British Muslim Youth: An Introduction to the Topic and the Field

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British Muslim Youth An Introduction to the
Topic and the Field

• Sadek Hamid

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Content

• British Muslim Demographics
• Education
• Housing
• Employment
• Poverty
• Crime
• State of the Literature
• Issues
• Concerns

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Demographics

• Current population of between 1.6 -1.8 million
  people, (total population of approximately 60
  million people)
• Around 50 are under the age of 25 and approx 33
  under the age of 16
• Around 68 are of South Asian origin
• (Source National Statistics 2001
  Census)

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Demographics continued

• 46 of Muslims had been born in the UK
• 34 of Muslim households contained more than 5
  people
• 38 of Muslims live in London
• (Source National Statistics 2001
  Census)

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Education

• In 2004, 67 of Indian, 48 of Bangladeshi and
  45 of Pakistani pupils gained five or more
  grades A to C at GCSE (or equivalent), compared
  with 52 of White British pupils
• (Source Social
  Trends No. 36, 2006)
• 31 of young British Muslims leave school with no
  qualifications compared to 15 of the total
  population
• 
  (Source 2001 Census)

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Housing

• In 2001 52 of Muslim households did not own
  their own home 
• Muslim households were the most likely to
  experience overcrowding. One third of Muslim
  households (32) lived in overcrowded
  accommodation
• Muslim households were the most likely to lack
  central heating (12)
• (Source National Statistics 2001
  Census report on faith)

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Employment

• In 2004, 28 of 16-24-year-old Muslims were
  unemployed.  This compares with only 11 of
  Christians of the same age
• (Source National
  Statistics 2001 Census report on faith)
• In 2004, a fifth of Muslims were self-employed
• 
  
• In 2004 almost seven in ten (69) Muslim women of
  working age were economically inactive. 
• 
  (Source Social Trends No. 36,
  2006)

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Poverty

• 35 of Muslim households have no adults in
  employment, (more than double the national
  average)
• (Source 'Muslim Housing Experience Oxford
  Centre for Islamic Studies)
• Just under three-quarters of Bangladeshi and
  Pakistani children (73) are living in households
  below the poverty line (60 of median income)
• (Source DWP Households Below Average
  Income 1994/5 - 2000/01)

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Crime

• 47 of Muslim students have experienced
  Islamophobia 
• 
  (Source FOSIS survey, 2005)
• Almost 10 of the prison populations are Muslim,
  two-thirds of whom are young men aged 18-30
• (Source Prison Service statistics,
  2004)
• Between 2001 and 2003 there was a 302 increase
  in 'stop and search' incidents among Asian
  people, compared with 118 among white people. 
• (Source HO, Statistics on Race and the Criminal
  Justice System, 2004)

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Books

• Young Muslims in Britain Attitudes, Educational
  Needs and Policy Implications
• Islam in TransitionReligion and Identity Among
  British Pakistani Youth
• Muslim Britain Communities Under Pressure
• Infidel Within Muslims in Britain Since 1800
• Americanisation, Globalisation and British Muslim
  Identity
• Diaspora Youth and Ancestral Homeland British
  Pakistani / Kashmiri Youth Visiting Kin in
  Pakistan and Kashmir
• Muslim European Youth Reproducing Ethnicity,
  Religion, Culture
• Young, British Muslim

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Reports

• Muslims in Britain
• Muslim Youth Speak
• Bengali Transition into Adulthood
• Made in Bradford)
• MCBs Muslim Youth Voices
• Youth Policy Muslim Youth Work
• Muslim Youth Helpline

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Magazines

• Emel
• Q-News
• Revival
• Trends

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Memoirs

• Only Half of Me
• From My Sisters Lips
• Enemy Combatant
• The Islamist
• Hizbut Tahrir A Thinking Mans Al Qaeda

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External Challenges

• Over crowded housing
• Educational under achievement
• Unemployment
• Racism
• Islamophobia
• Demonisation of young Muslim males
• Lack of political representation

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Internal Challenges

• Generation Gap
• Cultural dislocation
• Positive role model deficit
• Substance addiction
• Rise in crime and anti-social behaviour and
  related gang violence
• Apathy
• Fear of radicalisation and extremism

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Concerns

• According the Muslim Youth Helpline 2007
  report, the top five main concerns affecting
  British Muslim Youth are
• Relationships
• Mental Health
• Religion
• Offending Rehabilitation
• Sexuality Sexual Health

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Also identified

• ineffective services for young Muslims
• discontent over foreign policy
• the difficulties of integrating when people have
  the dual identity of being British and a Muslim

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Concerns continued

• Many young Muslims feel they have an inadequate
  grasp of their own heritage and history, against
  which to balance the other influences in their
  lives.
• Young Muslims are concerned about the way they
  are understood by the public (non-Muslim and
  Muslim) and portrayed in the media
• (Source Young Muslims
  Speak, Peace Direct, 2006)

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Main Religious/Ideological Trends

• Hizbut Tahrir
• Salafi (apolitical activists)
• Jihadists
• Traditional Islam (activist Sufi)
• Young Muslims Organisation (moderate Islamists)
• Young Muslim UK (moderate Islamists)
• Barelwi ( Devotional Sufi)
• Deobandi/Tablighi Jamat (apolitical reformists)

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Is this the Face of British Muslim Youth?
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or this ?