The future for Muslims in the UK is "bleak and dystopian"

[Scirocco]

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2024/nov/17/muslims-face-bleak-and-dystopian-climate-in-uk-says-head-of-thinktank

According to a report by the Runnymede Trust. The crisis in Palestine and Lebanon is considered to be a major contributing factor.

I don't think it's Brexit. When I was growing up my Muslim friends behaved like everyone else ..drinking loads, smoking, drugs if they wanted, going out with non Muslim boys. They weren't separating themselves from their peers in any way. I hope young Muslim girls are still happy and confident enough to do that if they want to?

Ok .. which bit was inciting hatred and misinformation? Maybe i misunderstood

I think the issue is that in this majority Christian, atheist secular country, a lot of Islamic sentiments and views are just not compatible with our society. You might fear them, or you might just think they are bonkers. But the issue is that you can take the piss out of, and critise, Christians and Christian doctrine, but you can't do the same for Islam. If we are to be equal, then we must be able to have equality of thought and action.

I find it interesting that so many posters here totally ignore history.
They could do well to read this link.

https://aobm.org/learning/history-timeline/

I'm sorry but I don't believe all or most Muslims were drinking, doing drugs etc in the past. Yes I knew some that were but a minority. It goes against their religion obviously.
The Muslim females I know (and I know a lot - teenage girls and grown women) don't drink or do drugs. They're perfectly happy and confident but don't want to drink alcohol. I must add that the Muslim males I know don't either.
I do know some Muslim men and women who date and who've married non-Muslims.

Exactly the bit @Dulra corrected. Illegal immigrants aren't getting any state help. People applying for asylum are allowed a very measly amount of support. The demonisation of people seeking asylum as grifters ripping off the state is inciting hatred towards a vulnerable group that has also spilled over into hatred towards British people who look Muslim.

Dulra, I believe you are in Ireland so may not see the same things I see. Changing the label does not change the reality. Your silencing comment is worthy of Gordon & Emily well done.

Your post is very aggressive. When you talk of Muslims praying en masse, I assume you are referring to the Eid prayer that takes place twice a year. What issue do you have with that?

I'm not Muslim.

I grew up in a town that had a significant Muslim population.

A girl I was friends with at sixth form who had a bright future ahead of her was forcibly taken back to Pakistan and married to relative. I remember talking to her on the school bus before she went. She was despondent but had no real way of fighting her family.

I still think about her today, especially these days with the situation in Afghanistan and women being so controlled - not allowed to speak etc.

I don't have a problem with Muslims praying outside, or with being Muslims in Britain.

I do worry massively about forced marriage and the disrespect that Islam shows to women. Islamic values are not compatible with traditional British and Christian values.

Sharia law is just terrifying. The fact that there are people in Britain who are calling for it genuinely makes me scared that Britain might one day become a country where women are stoned to death for being raped.

I speak respectfully to Muslims and if they refuse to shake my hand (I am a woman) I accept the disrespect. In the name of a tolerant society. I don't shout at anyone or call names.

I'd like to have a society that is tolerant, diverse, and open to many faiths. That is not, and cannot be a society built on Islamic values as Islam is not tolerant or open to many faiths.

Yes - education is really helpful in this regard. I agree.
But there ARE some groups of Muslims whose views clash with mainstream secularism and freedom of speech issues. We see that in the Batley Grammar school case.
Education needs to go both ways. And freedom of speech needs to be protected. ( as long as it’s not inciting division etc)

Seeking asylum has never been illegal. Illegal immigration and asylum seeking are not the same thing. The people changing the label are the people want to demonise them and blame them for the problems in the UK.

Not at the moment. But it could if the demographic changes. I am assuming you are a tolerant Muslim living in the UK, who is not anti semitic and who doesn't want religion to be part of public life. By that I mean you would never advocate for religion based laws. But your voice doesn't get heard. Instead the media amplifies the voice of Islamists because they are the types of people at those horrible anti-semetic marches each week, who deface statues and who the media report brandishing machetes at riots and who say that Muslim women are not allowed to behave like non Muslim women in the UK . It naturally frightens people. I don't know the solution to increase the voice of the Muslims who aren't like that. Obviously why should they have to speak up anyway, so it's a Catch 22 situation at the moment.

I feel so sorry for real asylum seekers now as there doesn't seem to be any way to identify them so they get lumped in with the economic migrants.

You are in France I believe, perhaps what you see is different to me.

What was it George Orwell said about not believing what you see or hear but only what you are told?

But the original post was not demonising anyone- it was just describing the concerns. ( although I agree a lot of demonising went on during the riots) Your response is an over reaction. It should be possible for posters to at least refer to concerns and then you can rebut them without accusing people of hatred, demonisation etc
Its the overblown rhetoric that raises the heat

The refusal to shake a woman's hand is a big one. I've had that at work. Hideous misogyny disguised as religious requirements.

The economic migrants are also deserving of empathy. The problem is that some communities do have genuine concerns about whether their infrastructure can cope .

In the UK that is not true. They get substantial help.

It’s a scary time for a lot of minority groups aswell as Muslims ie Jews. However we need to be able to have open and honest conversations about problems with communities without fear of being branded a racist. I appreciate there are a lot of idiot racist thugs like we saw in Julys riot but these do not represent the majority of British people.

I have experienced first hand lack of integration. I went to a diverse school in Bradford and several of my Muslim friends were not allowed by their parents to socialise with ‘gora’ outside of school - how is that wanting to integrate and be part of a wider community?

‘Bradistan’ is a term used a lot across Bradford, from my experience mainly by Pakistani Muslims themselves.

Everyone going on marches to protest the genocide of the Palestinians is anti-semitic now? If you have been to a march in London you would quickly realise that the majority are non Muslims.

I am in the UK actually and I have been for 35 years. I live in a multicultural area and have taught RE in a multicultural school.
I was taught critical thinking both by the French education and by my parents.
So no, I don't believe what I am told.

Empathy of course but we cannot take so many economic migrants that they overwhelm public services, are unable to be housed or are at the expense of our own children being unable to find housing and don't raise GDP per capita in the UK. In fact they lower it. And ironically cause our own kids to want to leave this dump and become economic migrants themselves!

Why is it that Conservative Muslims always get stick for this, for those who others think are less willing to integrate but I don't see the same criticism for factions of other religions/communities who act in a similar manner?

I have worked with refugees and trust me, they do not receive substantial help.

They make Jews in London frightened. They should stop. They are hardly changing anything in Gaza either.