A quarter of British Muslims, while not condoning the London bombings, have some sympathy with the feelings and motives of those who did.
That was just one of a series of alarming findings from a weekend poll showing a substantial minority of Muslims alienated from British society, and some - 6 per cent - willing to justify terrorist acts.
The reassurance for prime minister Tony Blair and his appointed Muslim Task Force is that the vast majority in Britain's disparate and divided Muslim communities condemn the bombings. While that 6 per cent minority said the July 7th attacks were justified, 11 per cent said that, "on balance", they were not justified, while 77 per cent said they were not justified at all.
However, YouGov's group portrait of British Muslims for the Daily Telegraph also found a clear majority, 56 per cent, prepared to say that whether or not they sympathised with the bombers, they could at least understand why some might behave in this way. The same number said that while western society might not be perfect, "Muslims should live with it and not seek to bring it to an end".
Nearly a third of those questioned agreed that "Western society is decadent and immoral and that Muslims should seek to bring it to an end but only by non-violent means."
In his commentary, Prof Anthony King said the 1 per cent prepared to do so by violent means would amount to about 16,000 individuals. If the poll was an accurate guide, that would also suggest some 100,000 people are prepared at least to support those carrying out the violence.
There was good news for Mr Blair with the great majority saying they feel "very loyal" (48 per cent) or "fairly loyal" (33 per cent) to Britain. However, at least 16 per cent felt little or no loyalty to the country.
While 58 per cent agreed with the prime minister that the ideas and ideology of the bombers were "perverted and twisted", a substantial minority, 26 per cent, disagreed, while a further 16 per cent replied "do not know".
Other findings showed strong Muslim suspicions about political leaders and the judicial system: 73 per cent said they would report to the police if they came to suspect someone they knew, or knew of, might be planning an attack like the ones on London.
However, only 33 per cent believed that anyone tried in connection with the July 7th bombings would receive a fair trial, as opposed to 44 per cent who said they would not.
More than half, 52 per cent, said the leaders of the main political parties did not mean it when they talked of equality and regarded the lives of white British people "as more valuable than the lives of British Muslims".