#1in5Muslims Hashtag Mocks The Sun's Poll On 'Sympathy For Isis Fighters'

The #1in5Muslims Hashtag Was Funny, But There Was Also A Serious Message In There
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Backlash to an article in The Sunclaiming 1 in 5 Muslims sympathised with Islamic State jihadis culminated in an inspired hashtag on Monday evening, mocking the dubious assertion.

The tabloid's poll has attracted a record number of complaints and its interpretation of the data has been criticised for being vague and not providing context.

But within the hashtag a number of themes can be teased out that show the backlash was not just about humour but a chance for Muslims to defend themselves and their faith.

The sentiment is backed up by a recent study by the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) which claimed discrimination against Muslims was creating an "environment of hate" in Britain.

The report showed a rise in the feeling that Muslims are being discriminated against both in day-to-day Islamophobic acts and government policies.

Between 2010 and 2014, the number of people who reported witnessing Islamophobia directed at someone else leapt from 50% to 82%.

In the same period, the number of people stating they had witnessed negative stereotypes about Islam and Muslims jumped from 69% to 93%

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The number of Muslims saying government policies were discriminating against them rose from 34% to 59%.

Others using the hashtag chose to highlight the shocking levels of ignorance between Muslims and those of other faiths.

This is particularly timely as just last week a Sikh man was wrongly identified as an attacker in the Paris terror attacks after his image was photoshopped.

Some used it as a chance to highlight more day-to-day difficulties.

A petition has been started demanding the editor ofThe Sun apologise for Monday's front page.

Until then, people seem content to use a hefty dose of humour to make their point - here are some of the best...