London, England - Islamic extremism has turned some areas of Britain into "no-go areas" for non-Muslims, a Church of England bishop said, drawing ire from the Muslim community which dismissed his comments as scaremongering.
"There has been a worldwide resurgence of the ideology of Islamic extremism," the Pakistan-born Bishop of Rochester, Doctor Michael Nazir-Ali, wrote in the Sunday Telegraph.
One of the results of this, he said, was "to turn already separate communities into 'no-go' areas where adherence to this ideology has become a mark of acceptability."
"In many ways, this is but the other side of the coin to far-right intimidation."
Nazir-Ali, the Church of England's only Asian bishop, said attempts had been made to impose an Islamic character on certain areas, for example, by amplifying the call to prayer.
The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) said Nazir-Ali was "talking nonsense" and had no evidence to support his views.
"This is irresponsible scaremongering," an MCB spokesman said. "Where are these so-called areas that he's talking about?"
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said the idea of no-go areas was "a gross caricature of reality", while Conservative Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague told Sky News the bishop had "probably put it too strongly".
Britain has about 1.8 million Muslims in its 60 million strong population.