Do Muslims pose a threat?

According to Muslim Council of Britain, an impartial body that includes within itself over 500 Muslim organisations, some 2.7 million Muslims live in the country today, equals less than 5% of the total population. One group is one of extremely heterogenous, for it is characterized by ethnic diversity (the British Muslims self - identified as Arabs, Asians, blacks, mixed, white and other) and by a benefit of other differences regarding religious faith, age, nationality, political inclination, gender, sexuality. However, this complex framework is rarely encountered in the political, media and public representations of Islam. For example, in a recent poll, British public opinion has found that the size of the Islamic population is greatly overestimated, believing that 1 person in 6 is Muslim. The idea that Muslims are homogenes is just as widespread. Regardless of the (relatively new) label of British «myssliman» requires that highlight the way contemporary identities tend to be multiple or hybrid, very often, as the Tariq Moded points out, that «categoria “minus3>iman” (...) is completely verified as much as the “kristian categories, <6belg> ”, <x>, <8x> Such self-simplifying fosters (and feeds on) a widespread sense of threat posed by (some) Muslims to the public, to the practices and for British consolidation values. The above perception is made up of at least 3 dimensions.

The first and most likely is the widespread interpretation of Muslims ʹ or, in more studied versions, of some Muslims ʹ as significant and often close to national security. This interpretation is evident in the political disinformation that revolves around <x0mremism» and «radicialisation», whose political impact labels continue to be devoid in no way of the assumption that numerous academics have long expressed about their benefit. For example, in a discussion held in July 2015, former Prime Minister David Cameron presented a five-year strategy regarding extremism formulated by his government, underlining that the «we are fighting, in Islamic extremism, is an ideology. It's an extreme doctrine. (...) Its final goal is to destroy national states in order to establish his barbarian kingdom. To achieve such a goal, it often supports violence against Muslim brothers who do not share a perverted vision of the world».

Theresa May, the successor of David Cameron, has adopted a similar vocabulary after the terrorist attack in London Bridge in June 2017, claiming that the event was related to previous attacks carried out in Manchester and elsewhere «by the same bad ideology of Islamic extremism that preaches hatred, sows divisions and promotes sectarianism». Both leaders have placed their attention on the extreme versions of Islamic bfese and have thus enabled an old distinction between Muslims of «Mir « «and those of «matrimus». However, the confrontation of Islam and extremism perpetuates the idea that the first embodys or, at least, contains within it a threat to the national security of the United Kingdom as modern, secular, liberal democracy. Such representation as shown by authors such as Stuart Croft is widespread, pushing far beyond political elites to include media organisations, separate journalists, university professors, writers and ordinary citizens.

The second aspect of the perceived threat lies in representations of Islam, or of the single Muslim community, ʹ as a reluctance to be embarrassed in a multicultural society. These include fears that Muslim communities have chosen to live through <x0geto» isolated or self-grained, false, working and spending free time away from other populations. For example, United Kingdom Communication Forum was created in October 2015 under the keen Cameron effort to create a national coalition to challenge (...) extremists and the poison they spread. I want British Muslims to know that we will support if they line up against those who sow hatred and oppose the gear that Muslims don't feel like British». Such proposals about the suicide of Muslim communities are among other visible in the introduction of measures directed at religious schools, seen as potential incubators of isolation. As Cameron always said in the era of presenting forums, «sot has parts of where you can pass without ever speaking English or never meeting anyone of another culture. (...)

Some institutions contribute to the incubation of such divisions. Do you know there are children in your country who spend a few hours every day in a middle school? Be clear: There is nothing wrong with the fact that children learn what to do with their religion, whether it be the Kurdish schools, the Christian Sunday school or the Hebrew schools. However, there are children who are taught that they should not mix with those of other religious beliefs; children who are beaten; who are obliged to chew conspiracy theories about the Hebrew people. These children's texts should not be allowed to be filled with poison, and their hearts should not be filled with hatred. Rather, their minds should open up and their horizons expand. Specific threats regarding maturity surface repeatedly in similar discussions, especially in respect to discrimination of women and maintaining the principle of equality of citizens before the law, which is viewed as threatened. The threats have led to May 2016 in launching an investigation into the implementation of trusted maturity by an expert commission involving academics, lawyers and theologians.

A third aspect of this disused Muslim presentation like the other « » that attacks British lives and values is more complex and concerns the perceived threat posed by some Muslims to some of their (weak) communities. Such complaints often have a sfumment of this nature, focusing especially on violence against women. Here, the most disturbing issues concern the so-called «homicide in honour of» and female genius maim, in which women's bodies are the object of physical violence that sometimes leads to the death of the victim. Despite this, many feel that the practices of this nature have more cultural than religious origins (being actually taking place in communities that have different religions), as demonstrated by the denouncing of recent times against the daily “Daily Mail” by the British Independent Press Standards Organisation. This picture was condemned for using a chronic history of the syntagma «Islamic murders in honour of» and was then forced to modify its title: «We are happy to explain that Islam as religious faith does not support the so-called “suicide for honour of”».

Similar impressions about the vulnerability of violence or the discrimination practices within Muslim communities are evident in the attention given to «jihadist partners», «compulsory marriage» and dealt with practices such as women's segregation (for example, in schools or places of cult) and use of perce. The widespread association of Islam ʹ or Muslims with such practices is at risk of drawing attention to conflicting voices or from the opposite examples within Islam itself and ʹ in the meantime from similar practices that occur in other religious and cultural communities. As represented in this way, Islam finds itself accused of failing to adapt to modernising its social, political and cultural customs in terms of women's rights and gender equality. At the same time, it is accused of being a major religious belief that, however, has been bribed by charismatic subjects driven by personal interests. In this context, it is not surprising that a survey conducted in March 2015 has found that 55% of British voters believe there is a key crash between Islam and the values of English society». In the same survey, only 22% of voters have claimed they believe Islam and English values are «generally compatible».

These 3 representations of a tension between Islam and British values create threats that affect various areas: national security (which dominate fears regarding radicalisation, extremism and terrorism); intercommunist relations in a multicultural society (where fears prevail over integration); security of weak Muslims (where fear arises over customs regarding violence of this nature). In practice, however, such fears often mix among themselves, further emphasising the sense of conflict. The place where this appears with greater clarity is in the prevention strategy, the agenda of fighting extremism processed by the United Kingdom. This strategy has been widely criticised for the fact that it confuses government priorities in terms of security with priorities related to integration. In fact, it combines police initiatives with the work done together with local communities and organisations to respond to the ideological challenge of terrorism, demanding that individuals particular be dismissed from attracting to terrorism.

Fears, be they special or combined, suggest there is an essential conflict between Islam and its followers on the one hand and British values on the other. Where the first are represented as conservative, traditional, and even barbarous, the latter are presented as liberal, modern, and civilised. The result is a disturbing dynamic in which (some) residents in the United Kingdom are already demonised as real or potential threats (to national security, to British multiculturalism or to other Muslims) and reduced to real or potential victims. This not only homogenizes a population of considerable geographical, national, demographic, and political diversity but also reinforces consolidated arguments and Oriental ideas, identifying all Muslims as «in the danger of being endangered».

Measureing the social impact of these dynamics is difficult. As a result, there has been a temptation among researchers to express itself on behalf of the Muslim «community of» regarding how it has been negatively influenced by recent security policy developments. A recent attempt to do something more in this sense is the British research project [Music] Waves, which has sought to capture public recognition of the relationship between Islam and the British « » or the British «society», urging members of the Muslim community to produce short films related to this topic. This attempt to share personal and biographic experiences between different communities represents a much more clear framework of the position and ideas of Muslims in today's English society, however, by the fact that it is suggested by the above - mentioned cartoons. For example, some short-term films give voice not only to the diversity of Muslims in the United Kingdom but also to the joint presentation within these diversitys of a fundamental compatibility between the British «» and Islam.

This idea of compatibility is encountered in different communities. To say with a Muslim who has participated in our investigation, «I don't see any conflict... we are more similar than different». Even some Muslims go even further, acknowledging that converting to Islam has enabled them to shed light on some basic British values previously given as well-being. In the words of a Norwich resident, «have already become Muslim I have understood more British values and more my culture. Dignity, honesty, integrity, decoration. I've known all aspects of the traditional way of being British for the first time». Part of non-Muslim research participants have forwarded a similar vision, underlining similarities between Muslim values and traditionally related to British life: «I think many of the major British values in their fundamental form are related to Christian values. But the same happens to Muslims: we have all the same ideals, the difference is just how they translate into practice».

On the other hand, a tension between «britianicity» and Islam is faced in terms of relations between men and women: «I think that perhaps Muslims have an idea easily different from our society (...) regarding what should be the relationship between the two sexs», an interviewed has stated. However, as highlighted by a non-Muslim, <x4 non-violence is very important for Islam. This seems ignored by the media, which seem to confuse terrorism and extremism with a religious belief. There are extremists and terrorists of many different religions, but it does not seem to have consequences for themselves. When IRA (Irish Repulcan Armey) carried out its bloody assassinations, people did not say “this is Catholic terrorism”». So there is much work left to do about the ways Islam and Muslims are perceived and discussed in British society. Each of the fears cited is not only about Islam, but generally about the state of multiculturalism.

Whether or not, Muslims still appear as foreigners in society very often. For this reason, the anxieties of Islam mix with other security areas, from radicalism to terrorism, from immigration to workplace safety. But there are also reasons for optimism, especially when you observe public will signals to counter this bad feeling. It is important to insist on these examples, and there are three ways to do so. The first, fundamental, is to continue to challenge the seplistic stereotype of Muslims as <x0) potential terrorism» or «threat» of the other type, downlining the true extent of such issues, which, though not insignificant, is often much smaller than try to believe. Second, it should be looked at the words and images used by politicians, newspapers, televisions and cinemas when discussing Islam in today's United Kingdom. Third, different stories must be tried, shifting discussion from security issues to experiences of Muslim life in the country. All of this can help combat certain stereotypes that still last today.

(Lee Yavis is professor of International Policy at University of East England. He is the author or curator of 11 books and more than 50 articles or books related to security policy and terrorism)

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TIRANA ARMIN / World.al