Almost half of British Muslims are of the view that anti-Islamic prejudice makes it difficult for them to follow their faith in the country.
A poll by ComRes for BBC Radio 4 suggests a pervasive sense of uncertainty amongst U.K. Muslims in relation to their religion. While 46 per cent of them feel that the nation is becoming less tolerant of Muslims, a majority (95 per cent) said that they feel a sense of loyalty towards Britain, and that Muslims in Britain should always obey British laws (93 per cent).
There are three million Muslims in the U.K. The rise of extremist ideology and the lure of an Islamic ‘homeland’ in Syria and Iraq has seen the radicalisation of a large number of young men who have travelled to Syria to join the Islamic fighters, leaving behind heartbroken families that in most cases never suspected that their sons had been radicalised. Most recently, a group of three girls, all of them A-graders in their school in Bethnal Green, took a flight to Turkey from where they are believed to have crossed into Syria to join the jihadis, most possibly as brides.
The survey also found that while most British Muslims (68 per cent) oppose violence against people who publish images depicting the Prophet Mohammed, more than two thirds (68 per cent) say acts of violence against those publishing images of the Prophet can never be justified. Yet, one in four British Muslims say they have some sympathy for the motives behind the attacks on Charlie Hebdo in Paris. Muslim women feel less safe in Britain than men.
For the survey 1000 British Muslims were polled. The results highlight the sense of insecurity and ambivalence that the community is passing through, with Islam often being conflated in the public perception with terrorism.
