Radical Islam has emerged as a major problem facing the United Kingdom in the last few years. While many cities in the UK have seen demographic changes, it has also been observed that the nature and ambitions of local Islamist movements are similar to those of hardline Islamists and their ideological followers elsewhere in the world.
Their only objective is to establish an Islamic state governed by Sharia law in the country. These Islamic groups focus on Islamizing local individuals and communities by employing a democratic process.
Over the past few years, radical Islamic groups have been gaining political influence in the country, gaining the favor of local political parties and politicians. These radical Islamic organizations have also found a favorable platform in the country with the help of some British media outlets, human rights groups and universities, which is promoting Islamic fundamentalism.
This is a major reason why the United Kingdom, as in most European countries, has a disproportionately large Muslim population. The number of Muslims in Europe is predicted to increase significantly in the near future, while the Muslim population in the United Kingdom is expected to increase from 6.3 percent in 2016 to 17.2 percent in 2050.
It is surprising that Islam has become the second largest religion in the UK and Northern Ireland, while as recently as 2018 the Office for National Statistics sources put it at only 5.1% of the total population. The vast majority of Muslims in the United Kingdom live in the UK (5.02% of the population), followed by Scotland (1.45%), and Wales (1.50%). At the same time, the capital London has the largest population of Muslims in the country.
Radical Islam became a burning problem in United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has been a hotbed of Islamist activity for several decades. Several organizations founded in the UK between the 1960s and 1990s have links to radical Islamists in Europe, the North African Muslim Brotherhood and the South Asian Jama’at-e-Islami to name a few.
Several studies show that the UK has been a base for fundraising for terrorist causes around the world and the spread of Islamic fundamentalism. Some of the groups actively involved in proselytization and radicalization are “Islamic Forum of Europe”, “U.K. Islamic Mission”, “The Muslim Council of Britain”, and “Muslim Association of Britain”.
Over the past few years we have seen how many British Muslim passport holders have gone to Syria to fight for the terrorist organization ISIS. Many of these are still alive today and engaged in Jihadi causes in different parts of the world.
You will be surprised to know that on July 7, 2005, one of the terrorists who carried out a suicide bombing on London’s public transport network was also a British citizen. He was recruited by Al-Qaeda and radicalized so much that he launched a terrorist attack in his own country.
These incidents show the extent to which Islamic fundamentalism has grown in the United Kingdom. These jihadi groups are moving forward with the aim of Islamizing the local individual and then the community. The British government is apprehensive of the rapid rise in terrorism. Several government reports have revealed that “about 3,000 British children are enrolled in Pakistani madrassas a year, to be taught jihad.
The British government fears that the youth are radicalized in these hardline Islamic madrassas and mix with society with a warped mindset, and also pose a risk of becoming future terrorists. The Muslim Brotherhood movement and their literature suggest that “Western society is inherently hostile to Muslim faith and interests and that Muslims must respond by maintaining their distance and autonomy”.
This was the reason why the government of the United Kingdom claimed to rein in radical Islam. But did he succeed in this? let’s know
Jonathan Hall, who was the UK’s “independent reviewer of terrorism legislation” in 2020, said at the time that schemes such as the ‘Deradicalisation Programme’ usually fail miserably. But the government did not listen to them, and kept spending the tax money paid by the public in this program.
The Jihadi who killed MP Sir David Ames was also sent by the government to the ‘Prevent Programme’. While British taxpayers are unknowingly funding jihadist groups through this Prevent programme, jihadist elements are misusing this financial support against British society.
Just four months ago, UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that “people with ‘extreme hatred of Britain’ could be radicalized” by Prevent ‘deradicalization plan’. Along with this, he promised to broaden the definition of Islamic extremism. In other words, he created this program ignoring the warnings given by intelligence agencies about Islamic radicalization and spending more money in the name of preventing radicalization.
The British Conservative Party and other political parties have shown in the last several years how they are systematically settling illegal Muslim infiltrators coming from Africa and the Middle East. It has been observed that every year thousands of Muslims infiltrate into this country through the English Channel, and these political parties help them to settle in the local society to secure their vote bank, which is somewhere in the country. responsible for the rise of Islamic fundamentalism.
A review of the British government’s anti-terror scheme ‘Prevent’ by Sir William Shawcross (former head of the Charity Commission) has come to the fore in the past. A draft of the report, seen by The Telegraph newspaper, shows how the government’s de-radicalization policy went badly wrong.
Prevent-funded groups were led by people who supported the Taliban, defended banned militant Islamic groups and hosted hate preachers. The draft report alleged that the government funded groups that promoted Islamic fundamentalism in the country.
The United Kingdom has become a hotbed of Islamic fundamentalism over the years. We have seen how the government has repeatedly made empty promises to the British people to fight Islamic fundamentalism and spent taxpayers’ hard earned money on sham efforts to fight the problem.
The government gives a false sense of security to the public and pretends that the government is actually trying to solve the problem, but the truth is otherwise. Like the British government, the governments of many other western countries are also betraying their people. And unfortunately, due to their inaction, not only is Islamic fanaticism increasing in their country, but many other countries are also being harmed.
