What Muslims want

An interesting and revealing documentary just aired on Channel 4 tonight.

Based on a survey of around 1,000 British Muslims, tonights Dispatches was an 'accurate portrayal of what Muslims want'.

Doubtless there will be some cherry-picking of the more unpleasent findings, and there were a few troubling opinions expressed in the show and via the survey, but overall it didn't offer a glimmer of a Clash of Civilisations. Which was nice.

Kenan Malik (A controversial journo apparently) wrote a piece on the site giving his intepretation of the findings. His conclusion is reproduced below and, quite honestly, it sounds spot on...

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.