ISLAM IN THE WEST

Muslims ‘are more patriotic than most British people’

British Muslims feel a greater sense of national pride than the average UK citizen, according to the results of a new poll whose results were released on Nov. 22, 2011.
While 79 % of the Britons quizzed said they agreed with the statement ‘I am proud to be a British citizen’, the figure rose to 83 % among Muslims.
And Muslim Britons were also found to be significantly more optimistic than most with just 31 % agreeing with the notion that Britain’s best days are in the past compared to an average of 45 %.
The figures are, to some extent, understood to reflect a reaction to the hostility and distrust felt by many British Muslims in the post 9/11 world.
There is also the belief that Muslims are more able to appreciate the political freedoms UK citizens enjoy as they can trace their family roots to far more oppressive and non-democratic regimes.
British-Pakistani boxer Amir Khan, one of the most prominent flag wavers among the nation’s Muslim population, often speaks in interviews about his sense of national pride.
The poll of 2000 people, taken by the think tank Demos, was designed to find what symbolises the best of Britain. 
The report found: ‘This optimism in British Muslims is significant as - combined with their high score for pride in being British - it runs counter to a prevailing narrative about Muslim dissatisfaction with and in the UK.’
Around half of people questioned for the survey said they believed Britain benefited from being a multicultural country.
The survey also discovered that courteous and generous behavior inspired patriotism more than institutions such as the monarchy or the BBC.
Tariq Modood, director of the Centre For Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship told the Sunday Times: ‘They [Muslims] can... say to people, “We are British and you’ve got us wrong”.
‘Or they can say, “You don’t think we’re really British?, Fine, we’re not.” Only a very small minority do this.’
Shakespeare was found to be Britain’s most prized national treasure with 75 per cent of people ranking him as the source of pride.
He was followed by The National Trust, the armed forces, The Union Jack flag and the Pound.
Institutions like the NHS, the monarchy and the BBC came in sixth, seventh and eighth respectively.
Women were found to be significantly more optimistic about the country’s future than men while young Britons were found to be only 10 per cent less patriotic than those aged over 65.
A healthy two thirds of respondents said they had volunteered at least once during the past year and the act is the biggest single indicator of national pride.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article - 2063828 / Muslims-patriotic-British-people.html#ixzz1gVetZAhp

60% Muslim Women Wear Headscarf

A large scale project in the Netherlands, entitled ‘Hoofdboek’, aims to provide an overview of the lives of Dutch Muslim women wearing the headscarves. The project will involve a book, survey, traveling exhibition and social media platform. The National Headscarf Survey component of the project has been conducted by Motivaction and interviewed some 1570 participants, both Muslim and non-Muslim Dutch women. The results, presented in Hoofdboek, indicate that 60% of Dutch Muslim women elect to wear a headscarf for reasons ranging from its reflection of the wearer’s identity to fashion; women begin wearing the headscarf at an average age of 19. Close to 75% of those not wearing a headscarf said they might do so in the future. In terms of fashion, the average woman has a wardrobe of 34 scarves, and style is an increasing consideration in their selection. Respondent said they would like to see high profile Dutch women including Queen Beatrix, Yolanthe Sneijder-Cabeau or, most popularly, Princess Maxima, wear a headscarf once.

Two men who were accused of having set fire to a mosque in Stoke-on-Trent on December 3rd were found guilty of the attack and have each been sentenced to 10 years in jail. The court heard that ex-soldier Simon Beech, 23, and Garreth Foster, 29, planned the arsonist attack in revenge after Muslim extremists burned poppies in Armistice Day. Beech also admitted that he had been a member of the English Defence League and the BNP. However, he said he was not racist and did not believe his views to be extreme. Subsequently, the judge did not believe the attack to be solely aimed at extremists, but at Muslims more generally.

French cabin crews have no right to tell Muslim women to remove their burqa aboard Air France flights – despite a nationwide ban on full face veils, the airline has ruled. Muslim passengers can be ordered to remove the garment while waiting in French airports to board the plane at the gate. But once on board, they are free to put their burqa back on, according to an internal memo to staff from Air France’s legal department.
The company’s lawyers said: ‘Flight crews on board planes cannot ask a person to uncover their face if they are hiding it. The law can only be enforced by police and other public officials on the ground.’ Pilots said they had ‘no issue’ with women wearing burqas during flights – as long as they had been through security checks before the flight. ‘Besides, on long-haul flights a lot of passengers hide their face with eye masks when they go to sleep.’
France’s controversial burqa ban which came into force in April makes it a criminal offence for anyone to hide their face in public.