Integracja kulturowa studentów muzułmańskich w Newham College w Londynie

Abstract

The task of this article based on research which took place in Newham College in London in 2006-2009 was to show what kind of attitudes have Muslim students in Newham College towards pre-marital gender relationships, arranged marriage, forced marriage, polygamy, and equal rights for men and women regarding divorce. Very few Muslims supported the idea of cohabitation. Muslims born outside the UK felt more strongly than Muslims born in the UK, with over half of Muslim males and over three quarters of Muslim females agreeing that cohabitation was not acceptable. The students were asked if they thought that arranged marriages should be allowed in the UK. One hundred short interviews showed that almost all Muslim students were expecting an arranged marriage. However, nineteen percent of Muslims when answering the questionnaire said that arranged marriages should not be allowed in the UK. In Islam a man can divorce his wife without the necessity of going to court. Nearly fifty-four percent of Muslims students thought that men and women should have equal rights and a woman should be able to divorce her husband. It is significant that as many as seventy five percent of Muslim females born in the UK strongly support women’s rights to instigate divorce. This is twenty-five percent more than Muslim females born abroad. Muslim males are less inclined to agree. It is noticeable that only about a quarter of the Muslim males questioned were in favour of polygamy – 23.8 of those born in UK and 25.8 of those born outside UK while considerably less females agreed – only 13.8% of those born in the UK and even less 6.9% of those born outside the UK. The majority of the Muslim young women when asked: Would you be happy if your husband wanted a second wife were very adamant when they answered “No, I wouldn’t agree”.