Definition of Anti-Muslim Hatred

Faith Matters has watched the difficult and abrasive debates that have taken place around the development of a definition on anti-Muslim hatred or prejudice by this Government. We are of the firm opinion that a definition is essential if we are to ensure that some fundamentals of our society are to be protected. Firstly, there […]

Countering extremism requires empathy and consistency

Yesterday, an interesting and fruitful discussion on the battle against extremism took place in Twitter HQ, held by Faith Matters. The debate included speeches from Sara Khan and others and focused on the twofold fight against Islamist and far-right extremism. The discussion offered a range of fascinating insights into the depth of the problem confronting […]

Why the latest poll won’t tell us what all British Muslims actually think

Channel 4 commissioned ICM to poll Muslims in Britain on a range of issues from women’s rights to marriage equality. But did the poll titled “What do British Muslims really think?” answer its own question? Polling British Muslims is a difficult and expensive task. It’s why YouGov avoided the Sun’s now infamous ‘1 in 5

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Why more than #1in5Muslims ridiculed the Sun’s ‘jihadi sympathy’ story

For Mucahit Bilici, comedy offers the means to invert the distorting power of stereotypes. This is true for anyone who has experienced racism and Islamophobia. This inversion reflects a recent Twitter trend that ridiculed the Sun’s claim that one in five Muslims has ‘sympathy for jihadis’. The hashtag #1in5Muslims also created a wider discussion about Islamophobia. The polling company behind the Sun poll, Survation, faced criticisms for its methodological approach. It told the Guardian that it picked “1,500 Muslim surnames” from its database. Telephone interviews did not proceed until the individuals identified confirmed an Islamic belief. Monday’s edition of the Sun had claimed that this sympathy extended to ISIS. But the poll did specify any group. It rather sought, in a simplistic and vague manner, to gauge ‘sympathy’ with Muslims who had joined fighters in Syria. Fighters could extend to other groups including anti-Assad forces and Kurdish groups. The Sun’s political editor Tom Newton-Dunn wrote “if the poll reflected views across the country it would mean 500,000 have some support for jihadis“. To extend that logic, a Survation poll in March for Sky News asked the same question to non-Muslims. It found that 14 per cent had expressed ‘sympathy’. If that poll reflected national opinion it would mean [...]

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Faith Matters takes group of British Muslims to Israel / Palestine

During a short trip to the West Bank this November, an interfaith group, most of them British Muslims from the Faith Matters organization, visited Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Ramallah and Hebron through a Holy Land Trust program for five days. Faith Matters is a UK interfaith and community cohesion-based organization that works “towards conflict resolution and cohesion […]

Alliances between Muslims and Jews

Alliances between Muslims and Jews and a different discourse in the future by Fiyaz Mughal OBE FCMI My friends. It’s wonderful to be here today and I am honoured to be invited. I bring a message of hope today, but first of all I want to impress upon you how important it is to keep hoping.  […]