Muslims Are Creating 'Nations Within Nations' Says Former Head of U.K. Equalities Commission

trevor phillips
Trevor Phillips, the (now former) Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, speaks at the British Chamber of Commerce Annual Conference held at the headquarters of BAFTA on March 18, 2010 in London, England.... Oli Scarff/Getty

The former head of Britain's Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), Trevor Phillips, has admitted he "got almost everything wrong" regarding immigration in a new report, claiming Muslims are creating "nations within nations" in the West.

Phillips says followers of Islam hold very different values from the rest of society and many want to lead separate lives.

The former head of the U.K.'s equalities watchdog also advocates the monitoring of ethnic minority populations on housing estates to stop them becoming "ghetto villages."

He says schools may have to consider a 50 per cent limit on Muslim, or other minority pupils, to encourage social integration.

And he says disturbing survey findings point to a growing chasm between the attitudes of many British Muslims and their compatriots.

Phillips' intervention comes after he was asked to analyse the findings of a major survey on Muslim attitudes in the U.K., which will form the basis of Channel 4's documentary, What British Muslims Really Think, which is due to air on Wednesday night.

An ICM poll released to the Times, in Britain, ahead of the broadcast reveals:

• One in five Muslims in Britain never enter a non-Muslim house

• 39 per cent of Muslims, male and female, say a woman should always obey her husband

• 31 per cent of British Muslims support the right of a man to have more than one wife

• 52 per cent of Muslims did not believe that homosexuality should be legal

• 23 per cent of Muslims support the introduction of Sharia law rather than the laws laid down by parliament

The documentary will portray the U.K.'s Muslims as a "nation within a nation" that has its own geography and values.

Phillips commissioned a report into Britain and Islamophobia in 1997 which, according to both Phillips himself and academics across the country, popularised the phrase which has now become synonymous with any criticism of Islam or Muslims.

"It's not as though we couldn't have seen this coming. But we've repeatedly failed to spot the warning signs," he now writes in The Times , in response to new data collected.

"Twenty years ago… I published the report titled Islamophobia: A Challenge for Us All, we thought that the real risk of the arrival of new communities was discrimination against Muslims.

"Our 1996 survey of recent incidents showed that there was plenty of it around. But we got almost everything else wrong."

In an article for the Daily Mail, Phillips warns of a "life-and-death struggle for the soul of British Islam."

"Britain is in many ways a better place than it's ever been—more prosperous, more diverse, more liberal.

"But for some of our fellow citizens, we're heading in entirely the wrong direction. So much so that some of them would rather live under a wholly different system.

"Indeed, a significant minority of Britain's three million Muslims consider us a nation of such low morals that they would rather live more separately from their non-Muslim countrymen, preferably under sharia law.

"This sobering conclusion comes from the most comprehensive survey of British Muslims ever conducted, commissioned by Channel 4.

"Having been asked to examine its results, I believe it holds a grim message for all of us.

"There is a life-and-death struggle for the soul of British Islam—and this is not a battle that the rest of us can afford to sit out. We need to take sides."

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