Two out of three Brits don't think Muslims are loyal

London, May 8 (ANI): Two out of three Britons think that Muslims living in the United Kingdom are not loyal to their country.

According to a new Gallup poll, only 36 percent Brits think that they can trust Muslims.

The recent poll has frightened the experts, who fear that the image of peaceful Muslims has been seriously damaged by a few ranting fundamentalists, such as Anjem Choudary and Abu Izzadeen.

"It's not surprising that a large percentage of non-Muslims think Muslims are not loyal. Every day we see reports of Muslims who are trying to attack this country. It's not surprising people see a link between fundamentalists and the wider Muslim community," the Daily Star quoted Centre for Social Cohesion Director Douglas Murray, as saying.

The poll also found that up to a fifth of Muslim residents felt no allegiance to Britain.

"This means up to half a million. It's in this pool that terrorists can find their recruitment area," Murray said.

British Muslims also tend to hold more conservative views than their counterparts in the rest of Europe. They are more strongly against gays, abortion, pornography, suicide and sex outside marriage.

Only three percent of Muslims here believe sex before marriage is permissible.

"It's not a pick-and-choose buffet. If you live in Britain you have to adopt and accept this way of life. We can't force people to have positive attitudes to co-habiting or sex before marriage but we can encourage people not to live lives apart," Murray said.

"The biggest mistake we've made in this country is to encourage people to live in separate communities. It means that people not only don't feel loyalty but they feel they don't have to feel loyalty," he added.

Despite the figures, Dalia Mogahed, executive director of the Gallup Centre for Muslim Studies, said: "British Muslims want to be part of the wider community and contribute to society." (ANI)