Muslims have been on the receiving end of so many accusations over the last year that it sometimes requires an extra effort to see past the stereotypes perpetrated by those who insist that the world is living through a total clash of civilisations. At home and abroad, especially since September 11, Muslims have been placed under an often unforgiving spotlight. They have been depicted as angry and alienated, united in opposition to modernity and tolerance, and as people who choose to live culturally separate lives involving a minimum of interconnection with the west and its values. To some in the west, the Muslim peoples of north Africa, the Middle East and south Asia are Europe's 21st-century enemy at the gate. To others, Muslims are already the enemy within, a fifth column for a way of life which refuses, sometimes violently, to be reconciled with the West.
In a series of reports this week, we are attempting to shine the light wider and more penetratingly on the lives, hopes and fears of Britain's Muslims. If they did not know it already, readers will now be aware of how often the reality differs radically from the cruder stereotypes. The special poll of Muslim opinion that kicked off our series on Monday, for instance, found a much greater wish to integrate than to lead the "parallel lives" which have attracted so much publicity. The poll showed that a majority think of themselves as "British Muslims" first and foremost. It found 41% said their community should do more to integrate into British society (as against 17% who said it had already done too much), while 65% gave their approval to David Blunkett's recent proposal to make knowledge of the English language and of British society into requirements of citizenship.
This deep desire to make a success of integration is particularly significant in the light of the past year. But it is something the clash-of-civilisations polemicists simply cannot explain. In another study of Muslim opinion, conducted for the British Council among over 5,000 young people in nine Muslim countries (exactly the people who are stereotyped as the most "anti-western" of all), this counter-intuitive feeling was even more striking. Researchers found that 67% of young Muslims were mainly or very favourable to the United Kingdom (just one point less than their equally positive feelings towards the US). These Muslims rated Britain high for economic strength, advanced technology, educational opportunity and - make a special note of this - for being a safe, stable and successful multicultural society.
This is not to claim that all is for the best in every aspect of Muslim Britain or of the European-Islamic relationship in all its many complexities. Such a claim would be ridiculous. Things have got worse since September 11, not better. Our reports show rising white hostility, Muslim communities turning in on themselves for support, and a generational shift away from the relative optimism of the first generation of British Muslims. Large minorities, especially among the young, feel more separate than ever. More than a third of all Muslims say they or their families have been abused because of their faith, while 61% say relations with non-Muslims have deteriorated. Britain's foreign policy stances in the Muslim world also carry a high price, both here and (see the British Council survey) in the Middle East. There is a big agenda of issues to address here, and a week's reports will not change them all around. But there is a real will among Muslims to make a success of integrated modern societies, and it must now be matched with equivalent will elsewhere.
