United KingdomPolitics17 days ago

No, the Mayor of Rotherham hasn’t called for Sharia law in Britain

Full Fact investigated claims that the former Mayor of Rotherham, Councillor Rukhsana Ismail, had stated that Britain can only be made great again by implementing Sharia law. After reviewing available information, Full Fact found no evidence that she made such a statement. The false claims resurfaced on social media, often accompanied by images of Ismail, but there is no verified record of her expressing this view.

4 June 2026

What was claimed

The Mayor of Rotherham has stated that Britain can only be made great again, or saved, by implementing Sharia law.

Our verdict

False. We could find no evidence that the former Mayor of Rotherham for 2025/26, Councillor Rukhsana Ismail, pictured with the posts, had said that Britain needs to implement Sharia law. There’s no evidence the new Mayor of Rotherham made these comments either.

False claims that the Mayor of Rotherham said that Britain “can only become great again by implementing Sharia law” have been circulating again on social media.

Many posts on Facebook attributing the comments to the politician, or making similarly worded claims, include an image of Councillor Rukhsana Ismail, who served as the Mayor of Rotherham for the 2025/26 municipal year. The posts have gained thousands of reactions and comments between them.

But we could find no evidence that Councillor Ismail ever said this.

We debunked the same bogus claims earlier this year, when they were shared alongside a video of Councillor Ismail speaking in Arabic.

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This clip was taken from a longer message , in which she also spoke in English, with a message for Ramadan. But this video made no reference to Sharia law or calling for any such legal system to be implemented in the UK, and we couldn’t find any evidence that she’s made any such comments elsewhere.

Additionally, Councillor Ismail is no longer Rotherham’s mayor. Councillor Haroon Rashid has taken up the chains of office as Mayor of Rotherham for 2026/27. We could find no evidence he’d made such comments either.

We have contacted Councillor Ismail and Councillor Rashid about the claims, and will update this article if they respond.

Before sharing claims like this which you see on social media, it’s important to consider whether it comes from a trustworthy and verifiable source before sharing. Our Full Fact misinformation toolkit and guides can help you do this.

This article is part of our work fact checking potentially false pictures, videos and stories on Facebook. You can read more about this—and find out how to report Facebook content— here .

For the purposes of that scheme, we’ve rated this claim as false because the former Mayor of Rotherham, Councillor Rukhsana Ismail, has not said that Britain needs to implement Sharia law to be made great again and neither has the current mayor.

1 reports

Full FactIndependentCenter17 days ago

No, the Mayor of Rotherham hasn’t called for Sharia law in Britain

Bias read (Center): The article presents a factual correction of a claim without taking a stance on the issue of Sharia law itself. It focuses solely on verifying whether the specific claim about the mayor was accurate, using neutral language and providing no ideological framing or biased interpretation.

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organisationFull Fact investigation into claims about Rotherham Mayor