HISTORY
Are Muslims serving in the British Armed Forces today?
Yes, though numbers are diffcult to determine since declaration of religion is not mandatory for Armed Forces personnel. From those who have declared a religion as at 1 October 2021 (the latest available information), Muslims account for 0.4 per cent of UK Regular Armed Forces.
Neither a declaration of ethnic origin nor a declaration of religion is mandatory for Armed Forces personnel. For those with a known ethnicity as at 1 October 2022 (the latest statistics available), Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) personnel accounted for 9.4% (14,010 personnel) of UK Regular Forces (Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Army, Royal Air Force). BAME personnel account for 2.8 per cent of Officers and 11 per cent of Other Ranks in the UK Regular Forces; 4.6 per cent of Officers and 6.1 per cent of Other Ranks in the Future Reserves 2020. Of course, many of these would not have been Muslims and only 0.4 per cent of those who have declared a religion have identified as Muslims.
Sources
1
Ministry of Defence. UK Armed Forces Biannual Diversity Statistics 1 October 2021. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_date/file/1042421/UK_armed_forces-biannual_diversity_statistics_1_October-2021.pdf accessed 12 February 2022