1 in 3 Scottish Muslims ‘faces Islamophobic abuse every day’

ISLAMOPHOBIA is an everyday issue for more than a third of Muslims in Scotland, research reveals.

Holyrood’s cross-party group on Islamophobia found more than 80 per cent had been subjected to abuse because of their faith at some stage.

The research found some have resorted to dressing differently, changing their accents and avoiding city centre streets, public transport and swimming pools.

Others said they have even changed their name to sound ‘less Muslim’. Muslims reported they fear being branded a ‘terrorist’ or ‘extremist’, while females are concerned they could have their hijab pulled off in public.

Anas Sarwar, chairman of the cross-party group on Islamophobia, said the early findings from the research – which was carried out with Newcastle University – made for ‘sobering reading’.

The Labour MSP said while Scots ‘pride ourselves on being a welcome and tolerant country’ the report ‘demonstrates how much more work we have to do’.

He added: ‘There are people in Scotland who feel scared to leave their homes for fear of verbal of physical attack. They are withdrawing from public services with devastating consequences on their health and education. They feel outsiders in their own country. This should shame us all.

‘We have established Scotland is not immune from Islamophobia and anti-Muslim hatred, and now we know how widespread it is.’

A total of 435 people took part in the research, including 344 who described themselves as Muslim.

Of those Muslim respondents, 35.5 per cent said they face abuse because of their faith every day, while 41.3 per cent said they had to deal with incidents ‘regularly’.

Overall, 83.4 per cent of Muslim respondents said they had experienced Islamophobia – with 78.8 per cent believing the problem is getting worse in Scotland.

More than three-quarters (76.5 per cent) of Muslims told how they had been verbally abused, with more than a third (36.6 per cent) having faced the problem at work and 32.6 per cent targeted on social media. More than threefifths (60.5 per cent) said they had changed their behaviour as a result of attacks.

Mr Sarwar said the findings would inform the next phase of the cross-party group’s inquiry ‘in which we must redouble efforts to challenge and overcome hatred and prejudice’.

He called on politicians to take part in this ‘because the fight against hate is a fight for us all’.

Mr Sarwar added: ‘We need to come together to address this.

Education is the key to defeating prejudice and discrimination but we also need to build a more diverse workforce and work harder to bring communities together.’

Professor Peter Hopkins, of Newcastle University, was involved in the work after spending almost 20 years researching issues of racism and Islamophobia in Scotland.

He said: ‘The initial findings emerging from the inquiry demonstrate that Scotland has a serious issue when it comes to everyday racism and Islamophobia.

‘Those who suffer Islamophobic abuse are often left feeling fearful, anxious and worried. There is a lot of work to do across many sectors in order to address the problem in contemporary Scotland.’

‘Scared to leave their homes’ ‘Come together to address this’