A poster advertising campaign with the theme “Inspired by Muhammad” took place this June in London.
The campaign was organised and funded by the Exploring Islam Foundation (EIF).
The EIF specialises in authoring, publishing and marketing high quality resources which creatively explore the numerous aspects of Islam. They commisioned YouGov to undertake a national survey of mainstream perceptions towards Prophet Muhammad and the results of this survey led to the “Inspired by Muhammad” advertising campaign.
YouGov obtained online responses from 2152 non-Muslim persons on their surveys panel. The detailed results broken down by age, social grade, and regions, are available on the YouGov website
A summary of the results is given below. We also comment on the messages - what the EIF want to tell you - of the “Inspired by Muhammad” campaign itself. See further below.
The Statistics - Summary Results of YouGov Survey
| Generally speaking, how much do you feel you know about Islam? % Who say: | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A great deal | A fair amount | Not very much | Nothing at all | Don't know |
| 2 | 20 | 60 | 17 | 1 |
##2
| On the whole, Muslims have a positive impact on British society % Who say: | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strongly agree | Tend to agree | Neither agree nor disagree | Tend to disagree | Strongly disagree | Don't know |
| 3 | 16 | 31 | 23 | 18 | 9 |
##3
| On the whole, Islam is a violent religion % Who say: | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strongly agree | Tend to agree | Neither agree nor disagree | Tend to disagree | Strongly disagree | Don't know |
| 9 | 21 | 22 | 25 | 12 | 11 |
##4
| Islam encourages repression of women % Who say: | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strongly agree | Tend to agree | Neither agree nor disagree | Tend to disagree | Strongly disagree | Don't know |
| 27 | 41 | 12 | 5 | 3 | 11 |
##5
| Islam is a religion concerned with social justice (i.e. promoting fairness and equality) % Who say: | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strongly agree | Tend to agree | Neither agree nor disagree | Tend to disagree | Strongly disagree | Don't know |
| 3 | 13 | 24 | 24 | 19 | 18 |
##6
| Islam promotes taking active measures towards protecting the environment % Who say: | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strongly agree | Tend to agree | Neither agree nor disagree | Tend to disagree | Strongly disagree | Don't know |
| 1 | 5 | 29 | 16 | 13 | 36 |
The Campaign - What Muhammad (Really) Did
This campaign took the form of posters in Tube stations and other places communicating the following messages. We believe they are far fetched, even deceitful, and mislead people.
Message 1 "I believe in social justice. So did Muhammad"
In the Muhammadan faith, Sharia, its legal code based on the Koran and what Muhammad said and did, includes amongst other things; cutting peoples' hands off for stealing (as crazy as it sounds an example has recently been reported in the British media); stoning to death for adultery (an example has recently been reported in the British media); flogging for drinking alcohol; a Muslim’s life is worth more than a non-Muslims life; and homosexuality is punishable by death.
This is not social justice by any stretch of the imagination. This is confirmed by the European Court of Human Rights which stated: "sharia …. clearly diverges from Convention values, particularly with regard to its criminal law and criminal procedure, [and] its rules on the legal status of women …."
Message 2 "I believe in protecting the environment. So did Muhammad"
This claim is based on the belief that Muhammad forbade people from cutting down trees. This is not true, he had no hesitation in cutting down trees if that served his purpose.
Also the threat to the environment as understood by most people is from pollution and over population. Muhammadan beliefs and practices do not help population control.
Message 3 "I believe in women's rights. So did Muhammad"
Sharia stipulates that a woman's testimony is worth half that of a man's (a full explanation of this can be found on the website of the UK based Islamic Sharia Council); she doesn't have the right to unilateral divorce, a man may easily divorce his wife whereas a woman must argue her case and undergo a lengthy Sharia legal process; girls get half the inheritance of boys; and child custody is given to the father at a preset age irrespective of the welfare of the child.
The Islamic Sharia Council charges a fee for Muslims seeking a divorce, the fee for a man it is £100 and for women it is £250 because (they say) it is more work to process a woman's application as her word has to be corroborated.
Sharia law rules on child custody were described by judges in the House of Lords as ‘arbitrary and discriminatory’ in the case of M (Lebanon) v Home Secretary ([2008] UKHL 64).
This is not what anybody understands by “women’s rights”.
As noted above the European Court of Human Rights stated: sharia …. clearly diverges from Convention values, particularly with regard to …. its rules on the legal status of women …
