Recent polling on the attitudes of young people from Britain's Muslim community published by the London-based Islamic Human Rights Commission* at the end of last year, reflected a strongly critical view of British foreign policies and a fear of being stereotyped as terrorist suspects.
The research was based on interviews with 1,100 people mostly between 15 and 29, in England, Scotland and Wales.About 90 per cent of respondents were British citizens and 55 per cent born in Britain. But although almost four in 10 saw little or no contradiction between being a good British citizen and Islamic values, some 57 per cent disapproved of the requirement for new citizens to swear allegiance to the crown.
The survey found a perception of increased Islamophobia in the aftermath of 9/11. A clear majority thought anti-terrorist laws and the way they were being implemented, coupled with media reporting of police investigations, needed to be more sensitive about the "stereotyping of all Muslims as potentially hostile terrorist suspects".
More than one in two disagreed with the statement that the British government respected British Muslims. Almost 41 per cent felt a sense of belonging to Britain, while 27 per cent felt no sense of belonging. Those who strongly denied any support to the country did so as a protest against the war and current policy in Iraq and the "anti-terror" campaign in general.
And in a later report by the same team, about 80 per cent reported that they had experienced some form of discrimination, ranging upwards from hostile behaviour because they were Muslim - a sharp increase in their sense of discrimination - an IHRC survey in 1999 recorded one in three reporting some discrimination.
The second row of tables are from a Guardian/ICM telephone poll of 500 British Muslims (November 2004). It found that a clear majority want Islamic law introduced into Britain in civil cases relating to their own community. Some 61 per cent wanted Islamic courts - operating on sharia principles - "so long as the penalties did not contravene British law".The poll also found a high level of religious observance with just over half saying they pray five times a day, every day - although women are shown to be more devout than men.
The poll confirmed that political support for Labour had halved since the 2001 general election and the Liberal Democrats had emerged as the leading political party within the Muslim community. The role of Britain in the Iraq war and Tony Blair's strong support for the war on terror which is widely seen by the Muslim community to be an attack on Islam, played a part in eroding Labour's support.
* Dual Citizenship: British, Islamic or Both? - Obligation, Recognition, Respect and Belonging by Saied R. Ameli and Arzu Merali, IHRC