tag:theconversation.com,2011:/us/topics/british-muslims-19552/articlesBritish Muslims – The Conversation2024-03-08T16:20:11Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2251182024-03-08T16:20:11Z2024-03-08T16:20:11ZLabour’s Muslim vote: what the data so far says about the election risk of Keir Starmer’s Gaza position<p>According to the 2021 census, 6.5% of the population in England and Wales <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/religion/bulletins/religionenglandandwales/census2021">identify as Muslim</a>. In <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/constituency-data-religion/">Rochdale</a>, which has just elected George Galloway to be its MP, the proportion of the population identifying as Muslim is far higher – at 30.5%.</p>
<p>As is often the case in byelections, the turnout for the contest that elected Galloway was low. But Galloway received 12,335 votes in a constituency which contains 34,871 Muslims. His campaign focused almost entirely on the war in Gaza rather than local issues, and although we don’t know what proportion of his vote was Muslim, it is a fair assumption that a large percentage of it was.</p>
<p>The question in the wake of Galloway’s election (and one that the new MP is certainly encouraging) is whether this byelection has any implications for Labour in the general election taking place this year?</p>
<p>Keir Starmer has <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-68446423">argued</a> that Galloway won because the Labour candidate was sacked after repeating a conspiracy theory that Israel was behind the Hamas attack on October 7 last year. Galloway, by contrast, argues that his victory is a sign that voters are about to turn away from Labour in their droves because they are angry about its failure to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.</p>
<p>Which of them is right? </p>
<h2>The Muslim vote</h2>
<p>There are 20 constituencies in the UK that have an electorate comprised of more than 30% Muslims. All of them elected a Labour MP in 2019. At the top of the list is Birmingham Hodge Hill, where 62% of the population identifies as Muslim. </p>
<p>In Bradford West 59% of the population is Muslim, in Ilford South, 44%, and in Leicester South, 32%. Rochdale ranks 18th in the list of the 20 constituencies with the largest proportion of Muslim residents. Interestingly enough, just under 19% of the electorate in Holborn and St Pancras, Keir Starmer’s constituency, identifies as Muslim.</p>
<p>There are currently 199 Labour MPs in the House of Commons – a slight reduction from the 202 who were elected in 2019. A bare majority in the House of Commons requires 326 MPs and a working majority more like 346. The party clearly has a mountain to climb to achieve that, even with a lead of around <a href="https://www.politico.eu/europe-poll-of-polls/united-kingdom/#national-parliament-voting-intention">20% in current polls</a>.</p>
<p>So Starmer will certainly be asking whether Labour can still expect to win seats with a high proportion of Muslim voters in a way that it has done in the past, given what happened in Rochdale. He continues to equivocate over the deaths in Gaza and still follows the government’s line on the conflict, despite it being essentially a colonial war. </p>
<p>Historically, Labour has had a long tradition of anti-colonialism. After the second world war, it was a Labour government that began the process of de-colonisation in the British empire by giving independence to India in 1947.</p>
<h2>When is a safe seat not a safe seat?</h2>
<p>There is an argument that constituencies with a high proportion of Muslims are relatively safe Labour seats. This is evidenced by the fact that they remained in the Labour camp even when the party suffered a heavy defeat in 2019. The implication is that if anger over Gaza is confined to Muslims, then it is not going to affect the number of seats won by Labour very much.</p>
<p>However, concern about Gaza is shared by people other than Muslims. Polling from YouGov conducted last month shows that there has been a distinct shift in British public opinion about the war since it started. More people are calling for a ceasefire and fewer see Israel’s attacks on Gaza as being <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/politics/articles/48675-british-attitudes-to-the-israel-gaza-conflict-february-2024-update">justified</a>.</p>
<p>There is clear evidence that younger voters, in particular, feel <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/survey-results/daily/2024/02/12/4b134/1">more sympathy</a> towards the Palestinian cause than the rest of the population. This is also a group that heavily supported Labour in the 2019 election. While young people in this group are unlikely to switch to voting Conservative over Gaza, the concern for Labour will be that they might <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/search?q=Brexit+Britain">abstain</a> in the next election.</p>
<h2>How different religions vote</h2>
<p>Starmer’s reluctance to call out what is happening in Gaza is a puzzle, since Muslims are overwhelmingly Labour supporters. This can be seen in data from the <a href="https://www.britishelectionstudy.com/">British Election Study</a> online panel survey conducted after the 2019 general election. The chart shows the relationship between the religious affiliation of the respondents and their voting behaviour in that election.</p>
<p><strong>Religious Affiliation and Voting in the 2019 General Election:</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580681/original/file-20240308-26-9vs223.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A chart showing that support for Labour is far higher among Muslims than other religions." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580681/original/file-20240308-26-9vs223.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580681/original/file-20240308-26-9vs223.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580681/original/file-20240308-26-9vs223.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580681/original/file-20240308-26-9vs223.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=467&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580681/original/file-20240308-26-9vs223.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580681/original/file-20240308-26-9vs223.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/580681/original/file-20240308-26-9vs223.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=587&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How religious identity maps onto party preference.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">British Election Study</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The Church of England used to be described as the “Tory party at prayer” and it clearly remains so today, since 64% of Church of England identifiers supported the Conservatives compared to just 25% who supported Labour. </p>
<p>In contrast, Roman Catholics were marginally more Labour (42%) than Conservative (41%). Nonconformists were similar to Church of England identifiers with 48% Conservative and 25% Labour. Meanwhile, 43% of atheists and agnostics supported Labour and 34% the Conservatives.</p>
<p>Jewish voters favoured the Conservatives by a margin of 56% to 30% Labour. Finally, Muslim voters favoured Labour by a massive 80% compared with the Conservative’s 13%.</p>
<p>If anger over the Gaza war is confined to Muslims it is not likely to influence the outcome of this year’s election. But it is worth remembering that this is not the first time Labour has been damaged by events in the Middle East. </p>
<p>Support for Tony Blair was greatly weakened by his decision to invade Iraq in 2003 at the request of the then US president, George W. Bush. He has never really lived down the reputation he acquired for this mistake.</p>
<p>There is not yet evidence that Labour’s position on Gaza will cost it a majority in the election but the strength of feeling on this issue is growing and the future is not certain. With hundreds of additional seats needed, Starmer can’t afford to take any for granted. The risk of losing these voters to the Conservatives is marginal but the risk of losing them to apathy and disillusionment should have him reconsidering his position.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/225118/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Whiteley has received funding from the British Academy and the ESRC</span></em></p>Labour’s Muslim vote is concentrated in safe seats – but with an electoral mountain to climb, no contest can be taken for granted.Paul Whiteley, Professor, Department of Government, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2006642023-03-02T15:15:06Z2023-03-02T15:15:06ZPrevent review: why we need a new – and clearer – definition of Islamist extremism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512682/original/file-20230228-18-9x6pqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/blur-movement-city-people-worker-shopping-162803969">Alice-Photo/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>An independent review of the UK counter-terrorism strategy, Prevent, has recommended that the government increase its efforts to tackle Islamist extremism. </p>
<p>Prevent was launched nearly two decades ago to divert vulnerable people away from radicalisation and terrorism. It has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-both-sides-are-wrong-in-the-counter-extremism-debate-55714">controversial</a> from the outset, criticised by <a href="https://blogs.canterbury.ac.uk/expertcomment/the-prevent-strategy-is-fuelling-islamophobia-in-britain/">experts</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jan/30/home-office-threatened-with-libel-action-over-prevent-strategy-review">campaigners</a> alike for its tight focus on Islamist extremism in particular and the alleged targeting of Muslim communities in Britain this results in.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An aerial view of a mosque in a city centre." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512686/original/file-20230228-1260-ij47fe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512686/original/file-20230228-1260-ij47fe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512686/original/file-20230228-1260-ij47fe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512686/original/file-20230228-1260-ij47fe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512686/original/file-20230228-1260-ij47fe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512686/original/file-20230228-1260-ij47fe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512686/original/file-20230228-1260-ij47fe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A clearer definition of extremism would ensure better protection for Britain’s 4 million Muslims.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/peterborough-uk-september-10-2021-aerial-2041435607">Clare Louise Jackson/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>William Shawcross, a British journalist and current commissioner for public appointments, has conducted an independent review. In his 200-page report, he outlines how Prevent is not doing enough to counter non-violent Islamist extremism or to tackle organisations operating within the law and below the threshold of terrorism. </p>
<p>He also criticises “a double standard when dealing with the extreme right-wing and Islamism”. Prevent’s view of Islamist extremism, he says, is often too narrowly focused on banned terrorist organisations. Its view of extreme right wing, by contrast, is often too broadly focused on “mildly controversial” mainstream rightwing-leaning commentary. </p>
<p>One fundamental question this review poses is what exactly “Islamist extremism” is. This matters because many professionals (including teachers, lecturers, social workers, health workers and prison guards) are now legally obliged to watch out for it. <a href="https://www.icct.nl/publication/how-define-and-tackle-islamist-extremism-uk">Research</a> I have recently published with Maaha Elahi, a pupil barrister, shows that a clearer definition is possible.</p>
<h2>A new definition of “Islamist extremism”</h2>
<p>The UK government defines “extremism” as “vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs”. This general definition has <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-does-extremism-mean-the-british-public-arent-sure-120858">done little</a> to improve the public’s understanding or to clarify what might distinguish Islamist extremism from other forms.</p>
<p>According to Prevent: “Islamist extremists regard Western intervention in Muslim-majority countries as a ‘war with Islam’, creating a narrative of ‘them’ and ‘us’.” This ideology, the definition says, includes the uncompromising belief that people cannot be both Muslim and British. “Islamist extremists specifically attack the principles of civic participation and social cohesion,” it says. “These extremists purport to identify grievances to which terrorist organisations then claim to have a solution.”</p>
<p>The problem is that Prevent’s definition is rooted in the government’s favoured concept of “British values”. It says little about how extreme Islam differs from more mainstream forms of the religion. And it offers little practical guidance for the professionals now under a legal duty to be aware of terrorist risks. </p>
<p>To explore how this might be improved, we revisited the 2013 libel case brought by a London imam, Shakeel Begg, against the BBC. In a televised interview conducted by journalist Andrew Neil with the Muslim Council of Britain, Begg was described as an “extremist speaker” holding “extremist positions”. He subsequently sued the BBC. </p>
<p>In deciding Begg’s case, Lord Justice Haddon-Cave distinguished between extreme and mainstream forms of Islam. Among other expert sources, he relied on philosopher and sociologist of religion Matthew Wilkinson and his 2018 book, <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315514451">The Genealogy of Terror</a>, to set out ten indicators of what he termed “extremist Islamic positions”: </p>
<ol>
<li>Having a Manichean view of the world – a strict divide between “us” and “them” – including between the “right” and “wrong” kind of Muslim.</li>
<li>Reducing the idea of <em>jihad</em> to armed combat (or <em>qital</em>); the term can, in fact, also be translated simply as “striving”.</li>
<li>Ignoring the established Islamic doctrinal conditions for the declaration of <em>qital</em>, including support for terrorism.</li>
<li>Ignoring the Islamic regulations governing armed <em>jihad</em>, including attacks on civilians.</li>
<li>Advocating <em>qital</em> as a universal, individual religious obligation.</li>
<li>Interpreting sharia law to require breaking domestic (in our case, UK) law.</li>
<li>Classifying all non-Muslims as unbelievers (or <em>kuffar</em>).</li>
<li>Adhering to the extreme Salafist position that the Muslim faith negates and supersedes family, kinship and nation.</li>
<li>Citing or approving legal opinions (or <em>fatwa</em>) from Islamic scholars with extremist views.</li>
<li>Delivering or following teaching which encourages Muslims to engage in or support terrorism or violence in the name of Allah.</li>
</ol>
<p>This is helpful because it roots “Islamist extremism” in Islamic concepts, not British values. It reduces the risk of the British state implying that Islam stands apart from British society. According to UK <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/culturalidentity/religion/bulletins/religionenglandandwales/census2021">census</a> data from 2021, 6.5% of those living in England and Wales – nearly 4 million people – are Muslim. Following Haddon-Cave’s lead would enable the government to play a more active role in protecting mainstream Islamic values for these Muslim communities. </p>
<p>Further, Haddon-Cave’s checklist approach offers a more practical solution to some of the uncertainty people feel. It helps to communicate more clearly what is meant – and what is not – by the term “Islamist extremism”. </p>
<p>This will contribute towards more positive relations between, for example, the police and Muslim communities. <a href="http://atulgawande.com/book/the-checklist-manifesto/">Checklists</a> have a long history in both the engineering and medical professions. They are easy to use and, as our understanding develops, easy to adapt over time. Although not strictly a checklist, the most widely used definition of “<a href="https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definitions-charters/working-definition-antisemitism">antisemitism</a>”, for instance,
employs a working definition with a list of examples to help its users.</p>
<p>This checklist approach could also be easily adapted to other forms of extremism, from the far right to far left. The various properties of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/13569317.2018.1451227">rightwing</a> extremism that criminologist Elisabeth Carter identified in 2018 include authoritarianism, nationalism, racism, xenophobia and anti-democratic values. </p>
<p>Early definitions, for instance, of “rightwing extremism” often excluded populism because it was mainly considered a speech-writing style. As our understanding of it as a political ideology developed, later definitions included it. Carter’s study shows how a checklist could be adapted in line with such developments in our thinking. </p>
<p>There are differences of opinion over which is the more serious issue, Islamist or far-right extremism. Some point to the MI5’s annual threat update, in which Director General Ken McCallum <a href="https://www.mi5.gov.uk/news/director-general-ken-mccallum-gives-annual-threat-update">stated</a> that Islamist terrorism represent three-quarters of its terrorist caseload. Others highlight recent data – from <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/individuals-referred-to-and-supported-through-the-prevent-programme-april-2021-to-march-2022/individuals-referred-to-and-supported-through-the-prevent-programme-april-2021-to-march-2022">Prevent</a> itself – that shows that extreme rightwing cases (between April 2021 and March 2022) in fact outnumbered Islamist cases for the second year running.</p>
<p>Home Secretary Suella Braverman <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/independent-review-of-prevents-report-and-government-response/the-response-to-the-independent-review-of-prevent-accessible">has pledged</a> to fully implement the review’s recommendations. Campaigners, meanwhile, have <a href="https://www.preventwatch.org/shawcross-review-muslim-organisations-call-for-prevent-to-be-scrapped/">called</a> for Prevent to be scrapped. Either way, accurately defining and identifying extremism, in all its guises, remains crucial.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200664/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The research study reported here was not funded by a specific research grant. Maaha Elahi and Dr Julian Hargreaves are grateful for support from the Woolf Institute.
Dr Julian Hargreaves had an advisory role for the Commission for Countering Extremism and has offered academic advice to Counter Terrorism Policing.</span></em></p>Rooting the definition of ‘Islamist extremism’ in Islamic concepts, not British values, reduces the risk of the British state implying that Islam stands apart from British society.Julian Hargreaves, Director of Research at the Woolf Institute and Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Islamic Studies, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1508092020-11-26T11:59:35Z2020-11-26T11:59:35ZIPSO: press regulator’s ‘guidance’ for reporting on Muslims is not fit for purpose<p>It shouldn’t be controversial to say journalists have failed in reporting on Muslims and Islam in the UK. Inaccurate use of terms and frequently negative constructions can make the religion seem strange, dangerous, or simply not British. Scholars <a href="http://orca.cf.ac.uk/53005/">have shown how</a> journalists frequently associate Islam with terrorism and extremism. Though the news is often “bad”, it is exceptionally so when it concerns Muslims.</p>
<p>This is not a new phenomenon. Postcolonial literary critic Edward Said, writing about news coverage in the 1970s and 1980s, <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/159777/covering-islam-by-edward-w-said/">argued that</a> as far as most news reports are concerned: “Islam is a threat to Western civilisation.” This assessment came two decades before 9/11, which steeply ramped up the media interest in and suspicion of Muslims in the UK. </p>
<p>This has endured, leading to a double standard evident in the contrasting reporting of the murder of MP Jo Cox by a white man with far-right views, and that of soldier Lee Rigby. Cox’s killer was described as a <a href="https://www.pressreader.com/uk/daily-mail/20160617/281599534784997">“timid gardener”</a> while the men who killed Rigby were branded <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2329791/Blood-hands-hatred-inside-London-terror-suspect-obsessed-Islam-schoolboy.html">“Islamic fanatics”</a>.</p>
<p>For British Muslims, this has led to a feeling of unease in the country where they live and where most were born. Islamophobia monitoring group <a href="https://tellmamauk.org/">TellMAMA</a> has argued there is a link between <a href="https://tellmamauk.org/tell-mama-annual-report-2018-_-normalising-hate/">media narratives and hate crimes</a> in Britain. Individuals at the centre of high-profile news stories can lose <a href="https://pressgazette.co.uk/times-apologises-and-pays-libel-damages-to-imam-who-appeared-on-bbc-debate/">their reputations</a>, <a href="https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/governors-moseley-trojan-horse-school-9593307">their jobs</a>, or even <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/jun/11/shamima-begums-uk-citizenship-should-be-restored-court-told">their citizenship</a>.</p>
<p>Knowing this, scholars have advocated for improved reporting practices. Civil society groups <a href="https://cfmm.org.uk/">monitor the press</a> and can equip communities to <a href="https://www.mend.org.uk/resources-and-publications/media-toolkit/">manage press queries and complain about poor coverage</a>. But the private press isn’t answerable to such groups but to regulators. </p>
<p>The Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO) was created following the <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/leveson-2804">Leveson Inquiry</a> to replace the Press Complaints Commission. To the dismay of groups such as <a href="https://hackinginquiry.org/a-response-to-the-leveson-consultation-part-5-the-public-benefits-of-section-40/">victims’ rights advocates</a>, government regulation of the press was not adopted. </p>
<p>Instead, <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/medialse/2016/10/25/press-regulation-post-leveson-where-are-we-now/">a new voluntary regime was established</a>. News organisations chose their regulator, agreed to follow their code of practice, and faced penalties for breaches. IPSO was the biggest and, for critics, <a href="https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/medialse/2015/03/16/moses-theory-for-ipso-less-independence-not-more/">the friendliest to publishers</a>.</p>
<p>IPSO has just published its long-promised <a href="https://www.ipso.co.uk/member-publishers/guidance-for-journalists-and-editors/guidance-on-reporting-of-muslims-and-islam/">guidance for reporting on Muslims and Islam</a>. The document discusses how to apply the Editors’ Code of Practice to articles on these subjects, with a focus on accuracy and discrimination. </p>
<p>This effort has been mounting for a couple of years. In autumn 2018, I joined a working group that was consulted as IPSO drafted the guidance. I’ll keep the text of draft documents and group conversations confidential, as requested, but I will contrast the form I hoped the document would take with what was eventually published. </p>
<p>IPSO’s Code is what binds the members. Bespoke guidance doesn’t add to or supersede the code. Rather, it highlights with specific examples where journalists might trip up in reporting a complex, sensitive and newsworthy topic. For IPSO to provide guidance on Muslims and Islam is a sensible response to a social fact.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ruling-on-fatima-manji-is-further-proof-that-ipso-fails-as-a-press-regulator-64923">Ruling on Fatima Manji is further proof that IPSO fails as a press regulator</a>
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<p>But in September 2019, the thinktank Policy Exchange, which had obtained a copy of the guidance, <a href="https://policyexchange.org.uk/publication/eroding-the-free-press/">published a report</a> calling it an erosion of press freedom. IPSO <a href="https://www.ipso.co.uk/news-press-releases/news/responses-to-spectator-and-telegraph-articles-on-draft-guidance-on-reporting-of-islam/">defended its decision</a> to prepare guidance and rejected the claim it was setting new rules for reporting on Muslims.</p>
<p>But at that point, the work seemed to stop. IPSO had planned to publish its guidance in 2019. Instead, 2020 came with no further news. A new chair took over at the regulator. And of course, COVID-19 disrupted everything. Yet I believe the attack from Policy Exchange also disrupted this work, delaying it and contributing to a significantly different product. The “chilling effect” that Policy Exchange worried would bind journalists has instead bound the regulator.</p>
<h2>Toothless tiger</h2>
<p>The guidance provides basic demographic details on Muslims in Britain and explains key terms. It identifies questions for journalists to consider as they prepare their stories. This is welcome.</p>
<p>But it says little about sourcing practices, and given a lack of familiarity with Islam for both journalists and their readers, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0163443716686941">the choice of sources</a> has a big impact on the story. Journalists are reminded of diversity among Muslims and encouraged to consider a source’s track record in public statements. But the guidance doesn’t ask journalists to consider a source’s claim to authority or how representative their views might be – and these are essential questions for reporting a complex topic such as Islam.</p>
<p>What the guidance does offer, and in abundance, are soothing statements that journalists are free to write what they wish, so long as it’s accurate and doesn’t discriminate against an individual. The right to shock and offend is noted several times in different ways. Journalists are reminded that the code “does not prohibit prejudicial and pejorative references to a particular religion” and that they are free to publish comment and even conjecture – so long as it is distinguished from fact.</p>
<p>The substance of this is to say: “Don’t worry – you can still be nasty to Muslims in general.” And this has been baked into a document intended to provide guidance for what IPSO’s CEO <a href="https://www.ipso.co.uk/news-press-releases/news/responses-to-spectator-and-telegraph-articles-on-draft-guidance-on-reporting-of-islam/">Matt Tee described as</a> “local papers, often produced with a small, less experienced staff who may value such assistance”.</p>
<p>In his foreword to the Policy Exchange report, <a href="https://policyexchange.org.uk/author/trevor-phillips/">Sir Trevor Phillips</a> – a former journalist and chair of the Runnymede Trust when it prepared its <a href="https://www.runnymedetrust.org/companies/17/74/Islamophobia-A-Challenge-for-Us-All.html">1997 report on Islamophobia</a> – worries that IPSO “is well on the way to becoming a servant of a small, unrepresentative element of Muslim opinion”. </p>
<p>On the contrary, the regulator is once again behaving like the servant of private news organisations, taking pains to assure them they can continue the business-as-usual practice of reporting on Muslims. The kind of reporting that <a href="https://theconversation.com/ruling-on-fatima-manji-is-further-proof-that-ipso-fails-as-a-press-regulator-64923">left Channel 4 presenter Fatima Manji without satisfaction</a> when she complained about a column in The Sun she alleged was discriminatory.</p>
<p>Deference to the news industry is what led <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-17228561">to the abolition of the PCC</a> and was a key question for the Leveson Inquiry. Those reforms are still wanting – and wanted.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/150809/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Munnik receives funding from the Economic and Social Research Council. </span></em></p>Press reports about Islam have often been misleading or discriminatory. This new advice does little to help journalists avoid that.Michael Munnik, Lecturer in Social Science Theories and Methods, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1207052019-07-25T13:01:13Z2019-07-25T13:01:13ZIn the face of fear and loathing, many British Muslims feel they must play hide and seek with their identity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285694/original/file-20190725-136764-1bnib5d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C0%2C5889%2C4014&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/shoreditch-london-uk-january-11-2015-253878526">DrimaFilm/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Islamophobia is a form of prejudice that is not well understood. Instead it is often ignored and increasingly even undermined, such as through the argument that claims of Islamophobia are a threat to free speech, or hinder the prevention of crime. Terrorism is an oft-cited example, or more recently “<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-boyfriend-model-of-abuse-is-not-restricted-to-grooming-gangs-82599">Asian grooming gangs</a>”.</p>
<p>As it happens, when the <a href="https://appgbritishmuslims.org/">All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims</a> proposed a new definition of Islamophobia following almost two years of consultation, Theresa May’s government used these very same reasons to <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tory-islamophobia-definition-conservative-party-a8840531.html">kick it into the long grass</a>. </p>
<p>Free speech must not be used to justify bigotry, any more than a definition of Islamophobia must not prevent genuine criticism of the tenets and practices of Islam. The fear or dislike of all or most Muslims and therefore dread or hatred of Islam is what Muslims want tackled. </p>
<p>But, despite calls last year by the <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/05/1009542">UN Special Rapporteur on racism, xenophobia and intolerance</a> for the UK to “comprehensively” combat racism and bias, this seems as unlikely as ever. Many Muslims therefore avoid using the term Islamophobia altogether, treating it almost with as much caution as other words like shariah, jihad and fatwah that have become associated with past moments of conflict between Muslims and western society.</p>
<p>In fact some Muslims have gone much further, downplaying or hiding the Muslim aspects of their character in order to succeed or simply avoid hostility. At work, in universities, or on public transport, beards are shaved and hijabs removed or colourfully decorated to make them appear less stark.</p>
<p>In contrast there are other reactions, such as those Muslims who double-down in the face of hostility, finding inspiration from within their faith, however it is interpreted, and strength in numbers, seeking out and building upon each other’s support to succeed. </p>
<p>Downplaying one’s identity is known as “covering”: practised, consciously or otherwise, in order to more easily blend into the mainstream. It is not a truly free act. Neither is it peculiar to Muslims: minorities everywhere will recognise it. Through covering, names are changed or Anglicised and CVs are <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20608039">“whitened”</a>. So “Osama” becomes “Sammy”, and Sajid Javid, the Conservative MP who was the first Asian Home Secretary and is now the first Asian Chancellor of the Exchequer, thus believes in Allah but tells us that the <a href="https://www.sajidjavid.com/news/immigrants-must-learn-english-and-respect-our-country-and-laws-says-asian-toryv">only religion practised in his home is Christianity</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285690/original/file-20190725-136749-13s6chz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285690/original/file-20190725-136749-13s6chz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285690/original/file-20190725-136749-13s6chz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285690/original/file-20190725-136749-13s6chz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285690/original/file-20190725-136749-13s6chz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285690/original/file-20190725-136749-13s6chz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285690/original/file-20190725-136749-13s6chz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285690/original/file-20190725-136749-13s6chz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">For some British Muslims, wearing obvious symbols of their culture will be unremarkable (photo posed by model).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/portrait-british-muslim-woman-urban-environment-588834986">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These camouflaging manoeuvres are intended to go unnoticed. They may seem drastic, but the reality is that a job-seeker with an English-sounding name is <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-38751307">three times more likely</a> to receive an interview than an applicant with a Muslim name. Data collated by the <a href="https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmwomeq/562/562.pdf">Race Disparity Audit</a> reveals that almost <a href="https://www.mend.org.uk/news/findings-race-disparity-audit-call-action-racial-inequality-britain/">half of all Muslims live in the bottom 10%</a> of deprived districts in England and Wales. Despite higher rates of university participation and qualifications, Muslim women continue to have the <a href="https://www.runnymedetrust.org/projects-and-publications/parliament/appg-2/appg-inquiry.html">highest rates of unemployment</a>, and Muslims in employment experience the highest rates of in-work poverty, with persistently low wages.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285691/original/file-20190725-136737-1kt4xvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285691/original/file-20190725-136737-1kt4xvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285691/original/file-20190725-136737-1kt4xvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285691/original/file-20190725-136737-1kt4xvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285691/original/file-20190725-136737-1kt4xvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285691/original/file-20190725-136737-1kt4xvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285691/original/file-20190725-136737-1kt4xvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285691/original/file-20190725-136737-1kt4xvz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">But some British Muslims may feel the need to alter their appearance to blend in for fear of prejudice (photo posed by model).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/portrait-british-muslim-woman-urban-park-588826025">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While both the incoming Chancellor and Mayor of London are Muslim, it is rare to see British Muslims in positions of power and influence. The few that have managed to break the glass ceiling almost invariably find that to progress further they must be seen to take a hard-line stance against their fellow Muslims. Sajid Javid’s decision to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/19/isis-briton-shamima-begum-to-have-uk-citizenship-revoked">revoke the British citizenship of ISIS wife Shamima Begum</a> rather than to put her on trial in Britain is a case in point.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sajid-javid-and-the-complex-life-of-a-muslim-conservative-leadership-hopeful-118849">Sajid Javid and the complex life of a Muslim Conservative leadership hopeful</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<p>Another example is Javid’s refusal to back calls for an independent inquiry into accusations of Islamophobia in the Conservative Party. Having maintained this position for years, his recent decision to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/18/sajid-javid-puts-rivals-on-the-spot-over-tory-party-islamophobia">U-turn on this issue</a> during his ultimately unsuccessful Tory leadership bid suggests he has always known there is a case to answer, but chose his moment in such a way that it helped him position himself as the “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2019/jun/12/tory-leadership-boris-johnson-facing-fierce-criticism-because-of-his-huge-appeal-says-leading-supporter--live-news">change candidate</a>” among the contestants. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285695/original/file-20190725-136754-1sasdxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285695/original/file-20190725-136754-1sasdxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285695/original/file-20190725-136754-1sasdxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285695/original/file-20190725-136754-1sasdxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285695/original/file-20190725-136754-1sasdxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285695/original/file-20190725-136754-1sasdxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285695/original/file-20190725-136754-1sasdxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protests against Islamophobia such as this one in 2019 are less visible than the racism toward Muslims found in the media.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/1340569901">Andrius Kaziliunas/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since then a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jun/24/tory-members-would-not-want-muslim-prime-minister-islamophobia-survey">YouGov poll</a> has confirmed alarming bigotry within the Conservative Party, with nearly half of party members stating that they would not want a Muslim prime minister. It is telling that Boris Johnson, speaking to the BBC, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/jun/27/tory-islamophobia-inquiry-will-be-general-investigation-boris-johnson-sajid-javid">downgraded his promise</a> from an inquiry into Islamophobia to a “general investigation” into all types of prejudice. He is either unwilling to ruffle feathers among those that hold these bigoted views, or shares them himself.</p>
<p>Covering is about the management of self-image, and the key question is always the same: is success, however that is interpreted, at risk? Will the act of covering alienate one’s fellow Muslims, or a specific group such as Sunni, Shia, Salafi or Deobandi, or one’s family? Is the trade-off worth it to become a <a href="https://www.muppies.org/">“Muppie”, or Muslim urban professional</a>? In contrast, could disclosing Muslim heritage be advantageous? Each Muslim must assess the risk and weigh the gains and losses of their decision, mental arithmetic that is significant, challenging, and exhausting.</p>
<p>Anti-Muslim sentiment sadly remains widespread, as expressed by Conservative peer and British Muslim Baroness Warsi in 2011 when she said that Islamophobic comments passed the “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/jan/20/lady-warsi-islamophobia-muslims-prejudice">dinner table test</a>”. Until this is addressed, the practice of covering will continue to be part of the daily experience of many Muslims.</p>
<p>This reveals that it is still not easy being a British Muslim, despite equality and human rights legislation, and the claim that mutual respect for and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs or none are supposedly part of our cherished “British values”. There can be little improvement without a widely-agreed, accepted and enforced definition of Islamophobia adopted by the public, private and charitable sectors.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120705/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sham Qayyum does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Faced with open and hidden prejudice, some British Muslims downplay their difference in public in order to succeed.Sham Qayyum, Lecturer in Law, University of HertfordshireLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1172712019-05-17T13:22:15Z2019-05-17T13:22:15ZRamadan: how a new generation of British Muslims are becoming more green<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275121/original/file-20190517-69204-1iqly1t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An environmental demonstration by the MADE charity. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">William Barylo</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Muslims worldwide are about to enter the second half of Ramadan, a month widely known to the public as one for fasting. However, growing concerns around the environmental crisis and social struggles across the globe have lead Muslims to consider its deeper meaning. </p>
<p>For an increasing number of Muslims, Ramadan is interpreted as a time when they distance themselves from material needs, reconnect with nature and spirituality, acknowledge the suffering on the planet and challenge destructive behaviours. It is a time for resistance to consumerism and oppression.</p>
<p>In the UK, an increasing number of Muslims are becoming aware that consumer culture is <a href="http://muslimgirl.com/13149/consumerism-hijacking-ramadan/">hijacking Ramadan</a>. In 2018, brands unashamedly turned the sacred time of <a href="https://themuslimvibe.com/western-muslim-culture/fashion/what-we-can-learn-from-the-mac-suhoor-look-outrage"><em>suhoor</em></a> – the meal before dawn – into a party, and called for Ramadan to become <a href="http://istizada.com/blog/the-ultimate-ramadan-marketing-guide/">the equivalent of the Christmas season</a> in terms of its commercialism.</p>
<p>But my research shows that a powerful counter-narrative and a new <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Young-Muslim-Change-Makers-Grassroots-Charities-Rethinking-Modern-Societies/Barylo/p/book/9781138054158">generation of Muslim change makers</a> are on the rise across Europe. Young, skilled and highly motivated, volunteers from grassroots groups have been working to bring local solutions to their neighbourhoods: people who are feeding the homeless, setting up artists collectives and campaigning for the protection of the environment. </p>
<h2>Growing environmentalism</h2>
<p>In 2018, Muslims in London organised a “<a href="https://mvslim.com/london-muslims-organized-a-green-iftar-without-plastic-food-waste-or-meat/">Green Iftaar”</a> – the evening meal after sunset that breaks the daily fast during Ramadan – without plastic, food waste or meat. Muslims alongside groups of all faiths and none recently attended the <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/transformation/extinction-rebellion-and-new-visibility-religious-protest/">Extinction Rebellion</a> demonstrations in London, and in April, Britain’s first <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cambridgeshire-48044025">eco-Mosque opened in Cambridge</a>, aiming for no carbon emissions from the site and rainwater harvesting.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1106595478622400512"}"></div></p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.made.ngo/">Muslim Action for Development and the Environment</a>, or the MADE initiative, advocates for mosques to become eco-friendly, while the Herbal Blessing Clinic, organises well-being workshops in the English countryside to sensitise Muslims to the protection of the environment through the use of foraged local plants. </p>
<p>Both take their inspiration from the Quranic concept of <em>khilafa</em>: that the role of the human being is to be a steward, a source of mercy for the environment and the society. For these volunteers, my research has shown that Islam is much more than a religion. For them, being a “radical” Muslim is to practice environmental and social justice. Taking care of others and the planet are acts of worship.</p>
<p>Another example is <a href="https://www.rumis.org/">Rumi’s Cave</a>, a community hub in north London, which in 2019 is also hosting a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BxSaCUiAMmz/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link">Green Iftaar</a>. Small, flexible, innovative, small organisations such as Rumi’s are extremely attractive to young people looking for ways to get involved locally. </p>
<p>Organising regular soup kitchens, workshops and open-mics, Rumi’s Cave has been a pivotal cradle for the British Muslim activism and arts scene. At times when Muslims are increasingly targeted and excluded, Rumi’s is a space for healing, hope and self-love. It is one of the rare places where people have critical discussions about people’s responsibility towards making a better world.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275122/original/file-20190517-69174-1msv3fx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/275122/original/file-20190517-69174-1msv3fx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275122/original/file-20190517-69174-1msv3fx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275122/original/file-20190517-69174-1msv3fx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275122/original/file-20190517-69174-1msv3fx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275122/original/file-20190517-69174-1msv3fx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/275122/original/file-20190517-69174-1msv3fx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Open mic night at Rumi’s cave.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">William Barylo</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet, at the same time, Ramadan has become a race for money, when multi-million-pound mega-charities promise to exchange donations for <a href="https://www.academia.edu/27806173/Neo-liberal_Not-for-Profits_The_Embracing_of_Corporate_Culture_by_European_Muslim_Charities">tickets to Paradise</a>. Similarly, playing on the recommendation for people to wear their best clothes for Eid, the festival marking the end of Ramadan, Muslim social media “influencers” use this opportunity to <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=odaG2wgd8HI">showcase sponsored cosmetics</a>, some of which have scored poorly in <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-4471134/How-ethical-make-bag.html">ethical consumer rankings</a>.</p>
<p>However, these examples of Muslims being drawn into consumerism are only symptoms of a global neoliberal culture, built around a cult of performance, numbers, individualism and competition. </p>
<h2>A month for decolonising</h2>
<p>My interviews with young Muslims show that some understand consumerism to be only the tip of a greater iceberg of oppression. Society pushes minorities to adapt their culture, faith, ethics, looks and identity to conform to the dominant society. But these young activists argue that the branding around Ramadan reinforces the narrative that Muslims can only be accepted as a <a href="https://www.middleeasteye.net/opinion/what-amena-khans-apology-tells-us-about-limits-muslim-success">minority if they are consumers</a>. </p>
<p>A growing number of scholars and organisations emphasise that Islam, at its inception, has been a driving force for ending slavery, racial supremacy, oppression against women and class privilege. They argue that beyond the detoxification of the body, Ramadan should be a month for <a href="http://www.hatembazian.com/content/ramadan-a-de-colonial-centering-moment">decolonising the mind</a>. </p>
<p>Initiatives like Rumi’s are decolonial spaces par excellence. In a society ruled by individualism, instant gratification, conformity and materialism, they are spaces for the celebration of spirituality, conviviality, creativity and heritage. In a society that wins by making the weaker pessimistic, they are spaces for growth and self-determination. They are radical acts of optimism.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/263883/original/file-20190314-28475-1mzxjur.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=176&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/imagine-newsletter-researchers-think-of-a-world-with-climate-action-113443?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=Imagineheader1117271">Click here to subscribe to our climate action newsletter. Climate change is inevitable. Our response to it isn’t.</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117271/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>William Barylo receives funding from The British Academy. </span></em></p>For a growing number of Muslims, being ‘radical’ is to practice environmental and social justice.William Barylo, British Academy Research Fellow, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1076742019-04-01T14:02:10Z2019-04-01T14:02:10ZTea, chillies and takeaway: what food choices reveal about British Muslim identity<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266791/original/file-20190401-177178-1y8eq6f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Tastes change over generations. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/1307132521?size=medium_jpg">Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Food. We all need it and we all eat it. But what does it tell us about who we are? This was one of many questions I explored in recent <a href="https://www.academia.edu/35436083/PhD_thesis_sample_pages_">research</a> focused on the evolution of Muslim identity in the West. </p>
<p>Given that most British Muslims today are <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=NEMBAwAAQBAJ&pg=PR4&lpg=PR4&dq=Muslims+on+the+Map:+A+National+Survey+of+Social+Trends+in+Britain+(International+Library+of+Human+Geography)&source=bl&ots=udhTasf4QL&sig=ACfU3U2Y4eL6sZf6Fs7RxzDazihytJRVnQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjt-_2IrqXhAhVhqnEKHS1BDgQQ6AEwB3oECAYQAQ#v=onepage&q=Muslims%20on%20the%20Map%3A%20A%20National%20Survey%20of%20Social%20Trends%20in%20Britain%20(International%20Library%20of%20Human%20Geography)&f=false">either migrants or the children of migrants</a>, I wanted to understand how their identity changes, not just as it moves across continents, but also as it passes along generations. And so, along with other markers of cultural identity such as language and dress, I examined the types of food eaten by hundreds of respondents over 18 months of fieldwork conducted across the UK and Europe.</p>
<p>Take tea. It’s a straightforward beverage that’s ubiquitous in everyday British life. Yet how it’s brewed matters. South Asian culture, which encompasses around <a href="https://mcb.org.uk/report/british-muslims-in-numbers/">two-thirds of the British Muslim population</a>, frequently distinguishes between “Desi chai/tea” and “English tea”. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266418/original/file-20190328-139371-1avl3xh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266418/original/file-20190328-139371-1avl3xh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266418/original/file-20190328-139371-1avl3xh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266418/original/file-20190328-139371-1avl3xh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266418/original/file-20190328-139371-1avl3xh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266418/original/file-20190328-139371-1avl3xh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266418/original/file-20190328-139371-1avl3xh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Fancy a cuppa?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/chai-traditional-indian-tea-580567042">Wayne Dsouza/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Desi chai refers to equal amounts of milk and water boiled on a stove together with a teabag and sometimes flavoured with spices such as cinnamon, cardamom or ginger, whereas English tea refers to boiling water from a kettle poured onto a teabag usually with a splash of milk. First-generation South Asian migrants almost exclusively sip the former and, based on my research, often look askance at the latter. On one occasion, for example, I heard an elderly British Pakistani haughtily dismiss English tea as no more than “weak, flavoured water”. </p>
<p>Their offspring, on the other hand, <a href="https://www.desiblitz.com/content/desi-chai-vs-english-tea-the-better-brew">often drink both English as well as Desi chai</a> (or, as it’s sometimes called, “masala tea”) indicating the emergence of an ambidextrous cultural identity informed by ethnic roots as well as social context.</p>
<p>Let’s take another example. The Naga pepper, cultivated in Bangladesh, is one of the <a href="https://archive.is/20120721205335/http://www.chilipepper.com/ScovilleScale/tabid/59/Default.aspx">hottest chillies</a> in the world. Imran*, a young British-born Bangladeshi I interviewed, told me how a “chilli-eating competition” of sorts developed when an uncle visited his London home from Bangladesh. Both he and his father, who’d been resident in the UK for over two decades, felt obliged to participate in a display of bravado.</p>
<p>After two bites, Imran rushed from the room gulping copious amounts of milk to soothe his burning tongue. While his dad continued stoically on, tears streaming down his face, it was his Bangladeshi uncle who won the day. The implication in Imran’s story was that his family’s time in England had diminished their capacity to enjoy hot chillies – an important emblem of Bangladeshi culture. When visiting Bangladesh later that year, Imran recounted that the ladies of the village had mockingly called out: “As you’re from London, we’ll have to cook without chillies or you’ll start crying!” </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266419/original/file-20190328-139345-j0rwy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266419/original/file-20190328-139345-j0rwy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266419/original/file-20190328-139345-j0rwy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266419/original/file-20190328-139345-j0rwy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266419/original/file-20190328-139345-j0rwy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266419/original/file-20190328-139345-j0rwy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266419/original/file-20190328-139345-j0rwy0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Too hot to handle.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/219646189?size=medium_jpg">Julie Clopper/Shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<h2>The sociology of the palate</h2>
<p>In 1979, the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu famously <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Distinction.html?id=nVaS6gS9Jz4C&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">argued</a> that dominant social groups bolster their “cultural capital” by defining their tastes in opposition to the perceived uncouthness of the hoi polloi. In other words, Bourdieu argued that snobbery is socially constructed. </p>
<p>In my own analysis, I’ve introduced a new twist on his use of the word “taste” by defining it literally – with reference to the flavours felt in the mouth. Just as people’s aesthetic or artistic preferences are determined in no small measure by social factors, so too are the proclivities of their gustatory glands. In other words, socialisation has a physiological dimension. I call this the sociology of the palate.</p>
<p>During my research, it quickly became possible to distinguish between the tastes of first-generation migrants and their British-born offspring. So pronounced did this difference become, I named it the distinction between the “old guard” and the “avant-garde”. To illustrate with a generalisation: the old guard, I found, prefer oily curries and chapattis, while the avant-garde have a penchant for takeaways or other quick and easy foods such as noodles. On one occasion, I recall observing a group of young Muslims gaze in bewilderment at an elderly Indian “uncle” as he tore up a slice of pizza and dipped the pieces in his lamb karahi like naan bread.</p>
<h2>Food and shifting identities</h2>
<p>Food, as the researchers Atsuko Ichijo and Ronald Ranta point out in a fascinating <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Food_National_Identity_and_Nationalism.html?id=OBveCgAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description&redir_esc=y">recent study</a>, is also a symbol of national identity. Haggis, for example, often conjures images of kilts and tartan while hummus evokes Middle Eastern exoticism. Yet in 2001, the former British foreign secretary, Robin Cook, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/apr/19/race.britishidentity">claimed that chicken tikka masala</a> is not just the most popular but also “now a true British national dish” – winning its place alongside older classics such as bangers and mash, Yorkshire pudding or fish and chips. This tells us that even national identity, far from being static and inflexible, is a moveable feast. Human palates – and the identities they signify – evolve, chameleon-like, to reflect changing social and cultural conditions often brought into sharp relief by migration. </p>
<p>Let’s return to Imran, the young British-born Muslim of Bangladeshi origin. Growing up, he told me he despised the overpowering smell of <a href="https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/blink/takeaway/ive-got-some-fish-to-dry/article9429104.ece"><em>shutki</em></a> in his home – a type of dried fish popular in Bangladeshi cuisine. But several events in his teenage years triggered an introspective journey in which he reassessed his relationship with both his faith and ethnic culture. To the delight of family elders, he began during this period not only to pray regularly but also to eat <em>shutki</em>. For Imran, this was a conscious choice to signal a reaffirmation of his Bangladeshi Muslim heritage. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266515/original/file-20190329-70996-1otdozi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/266515/original/file-20190329-70996-1otdozi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266515/original/file-20190329-70996-1otdozi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266515/original/file-20190329-70996-1otdozi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266515/original/file-20190329-70996-1otdozi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266515/original/file-20190329-70996-1otdozi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/266515/original/file-20190329-70996-1otdozi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Dried fish: sparking a journey of introspection.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/dried-fish-rangamati-market-bangladesh-1205554279">Leonardo Martin/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>Muaaz, another British-born Muslim of Bangladeshi ancestry I interviewed, had a different relationship with food. During the course of a religious retreat I undertook with him, he served an Italian bolognese proudly declaring he’d cooked it without using a single Asian spice. For Muaaz, unlike Imran, this was a conscious choice to signal a shift from an old continent to a new one. Both Imran and Muaaz are committed Muslims, but the practice of their faith went hand-in-hand with different forms of cultural expression.</p>
<p>The type of food dished up on a plate can tell us more than just the culinary preferences of the diner then. It can offer a window into human identity. And as the type of food on the plate changes – both as it shifts across continents and moves along generations – it’s a reminder that identity is never fixed, but subject to the constant pushes and tugs exerted by the forces of society and culture.</p>
<p><em>* Names have been changed to protect the anonymity of the interviewees.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107674/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The research on which this article is based was generously funded by the Jameel Scholarship Programme.</span></em></p>How tastes differ between first-generation migrants and their British-born offspring.Riyaz Timol, Research Associate in British Muslim Studies, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1060922019-02-21T12:13:17Z2019-02-21T12:13:17ZHow to tackle Islamophobia – the best strategies from around Europe<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/259604/original/file-20190218-56240-16co5g7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A need for different narratives. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/muslim-female-friends-using-mobile-phone-588853601?src=QEqjesdcdpYqU-EhuCQr7w-1-1">Monkey Business Images/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>A growing body of research points to the proliferation of Islamophobia <a href="http://islamophobiaeurope.com">across Europe</a> in recent years. In the UK, record numbers of Islamophobic hate crimes <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jul/20/record-number-anti-muslim-attacks-reported-uk-2017">were recorded in 2017</a>, and <a href="http://hatecrime.osce.org/">across the continent</a> there have been similar findings on the growth of explicit Islamophobia. </p>
<p>In a new, pan-European <a href="http://cik.leeds.ac.uk">research project</a>, my colleagues and I set about to devise a <a href="https://cik.leeds.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/36/2018/09/2018.09.17-Job-44240.01-CIK-Final-Booklet.pdf">toolkit</a> that can be used to counter Islamophobia. It summarises a range of the best methods and tools we saw being used to challenge Islamophobic thought and actions in Europe.</p>
<p>In any discussion about Islamphobia, a definition is required that acknowledges both direct forms of Islamophobic discrimination and also its more subtle, nuanced manifestations. A <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/599c3d2febbd1a90cffdd8a9/t/5bfd1ea3352f531a6170ceee/1543315109493/Islamophobia+Defined.pdf">definition</a> published by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims in November 2018, which states “Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness” does precisely this and is a useful starting point.</p>
<p>In our research, we began by examining the most common Islamophobic ideas that circulated in eight countries: France, Belgium, Germany, the UK, Czech Republic, Hungary, Greece and Portugal. While the language and rhetoric of Islamophobia differed in each, we found much of it perceived Muslims, Islamic practices and sites, such as mosques or community centres, as inherently violent, threatening and incompatible with the view of a European way of life. For example, in France, wearing the headscarf and being visibly Muslim is viewed by some as being <a href="http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualite-france/2018/07/27/01016-20180727ARTFIG00053-l-affaire-des-foulards-de-creil-la-republique-laique-face-au-voile-islamique.php">against French secular values</a> and by extension contrary to being French.</p>
<p>We found many examples of good practice when counteracting Islamophobia. For example, <a href="https://salaamshalom.org.uk/">interfaith projects</a> in Germany highlighted conviviality and cultural compatibility between Muslims and non-Muslims. </p>
<p>Art was also used in a number of cases, including Belgium and the UK, to challenge Islamophobic ideas. The <a href="http://tuffix.net/">Tuffix</a> comic strips by German artist Soufeina, and the 2017 British film, <a href="http://arakancreative.co.uk/freesia-film/">Freesia</a>, highlight the contribution of Muslims in society, and the issues many Muslims face as a result of Islamophobia. </p>
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<h2>Another narrative</h2>
<p>Based on our analysis, our toolkit highlighted some specific strategies that work to counter Islamophobia. Since a great deal of Islamophobia is based on the notion that Muslims threaten the European way of life, values and culture, one way to challenge these ideas is to highlight the many everyday roles Muslims occupy in society. And since we found that Islamophobic perceptions are often based on the idea that Islam and Muslims are sexist, projects that champion Muslim women, their work and their voices will go some way towards breaking down these preconceptions. </p>
<p>Muslim women are <a href="http://ccib-ctib.be/wp-content/uploads/CCIB_PUBLIC_PDF_RapportChiffresCCIB/CCIB_RapportChiffres2017_Septembre2018.pdf">disproportionately affected by Islamophobia</a>. They are not only seen as a threat to the West, but they are also paradoxically portrayed as victims of an alleged Islamic sexism. These contorted ideas must be overturned with new narratives, led by Muslim women themselves, presented via art, media and popular culture, to portray the diversity of their lives. </p>
<p>Islamophobia needs to be properly recorded to assess the scope and nature of the phenomenon, and the narratives and flawed logic used in Islamophobic attacks must be effectively deconstructed and challenged. Where misinformed narratives concerning Islam and Muslims circulate these must be broken down. A reconstruction of mainstream ideas surrounding Islam and Muslims is needed, one that is closer to the realities of the faith and its practice. This means that dominant ideas about Muslims and Islam that circulate in popular culture should reflect the diverse everyday experiences of Muslims and their faith. </p>
<p>All this amounts to a four-step approach: first defining, and second documenting Islamophobia, next deconstructing its narratives, and then reconstructing new positive and realistic narratives around Muslims. </p>
<p>Such an approach moves away from misinformed and often reactionary counter-Islamophobia strategies, such as the way Muslims repeatedly condemn terror attacks and seek to dissociate such acts from Islam. In doing so, they often find <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/shortcuts/2017/mar/26/muslims-condemn-terrorism-stats">their comments fall on deaf ears</a> and instead risk contributing to associations between Muslims and violence. </p>
<p>The ultimate goal in countering Islamophobia should be to create a fair and just society for all, one that values and safeguards the citizenship of its members.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106092/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The Counter-Islamophobia Kit project is funded by the European Commission's Rights, Equality and Citizenship programme (JUST/2015/RRAC/AG/BEST/8910) </span></em></p>Researchers have put together a toolkit for countering Islamophobia.Amina Easat-Daas, Researcher, Centre for Ethnicity and Racism Studies, University of LeedsLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1087792018-12-18T11:09:26Z2018-12-18T11:09:26ZPrevent counter-terrorism strategy remains unfair on British Muslims, despite Home Office efforts<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/250956/original/file-20181217-185234-1kokniw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/londonenglandunited-kingdom-09152017-diverse-group-visitors-1148795042?src=2o5HqK8a7qDRSKJwmHlf4w-1-19">Sharkshock/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Home Office responded to <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/anti-terror-prevent-programme-controversial/">concerns</a> over the effectiveness, legitimacy and transparency of its controversial counter-terrorism strategy, Prevent, by making fresh data available for public scrutiny in mid December. The <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/763254/individuals-referred-supported-prevent-programme-apr2017-mar2018-hosb3118.pdf">figures</a> reveal 7,318 people were referred to Prevent in the year to April 2018, compared to 6,093 the previous year. </p>
<p>Amid allegations that the counter-terrorism strategy discriminates against British Muslim communities, the Home Office data highlight a more balanced approach to Islamist and right-wing extremism, although evidence of disproportionate targeting remains.</p>
<p>The Prevent programme aims to safeguard people from becoming terrorists or supporting terrorism. Many workers in the public sector are under <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-duty-guidance">a legal duty</a> to have “due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism”. Concerns can be reported to a local authority or the police. Some of those <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-happens-to-people-who-are-suspected-of-being-radicalised-53652">perceived as being at risk are offered</a> mentoring, life skills training, or anger management sessions delivered through the Home Office’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/channel-guidance">Channel programme</a>, after discussion by what’s called a Channel panel. Some vulnerable individuals are sent to non-Prevent services, such as in education or health, or are referred back to the police. Others – the vast majority of referrals – face no further action.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/by-casting-teachers-as-informants-british-counter-extremism-policy-is-promoting-violence-85474">By casting teachers as informants, British counter-extremism policy is promoting violence</a>
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<h2>New ‘mixed or unstable ideology’ category</h2>
<p>The Home Office links the 20% increase in Prevent referrals between the years to April 2017 and April 2018 to the recent terrorist attacks in London and Manchester. Against this backdrop, and ongoing criticisms, it offers evidence that Prevent is improving, in particular achieving a better balance between Islamist extremism and far-right cases. </p>
<p>While such assertions are unlikely to persuade ardent anti-Prevent campaigners, the Home Office deserves some cautious praise. The publication of detailed information about Prevent referrals going back to 2015 is an admirable step forward. It repairs a sizeable gap in public evidence and is capable of allaying public misgivings.</p>
<p>The published figures also suggest the Home Office has developed more sophisticated methods of categorising risk. This has implications for improving relations with British Muslim communities. Previously, the Home Office relied on four categories of concern: “Islamist extremism”, “right-wing extremism”, “other extremism” and “unspecified”. Now a new category has been created: “mixed, unstable, or unclear ideology”. This increased willingness to consider disparate or uncertain motivations coincides with a reduction in the proportion of Islamic extremism referrals – down from 61% in 2016-17 to 44% in 2017-18 – and offers the grounds for tentative optimism.</p>
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<p>The Home Office is also keen to point out that, for the first time, a similar number of people received Channel support for concerns relating to Islamist and right wing extremism – 179 and 174 respectively. It reports that those referrals discussed by a Channel panel relating to right-wing extremism “were proportionately more likely” to receive Channel support than those relating to Islamist extremism – 41% compared to 27%. </p>
<p>But this isn’t quite enough evidence to quash allegations made about the unfair targeting of British Muslim communities. In 2017-18, 3,197 referrals for concerns related to Islamist extremism resulted in 179 individuals receiving Channel support, but only 1,312 right-wing extremism referrals were needed to identify 174 individuals.</p>
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<p>Thinking about the communities at risk from Islamic and right-wing extremism, the figures reveal that many more Muslims are engaged by the Home Office than non-Muslims, despite the fact that only a small number from each group require counter-terrorism support. This difference suggests the excessive targeting of Muslims. The Home Office should be congratulated for moving in the right direction, but further work is required to flatten discrepancies and help alleviate grievances.</p>
<h2>A stubbornly blunt instrument</h2>
<p>Another area of concern is the low proportion of overall Prevent referrals that result in the provision of Channel support. Of the 7,318 people referred in 2017-18, only 394 received support from the Channel programme. This means a whopping 95% of individuals referred to Prevent required no further action, were signposted to non-Prevent services, or were referred to Channel but not placed on a programme of support.</p>
<p>Figures from the two previous years demonstrate the stubborn persistence of this 95% statistic and raise serious questions about the precision of Prevent as a tool to measure terrorism risk. </p>
<p>Terrorism policies are often highly contentious and fragile community relations are damaged easily by perceptions of state discrimination. So it’s imperative to design Prevent interventions that have high rates of sensitivity and specificity, such as the ability to correctly identify who does and who doesn’t need support. </p>
<p>The extremely low number of people engaged in Islamist terrorism, particularly when compared to the overall size of the British Muslim population, will always produce systematic detection errors. That said, the Home Office would be well-advised to address the messy nature of the Prevent referrals process so that it identifies more people who need Channel support and fewer who don’t.</p>
<p>While a full-scale review of Prevent is now well overdue, the Home Office has demonstrated a commendable willingness to engage with criticism. Any increases in transparency and accountability should be welcomed, but the Home Office should continue to refine and improve its counter-terrorism strategies.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/108779/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julian Hargreaves does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Despite the publication of promising new statistics on referrals to the Prevent counter-terrorism programme, the strategy remains a blunt instrument.Julian Hargreaves, Research Fellow at the Woolf Institute and Research Associate at St Edmund's College, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1017682018-12-10T16:33:19Z2018-12-10T16:33:19ZIslamophobia and media stigma is having real effects on Muslim mothers in maternity services<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248687/original/file-20181204-126662-flk0fp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4256%2C2828&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Many Muslim women say prejudice stops them from talking about their religion with healthcare staff.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Negative portrayals of Islam and Muslims <a href="https://www.pressgazette.co.uk/dossier-of-20-inaccurate-uk-news-stories-about-muslims-revealed-with-warning-coverage-fuels-the-far-right/">are everywhere</a>. You don’t have to look far to find <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/darren-osborne-islamophobia-in-uk-media_us_594982bee4b00cdb99cb01b9">stigmatising, offensive and biased news reports</a> – all of which significantly <a href="https://theconversation.com/eight-ways-that-islamophobia-operates-in-everyday-life-64444">impact how Muslims generally see the world</a> they live in. </p>
<p>These experiences <a href="https://theconversation.com/university-can-feel-like-a-hostile-place-to-muslim-students-74385">influence Muslim people’s day-to-day lives</a> – and can play a role in how Muslim people conduct themselves on a daily basis. In my <a href="http://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/7412/7/2017ShaimaHassanPhD.pdf">PhD study</a>, I looked at the experiences of Muslim women engaging with UK maternity services. What I found was that Muslim women lacked confidence in discussing their concerns. Most specifically health concerns related to religious practices, such as fasting or wanting to see a female doctor.</p>
<p>The ladies I spoke to felt reluctant to ask healthcare professionals questions related to their religious needs. As one participant explained:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I could not say I am fasting which sounds extreme. Honestly, people just hear the word fasting and they think that you are so extreme.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The anticipation of healthcare professionals not having a positive opinion of them being Muslim women in general and of their religion as a whole was strongly felt among most Muslim women in the study. </p>
<p>This anticipation was not specifically an outcome of a negative encounter during their care, but was associated with the women’s concerns of Western media portrayal of Islam and Western attitudes towards Muslims in general.</p>
<h2>Stigmatisation</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1369183X.2014.1002200">Research has shown</a> how the representation of Muslims in Western media became significantly more negative following the events of 9/11. Over this period the British press has often used a <a href="https://eclass.upatras.gr/modules/document/file.php/PDE1357/Media%20%26%20Islamophobia.pdf">negative tone in presenting British Muslims</a>, which makes them seen as an “alien other” within British society. This negative tone has only become worse with the dramatically increased coverage of radical groups such as Daesh. </p>
<p>Often the media makes distinctions between the actions of radical Muslims and the beliefs and actions of “mainstream” or “moderate” Muslims. Making it sound like there are “good” and “bad” Muslims. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248702/original/file-20181204-34131-13qdunk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/248702/original/file-20181204-34131-13qdunk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248702/original/file-20181204-34131-13qdunk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248702/original/file-20181204-34131-13qdunk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248702/original/file-20181204-34131-13qdunk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248702/original/file-20181204-34131-13qdunk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/248702/original/file-20181204-34131-13qdunk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Many of the Muslim women spoke of wanting to hide aspects of their religion.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>Muslim women, in particular, are often portrayed as <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261708841_Discourse_Analysis_and_Media_Attitudes_The_Representation_of_Islam_in_the_British_Press_1998-2009">victims and oppressed</a>. There is often a greater focus on their outer appearances. This is especially true for Muslim women who wear the face veil (burqa, also known as a niqab), which has long been portrayed as a symbol of oppression. The burqa has become a hot topic of debate in politics, arts and literature, <a href="https://www.ksk.edu.ee/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/KVUOA_Toimetised_14_8_eero_janson.pdf">even though it is estimated</a> that 90% of Muslim women in the world do not wear the Burqa – even in most Muslim countries.</p>
<p>Debates and policy in Europe about banning or <a href="https://www.ksk.edu.ee/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/KVUOA_Toimetised_14_8_eero_janson.pdf">regulating wearing the veil</a> contribute to the assumptions that if Muslim women wearing Islamic garments had a choice, they would not wear headscarves, burqa or any such clothing. Because of this rhetoric, it is often believed that Muslim women are oppressed and need to be saved. </p>
<h2>‘Oppressed, young and married’</h2>
<p>It is because of <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00313220903109326">such assumptions</a>, that the Muslim women in the study, believe healthcare professionals would also have similar beliefs – as one of the participants in the study explained: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>They think that we are oppressed, young and married, and all these things they have about us that is negative.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>For Muslim women this was not the image they want be identified with. They spoke of wanting to negate such representation created by Western media – but by doing so, feared they would be judged and misunderstood. </p>
<p>Most of the women in our study felt that they had to explain themselves every time their religion was mentioned. So rather than just asking for what they need, they felt the need to explain why they want to be seen to by a female healthcare professional or why they would like their curtains to be closed in the ward or why they cannot have medication that doesn’t meet their dietary requirements.</p>
<h2>Avoiding the issue</h2>
<p>Some white British women who became Muslim even felt the need to explain that being Muslim was their choice – mainly to ensure healthcare professionals didn’t make the assumption they had been forced into religion. </p>
<p>As for others, they felt that doctors and nurses wouldn’t understand or acknowledge their religious needs. So they would avoid discussing them freely – even though they wanted a doctor’s or midwife’s opinion on certain religious practices during pregnancy. One of the ladies we spoke to explained how she felt the need to hide why she needed to change her appointment: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I phoned up to change my appointment so it could be before the start of Ramadan. When I was asked the reason for me changing the appointment, I could not say that ‘I will be fasting for Ramadan’ so I just said that I will be travelling out of the country. </p>
<p>I think people do not understand actually how important our religion is to us … I feel we are forced to hide certain things to make it easier for people not to think our religion is demanding. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>What all this shows is that there is a real risk of depriving Muslim women access to the care they need. Muslim women need to feel safe to express their needs in health environments. And this means healthcare professionals need to be aware of how Muslim women may feel, and their fears around speaking out. </p>
<p>Without this awareness, Muslim women will continue to go through the routine notions of engaging with healthcare services without getting optimal care that acknowledges their needs. And in the case of pregnant women, this could easily impact upon the health of both mother and baby.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/101768/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR)
Collaboration for Leadership in Applied Health Research and Care North
West Coast (NIHR CLAHRC NWC). The views expressed are those of the authors and not necessarily those of
the NHS, NIHR or Department of Health and Social Care. </span></em></p>Muslim women in the UK don’t feel able to discuss their healthcare needs because of fears of islamaphobia.Shaima Hassan, Research Associate , University of LiverpoolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1076572018-11-27T14:08:04Z2018-11-27T14:08:04ZWhy UK’s working definition of Islamophobia as a ‘type of racism’ is a historic step<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/247491/original/file-20181127-76752-8f00wr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">MPs have suggested a working definition of Islamophobia for the first time. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-uk-21st-january-2017-editorial-561519121?src=HEfZ2uXmTyjHX8SE6UqQsg-1-13">John Gomez/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The <a href="https://appgbritishmuslims.org/">All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on British Muslims</a> has made history by putting forward the first working definition of Islamophobia in the UK. Its report, <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/599c3d2febbd1a90cffdd8a9/t/5bfd1ea3352f531a6170ceee/1543315109493/Islamophobia+Defined.pdf">Islamophobia Defined</a>, states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Islamophobia is rooted in racism and is a type of racism that targets expressions of Muslimness or perceived Muslimness.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The culmination of almost two years of consultation and evidence gathering, the definition takes into account the views of different organisations, politicians, faith leaders, academics and communities from across the country. It also takes into account the views of victims of hate crime.</p>
<p>Islamophobia is still a relatively new word which entered the public and political lexicon <a href="https://www.runnymedetrust.org/uploads/publications/pdfs/islamophobia.pdf">little more than two decades ago</a>. Yet, the <a href="https://wallscometumblingdown.files.wordpress.com/2012/10/chrisallen-written-evidence-appg-launch-nov-2011.pdf">process</a> of establishing a working definition of Islamophobia has been <a href="https://www.runnymedetrust.org/uploads/Islamophobia%20Report%202018%20FINAL.pdf">ongoing</a> and one that <a href="https://wallscometumblingdown.files.wordpress.com/2018/01/paper-7-towards-a-definition-of-islamophobia-briefing-paper-october-20171.pdf">I have contributed to</a> in various different ways. </p>
<p>In the hope of bringing about a more consistent and coherent approach to tackling Islamophobia, the drive for a working definition has been underpinned both by the need to help people better understand what Islamophobia is and isn’t, and also to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/jul/20/record-number-anti-muslim-attacks-reported-uk-2017">record levels of Islamophobic hate crime</a>.</p>
<p>For detractors however, Islamophobia is a problem for a number of reasons. Some, such as the writer Melanie Philips claim that Islamophobia just does not exist, that it is a mere <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/islamophobia-is-a-fiction-to-shut-down-debate-wwtzggnc7">“fiction”</a>. Yet data on hate crimes against Muslims from the <a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/revealed-antimuslim-hate-crimes-in-london-soared-by-40-in-a-year-a3775751.html">Metropolitan Police</a> and <a href="https://tellmamauk.org/tell-mamas-annual-report-for-2017-shows-highest-number-of-anti-muslim-incidents/">Tell MAMA</a> among others render such claims wholly unfounded. </p>
<p>Others such as the <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/news/thebirminghambrief/items/2011/01/islamophobia-chris-allen-210111.aspx">Quilliam Foundation</a> find the term problematic, suggesting that it shuts down debate. At the most extreme, commentators such as <a href="https://medium.com/@mail.chrisallen/a-summer-of-islamophobia-considerations-of-the-lessons-learned-9d7b85b05014">Rod Liddle</a> claim there just isn’t enough Islamophobia. </p>
<h2>Comparisons with racism</h2>
<p>Irrespective of whether the new working definition of Islamophobia has the potential to counter these narratives, it has much to offer. Short and accessible, the new definition is neither too complex nor overly academic, which maximises its potential appeal to both public and political audiences. </p>
<p>Aligning Islamophobia with racism is also likely to be helpful, because people intuitively “get” racism, and the majority deem it to be unwanted and unnecessary in today’s Britain. The same needs to be true for Islamophobia where people “get” that <a href="https://wallscometumblingdown.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/chris-allen-visible-muslim-women-british-case-study-october-2014-brill-muslims-in-europe.pdf">a Muslim woman being physically assaulted</a> is equally unwanted and unnecessary. </p>
<p>Drawing comparisons with racism does have the potential for some confusion, not least in conflating religion with “race”. While religion has the potential to be changed and chosen, race is largely fixed and unchanging. This means it will be important to explain clearly that the comparison with racism is made to highlight similarities between the functions and processes of Islamophobia, rather than suggesting Muslims constitute a race. In this way, the new definition emphasises how Islamophobia targets markers of “Muslimness” and Muslim identity – evident in how perpetrators of Islamophobic hate crime disproportionately target <a href="https://tellmamauk.org/maybe-we-are-hated-the-experience-and-impact-of-anti-muslim-hate-on-british-muslim-women-november-2013/">visibly Muslim women</a> – in the same way that racism often targets people for the colour of their skin.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-does-islamophobia-feel-like-we-dressed-visibly-as-muslims-for-a-month-to-find-out-66786">What does Islamophobia feel like? We dressed visibly as Muslims for a month to find out</a>
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<p>Given the new definition’s emphasis on Muslimness and Muslims, this should go some way to allaying fears that it’s Islamophobic to not share the same beliefs as Muslims or disagree with some of their practices. Clearly it is not. Nor is it Islamophobic to appropriately criticise Muslims or condemn atrocities committed by any group or person who might claim to be acting in “the name of Allah” (or similar). But, as the new definition rightfully infers, if disagreements, criticisms or condemnations are used to demonise or vilify all Muslims without differentiation, then it’s likely at least some Islamophobic views will be underpinning such an approach. </p>
<p>The new working definition goes beyond merely replicating the <a href="https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/working-definition-antisemitism">working definition of antisemitism</a> that was put forward by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance before being adopted by the British government in 2016. While I’ve previously advocated substituting Islamophobia for antisemitism as a quick and easy solution to the ongoing definition problem, the complexity and fallout from recent <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-45414656">allegations of antisemitism in the Labour Party</a> highlight the weaknesses and deficiencies of such an approach. Having two separate definitions for Islamophobia and antisemitism ensures that critical – and necessary – distance between the two phenomena is maintained.</p>
<h2>What people do and say</h2>
<p>While the working definition is a welcome development, it’s worth remembering that it is <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/islamophobia-muslims-islam-uk-myths-economy-social-advantage-mps-government-a8653216.html">only a recommendation</a>. Whether the government intends to adopt it or not is unclear at this stage. </p>
<p>As a catalyst for change, however, the definition is right to be more concerned with what people do and what they say, rather than laying claim to what or who they are. Using the definition to merely call out potential Islamophobes has the very real potential to be wholly counter-productive. Instead, it must be used to build new constituencies and alliances that can <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/6/3/77">work together</a> to advocate for change.</p>
<p>While the working definition is unlikely to appease those who ultimately deny Islamophobia’s existence, if it draws attention to Islamophobia and its negative consequences, that can only be a good thing. My hope is that it will also draw attention to how Islamophobia impacts the lives of many ordinary Muslims going about their lives in today’s Britain. This should neither be dismissed nor underestimated.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/107657/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Allen is a former independent member of the cross-government Anti-Muslim Hatred Working Group.</span></em></p>For the first time the UK has a working definition for Islamophobia.Chris Allen, Associate Professor in Hate Studies, University of LeicesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1057162018-11-13T14:42:18Z2018-11-13T14:42:18ZBritish Muslims will live with an intolerable burden of uncertainty under new counter-terrorism bill<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/244799/original/file-20181109-34102-1izb70t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/download/confirm/535020010?src=xWAOFx6y9JjgOGpMCv2ILA-1-11&size=medium_jpg">Koca Vehbi/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Imagine a small, rat-infested town. Everyone is complaining about the rats and it dawns on the mayor she might gain some political advantage from dealing with the issue. So, she poisons the town’s water. Lo, all the rats die. But there are side effects: the poisoned water is making people sick. Not everyone, mind you – not those who can afford bottled water. Just those who rely on the town’s water supply.</p>
<p>Some strategies can have devastating consequences despite their best intentions. This what is happening with the UK government’s counter-terrorism strategy, and in particular the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/prevent-duty-guidance">Prevent duty</a>, which puts an onus on those who work in public institutions such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/by-casting-teachers-as-informants-british-counter-extremism-policy-is-promoting-violence-85474">schools</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-lecturers-are-pushing-back-against-counter-terrorism-creep-into-universities-93998">universities</a> or <a href="https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/research/researchcentres/irs/counterterrorisminthenhs/">hospitals</a> to report individuals they suspect may be vulnerable to radicalisation. As the parable of poisoned water suggests, though the UK may package its counter-terrorism strategy for all people, its consequences for British Muslims have been exceedingly disproportionate.</p>
<p>The Prevent policy’s negative impact on the lives of British Muslims has been <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/en/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=19854&LangID=E">well documented</a>. Now, with new counter-terrorism legislation currently making its way through parliament, the poison will soon be more potent than ever.</p>
<p>Researchers have pinpointed how an <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn3524">inability to tolerate uncertainty</a> is a central part of anxiety. When a student feels anxious while studying for an exam, for example, it’s because of their inability to tolerate the uncertainty of failure. And it’s that uncertainty with the way British Muslims will be treated under the UK’s counter-terrorism apparatus which is making them increasingly anxious. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-inability-to-cope-with-uncertainty-may-cause-mental-health-problems-105406">Why inability to cope with uncertainty may cause mental health problems</a>
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<p>Ever since I’ve become known in some communities as a cultural-political-Muslim psychologist (take your pick) – and therefore “safe” to talk to – I’ve heard dozens of stories about how scared Muslims are about sharing their vulnerabilities in mental health institutions. They fear their suffering will be politicised and their bodies viewed with suspicion. And this was before the new <a href="https://services.parliament.uk/bills/2017-19/counterterrorismandbordersecurity.html">Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Bill</a>.</p>
<h2>Pre-criminal acts</h2>
<p>The government’s new bill will make it a terrorist offence to <a href="https://www.libertyhumanrights.org.uk/sites/default/files/Liberty%27s%20Second%20Reading%20Briefing%20%20on%20the%20Counter-Terrorism%20Bill%20FINAL.pdf">recklessly</a> – or unknowingly – express support for banned organisations. This conflates the already very elusive process of radicalisation with that of an actual criminal offence. </p>
<p>Imagine a young person who expresses their wish to see sharia law imposed in the Middle East, but who doesn’t make any explicit mention of a particular terrorist group. The legal scholar Clive Walker argued in <a href="http://data.parliament.uk/WrittenEvidence/CommitteeEvidence.svc/EvidenceDocument/Human%20Rights%20Joint%20Committee/Legislative%20Scrutiny%20CounterTerrorism%20and%20Border%20Security%20Bill/written/85566.html">written evidence</a> submitted to MPs that under the proposed changes to the law, such a sentiment might become a criminal offence. Yet support for “sharia law in the Middle East” – and its presumed denial of democracy – is precisely the sort of behaviour <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/445977/3799_Revised_Prevent_Duty_Guidance__England_Wales_V2-Interactive.pdf">Prevent</a> might associate with radicalisation or <a href="https://preventforfeandtraining.org.uk/home/practitioners/what-are-my-responsibilities/">extremism</a>. In this way, the new bill would make the line between pre-criminal and criminal actions ever more uncertain.</p>
<p>As the purview of Prevent increasingly overlaps with that of actual terrorism offences, it’s likely that government rhetoric around radicalisation and non-violent extremism will shift accordingly. This could mean, for example, an increasing focus on the sort of everyday thoughts and behaviours which might lead a teenager to click – just once – on a terrorist website. Aptly named the “Medusa Offence” by the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsKCTLv32xU&feature=youtu.be">solicitor Nazir Hafesi</a>, this one-click offence would be punishable with <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/10/15/uk-amend-flawed-counterterrorism-bill">up to 15 years</a> in prison. This pathologises and criminalises the very curiosity that is the hallmark of youth. But not everyone’s curiosities will be affected – British Muslims will be disproportionately burdened by the uncertain boundaries of such pre-criminality.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/britains-new-counter-terrorism-legislation-will-undermine-the-rule-of-law-even-further-102871">Britain's new counter-terrorism legislation will undermine the rule of law even further</a>
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<h2>Rising uncertainty</h2>
<p>At a recent community event I attended in London, where British Muslims were asked to voice their thoughts on the Prevent duty, a 17-year-old Muslim girl admitted she had been afraid of speaking her mind – afraid and uncertain about the repercussions – for years. It’s impossible to measure the impact of the silence of an adolescent girl, uncertain of her own voice as a result of such policies. No set of numbers can account for a perpetual state of insecurity, the realisation that your voice does not equal those of others, the profound experience of injustice.</p>
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<p>Muslims are regularly associated with the threat of terrorism in public consciousness. The racism inherent in this association is particularly salient in the wake of the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01419870.2017.1361544">Brexit referendum campaign</a>, when <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/16/nigel-farage-defends-ukip-breaking-point-poster-queue-of-migrants">images of non-white immigrants</a> invading Britain were invoked as potential security threats. Such images are deeply rooted within a colonial history which has long demonised the “other”, and a national angst which views the cultural integration of Muslims as an issue of national security. </p>
<p>Colourblindness is when we assume race is irrelevant, when it isn’t. A white body will never conjure the same threat as a brown body in the British public’s imagination. The public association between Muslims and terror will persist despite the Prevent policy’s best efforts to render radicalisation colourblind and remind everyone that “white people can be the bad guys, too.” The solution to racism is not colourblindness, it’s recognising the racial hierarchies which persist to this day – and that the post-racial <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-a-post-racial-british-society-remains-a-myth-even-in-universities-93607">society is a myth</a>.</p>
<p>If the new bill is introduced, British Muslims will live with increasing uncertainty, needing to not only monitor their own intentions but manage the gaze of others too. Of course, nobody can ever fully determine how others see them, and so uncertainty will haunt their every move. If anxiety is the intolerance of uncertainty, then we can expect a great deal of anxiety to come.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105716/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tarek Younis is a Newton International Fellow and receives funding from the British Academy.</span></em></p>Changes proposed in a new counter-terrorism bill would make the line between pre-criminal and criminal actions ever more uncertain.Tarek Younis, Newton International Postdoctoral Fellow, UCL Division of Psychiatry, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/930842018-03-12T12:25:42Z2018-03-12T12:25:42ZLiverpool FC’s Mohamed Salah’s goal celebrations: a guide to British Muslimness<p>Liverpool FC’s Egyptian-born forward Mohamed Salah is currently one of the Premier League’s most prolific goalscorers. This, his debut season with Liverpool, has seen Salah earn multiple accolades: most left-footed goals scored in a Premier League season, second-fastest player in Liverpool’s history to reach 30 goals, one of the top ten goalscorers in Europe, and 2017 African Footballer of the Year.</p>
<p>He shows no signs of lowering his goal tally as the season goes on, with commentator and former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/03/02/mohamedsalah-has-smashed-records-rival-kevin-de-bruyne/">viewing</a> Salah as a strong contender for another Player of the Year award. In a league that is regularly touted as so open that any team can win, lose, or draw against any other, unpredictability is the name of the game. Yet this season, Salah’s consistent goalscoring record seems to buck that trend. Salah’s counterattacking form was of particular concern for Manchester United when they played Liverpool on March 10, as they sat deep and defended against the Merseyside club for much of the match.</p>
<p>Beautiful though they are to watch, what I find most interesting about Salah’s goals are his celebrations and their reception. Because consistently, Salah does two things after scoring. First, he hugs his teammates, a typical response. But then, he <a href="http://english.alarabiya.net/en/sports/2017/12/12/Mohamed-Salah-awarded-BBC-African-Footballer-of-the-Year.html">performs sujood</a>, the Islamic act of prostration.</p>
<p>Sujood normally occurs twice in every section of <em>salaat</em> – a word commonly mistranslated as prayer (following its Arabic root, salaat is better translated as “connection”). A Muslim who performs salaat the requisite five times daily finds themself in sujood 34 times each day. In Islamic thought, sujood is perceived of as the physically lowest, but spiritually highest, position a person can take. Salah’s performance of sujood outside of salaat, then, is a specific expression of gratitude for goals scored. </p>
<p>Though <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/feb/25/muslims-football-racism-premier-league-mohamed-salah">many other</a> Premier League footballers are Muslim, Salah is the only one who regularly prostrates on the pitch.</p>
<h2>Getting goals</h2>
<p>Liverpool fans have taken note. After his recent Champions League goal against the Portuguese side Porto in Liverpool’s 5-0 victory, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GsQ1XzTGFI">some fans developed a chant</a> praising him: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Mo Sa-la-la-la-lah, Mo Sa-la-la-la-lah<br>
If he’s good enough for you he’s good enough for me.<br>
If he scores another few then I’ll be Muslim too.<br>
If he’s good enough for you he’s good enough for me.<br>
He’s sitting in the mosque that’s where I wanna be. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The chant, which is a rewrite of lyrics from the 1996 song <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt3vZYkMB5I">Good Enough</a> by British power pop rock trio, Dodgy, quickly went viral on Twitter and YouTube. News outlets including <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/02/liverpool-fans-embrace-mohamed-salah-muslim-chant-180216105515770.html">Al Jazeera</a> and <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43208945">the BBC</a> laud the chant as a demonstration of inclusivity. It is catchy, for sure. But is it inclusive? It’s not quite that simple.</p>
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<p>Salah’s work and the chant itself fit squarely into two common narratives: that of the good Muslim/bad Muslim; and the good immigrant. Articulated by <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/106769/good-muslim-bad-muslim-by-mahmood-mamdani/9780385515375/">political scientist Mahmood Mamdani</a>, among others, <a href="https://www.newstatesman.com/religion/2010/02/muslim-religious-moderation">the good Muslim/bad Muslim binary</a> portrays the “good” as those who appease society by accepting majority values and customs, while the “bad” are those who resist it religiously, culturally, or politically. </p>
<h2>Being good</h2>
<p>The “good” Muslim is the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/19/imam-praised-for-protecting-finsbury-park-suspect-from-crowd">“hero” imam of Finsbury Park</a>, who stopped worshippers from beating up a terrorist named Darren Osborne after he drove a van into a crowd during Ramadan 2017. The “bad” Muslim is the <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/muhammad-rabbani-cage-director-terror-offence-heathrow-airport-schedule-7-convicted-police-phone-a7967621.html">director of the “controversial” advocacy group CAGE</a>, who refused to allow police to search his laptop and mobile phone under Schedule 7 powers granted to the British government by the Terrorism Act. </p>
<p>This binary maps onto those immigrants who are perceived of as “good”. In his note that opens <a href="https://unbound.com/books/the-good-immigrant/">The Good Immigrant</a>, editor Nikesh Shukla references writer Musa Okwonga when arguing: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The biggest burden facing people of colour in this country is that society deems us bad immigrants – job-stealers, benefit-scroungers, girlfriend-thieves, refugees – until we cross over in their consciousness, through popular culture, winning races, baking good cakes, being conscientious doctors, to become good immigrants.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Salah is one of those good immigrants.</p>
<p>And here is the paradox of his sujood. Being praised by non-Muslim Liverpool supporters as “good” is positive, of course. But it is conditional. The chant makes clear that it is only “if” Salah continues to score goals that his displays of Muslimness will be accepted. It is only “if” he remains good that he will continue to be worshipped by them. It is only “if” he furthers his professional excellence that opinions about Islam may shift. </p>
<p>Addictive as it is, the chant flies in the face of spoken word poet Suhaiymah Manzoor-Khan’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9Sz2BQdMF8">demand</a> that society move beyond loving the Muslim who excels in athletics or bakery to include those who “don’t offer our homes or free taxi rides after the event” and are “wretched, suicidal, naked, and contributing nothing”. The double-edged sword of Salah’s sujood is that it is tied to his excellence on the field. </p>
<p>If he stops scoring, he will stop performing sujood. As a result, fans will love him – and Islam – a little less.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/93084/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Asif Majid does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Whenever Salah scores a goal, he performs sujood, the Islamic act of prostration. Fans’ reactions to it underscore the state of British Muslimness today.Asif Majid, PhD Candidate in Anthropology, Media, and Performance, University of ManchesterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/864232017-10-30T12:28:06Z2017-10-30T12:28:06ZWhat British Muslims think about the term ‘British values’<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192288/original/file-20171027-13315-1tzp6p6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C4%2C1009%2C523&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Views on British values, from British Muslims. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://britishmuslimvalues.wordpress.com/2017/10/10/alif-lam-mim-trailer/">Alif. Lam. Mim. by M.Malik</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Channel 4’s recent programme <a href="http://www.channel4.com/programmes/my-week-as-a-muslim">My Week as a Muslim</a>, in which a non-Muslim woman lived with a Pakistani family for a week, was a reminder of the ongoing curiosity about Muslim life in British society. The programme was criticised for its <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/20/channel-4-brownface-tv-documentary-my-week-as-a-muslim-niqab-racism">use of “brownfacing”</a> as the woman wore dark make-up and a niqab to appear Pakistani – highlighting the resilience of assumptions that British Muslims are non-white or somehow non-British. </p>
<p>This abiding curiosity about how Muslims live and what Muslims think frequently stems from enduring concerns around integration. In the past, such concerns were usually couched in the language of multiculturalism or community cohesion, but today they are often centred around the idea of “<a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/british-values-10935">British values</a>”. While the meaning of the term remains unclear, it saturates public life in areas as diverse as <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/97976/prevent-strategy-review.pdf">counter-radicalisation policy</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/education/2017/sep/22/schools-should-not-be-afraid-to-promote-british-values-says-ofsted-head">education</a>. Yet, in one recent study, around half of British adults <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/news/2016/02/19/tracker-islam-and-british-values/">surveyed believed Islam to be incompatible</a> with British values. </p>
<p>For the last year, we have been working with Muslims across eastern England and East Anglia who have produced their own short films about British values as part of an ongoing <a href="https://britishmuslimvalues.wordpress.com/about/">research</a> project. Doing so, we hoped, would tell us a little more about what the term British values means to Muslims in an often neglected region. It might also shed light on how those Muslims feel when they encounter the term in media headlines or opinion polls. </p>
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<p>Although we’re mindful of the dangers of generalisation – and cautious that these reflections are still provisional – we have picked out three themes that recur in a number of our films and interviews with those who made them. </p>
<h2>Elusiveness</h2>
<p>The term British values was often seen by our filmmakers as an elusive and ambiguous one. Some, such as Shukria from Bedford, were confident in articulating the term precisely – in her case as “having the freedom to express yourself however you want”. But many others professed to not knowing what the term means. </p>
<p>Haroon, a college student in Norwich, told us: “I can’t really speak on British values, because I don’t know anything about them … to me it’s a weightless word, it has no meaning to it.” Fatima, from Bedford, held a similar view: “To be honest, I don’t know, it doesn’t mean anything to me … We were never taught what British values were.” </p>
<p>For some, this ambiguity was even more pronounced when they reflected on whether anything is distinctively British about values such as “democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty and the mutual respect and tolerance of different faiths and beliefs” – the language the Home Office uses to <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/guidance-on-promoting-british-values-in-schools-published">define the term</a>. As one of the people interviewed put it, such values “should be universal regardless – British, non-British, faith or no faith”.</p>
<h2>Compatibility</h2>
<p>Despite this ambiguity, the British Muslims we spoke to saw some similarities between British values and values associated with Islam. As one interviewee put it: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>If I think about British values and I think about my faith, I think there’s a lot of common ground. And common ground for me is serving my community, looking after my neighbours, regardless of whoever they are. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The claim that a vague and ambiguous set of British values actually complements Islamic values could appear counter-intuitive. But the indistinctness of the term might actually make the idea of British values easier to square with other sets of religious or non-religious values. A desire to identify with the Britishness of these values – or to be seen by others to identify with this Britishness – could also be more important than concerns about their specific content or meaning. </p>
<h2>Dog-whistle politics</h2>
<p>There also seems to be genuine public concern among those with whom we spoke about how the term British values is used in politics and the media. Many people on this project pointed to the manipulation of the term by politicians and media commentators to serve dog-whistle politics, often in the aftermath of violent and tragic events. In the words of one anonymous participant: “Whenever there’s an attack, you have the government … start talking about [British] values.” </p>
<p>In this way, the term British values was seen by two of those we spoke to as a coded “warning” to specific communities, which contributed to “divisive” and “alienating” politics. These sentiments can also offer insights about how those exposed to the term within classrooms or places of worship might feel. </p>
<p>The next stage of our research will be to carry out a series of focus groups in East Anglia with Muslim and non-Muslim participants to dig further into the meaning of British values. Wherever that takes us it is clear that the term remains a contested and contentious one, that must be used with care by politicians, commentators, and others.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86423/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lee Jarvis receives funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council scheme under the Partnership for Conflict, Crime and Security Research (Reference: AH/N008340/1)</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Eylem Atakav works for the University of East Anglia. She receives funding from the Research Councils UK and Arts and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lee Marsden receives funding from the Research Council UK and the Arts and Humanities Research Council</span></em></p>A series of films made by Muslims shows how much confusion remains about the term.Lee Jarvis, Professor of International Politics, School of Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication, University of East AngliaEylem Atakav, Senior Lecturer in Film and Television Studies, University of East AngliaLee Marsden, Professor of International Relations, University of East AngliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/739432017-07-28T12:18:49Z2017-07-28T12:18:49ZEnglish marriage law discriminates against minorities – celebrants could change that<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/180194/original/file-20170728-18243-114jsb2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">via shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Getting married is a major life event. Not only is it a public affirmation of one person’s commitment towards another but it also results in significant life-changing obligations. The marriage ceremony should mean something to both people, as well as being valid and enforceable in law. But at the moment, English law does not allow all citizens to get married in a way that meets their needs. </p>
<p>In order to be married, British Muslims and Hindus and other minority faiths have to perform two forms of marriage – one religious and one legal. Effectively, they need to marry the same person twice. For Jews, Christians and Quakers, no such separate “marriage” needs to be completed – their religious marriage is capable of conferring the legal status of matrimony in one go if the <a href="http://www.lawcom.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Getting_Married_scoping_paper.pdf">right rules</a> are followed. </p>
<p>The current law relating to marriage in England and Wales was enshrined in the <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6/12-13-14/76/contents">Marriage Act 1949</a>, but based on conventions from the 19th century. It was never built to cover the current range of diversity of faiths present in British society. </p>
<p>I believe that a change to the law to allow professionally registered celebrants to marry two people, wherever they choose, is long overdue and could help create equality for all faiths under the law.</p>
<p>As my ongoing research has found, for the vast majority of young British South Asians, marriage is regarded as vital, aspirational and indispensable. For Hindu and Muslim communities, a traditional marriage is the “real marriage” as they wish to maintain and celebrate links with their inherited culture. Simply signing a piece of paper in a civil registry office does not seem to be enough – even though it offers protective mechanisms to the financial weaker party in the event of marriage breakdown. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177114/original/file-20170706-26465-14m36d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177114/original/file-20170706-26465-14m36d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177114/original/file-20170706-26465-14m36d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177114/original/file-20170706-26465-14m36d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177114/original/file-20170706-26465-14m36d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177114/original/file-20170706-26465-14m36d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/177114/original/file-20170706-26465-14m36d2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A traditional Hindu wedding ceremony.</span>
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<p>But for minority religious groups, other than the Jews and Quakers, legally binding marriages can only be celebrated in <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/places-of-religious-worship-and-the-solemnisation-of-marriages">registered</a> or <a href="https://www.gov.uk/approval-of-premises-for-civil-marriage-or-civil-partnership">approved</a> buildings. </p>
<p>In 1994, the <a href="http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6/12-13-14/76">rules</a> on where people could have a civil marriage were relaxed. As well as at a registry office, civil marriages can now take place at “approved premises” such as hotels, banqueting suites and stately homes, so long as they are appropriate and dignified. But such ceremonies cannot be religious, as it is only the civil ceremony, and not the religious one, that creates the marriage. This means that for a Hindu or Muslim wedding taking place in an hotel, there would have to be two ceremonies – a religious and a civil one.</p>
<h2>Forced to marry twice</h2>
<p>But many Muslim couples are currently <a href="https://www.academia.edu/27828967/Unregistered_Muslim_marriages_in_England_and_Wales_The_Issue_of_Discrimination_Through_Non-Marriage_Declarations">failing</a> to marry twice, and therefore do not complete the civil registration process. </p>
<p>In England and Wales, a <em>nikah</em> ceremony – a form of Muslim marriage – is not capable of creating a legally binding marriage. This can cause legal issues in the event of a marriage breakdown if a couple does not also have a civil ceremony. An emerging trend from <a href="http://www.familylawweek.co.uk/site.aspx?i=ed127612">recent case law</a> seems to show that Muslim marriages that are not appropriately registered under the law are more likely to be considered “non-marriages” by the English courts. </p>
<p>A non-marriage usually happens if a civil marriage is not performed in an appropriate building, or a civil ceremony of marriage does not take place alongside the religious. Usually the realisation that a marriage is not legally binding only comes to light at the end of the relationship, when one party is seeking to leave and perhaps evade the protective mechanisms that marriage is meant to create. </p>
<h2>Call for a celebrant system</h2>
<p>To solve this problem, I suggest that the law is changed to introduce a celebrant-based marriage system, and that the requirement to marry in a prescribed building is removed. This two-fold simplification would allow couples to marry as they wish, wherever they wish, in a single ceremony. This would eliminate future unregistered marriages by placing the responsibility of marriage registration on a single professional person – the celebrant. I would argue that the celebrant could be from any recognised religious group.</p>
<p>In Scotland, which <a href="http://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/socialpolitical/research/economicsocialhistory/historymedicine/scottishwayofbirthanddeath/marriage/">has</a> a celebrant system, the marriage ceremony does not need to follow a particular form, giving a couple freedom of choice when it comes to the language the ceremony is conducted in. The Scottish system, while not perfect, does not stipulate a prescribed building either, meaning couples are able to marry anywhere, including private homes. It is this combination that allows virtually all couples to marry in a way that suits their personal needs. I think removing the prescribed place of marriage in England and Wales would be a positive start to reducing the issue of unregistered marriages. A celebrant system would also place the burden of compliance with pre-marriage formalities on a professional celebrant, rather than the couple. </p>
<p>If incorporated in England and Wales, such measures would give the best platform for Muslims – and other minorities – to engage with the legal system and would hopefully lead to a reduction in the number of unregistered marriages, and the injustices suffered as a result. For example, some Muslim women have been treated as strangers by their husbands despite having a long relationship, while others have been <a href="http://www.familylawweek.co.uk/site.aspx?i=ed98292">left with no money</a> after marriage breakdown.</p>
<p>Updating the law of marriage is now a pressing requirement and will ensure genuine equality before the law. The rights and obligations arising from the institution of marriage should be provided to all who seek it.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73943/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vishal Vora does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The case for changing English marriage laws.Vishal Vora, Teaching Fellow, Law, SOAS, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/804362017-07-07T10:44:52Z2017-07-07T10:44:52ZBritain’s ‘missing’ Muslim women<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/177048/original/file-20170706-26513-umk12g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Muslim women pray behind men at mass prayers to celebrate Eid al-Adha in Birmingham. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joe Giddens/PA Archive</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Whether British citizens with Muslim beliefs are sufficiently committed to “British values” and to a “British way of life” is a topic of intense political and media debate. Now a new report on “<a href="http://www.citizensuk.org/missing_muslims">Missing Muslims</a>” launched by the <a href="http://www.citizensuk.org/islam_public_life_commission">Citizens Commission on Islam, Participation and Public Life</a> on July 3 has challenged the <a href="https://www.spectator.co.uk/2016/04/why-do-we-pretend-that-all-muslims-are-sweet-smiley-and-integrated/">allegation</a> that Muslim citizens are disengaged from the mainstream of British life. </p>
<p>It finds that “most Muslims in the UK are British citizens” and that a large majority of them actively identify as British. Muslim citizens have also been found to vote in elections at a higher rate than the general population, according to the report. </p>
<p>Such clear demonstrations of public engagement and belonging are set against a volatile sociopolitical context. A documented rise in <a href="https://theconversation.com/finsbury-park-attack-shows-the-harm-islamophobia-continues-to-inflict-on-muslim-communities-79682">Islamophobia</a>, anti-Muslim prejudice and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2017/jun/20/anti-muslim-hate-surges-after-manchester-and-london-bridge-attacks">hate crimes</a> make it increasingly challenging for Muslim citizens to feel they are equally valued as citizens. But the report also finds much wanting within Muslim communities when it comes to participation in British public life – with barriers particularly affecting Muslim women.</p>
<p>The Citizens Commission on Islam, Participation and Public Life was established in 2015 by <a href="http://www.citizensuk.org/">Citizens UK</a>, a charitable civil society organisation that represents various churches, mosques, synagogues, schools, trade unions and other voluntary associations across England and Wales. Chaired by Conservative MP <a href="https://www.dominicgrieve.org.uk/">Dominic Grieve</a>, the commission has held a number of <a href="http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/i-lost-count-verbal-attacks-10430210">public hearings</a> and received evidence from both organisations and individuals. </p>
<p>Based on my own <a href="http://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9781137405333">research</a> on Christian and Muslim women’s experiences of citizenship, I gave evidence to the commission’s hearing in Leicester. My focus was on the stereotyping and discrimination of Muslim women in wider society and on barriers to women’s participation in Muslim faith organisations.</p>
<p>The new report notes that, for Muslim women, “disadvantage in employment is particularly acute” and that Muslim women who wear headscarves are “more likely than men to feel unsafe” due to the verbal and physical abuse they suffer. In explaining Muslim women’s disadvantage in the labour market, the authors highlight discriminatory recruitment and hiring practices among employers. </p>
<h2>Women’s role in mosques</h2>
<p>The report also observes that Muslim women are missing from the governance structures of Muslim institutions. It says that many mosques “are not welcoming to women’s participation at any serious level”. Within this overall picture of male dominance, there is a <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/muslims-in-britain/3F6E4E693BC225A6754D1D048BBDFD6C">growing participation</a> of Muslim women in mosques around the country that have created designated women’s spaces. There is also a <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01419870.2016.1216142">desire among many Muslim women</a> to take on mosque leadership, management and teaching roles. </p>
<p>The commission makes a strong recommendation for all Muslim organisations to enable “equal access to leadership opportunities” for women. Whether this would include leadership of religious prayer is unclear, as the report falls short of recommending that women should be able to perform the role of an imam in a mosque. The issue of women leading Muslim prayer is <a href="http://forums.ssrc.org/ndsp/2015/04/29/woman-led-prayer-a-conversation-with-juliane-hammer/">controversial</a> and the commission appears to have simply bypassed the issue. </p>
<p>It also fails to mention the slow but growing emergence of women-led mosques, such as the <a href="https://www.indy100.com/article/meet-one-of-the-woman-imams-preaching-at-londons-feminist-mosque--bybuPRWAfW">Inclusive Mosque Initiative</a> in London and plans by the <a href="https://www.womenledmosque.co.uk/about-muslim-womens-council/">Muslim Women’s Council in Bradford</a> to build a <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/worshipping-as-equals-plans-to-build-britains-first-women-led-mosque-a6933021.html">women-led mosque</a>. </p>
<p>The report also ignores that sexual minority groups and individuals (LGBT+) are often excluded from faith institutions. Groups such as <a href="https://imaanlondon.wordpress.com/">IMAAN</a> in London and <a href="http://al-jannah.proboards.com/">Al-Jannah</a> in Scotland should be acknowledged for the support they provide to individuals and their contribution to raising awareness and tolerance. </p>
<h2>A question of justice and equality</h2>
<p>In neglecting such contested issues surrounding gender and sexuality, the report risks homogenising all Muslim communities as deeply traditional and conservative. It also risks minimising the progressive changes that some Muslim women and men are currently engaged in towards developing more inclusive practices within their faith communities. </p>
<p>In attempting to explain why Muslim women experience barriers to participation stemming from their own communities, the report suggests a distinction between “religion” and “culture”. But by blaming this gender inequality on culture, it fails to recognise the importance of men’s interest in maintaining the status quo in order to serve their own privilege and control. The Muslim Women’s Network UK <a href="http://www.mwnuk.co.uk//go_files/resources/169296-PM%20Letter%20(Muslim%20Women%20Empowerment).pdf">has emphasised</a> these patriarchal structures as the main hindrance to women’s participation in faith communities. </p>
<p>This isn’t just a problem that affects Muslim women. Elsewhere in British life women are underrepresented in important political, economic and religious institutions ranging from the UK <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/british-election-results-record-number-women-parliament-623521">parliament</a> to business <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-race-for-boardroom-diversity-is-falling-at-the-first-hurdle-29866">boardrooms</a> and churches. But gender discrimination within these institutions is rarely excused as resulting from “culture” – as it is within Muslim organisations. Instead, such discrimination in wider society is talked about as relating to justice, equality and human rights for women.</p>
<p>Secularism does not guarantee gender equality, but neither does religion necessarily promote gender inequality and we must pay attention to specific contexts. By making <a href="https://theconversation.com/good-muslims-or-good-citizens-how-muslim-women-feel-about-integration-58796">comparisons</a>, such as between Christian and Muslim women, we can establish similarities and differences in experiences and views. Such comparisons are likely to reveal that, as the late MP Jo Cox said, there is <a href="https://www.parliament.uk/business/news/2016/june/jo-cox-maiden-speech-in-the-house-of-commons/">more that unites us than divides us</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/80436/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Line Nyhagen receives funding from the European Union.</span></em></p>A new report on missing Muslims under-emphasises women’s growing participation in civil society.Line Nyhagen, Reader in Sociology, Loughborough UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/797702017-06-20T23:28:20Z2017-06-20T23:28:20ZBritain must address the pervasive ‘white noise’ against Muslims<p>On hearing the news that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/19/finsbury-park-attack-suspect-named-as-cardiff-resident-darren-osborne">Darren Osborne</a> was arrested for terror offences including attempted murder following an attack on a group of Muslims near the Finsbury Park Mosque, it would have been easy to jump to the conclusion that the act was motivated by far-right ideologies.</p>
<p>But, while it would appear Osborne <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/19/finsbury-park-attack-suspect-named-as-cardiff-resident-darren-osborne">followed</a> both Paul Golding and Jayda Francis – two leaders of the far-right group <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-923X.12118/abstract">Britain First</a> – on Twitter, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/19/finsbury-park-attack-suspect-named-as-cardiff-resident-darren-osborne">officials said the suspect had no concrete links</a> with any far-right group nor was he <a href="http://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/london-mosque-attack-finsbury-park-suspect-was-not-known-to-security-services-a3568271.html">known to the security services</a>. The investigation will now turn to what motivated the attack, which has rightly been described as terrorism. </p>
<h2>The night out test</h2>
<p>For almost two decades, <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1520857373/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_14?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE">my research</a> has shown how anti-Muslim views have become increasingly unquestioned and accepted in both the public and political discourse. In this respect, despite being roundly criticised by the right-wing press, Sayeeda Warsi, former co-chair of the Conservative party, was right when she said in 2011 that Islamophobia had passed <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2011/jan/20/lady-warsi-islamophobia-muslims-prejudice">the dinner table test</a>. </p>
<p>I would go further and say that it had in fact passed the playground test, the workplace test, and the night out test. This is because those in positions of influence have historically been far too lenient in allowing things to be said about Muslims that they would not have tolerated were they said about others. </p>
<p>This “white noise” about Muslims and Islam was allowed to form a seedbed from which much of today’s Islamophobic discussion and rhetoric subsequently emerged. It has become the norm. In an overwhelmingly negative and dangerously stereotypical way, Muslims and Islam have routinely and repeatedly been positioned as the undeniable “other” to who we were, what we stood for, how we lived our lives, and what we held dear in terms of our values. In essence, Islamophobic notions and expressions were seen to “make sense” in Britain.</p>
<h2>Far-right airtime</h2>
<p>There can be little doubt that one of the main contributors to this “white noise” has been far-right groups such as the English Defence League (EDL) and Britain First. Without any constraints being placed on them, they were only allowed to become ever more confrontational and aggressive towards Muslims and mosques. The mainstream media gave them a platform from which to voice their explicit and divisive message about Muslims and Islam. </p>
<p>The day after the Finsbury Park attack, the former leader of the EDL, Tommy Robinson, was invited onto ITV’s <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/20/stirring-hatred-piers-morgan-rows-edl-leader-tommy-robinson/">Good Morning Britain</a>. While the show’s host, Piers Morgan, rightly chastised Robinson for the bigoted views he expressed, there can be no doubt that he was invited on to do exactly that. His track record shows that objectivity and sensitivity are not two of his better known qualities.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqwTegQh5m4">Robinson had posted a video</a> online shortly after the recent terror attacks in London and Manchester stating that “if we don’t get this issue dealt with, the British public will,” before adding: “They [the white British] will end up taking matters into their own hands”. </p>
<p>After the Finsbury Park Mosque attack, Robinson <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/06/19/former-edl-leader-tommy-robinson-condemned-finsbury-park-mosque/">said</a> it was one of “revenge”, a point reiterated by the leader of the South Wales National Front, Adam Lloyd. While denying any links to the suspect, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/19/finsbury-park-attack-suspect-named-as-cardiff-resident-darren-osborne">Lloyd said</a>: “Anyone with a right mind can see this is not a terrorist attack but a revenge attack.” </p>
<p>By stating that the attack was an act of revenge, both are suggesting that the attack was justified in that it was carrid out in return for the violence committed by Muslims. Not some Muslims, but all Muslims without differentiation: the core tenet of Islamophobia is clearly evident.</p>
<h2>A change in tone</h2>
<p>Following the Finsbury Park attack, Theresa May, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/finsbury-park-mosque-attack-latest-theresa-may-full-speech-van-crash-terror-a7797136.html">said</a> there had been “far too much tolerance of extremism in our country over many years – and that means extremism of any kind, including Islamophobia”. The prime minister said her government would act to “stamp out extremist and hateful ideology”.</p>
<p>A number of suggestions come to mind. First, May and her political colleagues could begin to think about Islamophobia away from the spectre of extremism. Islamophobia isn’t a form of extremism, nor is it synonymous with extremism. It doesn’t only occur after terror atrocities – Islamophobia affects the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-does-islamophobia-feel-like-we-dressed-visibly-as-muslims-for-a-month-to-find-out-66786?sr=9">day-to-day</a> lives of many Muslims going about their business – and it isn’t only perpetrated by those we might define as being extremists. </p>
<p>Second, they might consider the tone of the way they talk about Muslims in Britain. Rather than being used as scapegoats for the actions of criminals, Muslims need to be spoken about and referred to as being a part of who “we” are in the 21st century – and as partners rather than enemies. </p>
<p>Third, we need to limit the disproportionate airtime afforded far-right extremists such as Robinson. This is not to suggest that free speech should be curtailed, just that measures that seek to provide balance are assessed proportionately. The same needs to be applied to those celebrities, personalities and commentators who become famous solely for making bigoted public statements. These would include <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/media/2017/05/you-re-fired-last-katie-hopkins-sacked-lbc-after-final-solution-tweet">Katie Hopkins</a> among others. Hate should not be given preference or legitimacy.</p>
<p>Not allowing hateful messages about Muslims – or indeed any other group – to be broadcast or widely shared will help to ensure that the white noise is neither seen to be normal, nor justified. </p>
<p>Now is the time to take Islamophobia seriously.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79770/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Allen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Fed by the far-right, Islamophobia continues to make it into the mainstream – where it’s eagerly received by some.Chris Allen, Lecturer in Social Policy, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/796822017-06-19T13:09:22Z2017-06-19T13:09:22ZFinsbury Park attack shows the harm Islamophobia continues to inflict on Muslim communities<p>Following the attack on a group of Muslim worshippers in <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/uk-40323279">Finsbury Park</a> that left one person dead and 11 injured, Londoners have once again demonstrated their strength and unity in the face of violence. </p>
<p>Neil Basu, deputy assistant commissioner for the Metropolitan Police and senior national coordinator for counter terrorism, <a href="http://news.met.police.uk/news/incident-in-seven-sisters-road-247036">commended the response of the Muslim community</a>, who stopped the man suspected to have carried out the attack before turning him over to police. One man who apprehended the man <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-england-london-40323698/finsbury-park-attack-he-was-shouting-i-want-to-kill-all-muslims">told</a> the BBC that the individual had said he “wanted to kill Muslims”. </p>
<p>The Finsbury Park attack occurred just after the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/fairfax-loudoun-police-searching-for-missing-17-year-old-reported-to-have-been-assaulted/2017/06/18/02e379ac-5466-11e7-a204-ad706461fa4f_story.html?utm_term=.d0fd7c0f10f5">murder</a> of a teenage Muslim girl in Virginia and an attempted <a href="https://www.thelocal.se/20170614/man-with-alleged-nazi-links-admits-driving-his-car-into-refugee-demonstration-in-malmo-sweden">vehicular attack on Iraqi migrants in Sweden</a>. There is little doubt that this incident targeted the Muslim community, and while we cannot speculate as to what exactly motivated this violence, such an incident demands that we reflect on the harm that Islamophobia can cause.</p>
<h2>Heightened tensions</h2>
<p>The attack took place near Finsbury Park Mosque and the Muslim Welfare House on Seven Sisters Road, north London. Finsbury Park Mosque is infamous because the violent extremist, Abu Hamza, preached there before his arrest in 2004. Since then, under new leadership, the mosque and its leaders have made outstanding contributions to the local community, which has been <a href="http://www.islingtongazette.co.uk/news/finsbury-park-first-mosque-to-win-prestigious-national-award-1-3836208">recognised nationally</a>. Regardless of this recognition, parts of the press continue to demonise the mosque. </p>
<p>On the night of the attack, Mail Online <a href="https://twitter.com/IlhanNur/status/876607979163987973/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fmic.com%2Farticles%2F180248%2Fdaily-mail-other-media-outlets-criticized-for-victim-blaming-muslims-for-finsbury-park-attack">referenced</a> Hamza – who was <a href="https://theconversation.com/abu-hamza-sentenced-to-life-in-prison-after-years-of-abusing-the-limits-of-free-speech-36087?sr=1">sentenced</a> to life in prison in the US in 2015 – in their headline for a report on the attack.</p>
<p>As a researcher on Islamophobia, I have had the opportunity to speak with members of the mosque’s leadership a few times. I recall a conversation I had with Mohammed Kozbar, then chairman of the mosque, in 2012 about a <a href="http://www.islamophobiawatch.co.uk/pigs-head-attack-on-finsbury-park-mosque/">pig’s head</a> left on the gate to the mosque in 2010 and a hoax anthrax <a href="http://bioprepwatch.com/stories/510507971-anthrax-hoax-at-london-mosque">threat</a> sent to the mosque in 2011. He told me then that the community was feeling vulnerable and fearful. He reminded me as well that the media rarely, if ever, reported on the positive contributions made by members of the mosque.</p>
<p>In 2015, in a <a href="https://www.tellmamauk.org/wp-content/uploads/pdf/tell_mama_2015_annual_report.pdf">report</a> for Tell MAMA (the UK’s primary watchdog for anti-Muslim hate) and the Metropolitan Police, I identified a cluster of nine anti-Muslim hate crimes and incidents targeting the mosque. The misplaced association of the congregation with violent extremism continues to make the site a target for hate. In this sense, it should sadly come as no surprise that Finsbury Park has been targeted once again.</p>
<p>Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred have demonstrably increased year on year. This is evident in police data that I have reviewed from <a href="https://tellmamauk.org/anti-muslim-hate-crimes-2012-2014-in-london-an-analysis-of-the-situation/">2012 to 2014</a> and in <a href="https://tellmamauk.org/category/reports/">reports by Tell MAMA</a> that include data from victims, charities, and police forces across the country. Between May 2013 and September 2016, 100 mosques <a href="https://tellmamauk.org/over-100-mosques-targeted-and-attacked-since-may-2013/">were targeted</a> and attacked. </p>
<p>Spikes of hate tend to follow attacks perpetrated by Muslims in the UK and abroad. These dynamics are evident in research on the attacks in Paris in 2015. The three atrocities that claimed lives in Westminster, Manchester, and London Bridge have led to a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jun/07/anti-muslim-hate-crimes-increase-fivefold-since-london-bridge-attacks">major increase in anti-Muslim hate</a> based both on police evidence and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/may/24/muslim-leaders-in-manchester-report-rise-in-islamophobic-incidents">reports</a> from Muslim communities. </p>
<p>These spikes are not localised and they affect Muslim communities across the country. In this sense, the way that Muslims are framed in reporting on terrorism directly harms communities by putting them in the cross-hairs of lone criminals, angry citizens, and extreme right-wing terrorists.</p>
<h2>Anti-Muslim hate plays a role</h2>
<p>This attack, as the Metropolitan Police were quick to note, has all the hallmarks of a terrorist incident, and it is being <a href="http://news.met.police.uk/news/incident-in-seven-sisters-road-247036">investigated as such</a>. More details about the attacker’s motivation is likely to emerge as the investigation continues. </p>
<p>There is a blurry line between hate crime and terrorism. And it is difficult to impute any kind of causality between far-right extremists and such an attack.</p>
<p>What is clear, however, is that irresponsible sensationalism and the growth of Islamophobia inspires fear, anxiety, and hate towards Muslims. A <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/home-affairs-committee/inquiries/parliament-2015/inquiry7/">report published in May</a> from the Home Affairs Select Committee showed that social media is an important medium for sharing and distributing these sentiments. Platforms such as Facebook and Twitter provide an environment in which cliques of users normalise and legitimate anti-Muslim ideologies.</p>
<p>It is important that the Finsbury Park investigation questions whether or not the attacker was influenced by extreme right-wing opinions disseminated online. However, it is also crucial to see if this individual was influenced by the press when he selected Muslims in the Finsbury Park area as his target.</p>
<p>Whether or not this incident is considered a terrorist attack should not distract us from the bigger problem: the failure of politicians and the media to effectively counter Islamophobia has caused Muslims to become targets of violence on their way home from prayer.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79682/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bharath Ganesh's research at the Oxford Internet Institute receives funding for analysing the dynamics of online extremism as part of the VOX-Pol Network of Excellence, funded by the European Union. He was previously Senior Researcher at Tell MAMA.</span></em></p>A man has been arrested after driving a van into worshippers near a mosque in north London.Bharath Ganesh, Researcher, Oxford Internet Institute, University of OxfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/784382017-06-01T13:35:19Z2017-06-01T13:35:19ZIf we mistake visible aspects of Muslims’ faith for fundamentalism, we risk alienating a generation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/171793/original/file-20170601-25652-p6zs23.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">British Muslims adopt a variety of clothing styles, from traditional to contemporary Western. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Young_Muslim_Couple_with_Toddler_at_Masjid_al-Haram,_6_April_2015.JPG">Mohammed Tawsif Salam</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The terrorist attack in Manchester has attracted worldwide condemnation and led to immense sadness. But there is also great concern about the narrative formed by the media. This is a narrative that has contributed to the politicisation of the activities of young Muslims, and the emergence of <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1468796815584423">Islamophobic attitudes</a> that tend to frame young Muslims as a threat to British society. </p>
<p>I have lived in the Old Trafford area of South Manchester for around 20 years. It is a wonderfully diverse community with a large Muslim population. I have listened to various news reports in relation to the attack and the references to districts such as Old Trafford, Whalley Range and Chorlton have taken a sinister turn. </p>
<p>For instance, the BBC2 Daily Politics show reported that South Manchester is a “<a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08rz07s">hot bed of terrorist training</a>” on May 24, while the Metro reported it as a “<a href="https://www.metro.news/breeding-ground-for-terror/613461/">breeding ground for terror</a>” on May 25. Such claims are ignorant at best, and at worst, dangerous. For young Muslims growing up in these areas, it sends a message that they are to be treated as different to the rest of the nation. </p>
<p>This process of coming to regard certain groups as outside the norm enables the dominant group in society to construct boundaries and hierarchies based on the differences of the minority. American sociologist, <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0896920513516022">Saher Selod</a> suggests that this process of “othering” allows non-Muslims to deny Muslims the same rights and privileges of citizenship. In my community, the first response to the incident was to plan a picnic for people of all faiths in the local community garden. The idea behind it – that we should not allow this terrible event to create a culture of fear and suspicion. </p>
<h2>Visible Britishness</h2>
<p>According to former prime minister David Cameron <a href="http://www.number10.gov.uk/news/pms-speech-at-munich-security-conference">in a speech at the Munich Security Conference in 2011</a>, Islam has been viewed as promoting “un-British” beliefs among young Muslims. But research I have recently been involved with suggests something quite different. </p>
<p>My colleagues and I explored interpretations and understandings of “Britishness” among visibly observant young Muslims and their perception of the compatibility of Islamic and British lifestyles and values. “Visibly observant” in this instance relates to appearance: face or head covering for women (the niqaab, hijab and jilbaab); the traditional robe (jubba) or overshirt and drawers (shalwar kameez), prayer cap (topi kufi) and full beard for men. Through their traditional dress, their Islamic faith is more visible. </p>
<p>Britishness can be interpreted in many ways, and defining Britishness and British values is difficult. But we found that young Muslims’ acknowledgement of their religious attachment developed from a positive identification with Islam, rather than one that stands in opposition to Britishness. </p>
<p>These young Muslims didn’t just recognise the British aspects of their identity, but embraced them, reflecting a strong affiliation with Britain rather than a rejection of it. Obviously, this is quite the opposite of media reports that suggest that traditional clothing from the Islamic world is an identifier of either <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01419870.2011.605457">fundamentalist views or those less integrated in British society</a>.</p>
<p>As Manchester continues to grieve and come to terms with events, it is inevitable and only right that politicians, police, community and faith leaders discuss responses to extremism. </p>
<p>Prime Minister Theresa May has already declared that she will “drive extremism out” of civil society. It is almost certain that we will see a reinvigoration of the <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/0/anti-terror-prevent-programme-controversial/">much maligned Prevent programme</a>, but we must be careful. As the visible trappings of their faith become increasingly politicised, disproportionate use of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/nov/11/prevent-strategy-uk-counter-radicalisation-widened-despite-criticism-concerns">security forces and surveillance techniques</a> on young Muslims may potentially alienate a whole generation.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/78438/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hannah Smithson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>… and that won’t make anyone safer in the long run.Hannah Smithson, Professor of Criminology and Youth Justice and Head of the Manchester Centre for Youth Studies, Manchester Metropolitan UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/699232016-12-05T15:40:41Z2016-12-05T15:40:41ZAnother century, another witch-hunt: this time it’s poor Muslim women<p>Poor, uneducated, housebound women appear to be almost wholly responsible for the lack of integration of some Muslim communities in Britain. </p>
<p>At least, that seems to be the finding of a <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/574565/The_Casey_Review.pdf">new report</a> on social cohesion, carried out by Dame Louise Casey. She says that Muslim immigrant women who come to the UK by marrying British Muslim men tend not to speak English and are victims of their husbands’ and other Muslim men’s patriarchal, misogynist and abusive practices. </p>
<p>But it is confusing to blame these women for segregation, and to put their experience of domestic violence at the centre of this debate. As the legal scholar Sonya Fernandez <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=3SPcAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA72&lpg=PA72&dq=white+men+kill+partners+UK&source=bl&ots=TUFsHPDzrh&sig=3w2WGgIntmOWE3PTnCRtFtH5po0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiN4oPVl93QAhWsKMAKHdh_AHU4ChDoAQgrMAM#v=onepage&q=(non-Muslim)&f=false">has noted</a>, anti-Muslim discourse reinforces a stereotype about Muslims that ignores the “concrete reality of the two (non-Muslim) women killed every week by their partners or ex partners in the United Kingdom.” The <a href="http://safelives.org.uk/policy-evidence/about-domestic-abuse/who-are-victims-domestic-abuse">vast majority</a> of all domestic violence cases in the UK involve white men hurting and killing their white partners and children. </p>
<p>Casey suggests that the reason we don’t talk more about Muslim domestic violence is because we are afraid of being labelled racist. But I would argue that the reason we don’t discuss it is because it is such a small percentage of the everyday cases of domestic abuse. People in Britain tend to ignore it, just as they ignore the plight of Muslim women in general. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/04/tough-questions-social-integration-laws-values-every-person-britain">companion article</a> to the report for The Guardian, Casey suggests that this reluctance is dangerous: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Too often leaders and institutions have ducked these difficult issues. Not because they thought white women were more worthy of help, but for fear of being labelled racist or insensitive. You only have to look at Rotherham for that. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>By Rotherham, she is referring to her <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/401125/46966_Report_of_Inspection_of_Rotherham_WEB.pdf">2015 report</a> into the horrific case of Muslim men abusing young, predominantly white, non-Muslim girls over a decade at least. Some of the police reluctance to intervene earlier was initially explained by “political correctness”, whereby many police feared being labelled racist, Casey <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2016/mar/11/child-abuse-failings-rotherham-council-rise-islamophobia">concluded</a>. </p>
<p>That excuse was not wholly supported by another <a href="http://www.rotherham.gov.uk/downloads/file/1407/independent_inquiry_cse_in_rotherham">independent inquiry</a> that found police failings stemmed from their tendency to disrespect the girls, and therefore not take their complaints seriously. That inquiry’s author, Alexis Jay, wrote that:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>At an operational level, the police gave no priority to [child sexual exploitation], regarding many child victims with contempt and failing to act on their abuse as a crime.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Still, Casey has focused in her latest report on the practices of a tiny proportion of the population who are subjected to, she says, patriarchal, religiously-based sexist practices. The report suggests that Muslims need to take “an oath of integration” when they come to the UK. But, as <a href="http://www.oxfordscholarship.com/view/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199577873.001.0001/acprof-9780199577873">my research shows</a>, such an oath could be equally useful for some white English people – who refuse to have Muslims as friends or even as taxi drivers. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148634/original/image-20161205-19407-bwsyby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148634/original/image-20161205-19407-bwsyby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148634/original/image-20161205-19407-bwsyby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148634/original/image-20161205-19407-bwsyby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148634/original/image-20161205-19407-bwsyby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148634/original/image-20161205-19407-bwsyby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148634/original/image-20161205-19407-bwsyby.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A mosque in Gloucester.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jt-graphics/5876053649/sizes/l">JT Graphics/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Islamophobia as a barrier</h2>
<p>Casey states that “rates of integration in some communities may have
been undermined by high levels of transnational marriage” – creating what she says is a “first generation in every generation” phenomenon. </p>
<p>The implication is that Muslim women should not only learn English, get out of the house more and get jobs, but more should marry non-Muslim men. But integration is not that simple. As Casey herself states: “Islamophobic hate crime attacks … can be disproportionately targeted at women. This appears to relate to more visible and identifiable forms of cultural dress, such as wearing a hijab, veil, niqab or burkha.” Crikey. No wonder they stay indoors.</p>
<p>Figures <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/sep/07/hate-crimes-against-muslims-soar-london-islamophobia">released</a> by London’s Metropolitan Police in 2015 showed that Islamophobic attacks were mainly against women, and had increased by 70% from the previous year. Why, then, doesn’t Casey say more about the perpetrators?</p>
<p>What we are seeing in Casey’s report is yet another witch-hunt, like those in earlier centuries that occurred because societies needed someone to blame – and women were easy targets. The ferocity of debates about the veil and niqab are disproportionate to the tiny numbers of women who wear them in the UK and other “Western” countries. It is a symbol to some of religious adherence. As a sociologist of religion, I also understand that to <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/news/2013/09/18/most-still-want-ban-burka-britain/">many people</a> it is a symbol of “otherness” and women not behaving as the majority may wish. </p>
<p>When I teach sociology of religion, my first task is to help students see that “religion” can be a catch-all phrase used to gloss over all sorts of issues that may better be described as political, racial or ethnic. Students learn that women in most societies bear the brunt of society’s angst. </p>
<p>And so, to borrow from a Christian value, it is time we removed the planks from our own eyes before trying to remove the specks from another.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/69923/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Abby Day does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A new review on integration in Britain lumps much of the blame on housebound Muslim women.Abby Day, Reader of Race, Faith & Culture, Goldsmiths, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/680232016-11-09T10:46:23Z2016-11-09T10:46:23ZA push to reform Islamic divorce could make Sharia councils redundant in Britain<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145065/original/image-20161108-16724-kb5sas.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sharia councils deal mainly with issues over Islamic divorce. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zurijeta/shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Controversy over Sharia councils in Britain has resulted in an <a href="http://data.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/committeeevidence.svc/evidencedocument/home-affairs-committee/sharia-councils/oral/42576.html">ongoing parliamentary enquiry</a> on their role and remit. Some of those giving evidence before MPs on the Home Affairs Select Committee suggest Sharia councils should be abolished altogether, while others are calling for reform or for a code of conduct to be introduced to regulate these institutions. A separate independent review is <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36388560">also ongoing</a> about whether Sharia law is being used to discriminate against women. </p>
<p>As these debates continue, it is worth looking at the main use of Sharia councils in Britain: to carry out religious divorces by an “Islamic institution”. Yet I argue that an English court can clearly provide an “Islamically” valid divorce – but that conservative members of some Muslim communities are not doing enough to inform people about the options available to them. </p>
<p>Sharia councils emerged in Britain in the 1980s as informal, extra-legal bodies. They are not a replacement for English law, nor are they courts – though they are often mistakenly <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3886812/Top-sharia-court-protects-wife-beating-suspects-sabotaging-criminal-proceedings-against-women-s-rights-group-claims.html">called them</a> in the media. </p>
<p>Estimates of the number of Sharia councils in Britain vary <a href="https://www.reading.ac.uk/web/FILES/law/An_exploratory_study_of_Shariah_councils_in_England_with_respect_to_family_law_.pdf">between 30</a> and <a href="http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/18696/">over 80</a>. These range from councils with a single member to a formally constituted council with multiple members. Most of the councils are all-male, although there is one woman member, <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36587665">Amra Bone</a>, in the Birmingham Sharia Council.</p>
<h2>Matrimonial matters</h2>
<p>Sharia councils were supposedly created to provide “Islamic” advice and assistance to Muslim communities, but have been primarily used for <a href="http://www.shariahcouncil.org/?page_id=365">issuing religious divorce</a> certificates to Muslim couples. In my <a href="http://www.jordanpublishing.co.uk/practice-areas/family/news_and_comment/Ali2013CFLQ113#.WCGrcNxNEU0">own research</a>, I have studied three of the largest Sharia councils operating in Britain today. Their websites acknowledge that the vast majority – as many as 95% – of cases before them deal with matrimonial matters. </p>
<p>Muslim women seeking divorce also constitute the largest group accessing Sharia councils, approaching them to terminate their marriages rather than using the English courts. This is usually the case when couples have entered into an unregistered Muslim marriage through a <em>nikah</em> ceremony which is not recognised by English law. </p>
<p>There are no reliable statistics on the percentage of all Muslim marriages which are only performed in this way, but anecdotal evidence from <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/law/comparative-law/modern-challenges-islamic-law?format=HB&isbn=9781107033382">my own research</a> suggests that it is quite high. This means that if a husband or wife wishes to dissolve their marriage, they must turn to a Sharia council. Muslim women also seek the assistance of Sharia councils to obtain a religious divorce if they have a civil divorce but also wish to make it religiously valid, a process that would allow them to remarry.</p>
<h2>Registered marriages provide protection</h2>
<p>Unregistered Muslim marriages place women at a disadvantage. If they want to seek a divorce they must approach a Sharia council which is unregulated and may apply the rules surrounding religious divorce in an inconsistent way. If a woman has been married using a <em>nikah</em> service she has no choice but to seek divorce through a Sharia council – but it means she is not afforded rights available to a wife under English law.</p>
<p>So I argue that Muslim women should have to register their marriage under English law. In Islam, <a href="https://wrcaselaw.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/divorce-khul-khurshid-bibi.pdf">marriage is a civil contract</a> that must be formalised before state and society in order to protect the wife and any children, and for the state to place responsibility of maintenance on the husband. </p>
<p>Research <a href="http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/sites/default/files/files/Untying%20the%20Knot.pdf">has shown</a> that Sharia councils often apply the most conservative and rigid interpretation of Islamic law, which regularly favours the husband. For instance, the abusive behaviour of a husband is a religiously valid cause for divorce and requires that he pays up the <em>mahr</em> or marriage gift to the wife. But women, even if they have been abused, are often reported to have been told that they must opt for <em>khul</em> , a type of divorce seen as the initiative of the wife and which means she gives up her marriage gift. As a result, Muslim women have had to bargain away some of their rights.</p>
<h2>Other options are available</h2>
<p>The reason this issue persists is that British Muslims have not been made aware of the variety of Islamically valid options of engaging with English law, including those relating to marriage and divorce. For instance, parties to a Muslim marriage contract <a href="http://www.shariahcouncil.org/?page_id=63">may enter</a> legally binding stipulations whereby the wife is given the right to divorce herself or a clause is included in the <em>nikah</em> to accept the civil court as the forum for divorce. Were this to be the case for every Muslim marriage in Britain, the role of the Sharia councils would in due course become redundant. </p>
<p>Another way forward would be for more mosques to be encouraged to obtain a licence to conduct marriages in accordance with civil law, in the same way that a Church is. This would mean that rather than having two marriages – a religious and a civil one – one ceremony would suffice. These suggestions are within the boundaries of Islamic law and are common in Muslim countries including Pakistan, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Indonesia. </p>
<p>I think there should be a robust and rigorous information campaign telling British Muslims how to proceed with marriage and divorce in ways that are Islamically valid. A simple handbook on Islamic family law for civil society organisations, activists, lawyers, legal aid workers and Muslim resource centres would be a useful starting point. And a code of conduct could be agreed for mosques and imams to follow for marriages and divorces. </p>
<p>At the heart of this debate are the rights of Muslim women as equal citizens of Britain and it is they who must be empowered and enabled to make informed choices. Yet at the moment, Sharia councils are mainly used by women who have no other recourse to end their marriages. </p>
<p>While Sharia councils should not be their only means to seek a divorce, it does not mean that these institutions should be banned outright, as prohibition will simply drive them underground. But if more couples are given information about marriage and divorce, then one of the main reasons why Sharia councils still exist in Britain could begin to fade away.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68023/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shaheen Sardar Ali does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>A campaign to provide information for Muslim couples about English civil marriages could mean Sharia councils fade away.Shaheen Sardar Ali, Professor of Law, University of WarwickLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/557142016-03-03T12:05:36Z2016-03-03T12:05:36ZWhy both sides are wrong in the counter-extremism debate<p>Recently published evidence submitted to the <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/home-affairs-committee/inquiries/parliament-2015/countering-extremism/">parliamentary inquiry into extremism</a> and the government’s Prevent strategy sheds light on the current debates around counter-extremism in Britain – and it’s clear from reading the submissions and watching the evidence that the debate has reached an impasse.</p>
<p>Those who support and those who criticise the government’s Prevent strategy are in deadlock, caught in a cycle of unhelpful rhetoric and political posturing, and unable to offer viable alternatives to the problems they perceive.</p>
<p>Under the direction of chair, Keith Vaz MP, the Home Affairs Committee is investigating issues around Islamic extremism, terrorist recruitment, and the effectiveness of the Prevent strategy. </p>
<p>The de-facto leader of the pro-Prevent lobby is David Cameron who has repeatedly voiced his concerns over extremist Islamic ideology while calling for a Muslim revival of “British” values. His position has been backed by the Tony Blair Foundation which also regards “bad” ideology as the prime driver of extremism. The Quilliam Foundation, meanwhile, identifies the ongoing threat of “salafi-jihadi” ideology and assorted think-tanks applaud various sophisticated programmes of initiatives (usually their own). But there are some major weaknesses in their position. </p>
<h2>Need for clarity</h2>
<p>First of all, they ignore the problems faced by teachers and lecturers – now under a legal duty to report and tackle extremism – who are clearly confused about the implications of this new duty and are ill-prepared for the problems that will inevitably arise in the classroom. And who can blame them when the very notion of what constitutes “extremism” or, for that matter, British values, is so vaguely defined in the Prevent strategy.</p>
<p>The strategy also ignores the main drivers of this so-called “extremism” among many young people – not just young Muslims. Young Muslims are angry about British foreign policy, about perceived injustices to Muslims living abroad, and the relentlessly negative reporting in the UK media of Islam. They bear the brunt of Islamophobia, now increasingly apparent in civil society (especially against women), as well as the social and economic disadvantage caused by high unemployment.</p>
<p>These criticisms of perceived extremism fail to tackle the question of what sorts of attitudes and practices might be considered “less dangerous” and what exactly should lawful political dissent among British Muslim youth look like? What are the “acceptable” limits of social and religious conservatism within Britain’s mosques and madrassas, for example? How should increasingly online global communities of Muslims forge their identities? And how can we increase mutual trust between Muslims and non-Muslims in Britain? </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113704/original/image-20160303-9503-1uyti78.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/113704/original/image-20160303-9503-1uyti78.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113704/original/image-20160303-9503-1uyti78.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113704/original/image-20160303-9503-1uyti78.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113704/original/image-20160303-9503-1uyti78.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113704/original/image-20160303-9503-1uyti78.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/113704/original/image-20160303-9503-1uyti78.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">What exactly are ‘British values’? One school responds.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Manor Field Infants' School.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cameron and his supporters offer us few clues. Alison Jamieson, the author of <a href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/uk/scotland/article4545092.ece">Radicalism and Terrorism: A Teacher’s Handbook for Addressing Extremism</a>, recommends (in arguably the most coherent written submission to the inquiry) the creation of “safe spaces” that might encourage classroom discussion of political violence, the terminology of terrorism, and peace-making through conflict resolution. It is hard to argue against such sensible suggestions. None have come from Cameron’s speeches.</p>
<h2>Anger and confusion</h2>
<p>But few of the critics of the government’s counter-extremism policy offer reasonable alternatives. There are some sensible voices: Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors and principals of British university institutions, argues, with much justification, that current counter-extremism laws create anger and confusion among their members, pose a threat to freedom of speech, and drive controversial and offensive views underground. </p>
<p>The National Association of Head Teachers, while broadly supportive of the legal duty on teachers, criticises the current lack of effective training and the uncertainty around ill-defined terms. Others argue more forcefully. In their written submission, representatives from the East London Mosque repeat the words of former senior police officer Dal Babu, who last year described Prevent as a “<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/mar/09/anti-radicalisation-prevent-strategy-a-toxic-brand">toxic brand</a>”. Cage UK, which has campaigned against the perceived impacts of the “War on Terror”, calls for the <a href="http://www.cageuk.org/category/tag/uk-terrorism-policy/preventtackling-extremism">abolition of all counter-extremism legislation</a>. </p>
<p>These submissions demonstrate the growing confidence with which the government’s counter-extremism strategy is now attacked. But a glaring absence from this side of the debate is the lack of any suggestions concerning alternative models of security and policing. What are the current threats we face? What are the “acceptable” boundaries of our freedoms and our security? How should the government protect us? </p>
<h2>Squandered opportunities</h2>
<p>Organisations representing the interests of British Muslim communities could more often dictate the pace and direction of the extremism debate – but the inquiry evidence suggests only squandered opportunities. Several written submissions contain complaints (some more understandable than others) about inquiry questions perceived by the witnesses as excessively hostile. Others waste energy debating funding and transparency issues, pursuing personal interests rather than community concerns. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"702459222462701569"}"></div></p>
<p>There are notable exceptions – various community groups presented evidence of actual criminal activity by Muslim perpetrators, while another submission raised the issue of the repatriation of those who have returned from IS-held territories – a real-world problem requiring a practical solution. </p>
<p>The Home Affairs Committee is now in recess, deliberating over the submitted evidence and no doubt drafting recommendations. Mine would be two-fold: first, and as <a href="https://terrorismlegislationreviewer.independent.gov.uk/">Anderson argues</a>, an independent review of the government’s Prevent strategy is urgently needed. Second, we need a government-led initiative that encourages mainstream political engagement from young British Muslims. </p>
<p>Cameron talks of “British” and “liberal” values – and there are none finer than our tradition of political dissent. <a href="http://www.myh.org.uk/sites/default/files/Research%20Report%20BBD.pdf">British by Dissent</a>, a report published by Muslim Youth Helpline provides an example of how Muslim organisations can take back control of the debate around political engagement among British Muslim communities.</p>
<p>It’s clear from the submitted evidence that a better balance of freedom and protection is needed. Such a balance is achievable – but only if each side in the extremism debate begins to the see the world through the other’s eyes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/55714/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julian Hargreaves does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Discussions about the government’s Prevent strategy have ended up in a pointless and unproductive deadlock.Julian Hargreaves, Research Associate at the Centre of Islamic Studies, University of CambridgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/534632016-01-22T11:13:19Z2016-01-22T11:13:19ZWhy English language lessons are not the answer to radicalisation<p>David Cameron used an article in <a href="http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/columnists/article4667764.ece">The Times</a> and an interview on Radio 4’s <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03fthb7">Today</a> show to announce £20m of extra funding to provide English lessons for Muslim women in the UK to prevent them from becoming “second-class citizens”. The prime minister’s announcement has come <a href="https://theconversation.com/david-cameron-should-celebrate-muslim-women-not-strip-them-of-their-identity-53347">in for harsh criticism</a>, particularly <a href="http://www.itv.com/news/2016-01-18/david-cameron-segregation-of-women-in-uk-communities-must-end/">his implication</a> that not speaking English was tied up with a person’s identity and could make someone “more susceptible to the extremist message”. </p>
<p>As a researcher studying the teaching of English as an additional language, my main problem with the proposal is the underlying assumption that if mothers could only speak English fluently then their children would not become radicalised. </p>
<p>This monolingual view of family life ignores the fact that these same mothers will be doubtless trying to raise their children to have sound ethics and morals, ready to make a contribution to society just like any good English-speaking mother – just through another language. </p>
<p>We have no evidence to suggest that there is any link at all between parental level of English and extremism, quite the opposite. Look, for example, at how <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mv2KhkkTfgQ">some of the appeals</a> made by parents of would-be Jihadis who have run off to Syria, are made in entirely fluent Standard English, often with regional accents.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TelPvR1gxNI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">An appeal made by a man whose daughter has gone to Syria.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A <a href="http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0105918">2014 study</a> on people’s vulnerability to radicalisation found that migrants not born in the UK, from poorer backgrounds and with strong links to their community were less likely to be radicalised than those from more privileged backgrounds. The English language is not the only form of “social capital” that fights extremism.</p>
<h2>Hypocrisy in a landscape of cuts</h2>
<p>Others have expressed further concerns about the new policy. <a href="https://www.tes.com/news/further-education/breaking-news/camerons-new-english-courses-women-dont-make-ps160m-esol-cuts">Martin Doel</a>, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, pointed out that this new funding, though welcome, “does not make up for a 50% (£160m) reduction in the funds available for teaching ESOL [English for speakers of other languages] courses between 2008 and 2015”. Of this, <a href="https://www.tes.com/news/further-education/breaking-news/esol-funding-cuts-will-have-devastating-impact-thousands">£45m</a> was as recently as July last year. </p>
<p>This recent cut alone was, according to Doel, likely to lead to the closure of as many as 47 colleges offering ESOL classes affecting 17,000 students. While £20m in extra funding may sound a lot, if there actually are some 190,000 Muslim women in need of English tuition – as the <a href="https://fullfact.org/factcheck/immigration/muslim_women_english-50891">prime minister claimed</a> – this would amount to £100 a head. That won’t go far and appears hypocritical in the face of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/adult-education-needs-an-urgent-and-radical-rethink-39391">wider funding squeeze</a> facing adult education.</p>
<p>Others, including the National Association for Teaching English and Community Languages, <a href="http://natecla.org.uk/news/817/ESOL-Funding-for-Muslim-women">have questioned</a> the prioritisation of Muslim women, arguing that to “ensure all migrants integrate successfully into British life … more funding needs to be made available to support both men and women from all religious backgrounds so that they can learn English”. </p>
<p>The main concern over the initiative appears to be suspicions about the government’s motives, with critics alarmed at <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03fthb7">the association</a> the prime minister has made between a lack of English and vulnerability to extremism.</p>
<p>A further concern is over the possibility of deporting mothers if they fail to make sufficient progress in English after two and a half years. “You can’t guarantee you’ll be able to stay if you’re not improving your language,” <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03fthb7">Cameron said</a>.</p>
<p>Any question that <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/david-cameron-says-migrant-families-could-be-broken-up-and-mothers-deported-if-they-fail-new-english-a6818631.html">a spousal visa</a> application could be denied to women who fail an English language test could have extremely serious implications for families. Legal experts <a href="http://blogs.channel4.com/factcheck/factcheck-muslim-women-deported-learn-english/22248">have been quick to point out</a> that such deportations could be challenged under the Human Rights Act. </p>
<h2>Security creep into language lessons</h2>
<p>Perhaps the answer to why the government insists with a ramping up of these kind of policies lies in the concept of <a href="http://ejt.sagepub.com/content/13/3/357.short">“securitisation”</a>. This has been explained by language scholar Kamran Khan as the process through which successive UK governments since 9/11 have forged the link between language, immigration and the threat of extremism. </p>
<p>The links are not hard to trace. Back in 2001, speaking in the <a href="http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/westminster_hall/2001/jul/17/urban-communityrelations#S6CV0372P1_20010717_WH_6">House of Commons</a> following local rioting involving Asian youths, Anne Cryer, the Labour MP for Keighley, said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We need to examine why those young Asian men were so keen to join in the criminal activity … There is little point in blaming the situation simply on racism and Islamophobia … The main cause is the lack of a good level of English, which stems directly from the established tradition of bringing wives and husbands from the sub-continent who have often had no education and have no English.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In 2002, the National Immigration and Asylum Act required that immigrants have “sufficient knowledge” of English for citizenship. Three years later the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/life-in-the-uk-test/book-life-in-uk-test">Life in the UK</a> citizenship test was introduced, testing both English and knowledge of British life. A speaking and listening component was added to the test in 2013 – adding on another layer of difficulty to passing the test. </p>
<p>We knew that there would be further incentives and penalties introduced in order to make people learn English, thanks to indications given in a 2015 speech by the home secretary, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/a-stronger-britain-built-on-our-values">Theresa May</a>. </p>
<p>But if the government is seriously considering it acceptable to break up families because a mother has failed to make “sufficient progress” in her English, then we should all start to worry about who exactly are the extremists and just where the real threats to our civil society and its values lie.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53463/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Frank Monaghan is affiliated with NALDIC (National Association for Language Develoment in the Curriculum), the UK's professional association for people working with EAL in schools.</span></em></p>Beware the security creep into adult education.Frank Monaghan, Senior Lecturer in Education and Language Studies, The Open UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/533472016-01-20T16:44:57Z2016-01-20T16:44:57ZDavid Cameron should celebrate Muslim women, not strip them of their identity<p>By announcing <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35338413">that £20m</a> will be spent to “teach thousands of Muslim women to speak English”, David Cameron’s portrayal of them as linguistically deficient, culturally suppressed and visibly alien is reminiscent of a long line of colonial repression. </p>
<p>The prime minister is playing the “white male saviour”, seeking to rescue this meek and downtrodden Muslim woman from barbaric and backward Muslim males, by giving her the freedom of the English language, the power of speech and by unveiling her to the world. </p>
<p>It is powerful men like Cameron who are the real cultural oppressors, who can <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/11/majority-of-british-muslims-have-witnessed-islamophobia-study">dictate political and media agendas</a> to humiliate and disempower British Muslim women, <a href="http://mend.org.uk/islamophobia-many-young-men-hate-muslim-women/">turning wider society against them</a>. </p>
<p>As a consequence, British Muslim women will continue to face already sky-high levels of <a href="https://wallscometumblingdown.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/chris-allen-visible-muslim-women-british-case-study-october-2014-brill-muslims-in-europe.pdf">Islamophobia and anti-Muslim abuse and attacks</a>. </p>
<p>The prime minister’s plans for language lessons have been greeted with sighs and scepticism, particularly in light of <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jan/18/david-cameron-stigmatising-muslim-women-learn-english-language-policy">extensive cuts</a> in adult education and English language classes.</p>
<p>Although the money is welcomed by adult education professionals, why has there been a specific focus on Muslim women? This money would be better distributed for the good of all those adults who are seeking to develop their literacy, numeracy and employability skills. </p>
<p>It is laughable that Cameron claims the purpose of the new funding is <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35338413">to tackle segregation and extremism</a>, while at the same time admitting there are no links between a person’s level of English and extremism. Muslims responding to these outrageous declarations by their prime minister are <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jan/18/david-cameron-stigmatising-muslim-women-learn-english-language-policy">quite rightly angry</a> at the continuous demonisation of Islam, and scapegoating of Muslims. </p>
<p>Marginalising Muslims through political, policy and media practices and rhetoric is responsible for making British Muslims – who call Britain their home – feel like they don’t belong to Britain. Disturbingly, even when ethnic minorities self-identify with Britishness or British values, <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Changing_Citizenship.html?id=dElFZtd-dCEC&redir_esc=y">they may find themselves excluded</a>. </p>
<h2>Viewed through an ‘alien’ lens</h2>
<p>Rather than celebrate diversity and difference, the government’s current disproportionate focus on Muslims is repetitive and tiresome. Cameron is guilty of an age-old <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=npF5BAAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=edward+said+orientalism&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiO0oWYlLbKAhXBWhQKHc9tAj8Q6AEIHzAA#v=onepage&q=edward%20said%20orientalism&f=false">Orientalism</a>, the word used by cultural theorist Edward Said to describe a patronising attitude in the West to the culture and beliefs of the Middle East, Asia and North Africa. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108731/original/image-20160120-26087-pd6cng.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108731/original/image-20160120-26087-pd6cng.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108731/original/image-20160120-26087-pd6cng.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108731/original/image-20160120-26087-pd6cng.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=469&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108731/original/image-20160120-26087-pd6cng.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108731/original/image-20160120-26087-pd6cng.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108731/original/image-20160120-26087-pd6cng.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=590&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Orientalism on display in The Women of Algiers by Eugène Delacroix in 1834.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orientalism#/media/File:WomenofAlgiers.JPG">The Louvre Paris; Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The government’s rhetoric has worked to strip Muslims of their agency, identity, religious and cultural attachments. Political debates on integration have a <a href="http://compasanthology.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Gidley_COMPASMigrationAnthology.pdf">“punitive streak”</a> with the onus on migrants to actively demonstrate their assimilation to a nebulous <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/british-values">idea of</a> “British Values”.</p>
<p>Yet, <a href="http://compasanthology.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Gidley_COMPASMigrationAnthology.pdf">racist values are the real problem</a>. For instead of recognising that institutional racism pervades social structures <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/jun/05/met-chief-admits-institutional-racism-claims-have-some-justification">such as the police</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/unwitting-racism-and-rise-in-abuse-makes-it-harder-for-nhs-staff-to-do-their-job-23058">the NHS</a>, we have come to define <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2005/jan/21/islamandbritain.comment11">the Muslim community as strange and alien</a> through the lens of the “war on terror”. </p>
<p>Politicians perpetuate incorrect and problematic assumptions about integration, for <a href="http://www2.hull.ac.uk/news-and-events-1/news-archive/2012newsarchive/march/lordparekhonmulticulturalism.aspx">multiculturalism is not dangerous, and does not lead to terrorism</a>. Yet the “failure” of multicultural policies in creating social cohesion is <a href="https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/research/publications/working-paper/understanding-society/2013-08.pdf">often cited</a> in relation to Muslim communities as a big societal problem. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, perceptions and experiences of other minority groups and of the white majority are rarely investigated. Ethnic minority communities have long <a href="http://www.academia.edu/2657786/New_forms_of_Britishness_post-immigration_ethnicity_and_hybridity_in_Britain">had strong affiliations to British identity</a>. Muslims of all ethnicities identify strongly with Britishness: according to <a href="https://www.understandingsociety.ac.uk/research/publications/working-paper/understanding-society/2013-08.pdf">one study</a> they are “stronger in fact than the white majority”.</p>
<h2>Let Muslim women speak</h2>
<p>I am a British Muslim woman who has taught the English language to students from diverse ethnic backgrounds in the multicultural cities of Manchester and London. I call Britain home, but I feel like my identity and belonging are frequently called into question by pernicious political and media narratives. I have some recommendations for how the government could do things differently. </p>
<p>It is important that politicians <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2016/01/18/muslim-women-language-english-event-sky-news-journalists-ban_n_9007842.html">allow Muslim women to speak for themselves</a>, in whichever language in their repertoire they choose to use. </p>
<p>They should ask them about their realities of belonging to Britain, about their dreams, hopes and ambitions; about how austerity is impacting upon them personally, as well as on the students they teach or the patients they treat, about their vision for a cohesive and progressive society and so on. Rather than claim to speaking for the Muslim woman, how about we let them speak for themselves? </p>
<p>If the government is committed to promoting social equalities and social justices, then how about the prime minister makes concerted efforts to steer away from stereotypical Orientalist depictions of submissive Muslim female and threatening men? </p>
<p>Instead of targeting the Muslim women as alien, and so playing into the hands of Islamophobic ideologies, Cameron should celebrate the wealth of female Muslim <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35345903">politicians</a>, entrepreneurs, <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jul/24/david-cameron-radicalisation-speech-muslim-woman">doctors</a>, nurses, teachers, <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/12108257/Camerons-proposals-for-Muslim-women-are-dangerous-dog-whistling-nonsense.html">academics</a> and all the very many other integrated achievers. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"688876189683978241"}"></div></p>
<p>Rather than <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/anyone-who-thinks-muslim-women-are-submissive-should-have-met-my-mother-broken-english-and-all-a6820921.html">threatening to deport our Muslim mothers</a>, Cameron should applaud their resilience, ambitions and <a href="https://twitter.com/SayeedaWarsi/status/688876189683978241">everyday successes</a>. Instead of speaking for the Muslim woman, he could do well to read their articles and hear their views on the issues that affect integration and cohesion.</p>
<p>Rather than <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jan/18/david-cameron-stigmatising-muslim-women-learn-english-language-policy">stating unverified statistics</a> about Muslim women and the English language, Cameron should read and cite authoritative empirical evidence <a href="http://www.claystone.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Claystone-rethinking-radicalisation.pdf">regarding extremism and radicalisation</a>, and ensure he is not <a href="https://medium.com/insurge-intelligence/david-cameron-s-illiterate-proposal-to-counter-radicalisation-by-targeting-muslim-women-f6069bfee942#.qj9vgpxqo">guilty of distorting realities</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53347/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sadia Habib does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As a Muslim woman, why I think the prime minister’s plan to teach Muslim women English is oppressive.Sadia Habib, Doctoral Researcher in Educational Studies, Goldsmiths, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/464312016-01-20T09:56:00Z2016-01-20T09:56:00ZHard Evidence: how British do British Muslims feel?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/93904/original/image-20150904-14609-j4zsre.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The prime minister, David Cameron, has launched a <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35338413">number of measures</a> aimed at improving integration among Muslims – in particular, Muslim women – in the UK. <a href="https://yougov.co.uk/news/2013/06/04/beyond-woolwich-british-attitudes-integration/">Polls show that</a> around 70% of people don’t think Muslims are well integrated into British society and concern that Muslim people living in Britain <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/why-the-survey-of-british-muslim-attitudes-is-so-profoundly-disconcerting-10070358.html">do not feel British</a> has long been part of broader <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2658033/Be-British-Cameron-tells-UK-Muslims-PM-issues-powerful-new-pledge-combat-extremism.html">discussions around extremism</a>. </p>
<p>So, now seems like a good time to take a closer look at how British Muslims actually feel about their place in society and to explore the link between segregation and extremism in greater depth. Along with Professor James Nazroo, I <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-954X.12313/abstract">conducted research</a> into these issues using <a href="http://discover.ukdataservice.ac.uk/catalogue/?sn=6388">nationally representative data</a>, collected in 2008/09 from almost 5,000 people with different ethnic and religious backgrounds, as a part of the <a href="http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20120919132719/http:/www.communities.gov.uk/communities/research/citizenshipsurvey/">Home Office Citizenship Survey</a>. We found that these ideas about British Muslims are not backed up by evidence. </p>
<h2>Crunching the numbers</h2>
<p>In this survey, respondents from a range of religious and ethnic backgrounds were asked about whether they felt they belong in Britain. The questions capture three different senses of belonging. Participants were asked about the extent to which they agreed with the following statement:</p>
<p><strong><em>I personally feel a part of Britain.</em></strong></p>
<p>You can see the participants’ responses in the graph below. It’s clear that almost everyone in the religious and ethnic groups examined feels a sense of personal belonging to Britain. And those who didn’t were as likely to be Christian as Muslim. </p>
<iframe src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/0wHQj/1/" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="450"></iframe>
<p>The respondents were also asked: </p>
<p><strong><em>How strongly do you belong to Britain?</em></strong></p>
<p>More than 80% of people in each of these groups said that they strongly belong to Britain, with the narrow exception being Asian Christians. This suggests that feelings of alienation are not as widespread within the Muslim population as many in the wider community appear to believe. And it indicates that – where it does exist – alienation is not unique to British Muslims, but also extends to other ethnic and religious groups. </p>
<iframe src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/C7NEB/2/" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="450"></iframe>
<p>Furthermore, our participants were asked the extent to which they agreed with this statement: </p>
<p>*** It is possible to fully belong to Britain and maintain a separate cultural or religious identity.***</p>
<p>As the graph below demonstrates, with the exception of Caribbean Christians, at least 75% of people in each group perceived no incompatibility between fully belonging to Britain and maintaining other cultural or religious identities. </p>
<iframe src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/gVS9I/1/" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="450"></iframe>
<p>From these initial responses, it was clear that respondents in Muslim groups were just as likely as other groups to respond positively to the statements about belonging. But we also considered it important to take other factors into account. So we explored whether there was any evidence of an association between the respondents’ sense of belonging and their age, gender, economic activity, place of birth and risk of racist victimisation. </p>
<p>We calculated and compared the likelihood of reporting a very strong sense of belonging to Britain, feeling part of Britain, or strongly agreeing that “it is possible to fully belong to Britain and maintain a separate cultural or religious identity”, for each of these other factors. </p>
<p>We found an association between a sense of belonging and four of the five factors: age, gender, place of birth and risk of racist victimisation. </p>
<h2>A source of frustration</h2>
<p>Let’s start with age. On the whole, younger people were significantly less likely to feel British than their older counterparts. At first, this seems to align with the well-worn idea that young people – and particularly young Muslims – face <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/11765877/Children-at-risk-of-radicalisation-to-double.html">a greater risk of radicalisation</a>. It would also seem to contradict another finding in this study: that those born in the UK are more likely to feel a sense of belonging to Britain. </p>
<p>The higher risk of radicalisation <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/david-cameron/8305346/Muslims-must-embrace-our-British-values-David-Cameron-says.html">is generally seen</a> to stem from young people’s frustration and confusion about the apparent incompatibility of the British and Muslim cultures they simultaneously inhabit. Yet 73% of respondents aged 25 or younger agreed that it is possible to fully belong to Britain, while maintaining a separate cultural or religious identity. And Muslims (and other non-Christians) were less likely to perceive such an incompatibility than Caribbean Christians. </p>
<p>Indeed, <a href="http://soc.sagepub.com/content/39/3/407.full.pdf">complementary research</a> suggests that much of the frustration among young British Muslims comes from a sense that their rights as British citizens to fair treatment and freedom of expression are not being respected. This frustration is not about being Muslim. Rather, it is about a lack of respect for their Britishness.</p>
<h2>Don’t blame the victims</h2>
<p>Those who perceived themselves as at risk of victimisation were also less likely to personally feel part of Britain, or strongly belonging to Britain. Whether or not people have a sense of belonging to Britain is likely to depend on whether they feel accepted by British society. </p>
<p>Negative attitudes toward Muslims are commonly presented by <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/david-cameron-some-muslim-communities-quietly-condone-extremist-ideology-instead-of-confronting-it-10330054.html">government ministers</a>, the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3168943/I-ll-defeat-fanatics-claims-Cameron-Muslims-Britain-feel-act-British-says-Shiraz-Maher.html">media</a> and <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-3127312/We-Muslims-stop-blaming-way-young-radicalised-writes-chairman-Muslim-Forum-MANZOOR-MOGHAL.html">others</a>. Worse, negativity towards Muslims has also been expressed in the form of verbal abuse, physical violence and other forms of social and economic exclusion, to which Muslims in Britain <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0031322X.2014.951160#.VZaQJ_lVhBc">are increasingly and disproportionately exposed</a>. This will directly affect their sense of acceptance, and in turn their sense of belonging within British society. Yet discussions of the “Muslim problem” generally ignore the role that the attitudes and actions of wider society may play in its creation.</p>
<p>Indeed, the weaker sense of Britishness among women in this study may be in direct response to the particular ways in which Muslim women are targeted. Muslim women are often used as a symbol of the supposed <a href="http://ideas.time.com/2013/11/01/do-muslim-women-need-saving/">dysfunction inherent in Islam</a>. They are also singled out in <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27131707">government anti-radicalisation agendas</a> and <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/12106833/David-Cameron-I-will-back-schools-and-courts-which-ban-face-veils.html">dress restrictions</a>. </p>
<p>Most recently, Cameron’s campaign <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35345903">has been criticised</a> as taking a “lazy and misguided” approach to Muslim women. Conservative peer Baroness Warsi commented that linking English proficiency with the continuation of spousal visas was “a very unusual way of empowering and emboldening women”. </p>
<p>This research suggests that concerns about Muslim loyalty to Britain are misplaced. It also suggests that, as a society, we should think more carefully about how we engage with our fellow Britons. A proportion of the ethnic and religious minority population in Britain does run the risk of experiencing a sense of alienation, but this is unlikely to be addressed by improving language skills. Instead, it requires a more concerted effort to reduce the processes which isolate these members of our society. Questioning the loyalty of already loyal citizens runs a direct risk of making the “Muslim problem” much worse than it actually is.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/46431/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This work was supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (grant number RES-163-25-0009).</span></em></p>Segregation is a major concern for many British people - but there’s not as much evidence for it as you might think.Saffron Karlsen, Senior lecturer, University of BristolLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/520942015-12-16T15:32:24Z2015-12-16T15:32:24ZAs Britain plans to regulate madrasas, let’s understand their history<p>Words with simple meanings sometimes conceal complicated and contested histories. Madrasa is just such a word. Literally, it means a place where teaching and learning takes place. Yet, even a cursory look at the history of the term reveals fascinating tales of contests over knowledge and religious authority as well as the variety of ways in which it is used. </p>
<p>In the UK it is once again a subject of debate, with the government <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/480133/out_of_school_education_settings_call_for_evidence.pdf">currently consulting</a> on new proposals that would see madrasas and other forms of supplementary education subject to inspection. </p>
<p>In a contemporary British context, the word often refers to some 2,000 supplementary Muslim educational settings where over 250,000 children learn the basics of their religion and, in many cases, about the languages and cultures of the countries of their families. Another word sometimes used for these places is <em>maktab</em>.</p>
<p>This education, which is now “supplementary” in Britain, historically was the mainstream of the Muslim traditions of teaching and learning. These traditions were practised in a diversity of institutions such as mosques, maktabs (places of elementary education), and madrasas (institutions of higher learning), as well as in libraries, palaces, and centres of translation. </p>
<p>These traditions <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?hl=en&lr=&id=XBmStREVVCUC&oi=fnd&pg=PR9&dq=Exchange+of+ideas+islam+and+europe+greek&ots=Wvtwj_SlNF&sig=zXCrrQenO4jpSsgXXVcio0eVI8w&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false">were inspired</a> by several factors including the religious quest to understand the will of God, the search for useful knowledge to run empires, and the attraction of the Hellenistic, Persian, and Indian intellectual heritages. They were a remarkable illustration of the movement of ideas across human cultures.</p>
<h2>A millennium of madrasas</h2>
<p>Madrasas <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8412.html">emerged relatively late</a> in Muslim societies, around the 10th century, but then expanded quickly, especially under political patronage of the Seljuq dynasty in areas of present day Iraq, Iran and Syria as part of what has been called the Sunni revival against the growing influence of the Shias. The Sunnis and the Shias are the two major doctrinal groups of Muslims, each with their own internal diversity. </p>
<p>Subjects taught in madrasas included Quranic recitation and interpretation, Arabic grammar, jurisprudence and theology. In some madrasas, arithmetic, astronomy, medicine, poetry and philosophy <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Islam.html?id=icNMHUKnSJAC&source=kp_cover&redir_esc=y">were also taught</a>. Biographies of several well-known scholars indicate that on occasions, madrasas also served as <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=dK6_IMuqWpoC&pg=PA29&dq=madrasa+and+social+mobility&hl=en&sa=X&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=madrasa%20and%20social%20mobility&f=false">vehicles of social mobility</a>.</p>
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<span class="caption">Al Azhar University minaret in Egypt.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Al-Azhar_University_Minaret.jpg">Buyoof/Wikimedia.com</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
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<p>Their spread <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8412.html">played a key role</a> in the consolidation of doctrinal positions and legal thinking which now form the dominant position among Sunnis. In time, the Shias developed their own religious seminaries, called <em>hawzas</em>, which play a similar role. Some of the most famous madrasas are the Deoband in India, al-Azhar in Egypt, Hawzas of Qum in Iran and the Zaytunia in Tunisia.</p>
<p>From the 18th century, large parts of the Muslim world engaged with modernity, in its colonial form – an encounter that transformed almost all aspects of Muslim societies. Modern schools, higher education institutions, new official languages, and, above all, a new epistemology was introduced. Madrasas continued to provide religious instructions, though in the process they went through remarkable transformations in form, teaching and, to some extent, content.</p>
<p>One result of this social and economic transformation is what most Muslims today want for their children: both the material fruits of modernity through western secular education and the continuation of traditional moral and religious values. One educational arrangement that has prevailed in many Muslim contexts to cater to these two needs has the adoption of dual system of education whereby children attend mainstream schools as well as supplementary religious education classes. In contexts such as Britain, the word madrasa came to be associated with these supplementary education provisions. </p>
<h2>More regulation on the cards</h2>
<p>The word madrasa does not appear at all in the government’s recent consultation document on regulating <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/480133/out_of_school_education_settings_call_for_evidence.pdf">“Out of-school education settings”</a>. Still, the document’s context as well its references to the government’s <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/97976/prevent-strategy-review.pdf">Prevent strategy</a> and to extremism leave no doubt that its primary concern is with Muslim supplementary education settings. </p>
<p>David Cameron’s <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/tory-party-conference-2015-david-camerons-speech-in-full-a6684656.html">speech at the Tory party conference</a> was <a href="https://theconversation.com/clampdown-on-madrassas-misses-the-point-of-why-parents-send-children-for-extra-study-49031">more explicit</a> in referring to madrasas. Understandably, the plans to regulate these settings have <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/07/muslim-leaders-voice-concerns-about-tory-crackdown-on-madrasas">raised concerns</a> among some Muslim organisations. These concerns must be seen against the backdrop of the fact that since the mid-1990s when the Taliban took control of parts of Afghanistan, madrasas around the world have received <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Moral_Economy_of_the_Madrasa.html?id=eACQCvQD9jQC&source=kp_cover&redir_esc=y">massive bad publicity</a>.</p>
<p>There is no doubt that that some madrasas in the UK <a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://www.ippr.org/files/images/media/files/publication/2011/11/inside-madrassas_Nov2011_8301.pdf?noredirect%3D1&sa=D&ust=1450173599928000&usg=AFQjCNHybmFX9WUXLNXfydFTcq_Q2kIPmw">have practices</a> that need improvement, both with regard to the content of teaching and physical provision. Many Muslims <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-34933970">accept this</a>. There are already projects that are helping reform madrasas, including in <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21975225">Bradford</a> – but much more needs to be done. </p>
<p>But Muslim organisations also insist, rightly, that the huge majority of madrasas are not doing anything that is harmful to social cohesion.</p>
<h2>A clear framework</h2>
<p>The government’s consultative document recognises the good work done in the country’s supplementary education settings. This creates the potential that proposed regulation can become a source to build trust among those sections of Muslim citizens who feel they are being <a href="https://theconversation.com/young-british-muslims-alienated-by-us-versus-them-rhetoric-of-counter-terrorism-46117">targeted</a> by the government’s approach to extremism. For this potential to be realised, several steps should be taken and a framework generated for implementing the reforms. </p>
<p>First, it should be made clear that the state is not intending to interfere in religious instruction, which should be the business of private individuals and associations. Second, those who carry out the inspections should get induction into the traditions of learning in Muslim communities and the history and status of madrasas in particular. This is vital to ensure that the line between conservative religious instruction and extremist discourse is observed. </p>
<p>Third, the inspectors should learn about the madrasa reform initiatives already going on within Muslim communities. Fourth, where shortcomings are found, there should be a transparent process of corrective measures. And lastly, the fair and even-handed treatment of all out-of-school education provisions, not just madrasas, should be clearly visible.</p>
<p>If done well, the government’s aim to ensure that all children should have access to secure, safe and socially useful religious education can be a valuable exercise. It can create a background against which Muslim communities can carry out the much-needed theological and epistemological debates about the place of madrasas in today’s society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/52094/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Farid Panjwani does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>British Muslims have mixed emotions about the motives behind moves to inspect madrasas.Farid Panjwani, Senior Lecturer and Director, Centre for Research and Evaluation in Muslim Education, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.