Almost 50% of British Muslims believe they face discrimination because of their faith and that Britain is becoming less tolerant, while the same percentage feel prejudice against Islam makes it difficult being a Muslim in the UK, according to a BBC poll.
Some 35% said they felt most British people did not trust Muslims, and a fifth said they thought Western liberal society could never be compatible with Islam.
Nearly 20% of Muslim women questioned said they felt unsafe in Britain, compared with 10% of men.
The poll suggests 32% of British Muslims were not surprised by January’s attacks on the Charlie Hebdo magazine, which published blasphemous and provocative depictions of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
That said, according to the survey most British Muslims oppose violence against people who publish images depicting the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), even though almost 80% said they had found it deeply offensive when images depicting the Prophet were published.
Asked if acts of violence against those who publish images of the Prophet Muhammad can “never be justified”, 68% agreed that such violence was never justifiable.
But 24% disagreed with the statement, while the rest replied “don’t know” or refused to answer.
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Of those polled, 95% felt a loyalty to Britain, while 93% believed that Muslims in Britain should always obey British laws.
Former Foreign Office minister Baroness Warsi tols the BBC that the poll highlighted her view that the government’s terrorism policy was not based on enough evidence.
Speaking on Radio 4’s Today programme she said: “What is the evidence that shows us how people are being radicalised? What is the evidence that shows us the route to someone becoming a terrorist. We just don’t have this.
“We don’t have definitive data that we work to and that is why I think we get much of our policy wrong.”
