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The trend has become so common that the word Haram – referring to what is banned by Sharia law – is now regularly being heard in playgrounds throughout Austria, spawning the so-called 'generation haram'. The shocking claim follows an investigation carried out by Austrian magazine Biber that said Muslim schoolboys are increasingly taking it upon themselves to tell girls how to behave. The report found the boys were ruling on what was allowed (halal) and what was a sin (haram).

GETTY A shocking report has claimed Sharia law is being enforced in playgrounds in Austria

Haram is in effect anything that is forbidden under Sharia law – including dressing inappropriately. Young Muslims confirm it was necessary to make sure girls did not sin, and one was quoted as saying: "If I can see a cleavage, that is haram and she has caused me to make a sin against her." One boy, known as Mensur, 14, complained about a schoolgirl, identified as Merve, because her blouse was cut too low. The report also discovered that while the young Islamic schoolboys were strictly enforcing the rules against schoolgirls, they did not follow the regulations themselves.

They were found to be drinking alcohol, going to gambling establishments and smoking Shisha – all activities they were campaigning to stop the girls getting involved in.

Some of my friends who never had any interest in religion have suddenly started proclaiming that they love Allah Goran, student

Melisa Erkurt, who conducted the investigation, said that what had started out as a harmless YouTube and Instagram trend had now spread to the classroom. She said: "I was not expecting to find anything shocking when looking into what Islam meant for youngsters, but I had reckoned without Generation haram." She had intended to try and find out what Islam meant for young people, but when she asked about what the beliefs and basic principles were she was greeted by a wall of silence.

GETTY A Croatian student said his Muslim friends were becoming increasing religious

However, when she asked what haram was, there was no shortage of replies. The youngsters then showed her YouTube videos and social media pictures of girls in bikinis flooded underneath with 'haram' tagged comments, and one youngster named Mert showed the reporter his favourite WhatsApp group entitled "Haraaaam". In a nearby Shisha bar she found boys and young men aged between 16 and 25, but only a single girl. Erkurt was also told that smoking Shisha was forbidden for women. The group of friends are almost all Muslim apart from one, a Croatian called Goran, who said that he noticed many of his Muslim friends were increasingly becoming deeply religious. He claimed it was all coming from the Internet.

GETTY The reporter found that one student had a favourite WhatsApp group called 'Haraaaam'

He said: "Some of my friends who never had any interest in religion have suddenly started proclaiming that they love Allah." He said he had tried to find out where these religious conversions had come from, and the answer was firmly rooted in the Internet on vines, memes, and YouTube videos. The reporter also outlined the bizarre contrast between German rappers such as Kollegah, Bushido und Alpa-Gun who speak openly about being Muslim, but at the same time talk about subjects like sexual intercourse and breaking wind that have nothing at all to do with Islam. The report also discovered that young Austrians had converted to Islam because all their friends were Muslims. This included Florian who said that his Muslim brothers did not mind the fact that he had repeatedly been seen drinking because he was now "one of them."

The development follows on from a recent study published in Vienna that showed that 57 of 214 questioned Muslim youngsters felt that religious law was more important than Austrian law. Some also reportedly agreed with the statement that the Islamic world should be able to use violence against the West and that it was okay to kill in the name of religion. The study blamed puberty and the need to belong as the reason for the dangerous trend. Asked about the way the boys dictated behaviour, one girl was quoted as saying: "Don't do haram and everything will be tamam (OK)." They noted that when a biology teacher had started talking about menstruation, the boys had started shouting haram. Speaking to teachers, the consequences included for example the fact that many girls in schools with a large immigrant population no longer knew how to swim, because they were not allowed to attend swimming courses.

GETTY The word Haram is now regularly being heard in schools, claimed the report