muslim charities. The point of naming all this is not to frighten, but to prepare — because there is a great deal that can be done.

Keeping your building safe

Good protective security starts with a clear-eyed look at your premises:

• Risk-assess your building. Who is present and when, how access is controlled, what is visible from outside, and where you are vulnerable — including to arson through letterboxes and windows. The Government's ProtectUK service offers free guidance, and you should be aware of your duties under Martyn's Law (the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Act 2025), which brings protective-security responsibilities for many places of worship.
• Put practical measures in place — CCTV, alarms, secure fencing and gates, good lighting, controlled access, fire-safety measures against arson, and a safe area people can move to.
• Apply for free Government security funding. The Home Office's Protective Security for Mosques Scheme can fund CCTV, alarms, fencing, gates and even security guarding — free of charge. It is well worth pursuing, though access can be difficult; the next section covers exactly how to apply, and how to get expert help doing it.
• Train stewards and volunteers, and set clear opening, closing and prayer-time procedures — including who does what if there is an incident.

You may find our general guide to security for places of worship useful alongside this, and the downloadable building security policy template a helpful starting point to adapt.

Getting the security funding — and the help to apply

Claiming the free protective-security funding you are entitled to is one of the most valuable things a mosque can do — and it is also where communities most often get stuck. Here is how the scheme works, and, crucially, how to get help.

What the scheme offers. The Home Office's Protective Security for Mosques Scheme provides, entirely free, either or both of:

• Physical security measures — CCTV, intruder alarms, and secure fencing and gates (with maintenance costs covered for the first year on some measures); and
• Security personnel (guarding) — visible security staff at your premises.

Up to £40 million is available in 2026/27, covering mosques, Muslim faith schools and associated Muslim community centres.

Are you eligible? Broadly, you can apply if you are a mosque or an associated Muslim community centre where regular worship takes place, and you are a registered charity or exempt from registration. You can apply if you have experienced hate crime, if you feel vulnerable to it, or if there has been hate crime in your local area against other places of worship or those who attend them.

How to apply. Applications are made through an online form on GOV.UK, on a rolling basis, directly with the Home Office. It helps to have your charity details ready, a clear description of your vulnerability, and — importantly — evidence of risk: any incidents you have experienced, with police and Tell MAMA reference numbers.

The honest reality — and how to navigate it. You should know that many mosques have found the scheme genuinely hard to access, with a significant backlog and some waiting months — in some cases far longer — for funding, even after attacks. This has been widely and rightly criticised, including by the British Muslim Trust. It is a reason to apply sooner, not to give up. To strengthen and speed your case:

• Report every incident to the police and to Tell MAMA, and keep the reference numbers — they are the evidence that underpins your application.
• Get help with the application (below) — a well-evidenced, well-written application is a stronger one.
• Keep records, follow up and chase, and put sensible interim measures in place while you wait.
• Ask your MP and local councillors to press on delays — political attention has helped move stuck cases.

Get help to apply — you don't have to do it alone. This is the key point: expert support exists specifically to help mosques through this.

• Tell MAMA's National Mosques Security Panel will help you write and submit your application and talk your team through the whole process — and also offers training (active monitoring, building checks, perimeter walks, safety drills) and tailored threat assessment. For most mosques, this is the best first call.
• The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) publishes clear FAQs and guidance on the scheme.
• Faith Associates offers specialist mosque-security expertise.
• ProtectUK can help you work out what security you actually need, so you apply for the right things.
• Locally, your council's community-safety team, your neighbourhood police and interfaith networks can all help.

Protecting your congregation

Security is ultimately about people, not property:

• Reassure and communicate. Fear can be as damaging as any attack. Keep your community informed, calm and confident, and be especially mindful of those who feel most vulnerable — women, children and older worshippers.
• Steward well — a warm welcome and quiet vigilance are not opposites; good stewards provide both.
• Care pastorally for anyone affected or frightened, and make clear that worship and community life will continue.
• Don't face it alone — draw on neighbours, other faith communities and interfaith relationships; solidarity is one of the strongest responses to hatred.

Responding to a hate crime

If an incident happens, act calmly and deliberately:

1. Safety first. If a crime is in progress or anyone is in danger, call 999. Otherwise call 101.
2. Preserve the evidence. However distressing, try not to clean up or repair before the police have seen it — photograph everything, and note times, descriptions and any witnesses.
3. Report it — always. Report to the police, and also to Tell MAMA, which records anti-Muslim incidents and supports victims, and through the police's True Vision service (report-it.org.uk). Report even "minor" incidents: patterns matter, and under-reporting hides the true scale.
4. Support those affected — practically and emotionally — and signpost to victim support.
5. If your mosque is a registered charity, consider whether the incident meets the threshold for a serious incident report to the Charity Commission (our serious-incident reporting template can help).

And remember, online hate is hate crime too. Abuse, threats, "doxxing" (publishing someone's personal details) and coordinated pile-ons should be reported just like a physical attack — and our doxxing response plan and social media crisis plan templates will help your team respond calmly and quickly.

Build local awareness and support

You should never have to face this alone, and a strong local response makes an enormous difference. Make the anti-Muslim and Islamophobic hate you are experiencing known to the people and bodies who can rally support around you:

• Your local authority — community-safety and cohesion teams can coordinate a local response, and need to know what is happening to act.
• Local interfaith groups and forums — they exist precisely to stand together; other faith communities are very often ready to show solidarity.
• Local faith leaders — churches, synagogues, temples, gurdwaras and neighbouring mosques. A shared message from local faith leaders against hatred is powerful and reassuring.
• Your MP and local councillors — making them aware means support, and pressure for action, can come from the wider community and from those with influence (this also helps with stuck security-funding applications).

Reporting hate not only builds the evidence for your own protection — it enables the whole community around you to see the problem and respond to it together.

Where to get help

You are not on your own. Key sources of support:

• Tell MAMA — reports and records anti-Muslim hate, supports victims, runs a National Mosques Security Panel offering training and advice, and will even help you write and submit your security-funding application. Often the best first call. (tellmamauk.org)
• Protective Security for Mosques Scheme — free Home Office funding for physical security and guarding (apply via GOV.UK).
• Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) — guidance and FAQs on the security schemes, and community support.
• Faith Associates — specialist mosque-security guidance and standards.
• ProtectUK — free Government protective-security advice, e-learning and Martyn's Law resources.
• The police — your local neighbourhood policing team (build the relationship before you need it), 999/101, and True Vision for reporting hate crime.

Ready-to-use templates and guides

To help you act rather than only read, these free, editable templates — used across our guidance — are worth downloading and adapting for your mosque:

• Building security policy — a template policy to adapt for your premises.
• Doxxing response plan — what to do if someone's personal details are exposed online.
• Social media crisis plan — for handling an online hate or misinformation storm.
• Reporting a serious incident to the Charity Commission — a short guide and fill-in template.

And on the safeguarding side, our guide to keeping your safeguarding robust will help you protect the vulnerable people in your community as you strengthen your security.

Resilience, not retreat

The purpose of intimidation is to make communities frightened and withdrawn. The answer is not to retreat, but to prepare — and to stay open, confident and connected. Secure your building and claim the support you are entitled to; protect and reassure your congregation; report every hate crime so the true picture is seen; and lean on the wide network of people — Muslim and non-Muslim — who stand against this. A well-prepared mosque, supported by its community and the agencies that exist to help, can keep its doors open and its worship going, whatever the climate.

The bottom line

The rise in attacks on mosques is real, and it is frightening — but mosques are far from powerless. Assess and secure your building, and apply early for the free protective-security funding available; protect and reassure your congregation; report every incident to the police and to Tell MAMA; and draw on the specialist help that exists. Preparation is what allows a community to worship in safety and refuse to be intimidated. And on the security and legal specifics, take professional advice and work closely with your local police.

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This article is general information, not advice. Security and hate-crime situations are serious and specific — take specialist security and legal advice, and contact the police where there is any threat to safety. For help with the governance, policies and planning behind keeping your community safe, get in touch.

Sources verified (July 2026):

• British Muslim Trust — report on attacks against mosques (around one every five days) — as reported by Arab News: https://www.arabnews.com/node/2652009/world
• Tell MAMA — reporting anti-Muslim hate and victim support — https://tellmamauk.org/
• Tell MAMA — National Mosques Security Panel (training, and help writing and submitting security-funding applications) — https://tellmamauk.org/national-mosques-security-panel/
• GOV.UK / Home Office — Protective Security for Mosques Scheme (eligibility, what it covers, how to apply) — https://www.gov.uk/guidance/protective-security-for-mosques-scheme
• LBC — Mosques 'waiting months' for Home Office security funding after attacks (the access backlog) — https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/mosques-waiting-home-office-security-funding-5Hjdf2r_2/
• Muslim Council of Britain — FAQs: Protective Security Schemes for places of worship — https://mcb.org.uk/faqs-protective-security-schemes-for-places-of-worship/
• ProtectUK — protective-security advice and Martyn's Law — https://www.protectuk.police.uk/
• True Vision (police) — report hate crime — https://www.report-it.org.uk/