Over the last 8-10 weeks it is becoming clear that anti-Muslim incidents are becoming more aggressive at a street level. This trend is worrying since assaults rarely came into us and about 5% of the cases reported to us annually were previously classified as physical assaults. This figure is now over 10% and we have also included some of the visible threats and abuse being directed to Muslims at a street level. Furthermore on Monday, we will be launching our report in Parliament entitled, “We Fear for our Lives: Offline and Online Experiences of anti-Muslim Hostility.” (These cases shown have just been received in the last 2 days).

Case Study 1

Visible Muslim Female: “As I walked down the road with my 15 month old daughter in her buggy, a man spat out of his car window towards us.  I didn’t think anything of it until I glanced his way and he spat again, this time with his head in our direction; this is all whilst he was driving his car.”

“About 30 seconds later he drove back up the road, pulled up right next to me and my daughter and threw a tub of MacDonald’s ketchup out of his passenger window towards us and proceeded to shout something about Muslims. I then called the police who arrived to take a statement from me an hour later.”

Case Study 2

Muslim Male: “Salaams, less than 24 hours after the BBC screened the documentary “Is Britain racist,” I fell today victim to religiously motivated abuse. Ok, this sounds more dramatic than it actually was, in fact I had to laugh when it happened, but it only occurred to me a few moments after the event that this was the first anti-Islamic sentiment I had been shown since I became a Muslim two months ago. This is what happened: I was waiting at pedestrian lights for the green man when a double-decker bus went passed, very slowly. I glanced up and saw a youngish guy lean past his girlfriend, who was occupying the window seat, shaping his hand into a pistol and aiming his index finger at me. I was the only person there so it couldn’t have been meant for anyone else. When he pulled his imaginary trigger his motions were quite convincing, although he missed. Ok, so I’m making light of the matter, and it’s not like I haven’t witnessed much more ugly scenes of racial/religious abuse in this city; but I thought I’d tell you about it anyway. I’m a middle-aged white guy, not British but you wouldn’t necessarily know that, and I was not dressed “Islamically”, apart from my kufi and my beard……”

Case Study 3

Visible Muslim Female: “I got on the bus, and a couple (I assume) were sat on either side of the bus, and made a conscious effort to keep turning round and smiling at me. They insisted that I tell them where I needed to get off the bus and then followed me.

At the bus stop, they approached me properly, and the lady stated “you’re a Muslim you know”, to which I replied “yes”. She then said to her friend, “ask whatever you like”. The man then questioned the Hijab I wear before demanding that I give him money. I politely refused, which angered the man, so he kept insisting, and started to reduce the amount requested for, before hurling racist abuse such as “you’re a sh*t Muslim” and “Muslims are scrounging rats, not generous and ‘charitable’ people”. As soon as the bus came, I got on it, and have been encouraged to put this forward to warn others.”

The post Incidents Showing More Aggression Towards Muslims on the Streets appeared first on TELL MAMA.

This briefing paper is another in the series of publications that fall into the Islamophobia and Anti-Muslim prejudice themes which Faith Matters is developing. This briefing paper looks at the individuals who were behind the recent YouTube production of the ‘Innocence of Muslims’ trailer, their motivations and their connections. The briefing paper looks at the network of individuals who are involved in anti-Islamic and anti-Muslim activities and let us not forget that the Innocence of Muslims YouTube publication lead to demonstrations that ended in the deaths of individuals in other countries.

This paper looks at Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, Steven Klein, Joseph Nasralla Abdelmasih and Morris Sadek. All are linked through their virulent anti-Islam beliefs, but all are very different characters. We at Faith Matters believe that it is important to identify these men. We hope that this paper shines a light on those who thought that creating divisions was a way of shaping future Muslim and Christian relations. Not only were their actions deeply morally offensive and factually wrong, their desire to create tensions should be a wake-up call to all those who believe in co-existence and mutual understanding. Unless people of good will do not stand up and shape our future relationships, those who seek division are not far behind.

Faith Matters investigated tensions amongst young Sikh and Muslim men which threatened to create local and national hotspots of tension. Conducted in 2008, it took Sikhs and Muslims to Corrymeela in Northern Ireland to explore some of the issues causing tension in some parts of the East and West Midlands and to look at commonalities between the two communities. Faith Matters was aware of rising tensions and even in 2008, it was clear that a handful of Sikhs were looking to join groups like the British National Party (and later the English Defence League), groups that were attempting to woo young Sikhs on the premise that they supposedly had historical angsts against Muslims.

What was clear was that issues of identity were affecting both Sikhs and Muslims and whilst both communities had been active in the ati-racist movements of the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s, young Sikhs felt that their identity had to be defined against Muslims, rather than through any ‘organic’ movement within the community. Therefore, Muslims who were historically defined as the other, were further caricatured post 9/11 and 7/7 on the basis that Sikhs were being attacked since ‘Muslims’ were the real problem. This twisted narrative did not take into account the fact that those who had attacked and killed Sikhs, thought that they were Muslims and that Muslims had also stood in solidarity with Sikh communities against these anti-Muslim attacks which also had strong undertones of prejudice attached to them. Furthermore, leaflets distributed in Derby and Leicester and attributed by some Sikhs to Al Muhajiroun were then used to support the narrative that Muslims (in general) were looking to convert Sikhs. Allied to this, strong residual feelings that Muslims want to convert Sikh women, has led to small groups of morality police within some Sikh groups breaking up interfaith relationships and suggesting that the Sikh women have been brainwashed. Evidence on such cases to the Police have not been provided.

A summary of the work of Faith Matters on these narratives can be found through the following reports:

Cohesive Communities Report: https://faith-matters.org/images/stories/cohesive_community_report090908.pdf 

The Adab Report: https://faith-matters.org/images/stories/publications/The_Adab_Respect_Research_Programme.pdf 

Our primary reason for this work is to try and improve relations between both faith communities at a time when the Far Right, including the English Defence League, are trying to play on differences. The EDL are no friends of Sikh communities. Nor are they friends of other faiths, nor of Christianity, which they have tried to hijack. The EDL remain a threat to our country, our values and our freedoms. They are a national threat to our futures!