The Guardian World news: Islam

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Islamophobia isn’t just socially acceptable in the UK now – it’s flourishing. How did this happen? | Zoe Williams

25 July, 2025 - 08:45

Most people believe Muslim values are incompatible with British ones, a new poll has found. It makes for bleak reading

According to YouGov, more than half of people do not believe Islam to be compatible with British values. I’m often dispirited by these polls, as much by the timbre of the questions as by the responses (how many times do we need to ask one another whether we can afford to avert a climate catastrophe, for instance?) But I can’t remember the last time I was stunned.

This latest poll found that 41% of the British public believe that Muslim immigrants have had a negative impact on the UK. Nearly half (49%) think that Muslim women are pressured into wearing the hijab. And almost a third (31%) think that Islam promotes violence. Farhad Ahmad, a spokesperson for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, which commissioned the poll, was surprised that I was so surprised. Things had been really bad for ages, he said, directing me to not dissimilar numbers in 2016 and 2019.

Zoe Williams is a Guardian columnist

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New trust to monitor anti-Muslim hatred in UK after funding to Tell Mama paused

21 July, 2025 - 17:40

The British Muslim Trust is expected to begin monitoring incidents from early autumn, the government says

The UK government has appointed a new partner to monitor anti-Muslim hatred, months after its relationship with the Islamophobia reporting service Tell Mama broke down.

The British Muslim Trust (BMT) – a new organisation – is expected to begin receiving reports and monitoring incidents from early autumn, after being “selected as the recipient of the government’s new combatting hate against Muslims fund”, a statement from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said on Monday.

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