Aid our Muslims

Home-grown imams are essential

Leader
guardian.co.uk, Sunday December 7 2003 01.29 GMT

The arrests of more than 20 Muslims in anti-terrorist raids across Britain over the past two weeks has again led to careless talk of home-grown terrorism, though none have been found guilty and most of those arrested were not, in fact, British. Since the Twin Towers' attack, 529 people have been arrested under anti-terrorist legislation and only five convicted of terrorist offences. The unease felt by the Muslim communities is exacerbated when Foreign Office Ministers tell them they face a simple choice between the 'British way' and terrorism.

Yet a growing number of senior Muslims are concerned about the radicalisation of Britain's Muslim youth and the activities of extremist organisations. They see this minority within a Muslim population of two million as we should view it: a cult whose methods are the indoctrination and targeting of vulnerable young people. Rather than demanding 'oaths of allegiance', Ministers must listen to its highly diverse Muslim population. For too long, Islam has been considered a foreign religion - it is no more so than that other great Middle Eastern religion, Christianity.

Islam in Britain has become a victim of its own success. Mosques are full to overflowing and new mosques are being built to meet the demand. A shortage of qualified imams means British mosques look abroad for clerics, often to Saudi Arabia or Pakistan. Such clerics are not sensitive to the complex spiritual needs of our young Muslims. The British Muslim community should be encouraged, with charitable tax breaks where necessary, to establish a prestigious national Islamic training school and establish a generation of home-grown clerics.