From Iceland — Former Muslim Society Chair: Mosque Poll "Pointless"

Former Muslim Society Chair: Mosque Poll “Pointless”

Published October 9, 2014

Andie Sophia Fontaine
Photo by
Agência Brasil

The former chairperson of the Muslim Society of Iceland called a recent poll on whether a mosque should be allowed in Iceland “pointless”, as human rights are not up for debate.

“Personally, I find these kind of polls pointless,” former Muslim Society of Iceland chairperson Salmann Tamimi. “You might as well ask [in a poll] whether we should let black people in the country, or Jews, or whether we should treat cancer. There is no question. It’s our right to build a house of worship. It’s guaranteed by the Constitution.”

As reported, in a new poll from Market and Media Research, respondents were asked how supportive or against different houses of worship they were. 42.4% said they were against a mosque in Iceland, while 29.7% said they were in favour.

Salmann did see a bright side, though, in pointing out that older people were more likely to be against the building of a mosque than younger people. In fact, as the data from the poll shows, the younger a respondent was, the more likely they were to favour the building of a mosque in Iceland. Conservatives were also more opposed to a mosque than liberals and leftists.

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