THE Muslim vote is being courted and analysed as never before at a British general election.
The estimated 1.1 million Muslim voters, who are concentrated in the large urban conurbations, have traditionally voted Labour but issues such as the Iraq war and the detention without trial of terrorist suspects have inflamed Muslim opinion, especially among younger members of the community.
Labour can no longer take the Muslim bloc vote for granted but the other main parties will not automatically benefit from that disaffection unless they are seen to address the community’s concerns.
More-prosperous Muslim businessmen have been happy to vote Conservative in the past but the party’s concentration on immigration control is not well received.
Voters who might have favoured the Liberal Democrats feel that their campaign has not made enough of issues such as the party’s opposition to the invasion of Iraq.
Several Muslim community organisations have laid out guidelines for Muslims to consider when casting their votes on May 5.
Muslim Council of Britain
The MCB, the umbrella group for Muslim organisations, is distributing a voter card listing ten questions, which it says that voters should pose to candidates.
The card raises the issues of laws on religious hatred and anti-terrorist legislation and suggests asking candidates if they support the publication of a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq.
It also encourages electors to raise the questions of state funding for Muslim schools and the tone of debate on immigration policy and seeks to have a religious and moral input on issues such as euthanasia and abortion.
Muslim Association of Britain
The MAB, which campaigned against the Iraq war and invited the hardline cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi to Britain last year, believes that Muslim voters can influence the results in 40 seats.
It is distributing a leaflet telling Muslims that they have a “national duty” to participate in the election. It urges voters to judge candidates on a range of topics including public services. anti-terror laws, Iraq, Palestinian issues, Kashmir, religious discrimination and Islamophobia.
The MAB urges Muslims to vote for sitting MPs with a record of opposing the Iraq war and the anti-terrorism legislation. It adds that MPs who backed the anti-terror laws and the Iraq war “should not be supported for re-election”.
Imams and Mosques Council (UK)
The council tells Muslims that they have an obligation to vote, quoting the Prophet Muhammad as saying: “Who does not concern himself with affairs of the community ceases to be a member of it.”
It urges support for candidates who want to improve education, make the streets safer, campaign to alleviate poverty, respect cultural diversity and favour fair trade.
Its guidelines add that Muslims should reject racist candidates, those who disregard international law and those “who support violence as the preferred method of solving international dispute”.
Muslim Public Affairs Committee
MPAC, a recently formed lobby group, is running a deliberately negative campaign in six target seats where it is urging Muslims to vote against MPs who it says are pro-Israeli or strong supporters of the Iraq war.
The group says that its aim is “to inform and encourage the Muslim electorate to hold their elected representatives accountable”.
It says that the MPs it has picked out are “either pro-war, pro-Israel and/or take unsympathetic stances towards Muslims and Islamic issues”.
MPAC adds: “We urge their Muslim constituents to exercise their democratic right to vote out those who ignored their concerns and send a message to the pro-war Prime Minister and leadership of the Labour Party.
“They can no longer take the Muslim vote for granted.”
Omar Bakri Mohammed
The extremist cleric, who says that he has disbanded his al-Muhajiroun organisation, is touring the country addressing audiences of young Muslims and urging them to boycott the election.
Mr Bakri Mohammed, who told Muslims this year that they were obliged to follow physical jihad, says that voting in a Western democracy is an act of apostasy. Websites associated with him tell Muslims that if they vote at all they will be consigned to hellfire.
Respect
The antiwar coalition led by George Galloway is seeking to win Muslim votes in many of the constituencies in which it is standing and is fielding ten Muslim candidates.
Mr Galloway is standing in the East London seat of Bethnal Green & Bow, where Bangladeshi Muslims make up almost 50 per cent of the electorate.
His consistent antiwar stance, and his record of opposition to abortion, is winning strong support from Muslim voters.
TEN QUESTIONS TO TEST ALL PARTIES
The Muslim Council of Britain’s ten questions for candidates:
1 Will you support legislation to provide equal protection for Muslims and other faith groups from discrimination?
2 Will you support legislation to make incitement to religious hatred illegal so that Muslims enjoy the same protection as Jews and Sikhs?
3 Will you promote steps that ensure that no individual loses their liberty or dignity without due process of law?
4 What positive measures would your party take to enable Muslims to achieve equality of opportunity and to address the causes of their deprivation and marginalisation?
5 Will you promote a foreign policy that is based on justice and fairness?
6 Will you support the immediate publication of a timetable for withdrawal of all British forces from Iraq and oppose their deployment under similar conditions in the future?
7 Will you work to ensure that the necessary resources are put in place to address (underachievement of Muslim students in schools) and support equality of treatment for Muslims in the provision of state funding for Muslim schools?
8 What will your party do to achieve better representation of Britain’s Muslims?
9 How will your party ensure that religious and moral contributions on issues such as abortion and euthanasia are fully taken on board?
10 What is your position on immigration policy and what will you do to ensure that the tone of this debate does not fuel a racist agenda?
THE ISLAMIC ELECTORATE
1.6 million Muslims in Britain — 2.8 per cent of the population
54 per cent of Muslims were born outside Britain, including 18 per cent from Pakistan, 9 per cent from Bangladesh and 3 per cent in India
5,000 Britons, many of them Afro-Caribbean, have converted to Islam
60 per cent of Muslims live in the South East, mainly in Greater London
31 per cent of Muslim men have no educational qualifications, compared with a 16 per cent average
80 per cent of Pakistani and Bangladeshi households have incomes at or below the average compared with two fifths for other ethnic minority households
14 per cent of Muslim men are unemployed, compared with 5 per cent among the wider population
68 per cent of Muslim women of working age are classed “economically inactive”, compared with a national average of 27 per cent
13 per cent of Muslim men said that they were in “not good” health, compared with 8 per cent on average. Among women the figure was 16 per cent
100 per cent higher infant mortality rate for Pakistani mothers compared to white mothers
1,200 mosques in Britain cater for the growing number who follow Islam
