Who are the Muslim mayors of English cities since 2000 and when were they elected?

1. What the viral claim says and why it spread — sorting the headlines from the records

Viral posters and social posts asserted that numerous English cities — including Birmingham, Leeds, Blackburn, Sheffield, Oxford, Luton, Oldham and Rochdale — have had Muslim mayors since 2000. That claim rests on mixing different mayoral roles (directly elected executive mayors versus ceremonial council mayors) and on incomplete checks of local records. Fact‑checking organizations and media pulled the claim apart, noting the poster’s methodology conflates titles and sometimes misattributes timeframes; the result is a list that inflates the count of Muslim mayors by treating every municipal mayoralty the same and by relying on hearsay rather than named election records ^{[3] [2]}.

2. The solid case: Sadiq Khan — dates and democratic significance

Sadiq Khan is the clear, documented example: first elected as Mayor of London in May 2016, re‑elected in 2021 and again noted in later coverage up to 2024, and consistently identified as a Muslim and as a directly elected executive mayor. Khan’s mayoralty is the most prominent instance because the London mayor is a high‑profile, citywide, directly elected position with clear public records and repeated media coverage; this contrasts starkly with murkier claims about other cities where documentation is lacking or roles differ ^{[1] [4]}.

3. Ambiguous cases: cities with partial or unclear evidence

Several cities appear in reporting but with limited or ambiguous documentation. Reuters and other checks found that mayors in Luton, Oldham, Blackburn and Oxford have at times identified as Muslim or were described that way in 2024 reporting, but those pieces often did not supply full names or formal election dates, and they sometimes referred to civic, ceremonial, or borough roles rather than directly elected city mayors. These reports demonstrate local instances of Muslim individuals holding mayoral office, but they fall short of establishing a continuous, verifiable list of Muslim mayors across England since 2000 ^{[2] [5]}.

4. Fact‑check conclusions: only a small number are verifiable as Muslim mayors since 2000

Fact‑checking groups converged on the conclusion that the viral poster’s broader claims are misleading. One analysis identified Sadiq Khan and named Mohammed Asaduzzaman as Brighton & Hove’s ceremonial mayor in May 2024 as verifiable cases, while noting that many other claimed names had no corroborating municipal election records or conflated ceremonial roles with executive mayoralties. Another authoritative check emphasized that some listings were simply incorrect or lacked temporal clarity, leading to overcounting ^{[1] [3]}.

5. What is missing and why a definitive national list is elusive

A comprehensive, authoritative list of Muslim mayors of English cities since 2000 is hard to compile from the supplied sources because of inconsistent terminology, patchy local documentation, and variations in mayoral systems across England (executive vs. ceremonial; city vs. borough). Several sources explicitly note they cannot confirm names or election years for many localities and urge caution against extrapolating from partial statements or single‑instance reporting. The absence of standardized, centralized records that tag religious identity means researchers rely on public statements, press coverage, or council minutes, which are unevenly available ^{[2] [5]}.

6. Bottom line and recommended approach for a definitive answer

The most defensible statement from these analyses is that Sadiq Khan is the prominent, verifiable Muslim mayor of an English city (London) since 2000, and a few local ceremonial mayors have been publicly identified as Muslim in recent years; broader lists offered by viral posts are not supported by the fact‑checks cited. To produce a definitive, dated roster, researchers should consult individual council election records and mayoral biographies or contact councils directly for confirmation of electoral dates and office type; until that targeted municipal verification is done, broader claims remain unsubstantiated ^{[1] [2]}.