Britain's young admire al Qaeda

London, Jan 30 (UNI) Young British Muslims are increasingly embracing radical Islam, with more than a third wanting Sharia to replace British law, according to a poll for a Conservative think-tank.

David Cameron, Conservative Party leader, will respond today by urging everyone living in Britain to show loyalty to its laws and customs and, by initiating an attack on multiculturalism, and calling for ''proper integration.'' The poll by Populus for Policy Exchange, the think-tank with close links to the Tory leader, reveals how younger Muslims hold aggressively more extreme views than their parents.

About 1,003 Muslims were questioned. The poll found that more than a third of 16 to 24-year-olds wanted to live under Islamic law, compared with 17 per cent of the over-55s. Meanwhile, 31 per cent of the young Muslims said they believed that a Muslim converted to another religion should be punished to death, compared with 19 per cent of the over-55s.

The deep divisions between the generations are most starkly illustrated over attitudes to the hijab, with 74 per cent of young people preferring Muslim women to wear them compared with 28 per cent of the over-55s. Thirteen per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds said they admired organisations such as al-Qaeda, compared with 3 per cent of their parents' generation.

The think-tank report, Living Apart Together, blames multiculturalism for producing a generation of young Muslims who champion their "right to be different". The poll found that 86 per cent of Muslims feel that "my religion is the most important thing in my life".

Munira Mirza, the main author of the report, said: "The emergence of a strong Muslim identity in Britain is, in part, a result of multicultural policies implemented since the 1980s which have emphasised difference at the expense of shared national identity and divided people along ethnic, religious and cultural lines." Despite widespread concerns about Islamophobia, 84 per cent of Muslims believe that they have been treated fairly in this society, while 28 per cent of Muslims believe that the authorities in Britain go over the top in trying not to offend Muslims.

Ms Mirza cautioned: "We should be wary of treating the entire Muslim population as a monolith with special needs that are different to the rest of the population. There is considerable diversity amongst Muslims, with many adopting a more secular approach to their religion and a majority feeling they have as much, if not more, in common with non-Muslims in Britain as with Muslims abroad.

"There is clearly a conflict within British Islam between a moderate majority that accepts the norms of Western democracy and a growing minority that does not." Mr Cameron will respond to the challenge by saying, "We must demand from everyone in this country that they obey our laws. But loyalty is not just about laws. Loyalty is about giving people something to believe in. So we must inspire loyalty by building a Britain that every one of our citizens believes in. And each of us do all we can to bring down those barriers that make that dream more difficult to achieve." This week the Conservative Party's policy commission will highlight the removal of teenage Asian girls from school and question whether some Muslim parents are supporting their daughters' desire for education, as well as calling for forced marriage to be made a criminal offence.

UNI