Weekly Terrorism Spotlight

Volume 1, Issue 22 (August 26)

INSIDE THIS ISSUE:

Poll Finds High Levels of Extremism Among Muslim Students in U.K.

There is an alarming rate of extremist beliefs among Muslim university students in the United Kingdom, a new poll by The Centre for Social Cohesion found.

Almost one-third of those polled said that killing in the name of religious can be justified and 24% said men and women are not looked upon as equal by Allah. One-third of Muslim university students supported the creation of a worldwide Islamic state based on Sharia Law, which is theocratic Islamic doctrine.

On other issues, the poll found that Muslim university students had more moderate viewpoints.

The vast majority of those polled, 89%, favored equal treatment for men and women and 43% said secularism was compatible with Islam. Sixty-eight percent felt Western democracy is compatible with Islam and 79% said they respected Jews, with only seven percent holding the opposite viewpoint.

The poll results, which appeared in a study entitled Islam on Campus, may cause further concern about the existence of radical Islam on U.S. college campuses.

“Like the U.K., radical Islamic groups are active at college campuses around the U.S.,” said Lee Kaplan, a writer on Islamic extremism in the U.S. who is working on a book about extremism on American campuses.

“They are actively engaged in preparing the next generation to continue the struggle against America,” Kaplan said.