Britain's Muslim community has a strong desire for closer integration with mainstream society, according to an exclusive Guardian/ICM poll of attitudes published today.
In a finding that appears to confound fears that Britain's 1.8 million Muslims are a marginalised "parallel society", 41% of those polled said they believed their community should do more to integrate.
Home Office ministers have warned of the dangers of Muslim isolation leading to increased vulnerability and racial harassment, but only 17% of people thought there had been too much integration.
Further evidence of the appetite for integration lies in the level of support for David Blunkett's plans for compulsory English language and citizenship tests for new immigrants - 65% of Muslims backed the proposal.
Today's poll marks the start of a week-long investigation into the state of Muslim Britain by the Guardian. In the past three months, Guardian reporters have visited Islamic communities to examine the realities of life for British Muslims after last summer's race riots and the attacks of September 11.
They found a diverse community coming to terms with an unprecedented level of scrutiny and seeking to define itself under pressure, often against a background of violence, poverty and social exclusion.
Muslims are subject to appalling levels of racial and religious harassment, and rates of unemployment and poor health are high.
One in three respondents said they or a member of their family had experienced personal abuse because of their faith, and 61% said relations with non-Muslims had deteriorated since September 11. As a result the vast majority, 85%, support new legislation banning religious discrimination.
Unsurprisingly British Muslims feel a strong sense of exclusion, with 69% saying they felt the rest of society does not regard them as an integral part of life in Britain.
Iqbal Sacranie, secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, welcomed the poll: "There is an overwhelming interest in the community in integrating but we need to be very clear what we really mean by integration. It does not mean assimilation - forgetting the culture and traditions you've been brought up with and adopting a culture that's alien to you.
"Integration involves understanding the English language, going to mainstream schools and having an interaction with mainstream society, developing better relations with people of different faiths and no faith."
Despite an overall willingness to engage with the mainstream, the poll identified a potentially divisive generation gap. On a range of issues from integration to identity, young Muslims had a closer affinity with their faith than their parents' generation. Forty-one per cent of Muslims under 34 said they defined themselves first and foremost as Muslim, compared with 30% of over-35s. The young were also more likely to say that their community was too integrated.
Our investigation reveals that Islam has a strong appeal among the young. Many of those interviewed feel as alienated from their parents' culture as they do from the secular mainstream.
"The young feel there are areas of inequality," Mr Sacranie said. "A Muslim can be legitimately discriminated against on the grounds of religion, which is a setback to integration."
British Muslims also feel a powerful sense of solidarity with Muslims around the world, with both young and old saying foreign conflicts in the Middle East, Kashmir and Afghanistan were of greater concern than domestic issues.
Two-thirds disapprove of Britain's role in the war in Afghanistan, and more than 70% said they were "very concerned" about the threat of war in Kashmir and the continuing Middle East crisis.