The Sun headlined the front page of their tabloid paper in the UK with the following headline:
1 in 5 Brit Muslims’ sympathy for jihadis
Accompanying the article is a nice big picture of an ISIS terrorist holding a Knife. Since the article has been released many of the alternative and mainstream media have also cross linked this article.
Many of those who are pushing for borders to be closed in Europe along with the condemnation of Islam as a whole such as Infowar’s Paul Joseph Watson have began using this headline to support their beliefs, however what everyone is failing to do is actually look at the data from which this headline derives.
The survey can be found > here <
But we’ll go through each question and you decide if the results really justify The Sun’s headline:
Question 1:
Which of the Following statements is closest to your view?
My Muslim identity is more important to me than by British identity – 17.0%
My British identity is more important to me than by Muslim identity – 5.6%
They are equally important – 70.9%
Don’t know – 1.9%
So the first question warms the participants up with a question aimed at determining whether they believe their Muslim identity to be more important than their British identity. The majority say both have equal importance to them. 5.6% believe their British identity is more important and 17% say that their Muslim identity is more important to them.
It’s understandable that some will believe their Muslim identity is more important as ones Religion is held high above everything else in many Christians, Catholics, and Muslims alike. In fact it is quite surprising that there wasn’t a higher percentage who put their belief system first.
Question 2:
Which of the Following statements is closest to your view?
British Muslims are doing enough to integrate into British society – 60.7%
British Muslims are not doing enough to integrate into British society – 22.1%
It is not important for British Muslims to integrate into British society – 3%
Don’t know – 14.1%
So here we have the majority of the Muslim’s participating in the survey saying that they believe British Muslims are doing enough to integrate into British Society.
None of these results really tell us much as the first to responses are just a matter of personal opinion. However the third option does tell us a little.
3% believe that it is not important for British Muslims to integrate into British Society. It does not indicate that these Muslims support ISIS in any way although any who do WOULD of chosen this answer. But 3% is a far cry from 1 in 5, and it’s highly unlikely all of the 3% if half of the 3% support ISIS.
Question 3:
Which of the Following statements is closest to your view?
It is the responsibility of Muslims to condemn terrorist acts carried out in – 50.8%
the name of Islam
It is not the responsibility of Muslims to condemn terrorist acts carried out – 37.9%
in the name of Islam
Don’t know –11.3%
This question again tells us little, it really depends on the reasoning behind their response. Just over half believe it is their responsibility to condemn terrorist acts in the name of Islam with 37.9% saying it is not their responsibility. You’ll notice it’s the younger participants who make up the majority of the second response. Which is understandable, the younger you are the less responsibility you feel you have for anything that goes on around you. Then their is the fact that these terrorist attacks are NOT carried out in the name of Islam, you can say what you want when you kill a man but it doesn’t make it so. So again these responses do not reflect negatively on British Muslims.
Question 4:
Which of the Following statements is closest to your view?
Islamic leaders in the UK have publicly condemned ISIS too much – 7.8%
Islamic leaders in the UK have not publicly condemned ISIS enough – 29.7%
Islamic leaders in the UK have publicly condemned ISIS about the right – 36.7%
amount
Don’t know – 25.9%
If you ask a stupid question you will get a response like this, with over a quarter responding with DONT KNOW. What is to much ? What is to little ? How many actually know either way. Poor question. The focus response here was of course the first option, trying to determine if British Muslims think Islamic leaders have condemned ISIS to much however the response was low anyway at 7.8% and as in the previous question the response tells us nothing without the reasoning behind their response. Maybe this 7.8% believe Islamic leaders are in no way connected to ISIS and therefore their continuing condemnation of ISIS is causing stresses in Muslim culture.
Question 5:
Thinking about the root causes of ISIS terrorist attacks, which do you think is the single biggest root cause?
Western foreign policy, such as the invasion of Iraq – 38.3%
The poverty of and discrimination against Muslims in Western countries – 6.1%
ISIS leaders who exploit vulnerable young people – 24.9%
Something else – 13.6%
Don’t know – 17.1%
Well the majority response is of course understandable and many non-muslims would also choose this response. But yet again this question and responses given are very poor and tell us nothing about the general opinion of British Muslims.
Question 6:
Which of the following statements is closest to your view?
I have a lot of sympathy with young Muslims who leave the UK to join – 5.3%
fighters in Syria
I have some sympathy with young Muslims who leave the UK to join – 14.5%
fighters in Syria
I have no sympathy with young Muslims who leave the UK to join fighters – 71.4%
in Syria
Don’t know – 8.8%
So this is the question which gave the Sun their headline. The ‘1 in 5 British Muslims have sympathy for Jihadi’s’ headline is calculated from the first two responses.
But do these responses actually mean that the responder sympathises with Jihadi’s ? No neither of the responses actually determine any such thing from the responder. If I was asked the same question I would have a little sympathy for young Muslims leaving the UK to join fighters in Syria. Whether they have been brainwashed by ISIS recruitment agents here in the UK or brainwashed by the UK Government to join the Military, either way I have sympathy for them as their lives have been destroyed for nothing.
As you’ve probably already noticed they don’t even mention ISIS or Islamic State, or Jihadi in the responses, the possible responses state of ‘Young Muslims leaving the UK to join fighters in Syria’ . Now this could mean assisting the Syrian Army in fighting ISIS or it could mean assisting in British military action and of course it could mean joining ISIS.
The Sun have actually used an outright lie as the headline for the article purely for sales with no regard for the truth or consequences
Finally the last question…
Question 7:
Which of the following statements is closest to your view?
David Cameron is right in wanting to extend the bombing of ISIS from Iraq – 18.7%
to Syria
David Cameron is wrong in wanting to extend the bombing of ISIS from – 55.8%
Iraq to Syria
Don’t know – 25.5%
This just tells us that the majority of British Muslims respond exactly the same as the majority of the British Non-Muslims.
So as you see their is no result within this survey that even indicates that 1 in 5 British Muslims sympathise for Jihadi’s . It’s surprising just how many of the Alternative news outlets have reposted this article from The Sun without even bothering to analyse the data, many have even adapted the headline to read statements such as ‘1 in 5 British Muslims support ISIS’ – These are dangerous and disgusting lies.
If you have written articles based on The Sun’s survey using their twisted false verdict of the data with emphasis on the false headline you should be ashamed of yourselves and you should remove any such lies from your media outlet immediately.
References: The Sun