CAIRO,
February 19, 2006 (IslamOnline.net) – A sweeping majority of 91
percent of British Muslims are "loyal" to Britain and 80
percent still want to live in and accept Western society, a new poll
showed on Sunday, February 19.
The
ICM survey, which has been conducted for Britain's Sunday Telegraph
on 500 British Muslims, also found that some 80 percent of them want
British troops pulled from Iraq immediately.
Nearly
two thirds further thought the recent video of British troops beating
Iraqi youths was symptomatic of a wider problem in Iraq.
Half
did not think the soldiers would be "appropriately
punished."
A
video obtained by Britain's best-selling Sunday newspaper News of
the World showed UK troops dragging four young protesters off a
street and into an army compound where they were ruthlessly punched,
kicked and hit with batons.
Labour
MP Sadiq Khan said the main single issue that respondents objected to
was the government's foreign policy - notably towards Iraq.
Bombings
The
survey found that 99 percent of British Muslims believe the July 7
bombers were "wrong" to carry out the atrocity.
A
fifth, however, showed sympathy with the "feelings and
motives" of the four bombers who attacked London's underground
system last July 7, killing 52 people.
Only
one percent felt the attacks were "right."
MP
Khan, who is involved with the government task force set up after the
bombings to reach out to British Muslims, said the findings were
"alarming."
"This
poll reflects the fact that while less than one percent of British
Muslims believe that the July 7 bombers were right to have done what
they did, a greater number - one in five - say they can understand the
motives for the attacks, however unjustified they were," said Sir
Iqbal Sacranie, the secretary-general of the mainstream Muslim Council
of Britain (MCB).
"As
we know, one of the bombers, Mohammad Siddique Khan, justified his
actions in a video film by saying it was in response to our country's
participation in the wars against Afghanistan and Iraq and the
resulting deaths of thousands of Muslims."
An
ICM poll on July 19 found that two-thirds of Britons believed the
bombings were linked to Prime Minister Tony Blair's support for the
US-led invasion of Iraq.
A
report by the respected British think-tank Royal Institute of
International Affairs, reached the same conclusion, saying there was a
link between the Iraq invasion and the bombings.
British
Muslims, estimated at some 1.8 million people, had denounced the
grisly London attacks, saying there was no justification whatsoever to
take innocent lives.
British
Muslim leaders had pledged active and effective participation in the
government's efforts to combat the poisonous phenomenon of extremism
for the welfare of the British society.
Shari`ah
The
ICM opinion poll also indicated that 41 percent of those interviewed
opposed any introduction of Shari`ah in Muslim-dominated parts of
Britain, while 40 percent backed it.
An
earlier poll for The Guardian showed that a simple majority of
British Muslims wanted to resolve their social problems as
divorce, child custody and inheritance in accordance with Shari`ah,
but were equally committed to greater participation in British life.
Canada was
the first country in the West to allow its Muslim minority to file
their civil legal disputes in courts according to Shari`ah.
Half
of the 500 British Muslims surveyed said relations between white
Britons and Muslims were getting worse.
"Vast
numbers of Muslims feel disengaged and alienated from mainstream
British society," Khan told Sunday Telegraph.
Nearly
half a million Muslims contemplated leaving Britain after the London
attacks, with one in five saying they or a family member has faced
abuse or hostility.
