Explain the difficulties a Muslim may face keeping their beliefs in Britain

understand, and Muslims may find themselves subject to racial abuse or prejudice . Not only does this make belief hard to uphold, but even harder to teach. A growing proportion of Muslims now live in Britain. Most were born in Britain, though some have moved from their birthplaces. Nearly all Muslims have roots in Asia. Unfortunately the practice of Islam can be very difficult in Britain, as it is a fairly new (compared to Christianity) religion for Britain to encounter. The main problems seem to arrive from prayer. Muslims maintain a strict schedule of prayer five times a day, which is difficult on its own, but on Friday the males are expected to pray five times a day at a mosque. Prayer five times a day demands freedom, in the natural Islamic setting (Mecca etc.) near enough everyone will be praying at the same time so there will obviously be special preparations. Here it is harder, breaks from work have to be negotiated, and perhaps a special prayer room built. Washing can be even more difficult to arrange, as the extensive ablution requires time and well-equipped facilities. Friday prayer is made even harder as more time is needed to get to and from the mosque. Also, there aren’t that many mosques. The journey time is likely to be quite long, increasing the amount of money spent on petrol and thus decreasing the amount of funds that can be put towards zakkah. In Islamic society Mosques are going to be close, and nearly all businesses would close at prayer times. Fasting is also hard in Britain, as in natural Islamic culture all work stops during Ramadan. There are also huge festivals after Ramadan to celebrate, here there are none. Again, this must have a de-moralising effect upon Muslims, especially at Christmas time, though I suppose it is commercialised so much the idea is pretty much lost anyhow. Hajj poses a problem to British Muslims as the time off needed would not be seen as religious and might be viewed as a holiday. The idea of Hajj would also seem strange to many people and could cause predudice.