British Muslim attitudes to terrorism and UK counter-terrorism
In the past 15 years there has been a growing concern over the threat of terrorism claimed to have been carried out on behalf of Islam. In particular, the 3,000 individuals of concern, the 500 (increased to 676 by the end of June 2018) ongoing investigations and the 20,000 further individuals of interest from past investigations outlined by the Director of MI5, Andrew Parker, in October 2017 represents a significant challenge. In this context, and where the threat is in many ways a decentralised one, there has been governmental concern over the ‘vulnerability’ of British Muslims towards radicalisation and terrorism. Cooperation with, and from, Muslim communities is undoubtedly essential in combating this form of terrorism. As such, this paper reviews existing survey research, major datasets and commercial opinion polls on UK Muslim attitudes to both terrorism and UK counter-terrorism.