A ground breaking report on Islamophobia in Europe has documented the extent of the problem.

Discrimination against Muslims in Europe is widespread, the report says. According to the study covering 26 national reports, Muslims continue to experience discrimination in a range of areas, more specifically in employment, education and access to goods and services.

This is the first pan-European qualitative survey on Muslim communities in Europe, part of the Europe Network Against Racism’s 2011/12 Shadow Report on Racism in Europe and released ahead of International Day Against Racial Discrimination.

"Manifestations of Islamophobia include discrimination and violence towards Muslims, criminal damage to Islamic buildings, and protests against the building of mosques even in countries, such as Poland, where some Muslim communities have been established and integrated for centuries.
"Muslim women and girls are particularly affected, facing an extreme form of double discrimination on the basis of both their religion and their gender. In France for instance, 85% of all Islamophobic acts target women."

View the Original article

The Islamophobia Awareness Month will be hosting a series of events aiming to highlight and address issues surrounding anti-Muslim hatred. This event in East London saw the launch of the campaign that included organisations from different religious and political backgrounds.

The event gathered high-profile speakers from the police and universities to members of parliament. Speakers included the British human rights lawyer, Imran Khan, who highlighted, what he believes, is a direct link between the negative portrayals of Islam in the media and hate crimes against Muslims.

Among the audience were many Muslims; hopeful to engage with other communities and change people's perception of Islam. They feel it's important to calm tensions that might exist amongst fellow citizens, because those tensions could and have spilled out into violence.

There is a strong feeling amongst Muslims in Europe that they are the target of discrimination and hatred. They feel like a community under siege. And they hope schemes like the Islamophobia Awareness Month will highlight these problems and bring about a grassroots change in society.

However, the society they live in doesn't have a very favorable view of Islam. A recent survey reveals just 25% of people feel positively about Islam. And over 60% feel Islam is incompatible in British society.

Event organizers believe a lot has to do with name association. Terms like terrorism and extremism is closely attributed to Muslim stories in the media. They believe this correlation then creates an attitude hostile towards Muslims.

The Islamophobia Awareness Month aims to reach many cities, schools, institutions and governing bodies. Engagement with other communities is seen as an important step in demystifying and tackling hatred against Islam and Muslims.

Press TV, 7 November 2012

For the campaign organised by the Collectif Contre l'Islamophobie en France as part of Islamophobia Awareness Month, see CCIF news report, 31 October 2012

See also the www.NousSommesLaNation.fr website that the CCIF has launched to support the campaign.

Links to media coverage of the CCIF initiative can be found here.

View the Original article

Islam is one of the largest and fastest growing religions of the world with its followers living worldwide. If we look at history (about 700 years ago) Muslims ruled a part of Europe as Spain was one of the largest Islamic societies of Europe. Queen Isabella and her husband Ferdinand are buried in Alhambra surrounded with the verses from the Holy Quran. According to archaeological findings, it was revealed that Muslims conquered Spain within four years without any bloodshed or violence. At that time the Visigoths were very impressed by the Muslims and their peace, they happily accepted their invitation to Islam and also their rule. The history tells that Muslims translated Greek scripts, they introduced paper in Europe. Muslims were the first ones to perform surgeries over human bodies, which was then common in Europe few centuries later. Alchemy, Algebra and astronomy are all Muslim inventions along with farming, practicing laws and providing trade contracts. The first university of the world was founded by a Muslim woman Fatima al Fihri which still exists in Morocco and is known by University of Al Karaouine.

Islam is rapidly spreading in Europe; the reason is that people are taking interest in Europe’s history. They have learned how Muslims conquered in peace, how they introduced science and math. The study of history has changed their minds about Islam being the religion of violence, they now know that it’s all false and it is used just as an excuse by the terrorists to spread violence. Other reasons include the translation of the Quran in different languages, transmission of Islamic programs on TV and radio. Muslims have settled in Europe because of work and education, those Muslims have inspired their friends and colleagues and taught them Quran Sunnah teachings thus inviting them to this religion. Islam religion is gaining popularity in the whole world because it is true religion. In 1970, there was no mosque present in France, but now more than 3000 mosques are present. It shows the rapid spread of Islam teachings in European countries. Tableghi jammats are playing great role in the spread of Islam in Europe. Now the members of this jammats are present in the whole world. Similarly, Islamic scholars are doing their work in a better way.  Now Islam has become fastest growing religion in the whole world. Hundreds of people enter into Islam daily. Islam is a peaceful religion and it focuses on equal rights for women. Similarly Islam focuses on rights of neighbors and relatives. People of other religions feel this religion is best of all. Therefore followers of Islam are increasing in the world with the passage of time.  It is a real fact that soon this religion will become the largest religion in the world.

The ibaadat of the Islam religion are very impressive for the people of other religions. The most important characteristic of the Islam religion is peace. Therefore, hundreds of people are entering into Islam to enjoy a peaceful life.

About the author

View the Original article

The Institute of Race Relations has published an important study by Liz Fekete, Pedlars of Hate: the violent impact of the far Right.

The report "documents patterns of violence, from the peddling of hate online and the drawing up of lists of 'national traitors', to violence, arson and murder on the streets, and the stockpiling of weapons in preparation for 'race war'".

The IRR points out that Islamophobia is just one element in the rise of violence on the part of the European far right. While Muslims are the far right's principal targets in western Europe, in eastern Europe it is the Roma who are the main victims, while anti-black racism and antisemitism are also on the increase.

Another worrying development is that "attacks on Social Democrats, Left politicians, academics and journalists that report on the far Right around Europe are intensifying too".

The report can be downloaded here

View the Original article

Banning and criminalising the Muslim face veil tests the very foundations of modern liberal society, warn researchers from Queen Mary, University of London and the University of Sussex.

The paper 'Reasons to Ban? The Anti-Burqa Movement in Western Europe' examines the move to legislate against, and to criminalise face-veiling which has swept across the EU recently.

The European movement against face-veiling is now widespread, with calls to implement a ban, or a ban being in place, in France, Belgium, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, and Germany.

This move from country to country makes it seem like a form of "political Swine Flu", suggests the paper’s authors, Prakash Shah, Senior Lecturer at the School of Law, QM and Ralph Grillo, Emeritus Professor of Social Anthropology at Sussex.

Queen Mary, University of London, news release, 10 May 2012

View the Original article

"From one end of Europe to the other, in the ultra-liberal democracy of the Netherlands, as in France, Switzerland, Spain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, and Belgium – from North to South and West to East – the picture is the same: populism rides roughshod, fears are deepening, mistrust is spreading, and racism is increasingly exemplified by the demeaning treatment inflicted upon criminalised migrants, nomads, foreigners: anyone, in short, who is 'not like us'."

Tariq Ramadan writes in the Gulf News, 1 May 2012

View the Original article