Hawzah News Agency –As Islamophobia Awareness Month came to an end, the challenges faced by the Muslim community in Kent have been highlighted.
The month-long campaign aimed to raise awareness of the threats of Islamophobic hate crime and challenge the stereotypes surrounding Islam to provide a better understanding of the religion.
Muslim councillor Naushabah Khan, who represents Medway, says the growing trend of Islamophobia needs to be addressed, starting with education.
She said: “There tends to be a bit of a lack of understanding about how different communities live their lives, and I think sometimes that creates a fear, which is where we see some of these challenging behaviours come out.
“There are clearly some challenges that exist around the understanding of Islam, how it manifests, and I think we’ve seen a growing trend in Islamophobia in recent years, which needs to be tackled, specifically in Kent.”
The councillor believes acts such as the banning of the burqa in France and Prime Minister Boris Johnson comparing women wearing burqas to “letter boxes”, led to an increase in Islamophobia.
She added: “There are lots of reasons why Kent is often impacted by challenges, which can sometimes manifest themselves in sort of turning communities against communities.
“When we see terrorist attacks, which people claim to be in the name of Islam or the perpetrators claimed to be the name of Islam - that level of tension between communities have certainly been a factor. I think there’s a general lack of understanding about what Islam is about.”
Kent Police record an offence in which Islamophobia was a factor as a religious hate crime “depending on the circumstances”.
“I honestly think the police can always do more on this,” Cllr Khan said. “I think they've done a lot of work on hate crime generally. So I think that's very helpful, but with the specifics of religion, and how they identify Islamophobia, I don't know.
“And actually, if I look at the company's website and you type in Islamophobia, the first thing that comes up is how to report possible terrorist activity.
"So, again I don't think that that kind of relationship that you need to have with the Muslim community in order for us to sort of trust the police on this matter specifically, perhaps doesn't exist and I think that's something that needs to build.”