A shocking new university study reveals that half of the Turks in Germany regard Islamic law above German law and the youth are the most devout.

The study, commissioned by the University of Munster, surveyed 1,201 respondents of Turkish ethnicity on a range of issues and found that many hold extremely conservative views when it comes to the role of Islam in their lives.

The survey is designed to reflect the societal opinions of the 2.6 million Turkish residents in Germany and shows that 47 per cent believe that “following the tenets of [their] religion is more important to [them] than the laws of the land in which [they] live,” Spiegel reports.

First generation migrants tend to be the most conservative with 57 per cent of those polled believing that Islam is more important than state laws, and falls to just over one third by the second and third generations. The total number of people of Turkish descent that believe Islamic law trumps German law is therefore over one million.

Even more shocking is that one third of all those polled thought that “Muslims should strive to a societal order like that in the time of Mohammed,” meaning a return to 7th century sharia law which the Islamic State claims to follow to the letter. First generation migrants agreed with the sentiment at 36 per cent, and there was only a small drop to 27 per cent for second and third generation Turks.

While only seven per cent of the Turks surveyed believed that violence was justified in spreading Islam, one in five said that the threat from the Western world to Islam justified violent action by believers. The report noted that of the Turks polled “quite a few of them hold onto religious positions which don’t do much to counter the magnitude of suspicions and mistrust.”

Germans have become increasingly sceptical of the role of Islam in Germany and of mass migration from Muslim countries in the Middle East and North Africa. One poll in particular taken by Infratest Dimap showed 60 per cent of Germans rejecting the idea of Islam being a part of German identity.

Especially worrying were the findings that young Turkish Muslims were not only more devout than their elders, but also more radical in their views. Younger Muslims believe that they should stand by their own culture and heritage with confidence rather than integrate into German society.

The study concludes by saying Turkish Muslims must “show more understanding for the reservations of the German society and not just react to them with defence and indignation, but also to deal critically with fundamentalist tendencies in their own ranks.”

Studies in other countries have revealed similar data. Last year a poll in the U.S. saw 51 per cent of American Muslims support the idea of implementing sharia law and a quarter believed in violence against America and the West.

The constant data on the real opinions of Muslims has led some experts to declare that young Muslims are “ticking time-bombs” because of their views and sympathy to radical Islamic ideas.