Referendum helped create political engagement from Muslim youths
SCOTLAND’S 2014 independence referendum was the catalyst for many young Scottish Muslims to engage in politics, a report has claimed.
The study by academics at Newcastle University found most younger Muslims saw Scottish nationalism as inclusive, “progressive, civic and liberal” with the poll itself often cited as “engendering an interest in mainstream Scottish politics”.
The research found a minority of Muslims were concerned about the prospect of breaking from the UK, citing doubts about the economic viability and security of an independent Scotland.
The report, by the university’s Institute For Social Renewal, said: “For many participants, then, a core political concern is creating an inclusive and open Scotland, with independence, for some, being a way of achieving this. This is linked to common concern about racism, Islamophobia and general intolerance in Scottish and British society.”
It also discovered that some of the young Muslims who took part in the study found engagement with UK, Scottish and local politics was particularly important in that it countered a perception they were only concerned events.
The report’s authors said there was a shortage of nuanced understandings about the political concerns of young Muslims and the studies that did exist were mainly focused on England, which they said had both a different political, social and cultural context while Scotland had a distinct history of Muslim migration and settlement.
They add: “It is frequently considered Muslims find the Scottish context to be more welcoming and easier to identify with world with than that of other parts of the UK.”
It states the majority of those who took part in the study and were eligible to vote did so in the referendum.
One of the most prominent Muslim politicians in Scotland is Transport Minister Humza Yousaf, while Tasmina AhmedSheikh became the SNP’s first Muslim to be elected to Westminster in 2015.
Her father was the first councillor of Asian background elected in Scotland.