This report looks at the impact of on-line and off-line experiences of anti-Muslim hostility on British Muslims in the UK. It highlights how some male Muslims are failing to report in Institutional anti-Muslim prejudice for fear of being targeted and for fear that they will be seen to be ‘weak’ in the eyes of their families and lead to instability in their employment. It also highlights how key ‘trigger’ events such as the murder of Lee Rigby, the actions of the so-called Islamic State and the Rotherham grooming scandal, have led to multiple impacts within Muslim communities. It also re-affirms the link between racist language and anti-Muslim prejudice, with one female respondent saying, “actually, 9 out of 10 times, the abuse I receive is based on race. Although they use religion because I am identifiable as a Muslim woman, the words that come out of their mouth have to do with race, so the race and the religion are tied up together in people’s minds.”

Participants in the report talk about the disturbing nature of verbal and physical violence that they have suffered. A convert to Islam, Sophie (who wears the Hijab) stated, “a guy walked past, he spat at me and called me a ‘Muzzi’. Also, I’ve been called dirty Paki, (I am white), as a group of guys walked past and shouted ‘speak English in our country.’ I was looking at a map and did not say anything.”

Some participants also warned about the risks of radicalisation, especially for young people as a result of suffering online and/or offline anti-Muslim hate crimes. One respondent, Hamza, noted that “anti-Muslim hate crime has affected Muslims. This is why Muslims are going to Syria. This is why they support ISIS. When people experience Islamophobic abuse, they will be easily radicalised. They feel weak, lonely, isolated, and rejected from British society. This is when these hate preachers pick them up and brainwash them. If you are constantly victimised, you are weak.”

This report also highlights an impact on Muslim communities which is rarely discussed and which includes changes in dress style so that attention is not drawn to the visibility of their faith. The report highlights the issue of Muslims managing their Muslim identity on-line and off-line with the aim of reducing future abuse. It states that, “the reality of anti-Muslim hate crime creates ‘invisible’ boundaries, across which members of the Muslim community are not ‘welcome’ to step. The enactment of both virtual and physical boundaries impacts upon ‘emotional geographies’ in relation to the way in which Muslims perceive the spaces and places around and outside their communities of abode. Rather than risk the threat of being attacked, either off-line or on-line, many actual and potential victims opt to change their lifestyles and retreat to ‘their own’ communities.

]]> 1227 https://www.faith-matters.org/raising-the-need-to-tackle-anti-muslim-bigotry-reporting-it-in/ Thu, 16 Jul 2015 15:44:25 +0000 https://faith-matters.org/?p=694

The Director of Faith Matters and TELL MAMA, Fiyaz Mughal, spoke at the Big Iftar event, organised by Innovate Walsall, and raised the issue of social justice being closely entwined with Islam. The Director stated that this being the case, it was imperative that Muslims play their part in countering hate, intolerance and injustice against any community, if they are targeted because of a part of their identity.

The work undertaken by TELL MAMA over the last 3 years was also raised. This has involved assisting over 3,700 people who have reported into TELL MAMA and with over 300 arrests which have been made directly through the work.

Fiyaz Mughal also talked about the need to report in anti-Muslim hatred and particularly for Muslim women to report in the harassment that they may receive at a street level. He also raised the fact that data from TELL MAMA shows that visible Muslim women are the ones most targeted because of their visibility and that women who wore the Niqab (or religious face veil), were sadly more likely to be targeted through more aggressive incidents.

The final message was that Muslims are looking for equality, nothing more and nothing less and that reporting in anti-Muslim hate would strengthen that objective by drawing a line with perpetrators. “This country,” he said, “has the systems in place to redress grievances such as hate incidents and hate crimes. Sometimes, it may not be the outcome that you are looking for, but you stopped being a victim the moment when you reported it in.“

Faith Matters launched the TELL MAMA (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks) campaign which will provide support to those who have suffered anti-Muslim attacks in England as well as mapping, analysing and collecting data on areas where such attacks are prevailent. The launch was attended by Peter Oborne, a columnist from the Telegraph, the Rt Hon Simon Hughes MP and the Secretary of State for the Department for Communities and Local Government, the Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP. The TELL MAMA campaign was also mentioned in the Integration Strategy that was launched by the Department today.

Faith Matters conveys its thanks to the range of partners that attended the launch today and to the Community Security Trust which has been a trailblazer in monitoring hate crimes against Jewish communities in England. All hate crime is wrong and we will be working to ensure that anti-Muslim hate crimes are recorded and those who suffer such attacks, receive support through a one-stop shop signposting and guidance service which is being co-ordinated through Faith Matters.

Faith Matters believes that faith and non-faith communities should have the chance to live their lives free from fear and threats and that we all deserve a future built on this basic human right. So if you are the subject of an anti-Muslim attack in the future, TELL MAMA. Do not suffer in silence and report it!

MAMA (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks) can be contacted through:

Freephone: 0800 456 1226
Facebook: tellmamauk
SMS us and we can call you back: 0115 707 00 07
Twitter: @tellmamauk
E-mail: info@tellmamauk.org
Web-site: www.tellmamauk.org

The English Defence League: Challenging Our Country and Our Values of Social Inclusion, Fairness and Equality. A detailed report on key leaders within the English Defence League, their funders and those that formulate its strategy. This report is a damning insight into a group that promotes a non-racist image, yet those aligned and linked to it hold views that are openly discriminatory against all Muslims and some speak the same language of the British National Party – the language of exclusionism, of non-equal human rights and of the need to ‘send people back.’ These values go contrary to what our country stands for and what we as a nation are about. We are about Fairness, Freedom, Hard Work, Equality and Social Inclusion. We are a modern Britain and a modern nation born from hard work and fairness!

Please Note:
We would like to clarify that Mark Israel, described in paragraph 4.9. of our report on the English Defence League as “a former volunteer with the Board of Deputies’ Community Security Trust (CST)”, has not been a CST volunteer for many years; and that CST (a separate organisation from the Board of Deputies) has repeatedly condemned the EDL, for example in the following posts on the CST Blog:

• https://thecst.org.uk/blog/?p=555
• https://thecst.org.uk/blog/?p=686
• https://thecst.org.uk/blog/?p=963
• https://thecst.org.uk/blog/?p=1602
• https://thecst.org.uk/blog/?p=1956