A new study from Austria has revealed a shocking degree of religious indoctrination and anti-western sentiment among young Muslims in Vienna.
According to the study titled Between recognition and devaluation: The attitudes of young immigrants in Vienna – published on May 11 – 41 per cent of Muslim youth say that the rules of their religion stand above the laws of Austria.
By comparison, among Christian immigrants, only 21 per cent said the same.
For the study, 1,200 Muslims in Vienna aged between 14 and 21 were questioned.
More than half of them – 53 per cent – said that every Muslim woman should wear a headscarf in public. Almost two thirds or 64 per cent said that “Islamic rules apply to all aspects of daily life and must be strictly observed”.
Some 39 per cent said that all people should obey the rules of Islam.
And 43 per cent of respondents said the west was to blame for the problems of the Islamic World.
Especially worrying for many is the degree to which young Muslims in Austria are apparently ready to pick up arms for their beliefs: Some 46 per cent of respondents said they were “ready to fight and die for the defence of their religion” – compared to 24 per cent of Christian immigrants.
Integration expert Kenan Güngör said in Der Standard on May 11 that the study showed an indisputable trend: “Anti-democratic, derogatory and violence-prone attitudes are more widespread among Muslim youths than among others,” he said.
This is especially worrying as Muslim children are increasingly populating the public school system in Vienna: Latest numbers from the city’s education authority show that Muslims already make up 42 per cent of the 114,000 pupils in Vienna’s state schools – with a further increase on the horizon.
The Muslim population in general in Austria has risen rapidly since 2015. It is estimated that currently 800,000 Muslims live in Austria – equivalent to 9 per cent of the population.
By comparison, in 2001 only 4 per cent of the population were Muslim, according to the federal statistical office.
A disproportionate number of Muslim immigrants flock to Vienna – drawn by generous social welfare payments and the opportunity to live among themselves without much pressure to integrate. By 2021, 15 per cent of Vienna’s population was Muslim.
Moreover, while 20 years ago Austria Muslims consisted mainly of Turkish foreign workers and Bosnian war refugees and their descendants, since 2015 Austria has seen a tide of immigrants from Arab countries – such as Iraq and Syria – and Afghanistan.
According to Güngör, this has also changed the nature of Muslims in Austria – as these recent immigrants and their children follow a “more rigid and radical” version of Islam.
Dominik Nepp, leader of the right-wing Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) in Vienna, said on May 12 the new study showed “a highly dangerous development”.
He added: “[Vienna] Mayor Michael Ludwig [Social Democratic Party, SPÖ] has brought thousands of people into our welfare system without requiring them to integrate and without imposing any consequences for refusing to do so.
“At the same time, these people have been generously provided with social benefits and council housing; this mass migration now costs us well over €2 billion a year!
“We can see the result today: Parallel societies, rising Islamism and young people who reject our legal system,” Nepp concluded.
