Kenan Malik analyses the survey

The starting point in any discussion today about Islam in Britain seems to be the belief that Muslims constitute a distinct community with a distinct set of views and beliefs, largely shaped by their faith. Hence, or so the argument goes, any real political engagement with Muslims must come, not through mainstream politicians, but from within their own community. As the Prime Minister put it in July, in defending himself against the accusation that the government had done too little to combat terrorism, "The government itself cannot root out extremism. I am not the person to go into the Muslim community and explain to them that the extreme view is not the true face of Islam."

As a result mainstream politicians have come, in effect, to abandon their responsibilities for engaging directly with Muslim communities. Instead, they have subcontracted out those responsibilities to so-called community leaders. Rather than appealing to Muslims as British citizens, and attempting to draw them into the mainstream political process, politicians of all hues today prefer to see them as people whose primarily loyalty is to their faith and who can be politically engaged only by other Muslims.

The Channel 4 Dispatches survey results reveal why this picture of the Muslim community is false - and why we need to rethink many of the assumptions that animate current policies. The survey shows that Muslims do not form a single homogenous community. Should Muslim children go to state schools or Muslim schools? Should they attend single sex schools? Should Muslim women wear the hijab? Is it better to live under sharia law or British law? Should people be free to say what they want, even if it offends religious groups? Is polygamy acceptable? Must wives always obey their husbands? Is it preferable to have Muslim neighbours? Do the police disproportionately stop and search Muslims? Does Tony Blair deserve respect? Will there be another 7/7?

On all these and many other questions Muslims are deeply divided. Almost the only issue on which virtually all Muslims seem agreed is the importance of Islam. Yet even here, the response is not as straightforward as it may seem. Nine out of ten respondents felt strongly attached to Islam. Yet half never attend mosque; and fewer that one in ten attend every day. More than fifty per cent don't want Britain to be an Islamic state. Whatever their attachment to Islam, it is not for straightforwardly religious reasons.

The survey results suggest that the sense of Muslim identity is strengthened by a feeling of being a community under siege. It also suggests that this feeling is misplaced. More than fifty per cent of the respondents thought that hostility to Muslims had increased since 7/7, a third that it had increased significantly. Yet more than three quarters of respondents had not been subject to hostility, and of those that had the vast majority had suffered from verbal, rather than from physical, abuse. Similarly, nearly half believed that police disproportionately stop and search Muslims. But just three per cent knew of anyone who has been stopped and searched. There is, in other words, a gap between the perception Islamophobia and the reality of anti-Muslim hostility. The problem is often less the reality of Islamophobia than the exaggerated perception of anti-Muslim hostility. The consequence being the creation of a siege mentality within Muslim communities, stoking up anger and resentment, and making them more inward looking and more open to religious extremism.

The survey results provide some backing for this view. The sense of being a community under siege can create a climate of paranoia, one expression of which are bizarre and often dangerous conspiracy theories. Nearly half of Muslims appear to think that 9/11 was some kind of US Zionist conspiracy; only one in five reject entirely any kind of conspiracy theory about the bombing of the World Trade Centre. Almost 20 per cent believe either that stories about the Holocaust are exaggerated or that it never happened.

Linked to such conspiracy theories is a wider reservoir of extremist views. Almost a third of those polled would like to live under sharia law. More than one in ten understand why British Muslims might want to carry out suicide missions in this country. Nearly a quarter thought that the 7/7 bombings were justified because of Britain's foreign policy. Almost one in five respect Osama Bin Laden to some extent. We should not overstate such fanaticism. The poll shows that the majority of Muslims reject such views and that there is a strong drive towards integration. There exists, nevertheless, a wellspring of extremist views which cannot be ignored.

The way to root out such extremism is not, as many politicians seem to believe, to leave it to the community leaders. For the poll suggests that such leaders seem to be as out of touch with ordinary Muslims as the rest of us. Over the last few years, the Muslim Council of Britain has come to be seen by both journalists and politicians as the mainstream voice of Muslim Britain. Yet, according to the poll, less than 4 per cent think that the MCB represents British Muslims, and just 12 per cent think it represents their political views. Astonishingly, a quarter of Muslims have never heard of Sir Iqbal Sacrani, who was the MCB's general secretary until this year and is probably the most prominent mainstream Muslim leader in the country. Other Muslim organisations are viewed as even less representative. Even mosques did not come out well. Just one in thirty thinks that the mosque represents Muslim views, and less than one in five that it represents their political views.

The most worrying figure is that almost nine out of ten Muslims seem unsure as to who does represent Muslim views in this country and four out of five do not know who represents their political views. Muslims, in other words, feel politically voiceless. Given this political marginalisation, is it surprising that many Muslims feel alienated or that some may harbour conspiracy theories or extremist views?

So, what does all this mean for politics and policy making? First, we must stop treating Muslims as if they formed a single, homogenous community and thinking that the only way to engage to them is to appeal to their faith. Second, we need to stop feeding the victim culture by exaggerating the extent of anti-Muslim hostility. Such hostility certainly exists, but the gap between the perception and reality of Islamophobia provides fertile ground for the growth of conspiracy theories and extremist views. And finally, it is time that politicians stopped subcontracting out their responsibilities to so-called community leaders and started taking seriously the issue of political engagement with their constituents, both Muslim and non-Muslim. Without such engagement, political disenchantment within Muslim communities can only deepen.

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