Shocking British Attitude to Islam & Muslims
Administrator on June 9th, 2010
Once again a negative picture of British attitudes to Islam has been painted by a recent online YouGov poll. The online YouGov poll was commissioned by the Exploring Islam Foundation as part of a campaign aimed at improving the image of Muslims in the UK. The poll reveals that most people in the UK associate Islam with extremism and the repression of women.
Although 60% of the interviewed admit to not knowing much about Islam but from this “not much” they believe the following:
Perception of Islam
- 69% believe that Islam encourages the repression of women
- 58% associate Islam with extremism
- 50% associate Islam with terrorism
- 13% associate Islam with peace
- 6% associate Islam with justice
- Only 16% think that Islam promotes fairness and equality
- Only 6% believe that Islam promotes active measures to protect the environment
- 41% disagree or strongly disagree that Muslims have a positive impact on British society
Sources of information on Islam
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57% obtain most of their information about Islam from the TV news
- 41% obtain their information about Islam from newspapers
- Just 3% get most of their information on Islam from Muslim organisations
- 31% feel that information about Islam is not very accessible
- 5% say that information is not accessible at all
Imam of Makkah Mosque, Qari Asim, said: “The findings of the survey are deeply concerning. They are not true reflection of what Islam stands for. The findings are based on the little information that the interviewees have about Islam and even that information, they acknowledge, is based on stories found in the media. Therefore I am not surprised that they have such negative image of Islam in their minds. Islam has been a part of British life for generations and British Muslims have made important contribution to the cultural economic and social well-being of the UK.”
“It is encouraging that 33% of the participants said that they would like to know more about Islam. It is now upon British Muslims to inform their fellow citizens about the true teachings of Islam and about the great personality of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). A good example of that can be found when Muslims of Leeds marked ‘Everybody Follow Muhammad Day’”.
“Everybody Follow Muhammad Day” campaign, led by Leeds Makkah Masjid, was based on inviting people of other faiths to try to do at least 5 things that the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessing of Allah be upon him) did in any given day to see how much mercy, love and affection he brought to the lives of those who he came in contact with him; how his each action was based on principles of mercy, justice, forgiveness, hope, moderation, generosity and respect for others; how he inspired people to be faithful law-abiding people, and peaceful citizens of the world; how he motivated people to work for the greater good of humanity. It was a very successful campaign and a number of people acknowledge that they had come to know more about Islam as a result of that campaign.
The YouGov survey reinforces the findings of the annual British Social attitudes survey published in January 2010 by the National Centre for Social Research. This survey was produced by leading academics from interviews with almost 5,000 people. It revealed that a majority of the Britons would be concerned if a mosque was built in their area, while only 15 per cent expressed similar qualms about the opening of a church.
It is concerning that surveys upon surveys overall find a high level of unease regarding the UK’s Muslim population, estimated at over two million, and majority of the people consider that British Muslims pose a threat to the nation’s identity. These surveys indicate very few people are negative about any other group on its own.
This online YouGov survey is also interesting given the British Muslims attitude to Britain. The finding of a survey, commissioned by Gallup and the Coexist Foundation, published around the same time last year, May 2009 revealed that that 77% of British Muslims identified with the UK, compared with 50% of the general public. Although the vast majority of British Muslims (82%) felt Muslims were loyal citizens, the general public remained suspicious of them. The survey also found that European Muslims felt far more isolated than those living in the United States and Canada.
The Exploring Islam Foundation hopes to challenge the negative views of the religion with its Inspired By Muhammad project. Posters of successful British Muslim professionals will appear on buses and the London Underground in an attempt to give a positive image of Islam and Muslim. The Inspired by Muhammad campaign is led by former MTV presented Kristiane Backer, who declares herself to be an ‘eco-Muslim’. She said Islam’s values were ‘universal’ and ’sit well with British values’.
Remona Aly, campaigns director for the Exploring Islam Foundation said “We want to foster a greater understanding of what British Muslims are about and our contribution to British society. We are proud of being British and being Muslim,” For further details, please see: http://www.inspiredbymuhammad.com/yougov.php
A workshop is being held at Leeds Makkah Mosque on Sunday 13 June at 2:30pm to discuss “Being a British Muslim: challenges and opportunties”. In the workshop a number of issues will be discussed, including Britons preception of Islam and British Muslims, extremism, radicalisation, Islamophobia, citizenship, media, victim and dominant mentality. For further details, please see the web post on: “British Muslims: challenges & opportunities”.
June 19th, 2010 at 7:13 pm
Free Our Schools
Almost all children now believe they go to school to pass exams. The idea that they may be there for an education is irrelevant. State schools have become exam factories, interested only in A to C Grades. They do not educate children. Exam results do not reflect a candidate’s innate ability. Employers have moaned for years that too many employees cannot read or write properly. According to a survey, school-leavers and even graduates lack basic literacy and numeracy skills. More and more companies are having to provide remedial training to new staff, who can’t write clear instructions, do simple maths, or solve problems. Both graduates and school-leavers were also criticised for their sloppy time-keeping, ignorance of basic customer service and lack of self-discipline.
Bilingual Muslims children have a right, as much as any other faith group, to be taught their culture, languages and faith alongside a mainstream curriculum. More faith schools will be opened under sweeping reforms of the education system in England. There is a dire need for the growth of state funded Muslim schools to meet the growing needs and demands of the Muslim parents and children. Now the time has come that parents and community should take over the running of their local schools. Parent-run schools will give the diversity, the choice and the competition that the wealthy have in the private sector. Parents can perform a better job than the Local Authority because parents have a genuine vested interest. The Local Authority simply cannot be trusted.
The British Government is planning to make it easier to schools to “opt out” from the Local Authorities. Muslim children in state schools feel isolated and confused about who they are. This can cause dissatisfaction and lead them into criminality, and the lack of a true understanding of Islam can ultimately make them more susceptible to the teachings of fundamentalists like Christians during the middle ages and Jews in recent times in Palestine. Fundamentalism is nothing to do with Islam and Muslim; you are either a Muslim or a non-Muslim.
There are hundreds of state primary and secondary schools where Muslim pupils are in majority. In my opinion all such schools may be opted out to become Muslim Academies. This mean the Muslim children will get a decent education. Muslim schools turned out balanced citizens, more tolerant of others and less likely to succumb to criminality or extremism. Muslim schools give young people confidence in who they are and an understanding of Islam’s teaching of tolerance and respect which prepares them for a positive and fulfilling role in society. Muslim schools are attractive to Muslim parents because they have better discipline and teaching Islamic values. Children like discipline, structure and boundaries. Bilingual Muslim children need Bilingual Muslim teachers as role models during their developmental periods, who understand their needs and demands.
None of the British Muslims convicted following the riots in Bradford and Oldham in 2001 or any of those linked to the London bombings had been to Islamic schools. An American Think Tank studied the educational back ground of 300 Jihadists; none of them were educated in Pakistani Madrasas. They were all Western educated by non-Muslim teachers. Bilingual Muslim children need bilingual Muslim teachers as role models. A Cambridge University study found that single-sex classes could make a big difference for boys. They perform better in single-sex classes. The research is promising because male students in the study saw noticeable gains in the grades. The study confirms the Islamic notion that academic achievement is better in single-sex classes.
Iftikhar AHmad
http://www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk