A recent study by the Documentation Centre for Political Islam shows just how problematic immigration from Islamic countries is. Immigrants from Somalia, Sudan and West Africa were asked about their religious attitudes. In the survey, 52.3 per cent said that Quran lessons were more important than school lessons, and 38.2 per cent were of the opinion that Quran and school lessons were ‘equally important’. And only just under ten per cent consider Quran lessons to be ‘less important’ or ‘much less important’ than school lessons.
The study also shows that for Muslims from Somalia, Quran lessons are far more important than school lessons than for their fellow Muslims from West Africa. While 45.7 per cent of Somalis consider Quran lessons to be ‘much more important’ than school lessons, only 21.6 per cent of West Africans do. The advantages of Quran schools according to the survey were that they teach children to ‘sit still and train their memory’.
Those Muslims who consider Quran lessons to be more important than school lessons are far more likely to hold radical religious beliefs. For example, 23.4 per cent of those in favour of Quran lessons believe that scantily clad women are complicit in harassment, but only 15.2 per cent of those who consider school lessons to be more important. On the question of whether Muslim women should wear headscarves, the ratio is 33.6 per cent to 16.0 per cent.
Another worrying result of the study by the Documentation Centre for Political Islam is that many Muslims consider the Quran to be more important than Austrian laws. Almost a quarter (24.7 per cent) stated that the laws of Austria should ‘definitely not’ be obeyed if they contradict the Quran, and a further 22.9 per cent chose the answer option ‘rather not’.
