Safety & Security Bulletins | Mosque Security

Keeping Mosques Safe: Tell MAMA’s Role in Mosque Safety and Security

Mosques should be places of prayer, reflection and community. Nobody should fear violence, intimidation or anti-Muslim hate when attending a mosque, working within one or taking children to religious classes. However, mosques and Islamic institutions across the United Kingdom continue to experience threatening communications, vandalism, criminal damage, harassment and, in the most serious cases, attempted arson and violence.

Tell MAMA has documented the scale of this problem. Between June and October 2025 alone, it received 30 reports of mosques and Islamic centres being targeted. Such incidents affect more than buildings: they can cause anxiety, reduce attendance and leave worshippers feeling unsafe in their own communities.

Tell MAMA therefore has an important and practical role in supporting mosque safety and security. This role draws on more than 15 years of monitoring anti-Muslim hate, assisting victims and working with Muslim communities, police forces and other statutory agencies.

Tell MAMA is not a replacement for the police, emergency services, qualified security professionals or counterterrorism specialists. Its role is to help mosques understand risks connected to anti-Muslim hate, improve basic preparedness, report incidents and access appropriate specialist support when required.

Building on Tell MAMA’s existing work

Tell MAMA already provides a strong foundation of mosque safety advice. Its Mosque Protection, Safety and Security section brings together information intended to help mosque leaders, trustees, staff and congregants think more carefully about security.

The organisation has also published dedicated mosque safety advice and produced community security bulletins in Urdu, Arabic and Turkish. This is important because responsibility for mosque safety often rests with volunteers from different age groups, professions and language backgrounds. Advice must therefore be clear, accessible and capable of being understood quickly.

Tell MAMA’s 2026 safety guidance includes straightforward actions that mosques can take. These include ensuring CCTV is operational, keeping entrances and exits well-lit, maintaining a safe distance from suspicious or aggressive visitors and calling 999 where someone presents an immediate risk.

The guidance also advises mosque staff to handle threatening or suspicious mail as little as possible and place it in a clean, sealable bag so that possible fingerprint or DNA evidence is preserved for the police.

These are practical actions that do not require mosques to become security organisations. They encourage awareness, reporting and calm decision-making without creating unnecessary fear.

Appointing a mosque safety lead

One of the most useful steps any mosque can take is to appoint a named safety and security lead. This person does not need to be a professional security officer, but they should be responsible for coordinating the mosque’s basic preparations.

Tell MAMA could provide guidance explaining what this role should involve. Responsibilities might include maintaining emergency contact numbers, checking CCTV and lighting, ensuring exits remain unobstructed and keeping a secure record of previous hate incidents or threats.

Every mosque should also appoint at least one deputy who can take responsibility when the main safety lead is unavailable. This is particularly important during Friday prayers, Ramadan, Eid and public events, when the number of worshippers may increase significantly.

Tell MAMA already produces dedicated seasonal materials, including its Ramadan guide for communities and Ramadan mosque safety advice. These could form part of a wider annual safety programme, with updated guidance issued before major religious events.

A simple mosque safety assessment

Tell MAMA could offer mosques a basic self-assessment checklist. This would not replace a professional security survey, but it would help trustees identify obvious weaknesses and decide whether specialist advice is needed.

The checklist could ask:

• Is external lighting adequate?
• Are CCTV cameras working and recording correctly?
• Does someone know how to retrieve and preserve footage?
• Are external doors, gates and windows secure?
• Are emergency exits clearly marked and unobstructed?
• Is there a procedure for unwanted or aggressive visitors?
• Are threatening emails, telephone calls and letters recorded?
• Are children, older people and disabled worshippers included in emergency planning?
• Does the mosque have established contacts within the local police?

Mosques should review these questions regularly, particularly before Ramadan, Eid prayers or large community gatherings. Tell MAMA’s wider collection of reports, leaflets and community materials is available through its central resources section.

Helping mosques respond to incidents

Tell MAMA’s greatest contribution is its ability to connect incident reporting with practical support. Mosque leaders may be unsure whether graffiti, hostile leaflets, threatening telephone calls, suspicious behaviour or online threats should be reported. Some may remove evidence quickly because they want to reassure their congregations or restore the building.

Tell MAMA can advise mosque staff to photograph damage before cleaning it, preserve original messages and envelopes, save emails in their original form and retain CCTV footage before it is automatically overwritten. Staff should record dates, times, descriptions of individuals, vehicle registration numbers and the names of witnesses where it is safe to do so.

In an emergency or where there is an immediate danger to life, the first call must always be to 999. Once the immediate danger has passed, mosque staff or witnesses can submit a report directly to Tell MAMA. Reports can include photographs or videos and can be made by victims, witnesses or people reporting on behalf of somebody else.

Tell MAMA can subsequently support the mosque through its reporting, evidence and victim-support processes. With consent, it can help communication with the police and ensure that the anti-Muslim nature and wider community impact of the incident are properly understood. More information about this assistance is available on the Tell MAMA services page.

Using reporting data to improve security

Tell MAMA receives information about both online and offline anti-Muslim hate. This means that it can identify spikes, recurring forms of abuse and patterns affecting mosques in particular areas.

Where verified information indicates increased hostility, Tell MAMA can circulate proportionate community safety bulletins. These might remind mosques to check their cameras, improve lighting, brief volunteers and speak to local neighbourhood policing teams.

Such bulletins must be carefully worded. Their purpose should be to encourage sensible precautions, rather than spread unverified rumours or cause panic. Tell MAMA should distinguish clearly between general community concerns, verified anti-Muslim incidents and official threat information issued by the police or Government.

Training mosque staff and volunteers

Tell MAMA can provide introductory safety training for trustees, mosque managers, imams, caretakers and volunteers. This could cover recognising anti-Muslim hate, responding to victims, preserving evidence, managing unwanted visitors, reporting online threats and communicating with congregants following an incident.

Training could include scenario-based discussions. What should volunteers do if an aggressive visitor refuses to leave? Who calls the police if threatening graffiti is discovered? How should staff respond to a suspicious package? Who contacts parents if an incident occurs during children’s classes?

Detailed evacuation, lockdown or counterterrorism planning should be developed with police or appropriately qualified professionals. Tell MAMA’s reasonable role is to explain basic principles, encourage mosques to prepare and signpost them towards specialist assistance.

Safety without creating fear

Security is not only about locks, cameras and gates. An attack or threat against a mosque can leave worshippers anxious, reduce attendance and make families afraid to bring children to prayers or classes. Tell MAMA’s experience of victim support and counselling means that it can bring an important trauma-informed approach to mosque security.

The objective should be proportionate preparedness, not permanent fear. By providing accessible guidance, introductory training, incident reporting, evidence support, safety bulletins and appropriate signposting, Tell MAMA can help mosques become safer while remaining open, welcoming and confident places of worship.

Read more: Our services – what does Tell MAMA do?