Tower Hamlets photographer Rehan Jamil wins Portrait of Britain Award
Photographer Rehan Jamil celebrates the diversity and evolution of Muslim men’s prayer clothing, from local and traditional to modern styling.
Whitechapel-born photographer Rehan Jamil has taken home a Portrait of Britain award this month. His striking portrait of East London Mosque volunteer, Bodrul Islam has been seen on billboards across London since the win on 6 January.
The photo forms part of his latest exhibition, Jummah Aesthetics, which looks at Muslim men’s clothing and what they wear to prayer.
The dramatic and irreverent winning photo shows Islam standing in a white thobe and head covering, taken just inside the car park ramp off Fieldgate Street, near Tayyabs restaurant.
‘He just sort of illuminates. It’s like he’s coming out of the darkness,’ says Jamil who used only natural lighting in the portrait, in contrast to the darkness of the car park used by those attending the East London Mosque.

Jamil also photographed a dozen or so of Bodrul’s colleagues at the mosque. ‘They became sort of like teenage boys almost—they were all giggling and laughing at the fact that they were being photographed, but at the same time, they wanted to do it.’
Jummah is the name given to Friday prayers which are mandatory for Muslim men, and if you stand outside any mosque on a Friday lunchtime you’ll see gatherings of men rushing to find a spot to pray.
‘For Muslims, Friday is like the weekend, but obviously, in this country, it’s not. So we only have that lunchtime to go and pray,’ says Jamil.
With many hurrying to get their space, Jamil stops men who mostly agree to be photographed, with a few polite or shy rejections.
‘It was a strange thing for strangers to want to photograph them. They’d be like, ‘Who, me? No, no, I don’t look interesting, you’re joking,’ and sort of walk off smiling.’
‘We’ve got about 30 minutes to shoot as many types of clothing as possible but at the same time not upset someone or delay them for prayers. So it’s getting that, ‘Oh, I just need five minutes, then you can dash in.’

In the 1990s Jamil’s work, East End of Islam, gave an unprecedented view into the sacred space of London’s Muslim community, with stunning black and white stills showing prayer at the East London Mosque.
Nowadays he says, media coverage is more common with larger mosques having media-trained staff to accommodate requests.
‘Even though we were on the street we did approach the [Mosque] management committee for permission and also asked Imams to be involved. When passersby saw the Imams being photographed it eased their reservations,’ says Jamil.
Jummah Aesthetics features photos of men from African, Caribbean, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian, and Afghan backgrounds outside East London Mosque, Brick Lane Mosque, Al-Houd and Shoreditch mosques.
‘Traditionally for Asian men, they would wear a Shalwar Kameez or Kurta—which is a long shirt with either baggy or drainpipe-style trousers.
But there’s been an increase in Muslim men wearing more of a Middle Eastern type of dress, the thobe which is a long white shirt, that goes right down to your feet.
Even though they didn’t come from a Middle Eastern or Arab background, a lot of people said, “This is what the Prophet wore, and this is what we choose to wear”. It’s more about being visually part of being a Muslim.’
African and particularly Somilan mosque-goers are often seen in shorter shirts that fall just below the waist, says Jamil. They are normally short-sleeved and can have beautiful intricate patterns stitched into the front of the shirt or bottom of the trousers.

The older generation shops locally for traditional items with younger people often opting for designer accessories.
“The younger generation follows what I call the ‘London look’—this combo of Arab-inspired style trainers, cross-body bags and expensive jackets”
REHAN JAMIL
‘The younger generation follows what I call the ‘London look’—this combo of Arab-inspired style with £150-200 Air Max trainers, cross-body bags and really expensive jackets that are sometimes too warm to wear. But it’s their style. They’re young, and they want to look good.’
‘I think men have started making an effort again. Fashion and style go in cycles, and I think we’re in a cycle where men are starting to look after themselves and brush up a bit.
I asked [a younger man], “What do you do to prep for Jummah prayers?” He said, “Well, the night before I make sure I get a proper trim and shape up my hair and beard. Then in the morning, I decide what I’m going to wear, depending on where I’m going after prayers.”
‘When someone like me questions them, they get to think, ‘Yeah, I am styling a particular look, even though I didn’t realize it.”

Jamil himself tends to opt for jeans and a polo shirt when he attends mosque. ‘I’m quite boring but I appreciate everyone making the effort. I’ll shower, have a haircut, cut my nails, wear clean clothes, and smell nice.’
The Portrait of Britain Prize is a huge win for the British-Pakistani photographer who has rarely submitted work since he started in the field 25 years ago.
‘When I was 16, the youth clubs didn’t allow you to go on go-karting and paintballing or cinemas in the evening unless you did something practical in the day. One of the things you could do was photography at Tower Hamlets College on Jubilee Street, which doesn’t exist anymore. I went along to that and I really enjoyed it so I applied to do the GCSE for photography.’
After college, Jamil struggled to get commercial work in newspapers and magazines.
“It wasn’t even about getting knockbacks—I couldn’t even get in the door. I think maybe I was a bit disillusioned with that end of the photography world and just carried on doing what I wanted to do on my own.’
He eventually broke in working his first job at the East End Enterprise—a business newspaper in Spitalfields while studying for photography at Tower Hamlets College, processing black-and-white film for the next day’s print.
Jamil speaks fondly of his early days as a photographer and cites lecturer Tony Lam as a driving force to encourage him to pursue photography.
“The way [Lam] did the workshop was interesting and fun and chilled out. He came from a similar background to us so he got us, and we got him.
“He’s now the head of photography at Kingston University, but he’s an East End geezer. I spoke to him two weeks ago and he sent me a picture of [my work] on the billboards in Kingston.”
Jamil is now a full-time photographer and has produced works documenting the East End since the 90s including portraits of late poet Benjamin Zephaniah and newsreader, John Snow.
Speaking of the portrait’s reception, Jamil says: ‘The most important thing is that Bodrul’s pleased with it. It was nice to see someone who’s a volunteer and doesn’t get paid for the work he does every week just be recognized for being a part of Britain.
He didn’t know it had been submitted until it won and was displayed on screens. He said he was getting loads of phone calls and messages and when I spoke to him last week at the mosque he whispered, “I feel famous.”’
Jamil has used his work over three decades to inspire conversations between people from different backgrounds in east London and he hopes that the image will inspire a better understanding between communities as well as within the Muslim male community.
Jummah Aesthetics is on display at Oxford House in Bethnal Green until 28 February 2025.
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