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Violent clashes between militant Islam and the West go on; Muslims like me, belonging to both sides, watch the growing animosity and tremble. Yet yesterday's Standard survey on the impact of Islam on our capital made my heart stir with hope.
Unlike other such polls, the questions asked were nuanced and detailed; the 700 people questioned had to think hard, consider their views. The results were surprising - and reassuring.
Our capital, plotted against by Islamicists, still remains open and measured. Many citizens are critical of certain Muslim practices and demands, but their reservations would probably be shared by thousands of Muslims, for we are as diverse in our views as the rest of the city.
This poll give us Londoners many reasons to be cheerful. Looking at carefully collated figures I can hardly believe what I see: 72 per cent of respondents had Muslim friends; the same proportion would not actively oppose the building of a mosque. Nearly as many would vote for a suitably qualified Muslim candidate to be Mayor of London. A third of the interviewees want Muslim immigration to be kept to current levels; 78 per cent believe Muslims face some discrimination. Gosh, this lot are more tolerant of my brethren than I have ever been.
On integration and whether Islam is a tolerant faith, nearly half the interviewees express doubts. Yet on both these I would have expected a much larger negative finding. More faith schools in general are not welcomed, so that issue isn't used to bash Muslims in particular.
A couple of findings may infuriate some Muslims - some, I said. Almost nine out of 10 do not want teachers to wear the full veil and almost as many oppose schoolgirls wearing the garment. I think all full-body or face covering should be forbidden in schools, and that employers, too, have the right to impose dress codes. Adult women in their covers on the streets cannot be made to throw them off any more than the Jewish Orthodox can be forced to give up their caps and wigs and Sikhs their turbans. However, in state-funded schools we must insist on uniforms with only reasonable adaptations.
British Muslims must compromise, learn to give to as well as ask from the multifarious pot that is London. If others reach out to us in the way they have in this poll, we owe them. All they ask is that in schools, common rules should apply to all children. To hold out against this is to squander the capital's precious goodwill.
