And Damien Thompson has some reasons:

Is it a function of the scale of immigration from Muslim countries over the past decade? I’m sure that’s not the main factor. The answer, I suspect, lies in the findings of a poll by Policy Exchange in 2007:

Young British Muslims are much more likely than their parents to follow the rules of the Islamic religion, a think tank survey showed.

Support for Sharia law, Islamic schools and wearing the Hijab is much stronger among younger Muslims, according to the survey by the centre-right Policy Exchange.

The survey of more than 1,000 Muslims from different age groups in the UK, found:

• 71% of over-55s compared with 62% of 16 to 24-year-olds believe that they have as much, if not more, in common with non-Muslims in Britain than with Muslims abroad.

• 19% of over-55s compared with 37% of 16 to 24-year-olds would prefer to send their children to Islamic state schools.

• 17% of over-55s compared with 37% of 16 to 24-year-olds would prefer living under Sharia law than British law.

• 28% of over-55s compared with 74% of 16 to 24-year-olds prefer Muslim women to choose to wear the Islamic headscarf.

These religious young Muslims are more likely than their parents to name their boys after the man they (and the ever-respectful BBC) refer to simply as “the Prophet”. This is a function of the Islamification of Britain’s Pakistani community, which was encouraged by the last government to identify itself by faith rather than national background.

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