Muslims ‘unhappy’ with the mainstream parties

MASON Boycott-Owen speaks to Jahangir Mohammed, founder of the Ayaan Institute thinktank, about how communities with large Muslim populations can come together at a time of increased tensions.

“The Muslim community has seen this country at war, or involved in wars, in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan and now Gaza,” says Mr Mohammed. “Muslims just want to see an end to political parties supporting wars in their part of the world.”

For these voters, foreign policy is likely to be top of their priorities. “The Muslim community doesn't really focus on the mainstream media and has access to media all over the world, they see pictures that the rest of society may not see,” says Mr Mohammed.

“There's a lot of unhappiness with the mainstream political parties on what they see as total support for the state of Israel and nothing for the Palestinians.”

The disconnect between voters and their priorities extends to a wider sense of disconnect between many British Muslims and the rest of society.

“Muslims are constantly in the news presented as a threat, and that impacts people who really have no contact with the Muslim community, their worldview is framed around that and that can cause tension,” says Mr Mohammed. “The Muslim community have realised they need to deal with that image and they’ve started opening their mosques, doing food banks, reaching out to the wider community to show they are not what they are being portrayed as in the media.”

However, post-Covid there are fewer opportunities for proper integration, with fewer people mixing in an office, and a decline in community spaces.

“In the days of the mills when the first generations were here, the workplace was where people integrated. Once they declined nothing really has replaced that.

"I live on a street which is a professional street. I rarely see my neighbours. We’re not a cohesive people anymore in society. There’s a wider debate about how the whole of society becomes more connected to each other and more understanding of each other.” Change, he says, has to come from the most confident members of the Muslim community, rather than expecting all Muslims to take the lead in pushing for greater integration.