September 10, 2008

32% of British Muslims say it’s acceptable to kill in the name of Islam. . . . .

On July 27 the UK Mail reported on the Islam on Campus survey by researchers of the Centre for Social Cohesion. The survey consisted of 1,400 students, 600 of them Muslims, at 12 universities with influential Islamic societies.

According to the survey:

  • 32% justified killing in the name of religion if the religion was under attack
  • 60% of students active in Islamic societies said killing in the name of religion can be justified
  • 4% thought killing to promote religion was permissible
  • 33% of Muslim students polled supported the introduction of a worldwide Caliphate based on Sharia law
  • 58% of active members of campus Islamic Societies supported the idea of a worldwide Caliphate based on Islamic Sharia Law

The author of the report, Hannah Stuart, said: “These findings are deeply alarming. Students in higher education are the future leaders of their communities, yet significant numbers of them appear to hold beliefs which contravene liberal, democratic values. These results are deeply embarrassing for those who have said that there is no extremism in British universities.” Stuart also noted that government authorities should be wary about treating university Islamic societies as representative because their members appeared to be more extreme than other Muslim students.

Interestingly, on August 21 the UK Telegraph reported that the British intelligence service, MI5, leaked the results of a study done by its behavioral science unit. According to the Telegraph, MI5’s general conclusion from its study is two-fold:

  1. The most pressing threat to the UK is Islamic extremists.
  2. It is impossible to profile a “typical” British terrorist.

According to the Telegraph, MI5 also found these specific aspects of British terrorists:

  • Diverse collection of individuals, fitting no single demographic profile, nor do they all follow a typical pathway to violent extremism.
  • They are mostly British nationals, not illegal immigrants, and most are religious novices. Those over 30 are just as likely to have a wife and children as to be loners with no ties, the research shows.
  • They were no more likely to have mental illness and come from diverse ethnic backgrounds.
  • While most are male, women are often aware of their husband's and sons activities but do nothing to stop them.
  • Most over-30s have steady relationships and children, challenging the idea that terrorists are young men driven by sexual frustration and lured to ‘martyrdom’ by the promise of beautiful virgins waiting for them in paradise.

Interestingly, MI5 concluded that the most pressing British threat is Islamic extremists and the Centre for Social Cohesion found that British college students were alarmingly more extreme in their views than previously thought.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

this is certainly alarming news to those who are not conversant with the views of others of and knowledge of other religious groups. these stats and beliefs are even typical of those with antithetical political convictions. The truth is however that they will openly say thing they believe but not necessarily act on them (i.e. kill in the name of a God) only because they are in another man country.

Admittedly these are things i hear all the time not only from nationals but from Brits i know and others of other races, but i can assure you this is not their way of operating they just think justice should be across the board and not politically Skewed.

this open fear we are now seeing is not brought about because of the knowledge of this new study we have. That is because we have known for generations that the Islamic community has militant beliefs the only difference now is that it has come to the west, and we almost can not do anything about it, because we have so loosened the rules on cultural diversity. We did not take into consideration the dispositions of others and their religious convictions before we decided to welcome them with open arms, as we seek act as the hand of salvation to the world. This will perhaps make us wonder about our stance on religious freedom.