Not that it is just the white men that Islamic women halt to complete with.
The majority of the UK’s Muslims who are creation physically attacked, stung or intimidated because of their combine are women, harmonise to re pennyime figures.
And those doing the attacking are white men, increasingly likely to be linked to far-right groups.
Tell MAMA, a public service for standard and monitoring anti-Muslim attacks set up one year ago, says that 632 anti-Muslim loathe incidents reach been reported to ‘MAMA’ since March 2012.
Muslim women were targeted in 58 per cent of all incidents.
Extreme violence featured in 23 cases.
Three-quarters (74 per cent) of incidents reported to MAMA took place over social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc), save there have also been attacks on mosque buildings, against pregnant women and ‘ glaring’ hijab (veil) wearers, even children and pensioners in their 80s.
In one incident recorded in Nottinghamshire, a family was forced from their home; in a nonher, a five-year-old miss was run over.
High-profile figures such as journalist Jemima caravansary have also been subject to online threats picked up and reported to the police by MAMA.
The majority of those physically attacked on the street were Muslim women, draining either the hijab (covering their head out of religious beliefs) or niqab (full side of meat covering).
These street based incidents seemed mostly ‘random’ in nature, according to victims, and frequently took place where interactions with others were common: at schools, using a taxi service, etc.
Visibly-identified far-right British National Party (BNP) or English Defence League (EDL) members were linked to over fractional (54 per cent) of all incidents.
Tell MAMA’s work has led to the arrests of 21 far-right EDL supporters, with over 40 incidents reported against EDL leader ‘Tommy Robinson’ alone.
Eighteen prosecutions have wasten place.
Only two police forces – the Metropolitan Police and urban center of London Police – record Islamophobia as part of their crime statistics.
But research shows that there is no conflict between being ‘British’ and being ‘Muslim’ ; 83 per cent of Muslims say they were proud to be British, compared to 79 per cent of Britons overall.
Demonisation of ‘the other’, misguide beliefs that Muslims are virtuallyhow a monolithic block, unchecked lies that Islam is a violent religion wishing to ‘take over’, or that British Muslims wish to abuse white girls, must be contendd.
youthful history shows us what happens if we allow our fears to run unchecked.
But there is hope. Recent poll shows that young and old Britons subscribe to markedly unalike outlooks.
Whereas 77 per cent of the over-60s view Islam as a hazard to the West, the figure among 18-24 year-olds tumbles to 38 per cent.
And while 71 per cent of the sometime(a) generation view the growth of Muslim communities as a threat to white Britons, the figure among 18-24 year-olds slumps to 31 per cent.
And whereas 65 per cent of the oldest reject the suggestion that Muslims are compatible, this figure dwindles to 31 per cent among the youngest.
So there is hope that good sense will win.
But its not just the white men that Muslim women have to set with.
Sara Khan, director of Inspire, a women’s human rights organisation which seeks to quotation the inequalities facing British Muslim women wrote in the Guardian late that many British Muslim women face serious challenges.
Seven in 10 Muslim women are economically inactive; Muslim women have worse health than any other faith group; they can be victims of culturally based crimes, such as forced marriages and honour-based attacks; and there is a lack of distaff leadership among British Muslim organisations and mosques.
None of these issues are condoned by Islam; they often arises from socioeconomic barriers and cultural practices.
And some vulnerable Muslim women run through victimisation on multiple fronts: they face violent anti-Muslim attacks at the hands of racist bigots, and encounter grammatical sex disparity from deep down their own communities.
Worse still, some women refuse to speak out against gender-based discrimination fearing this would totally fuel anti-Muslim hatred – of which they would be the likely victims.
And Sara Khan writes that it is disheartening to hear the deafening silence on gender issues.
It is, she says, imperative that Muslim organisations and mosques do more to tackle gender discrimination experienced by female members of their communities.
Muslim organisations not only need to speak out more, they also need to actively begin to tackle this socioeconomic and cultural discrimination and to challenge Muslim preachers who invoke unacceptable and extreme views about the component part of women in Islam.
Fiyaz Mughal director of Faith Matters and the Tell MAMA encounter said in a recent article in the Huffington Post that the Muslim community must show some leadership here, of course, and make sure it is engaging through its leaders with wider society.
Muslims must not tolerate those who call for intolerance or hatred towards secular Britons or other faiths, or promote evils such as homophobia.
But Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred is something we must all take responsibility for, and deal with it before the situation escalates out of control.
Materials taken from Womens Views on News
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