Tell MAMA (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks) is a national project which records and measures anti-Muslim incidents in the United Kingdom. It is modelled on the Jewish Community Security Trust (CST) and like the CST it also provides support for victims, working closely with organisations such as Victim Support. The reception of the group by British Muslims is highly mixed, due to the relationship between Tell MAMA and the Jewish CST group (perceived negatively due to its support of Zionism).

Tell MAMA was launched^[1] on 21 February 2012 by Eric Pickles MP, Secretary of State for the Department for Communities and Local Government and is co-ordinated by the interfaith organisation Faith Matters.^[2] Faith Matters was founded by social entrepreneur Fiyaz Mughal OBE, a former adviser to the Leader of the Liberal Democrats, Nick Clegg, on Interfaith and Preventing Radicalisation and Extremism.^[3] The organisation's statistics have been the subject of debate,^[4] but were referenced by Theresa May when speaking at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors on 23 March 2015.^[5]

The project was set up with government backing, and received start up funding from the Department for Communities and Local Government between 2012 and 2013.^[6] In November 2012, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced a further £214,000 annual funding for Tell MAMA up to October 2013.^[7][8][9] Tell MAMA was funded for an initial period of 2 years and was funded on the basis of being self-sustaining after two years.^[10] Tell MAMA covers a range of issues and cases,^[11][12] and also works with mosques across the country.

Tell MAMA has had significant press coverage on its work to monitor anti-Muslim hate after the Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris in 2015.^[12] It also reported on the rise of school-based anti-Muslim hate incidents that took place after the Paris murders,^[13] as well as on continuing anti-Muslim hate incidents on both Facebook and Twitter.^[14] Tell MAMA has additionally worked on some high-profile cases involving alleged anti-Muslim discrimination – for example at the Savoy Hotel, where the female worker in question who alleged the anti-Muslim discrimination was represented by Tell MAMA.^[11]

The BBC programme Inside Out highlighted the work of Tell MAMA through a programme entitled "Behind the Veil".^[15] It publicised the discovery that there was a 70% rise in Islamophobic hate crimes reported to the Metropolitan Police Service in the year July 2014 – July 2015, when compared to the same period the year before.^[16]

By end of November 2013, the organisation had recorded 1,432 cases of abuse since its founding in February 2012.^[17] On 30 January 2014 the organisation released a graphic highlighting details of mosque attacks it had recorded between January 2012 to August 2013,^[18] including three bombings which took place in June and July 2013 (connected to a self-confessed white supremacist, Pavlo Lapshyn).^[19]

632 incidents were recorded in its first year of operation.^[20][21] One in three attackers reported to the project had links to far-right organisations.^[22] Of physical incidents reported in its first year, Tell MAMA founder Fiyaz Mughal said on BBC Sunday Morning Live that 70% were perpetrated against hijab or niqab-wearing women and the majority of attackers were white males, aged 20–50.^[23] In June 2013 these findings were analysed and verified by a team of academics at Teesside University, revealing that English Defence League (EDL) figures were linked to one-third of online incidents; the data said that almost two out of every three incidents were not reported to police.^[24]

Mughal, interviewed on Press TV in 2012, and writing for Hope not Hate,^[25] claimed that such incidents were becoming more violent and aggressive. Mughal also called on the Commonwealth of Nations to do more to combat Islamophobia.^[26]

Following the murder of British soldier Lee Rigby by two Muslim extremists, Tell MAMA recorded 83 incidents in 24 hours, and 212 over the week.^[27] During the same period, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) recorded a 'spike' of 136 anti-Muslim incidents^[28] which were directly reported to its True Vision hate crime reporting service.

As of October 2013, Tell MAMA had recorded 34 attacks against mosques since the Woolwich incident. Most cases involved graffiti, though others included arson, offensive DVDs, petrol bombs, smoke bombs, a suspected nail bomb, use of a pig's head, and threats and abuse of worshippers.^[29] Of particular significance was the bombing campaign carried out by Pavlo Lapshyn, which began shortly after the murder of Lee Rigby. This was preceded by the murder of pensioner and grandfather Mohammad Saleem by Lapshyn.^[30] Tell MAMA has since maintained an updated map of all mosque attacks in England, Wales and Scotland.^[31]

Tell MAMA's 2015 annual report^[32] highlighted the following key points about anti-Muslim hate crime in the UK:

• There was a total of 801 anti-Muslim incidents documented by Tell MAMA in 2015, 437 of which were classified as offline, and 364 of which were classified as online.
• The number of offline incidents of anti-Muslim hate crime had increased from 146 in 2014 to 437 in 2015, representing a 200% increase.
• There is a clear gendering of anti-Muslim hate crime, whereby Muslim women are more likely to be attacked than Muslim men in most settings. 61% of victims (whose gender could be ascertained) were women, 75% of whom were visibly Muslim. This suggests that the relative visibility of Muslim women's Islamic attire is a significant factor in anti-Muslim hate crimes.
• Due to the fact that anti-Muslim hate crimes occur most frequently in public areas, transport networks and places of business, anti-Muslim hate crime has the effect of restricting the mobility of Muslims in Britain. Many become afraid to leave their homes, use public transport or travel beyond the neighbourhoods in which they feel safe.

Tell MAMA has received significant press coverage in relation to the surges in anti-Muslim incidents that follow Islamist terrorist attacks. This was the case following the Charlie Hebdo attack, where Tell MAMA reported on issues such as mosques receiving death threats,^[33] and the rise of school-based anti-Muslim hate incidents in the aftermath. Most notably, a Muslim student in Oxfordshire was reportedly slapped and called a 'terrorist' by classmates after a teacher raised the murders of 12 people at the French magazine and suggested that Muslims should be 'challenged' by the display of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed.^[34]

Inayat Bunglawala, founder and chair of Muslims4UK and a former media secretary at the Muslim Council of Britain, questioned Tell MAMA's links to the CST, which he linked to Zionism and neoconservatism.^[35] Former Hizb ut-Tahrir member, and now Senior Fellow at ICSR, King's College London, Shiraz Maher wrote in The Jewish Chronicle that:

Tell Mama is new and, though gauche in many respects, it is badly needed. It was established by Fiyaz Mughal, who led the "Muslims Against antisemitism" campaign. Unlike most Muslim groups, Tell Mama also records intra-Muslim sectarian attacks. More importantly, it replaces the Muslim Safety Forum, an extremist group dominated by Islamists who support Hamas.^[36]

Support has ranged from British Muslims for Secular Democracy^[37] through to the Council of Mosques in Calderdale where Tell MAMA was launched in West Yorkshire.^[38]

Tell MAMA founder Fiyaz Mughal was criticised by conservative Muslims in 2014 for inviting gay rights campaigner Peter Tatchell to be a patron of Tell MAMA.^[39][40]

Patrons of the Tell MAMA project include Jonathan Bloch, the Reverend Mark Oakley, John Esposito, Canon Dr. Giles Fraser and Lord Sheikh of Cornhill.^[58]

In April 2014, former head of the Community Security Trust, Richard Benson, was announced as the new Chair of Tell MAMA.^[40] More recently, former Government Minister Shahid Malik was appointed as Chair on the Tell MAMA project.

• Muslim Safety Forum