Head of UK government’s anti-Islamophobia partner ‘refused service in shop for being Muslim’ | UK news

The chief executive of the government’s new official partner in tackling Islamophobia has spoken of being refused service in a shop because he is Muslim, amid concerns that insidious anti-Muslim “microaggressions” are rising.

The British Muslim Foundation (BMT) is launching a government-backed telephone and online reporting service for hate crimes. In July, the foundation was selected as the recipient of the government’s aid fund. “Fund to combat hatred against Muslims”In the months since, and its chief executive Akeela Ahmed has been meeting members of Muslim communities including Bradford in West Yorkshire, East Sussex, Greater London and Greater Manchester.

Ahmed said the “gap appears to be closing” between hate speech and inflammatory comments online, from social media groups to newspaper comment sections, and real-life anti-Muslim hatred, which is “underreported and underrecognized.”

As a result, the BMT said it hoped to investigate the impact of online discourse and “call on ministers if the research shows social media companies are not being held to account” under current legislation.

“We’re not even talking about content that may just be inherently racist or anti-Muslim. We’re talking about content that encourages violence, that actually breaks the law,” Ahmed said. “We are not just going to demand any special privileges or special measures for Muslim communities. This is literally about maintaining and enacting the law as it is.”

Ahmed said he had encountered “fatigue” and a sense of “disconnect from central government” from people in Bradford and Greater Manchester who had been “sounding the alarm about anti-Muslim hate that has been affecting their lives for a number of years”.

Among the challenges faced by the Muslims he spoke to were being ignored as customers by staff who silently refused to serve them.

She said: “I think Muslims are an easy target because they are visible. People like me who wear headscarves. Almost everywhere we visited people described feeling like they were experiencing the same levels of hatred that their parents experienced in the 70s and 80s.

“And while the older generations were saying things like, ‘we’re going to keep our heads down, we’re going to prove our worth, we’re going to get on with our lives, we’re not going to make a fuss,’ they expressed that they felt like they were a different generation and that they were doing everything right.

“They were contributing to society, they were successful, they were educated, they were integrated. But despite that, there were questions about their place in society, whether they were British, whether they were loyal, what their place was… There was a rhetoric of looking at Muslims as a completely homogenized group and posing a threat to society. And they felt that this then turned into greater hostility.

“People described going into a store and feeling like they wouldn’t be served while other people around them were being served, a lot of those microaggressions… because they’re Muslim, because of the way they look.”

Ahmed added: “This is something I experienced when I was in a store and people around me were being served but I wasn’t being served.

“First you feel helpless, then you second guess yourself… you kind of gaslight yourself by thinking this is something you did wrong. [But] In fact, there was no one else in the store who looked like me.”

The new definition of Islamophobia being considered by UK ministers is expected to “protect the freedom to criticize Islam” and help provide a framework to counter the rise in anti-Muslim hate incidents. A government source said ministers were determined to “protect people, not religions”.

Ahmed said BMT will have a robust approach to data and aim to have the same level of trust as the “gold standard” that the Community Safety Foundation provides to Jewish communities.

“We want to paint a holistic and comprehensive picture of exactly what people are experiencing. We will not only record the incidents that people report to us about Islamophobia, but we will also, as you said, go out and listen to people through outreach and roadshows and record those as well.

“We will also conduct research that will provide a comprehensive understanding of what is happening on the ground and then present these findings to the government,” he said.

Starting from October 30, citizens will be able to report incidents to BMT between 10.00 and 15.00. For more information, visit: British Muslim Foundation website.