‘More than half of British Muslims want to “fully integrate” with society, according to the most extensive survey of its kind. Research involving more than 3,000 Muslims shows that they broadly share the views and priorities of the wider population, rather than being shaped by supposedly “Islamic” concerns. Ninety-three per cent feel a fairly or very strong attachment to Britain and are likely to identify the NHS, unemployment and immigration as the biggest issues facing the country. British Muslims were more likely than the general population to condemn terrorism, the survey by ICM and Policy Exchange, the right-of-centre think tank, found. They were also more likely to give credence to conspiracy theories that the United States government or Jewish influences were behind the September 11 attacks.’
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‘Britain’s Muslim communities have “separatist” tendencies and a “deeply worrying” belief in conspiracy theories, according to one of the government’s favourite centre-right think tanks. The controversial Policy Exchange report however does acknowledge that 93% of British Muslims have a strong attachment to Britain and their attitudes to many issues such as the NHS, unemployment and immigration are broadly in line with the rest of the population. The report published on Friday comes out before a government-commissioned inquiry, chaired by Dame Louise Casey, into integration and community cohesion in Britain is due to be launched early next week.’
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‘Only one in 25 British Muslims believe Al Qaeda was responsible for the September 11 attacks on the US, a poll has found. The research said it was ‘deeply troubling’ that so many were willing to ‘entertain wild and outlandish conspiracy theories’. A survey of more than 3,000 Muslims found 96 per cent did not believe Osama Bin Laden’s terror group carried out the atrocity. Some 31 per cent thought the American government was behind the strikes on the World Trade Centre and Pentagon, which claimed almost 3,000 lives. Another 7 per cent said it was a Jewish plot, while 58 per cent did not know. The poll, for the Policy Exchange think-tank, found 93 per cent of those quizzed had a strong attachment to the UK, and more than half wanted to fully integrate with non-Muslims in all aspects of life.’
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‘Almost half of British Muslims wouldn’t go to the police if someone they knew was involved with supporters of terrorism in Syria. A staggering new survey also found that just 26 per cent of Britain’s Muslims do not believe in “extremist views exist”. The survey – dubbed the biggest ever of its kind – has revealed that only one in 25 British Muslims believe Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda were responsible for the 9-11 attacks. A Policy Exchange poll last night claimed 31 per cent believe the US Government was behind the atrocity than the terrorists – 4 per cent. Two in five would support the introduction of sharia law, the legal system derived from the Koran. The poll also found that 40 per cent were in favour of gender-segregated classrooms, while a further 44 per cent thought schools should force girls to wear traditional Islamic dress. But the survey claimed that in nearly every walk of life the British Muslim community was no different in their views and priorities to their non-Muslim neighbours.’
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Other coverage includes:
The ITV News website reported that ‘Labour’s shadow Europe minister Khalid Mahmood said: “Of course, there is no denying that for many British Muslims, problems of racism, harassment and Islamophobia are a serious cause of worry… But it is deeply troubling that this seems to have led a not-insignificant minority to believe that the world is at the mercy of the machinations of dark, anti-Muslim forces’.
Co-author Dr Martyn Frampton — Head of Security and Counter-Extremism at Policy Exchange, and Senior Lecturer in Modern history at Queen Mary University of London — said, in The Scottish Sun, that ‘in nearly every walk of life, British Muslims are no different in their views and priorities to their non-Muslim neighbours’.
Co-author David Goodhart discussed the report with Julia Hartley-Brewer on Talk Radio, and featured on the Asian Network.
In its print edition, The Daily Telegraph — under the headline ‘Survey finds support for hijab in Muslim Schools’ — recounted that ‘the think tank also claimed that the Muslim Council of Britain, which has criticised Prevent, had ‘very little support among British Muslims’.
The Daily Express , which referred to the findings as a ‘shock poll’, said that they were ‘set out in the report “Unsettled Belonging: Britain’s Muslim Communities” published by Policy Exchange last night. More than 3,000 Muslims living in Britain were quizzed for the research. When asked whether “particular aspects” of sharia law should be introduced “instead of British law” in the survey, 16 per cent of respondents “strongly” supported the idea while 25 per cent said they “tend to support” the idea.’
The Metro, in its print edition, said that ‘More British Muslims condemn terrorism than the rest of the population, it seems Ninety per cent of Muslims condemn terrorism – compared with 84 per cent across the rest of the population – according to the Policy Exchange think tank, which asked more than 3000 people’.