Orthodox Dutch Muslims tend to be old, unemployed men

Friday 24 September 2010

Some 12% of Dutch Muslims of Moroccan origin consider themselves to be orthodox, as do one in 20 Muslims with Turkish roots, according to research by the University of Amsterdam, published on Friday.

That means the Netherlands has some 36,000 orthodox Muslims, who prefer to avoid the opposite sex and are more likely to support religious-related violence, according to the report on the Parool website.

‘This is bad news for democracy,’ researcher Jean Tillie, who has worked on the project for 2.5 years, told the paper

Nevertheless, Tillie said he did not consider the presence of orthodox Muslims to be a threat because most are older, low-skilled men without jobs.

‘This is not the group which throws bombs,’ he said. ‘Until now that has been up to the young hot heads with lots of hormones.’

For example, while the more orthodox survey respondents said they backed a theocracy, they also have confidence in the Dutch government, he said.

Anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders is wrong to equate orthodox Muslims with radical ones, Tillie told the paper. ‘Wilders says the real Muslim is a Mohammed B[who murdered Theo van Gogh]. We say the real Muslim is an old, friendly man in a dress.’

© DutchNews.nl

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