Muslim Integration in the UK
Muslims in the UK: Integration or Co-existance
08/06/2009
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22/06/09
Video: Misunderstanding of Islam
30/06/09
Muslims and politics: more engagement is essential
28/06/09
30/06/09
Islamophiobia is media’s fault?
The Muslim community in Britain believe that the media are mostly to blame for creating Islamophobia in British society.
Stephen Gash, the one of the founders of the project “Stop Islamisation of Europe” said many newspapers have reported about extremists or radical Muslims preaching in the mosques about the domination of Islam and Jihad in Britain. The very nature of the mosque itself is danger because they are allowing this kind of teaching to take place, he said.
“It is insensitive to be Islamophobic, but all the western governments are islamophobes: Jacqui Smith - scared of Islam, Gordon Brown - scared of Islam, Nicolas Sarkozy - scared of Islam. How you handle it, either you give in to it, or you stand up and say “no, enough is enough. We don’t want it,” said Mr. Gash.
[Stephen Gash about Islamophobia]
Muhammed Amin, The Chair of the Business and Economics Committee at the Muslim Council of Britain said: “What makes Islamophobia worse in this country is that it sells newspapers. It encourages the other people to believe that all Muslims are idiots as newspapers say.”
Chief Executive Officer at Muslim Public Affairs Committee UK, Zulfi Bukhari, said, “There are two major aspects of Islamophobia: failure of our government to understand Muslim concerns , and this includes the issues of foreign policy, and also the way the media reports things. It is very much against the reality.
“The other side is rejection of integration by Muslims. If they don’t want to integrate they cannot advocate their points of view in mainstream democratic politics. Sometimes mosques call for outreach programmes, open days for non-Muslim neighbours, however they are not actively doing it. If they would be more active it would be less misunderstanding between Muslims and non-Muslims. They shouldn’t be fearful of what’s going on inside mosques.”
Research on The Representation of British Muslims in the National Print News Media 2000-2008 by Cardiff University School of Journalism, shows what refers to the main focus of the story about Islam that makes it newsworthy. Terrorism or the war on terror, accounts for 36% of stories overall. Religious and cultural issues account for 22% of stories overall. This includes discussions of Sharia Law, debates about the wearing of veils, forced marriages, the role of Islam in Britain and the Danish cartoon story. These stories generally highlighted cultural differences between British Muslims and other British people. Muslim extremism, accounts of 11% of all stories.
William Gore, Public Affairs Director of the Press Complaints Commission said: “The number of complaints from Muslims regarding the articles is not absolutely huge and most of the concerns we do receive either we are able to resolve through the media action or there is no breach of the code on the first place.”
However, he said that most of the complaints regarding religious issues they found not to breach their code of practice and therefore not upheld.
Deborah Orr, religious correspondent at Independent newspaper, said that Islamophobia comes from one of the biggest terroristic attacks ever been in this country in the name of Islam, and also some of the cultural rather than religious practices associated with Islam are not welcomed in this country.
[Deborah Orr about Islamophobia]