Study challenges claims of Islamic extremism among students
British universities are not hotbeds of Islamic radicalism, despite fears about the rise of “campus extremism”, a new study arguess.The University of Cambridge research, based partly on in-depth interviews with 26 students at UK universities, found that most young British Muslims are opposed to political Islam and are more likely to join Amnesty International than al-Qaida.
This contradicts research published by the Centre for Social Cohesion earlier this year, which suggested Muslim students on British campuses believed killing in the name of religion could be justified.
And ministers have issued guidelines for university staff on how to combat the threat of violent extremists targeting campuses as potential breeding grounds for new recruits.
But the research has been criticised for being too “flimsy” to draw such strong conclusions.
Anthony Glees, professor of politics and director of Buckingham University’s centre for security and intelligence studies, accused Cambridge of trying to prove that British universities are not “hotbeds of Islamic radicalism” on the basis of “flimsy and uncompelling” research.
“That the Economic and Social Research Council should fund it is even more amazing,” he said.
Muslim students from Cambridge, the London School of Economics and the University of Bradford were interviewed for the study.
It found that while Muslim students in the west are often regarded as prime targets for extremists seeking young, impressionable and educated recruits, many have a stronger sense of civic responsibility and British identity than their elders.
The study acknowledged that extreme political views can be found among a minority of young western Muslims but found little evidence of any threat, suggesting such fears have been exaggerated.
It describes young Muslims as better integrated into British society than their parents, with a stronger sense of national identity.
“Contact with social democracy, multiculturalism and new generational experiences and opportunities have created a momentum for accommodation rather than a clash,” he report said.
The interviewees disliked the British government’s alignment with regimes such as Turkey, Egypt or, until recently, Pakistan, which oppose political Islam but are nevertheless regarded as oppressive.
The research found young Muslims view restrictions on the expression of their religious identity, such as wearing the hijab, as an abuse of human rights rather than as obstructing a wider, political Islamic cause.
“Attempts to ban the hijab were perceived as incompatible with western and in particular British commitment to freedom of speech and multicultural practices, and a European commitment to values of freedom, choice and individuality,” the report argues.
Dr June Edmunds, who carried out the research, said: “The findings show that the young Muslims best equipped to lead radical opposition to western society are also among the least inclined to do so.
“Although a minority have extreme political views, most are concerned about human rights and social democracy.
“The UK in particular now hosts a new generation of Muslims who are more confident of their national identity and more politically engaged than their parents.”
Glees said: “To be fair to Dr Edmunds she does concede that ‘a minority have extreme political views’.
“The current Whitehall view (which she should have sought) is that some universities fostered radicalisation and were a source of radical young Muslims, particularly from early 1990 to the early 2000s.
“Today, Whitehall says, there is still a problem in some universities and colleges but not most,” he added.
“Even if it could be shown that students are not overrepresented among Islamists, it still tells us something about our higher education that they should study and yet hate this country and its values,” he said.
More than half of the participants described themselves as British, and 91% either as British or “British-hyphenated” such as British-Pakistani.
Most were members of student Islamic organisations but these tended to be moderate groups without international links.
Their favourite websites were guardian.co.uk, BBC news and the Independent, rather than religious sites.
Whereas the lives of many first- and second-generation Muslims centre on the family and the local mosque, younger Muslims revealed themselves to be better disposed to contribute directly to British society and culture.
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