Britain’s restive Muslims

Fear of terrorism and sharp cultural differences have created a yawning rift between Britain’s 1.8 million Muslims and the rest of the population. Are British Muslims becoming dangerously alienated?

Are the country's Muslims well-assimilated?

Most are, working alongside non-Muslims, raising their families, and sending their children to local, state-run schools. But after recent waves of immigration, especially from Pakistan and Afghanistan, a growing number of British Muslims are crowded into slums in fading industrial towns, with few prospects for advancement. The unemployment rate among young Muslim men in Britain is 22 percent, compared to about 10 percent for all young men and 5.5 percent overall. Such miserable conditions have provided fertile ground for Muslim extremism; in one recent survey, 37 percent of young Muslims in Great Britain said they would prefer to live under strict Islamic law.

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