Muslims born and raised in the West are more prone to harbouring Islamist beliefs that their peers who have immigrated, a research from Uppsala University has shown.
The survey indicated that a majority of Islamist terrorist attacks in Europe and the United States have been planned and implemented by people born and raised in the West, rather than the foreign-born. The researchers also found that Western Muslims had a stronger Muslim group identity and displayed anger at how Muslims are treated.
"The most important finding, however, is that Western-born Muslims have a greater willingness to use force to defend their fellow believers across the world", the research said.
According to the researchers, the support for extremist ideas is rooted in the feeling of being "disadvantaged and marginalised" compared with the majority populations. The negative experiences, they argued, lead to "frustration and anger". These emotions are much stronger among Western Muslims.
"For instance, Muslims who spend their formative years in Sweden expect to be treated as 'real Swedes', but when they compare themselves with classmates and others, they may feel it is not necessarily like this", the research said, stressing the impression of always being treated as an immigrant.
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The researchers pointed out a "vicious circle" between how Muslims are treated in the West and the extremism that drives refugee flows from the Middle East, calling it "both ironic and tragic".
"Muslims who grow up in the West feel excluded and get drawn to groups such as Daesh*, which, in turn, have generated huge refugee flows to the West", the research said.
A November 2018 report identified at least 785 Islamists in Sweden. Of them, 71.7 percent were born abroad, while the rest were born in Sweden, national broadcaster SVT reported. However, it only named key figures, as an earlier, more comprehensive report by Sweden's Security Police SÄPO numbered as many as 2,000 Islamists. Still, the number of Islamists in Sweden is estimated to have grown ten times over the past decade, according to the daily newspaper Aftonbladet.
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Founded in 1477, Uppsala University is the oldest university in Sweden and all of the Nordic countries still in operation. It ranks among the world's 100 best universities in several high-profile international rankings.
* Daesh (ISIL/ISIS/IS/the Islamic State) is a terrorist organisation banned in Russia
