Muslim call for vigilance

One of Britain's leading Muslim organisations today made an urgent call for community leaders to guard against terrorists.

The Muslim Council has written to every mosque in the country asking imams to "exercise vigilance".

Sermons are to be preached at Friday prayers condemning terrorism as an affront to Islam.

Hundreds of thousands of special booklets are also to be distributed to worshippers to reinforce the anti-extremist message.

The move by the Muslim Council underlines fears within the Islamic community that it will become the target of violence and the belief that it must distance itself from the fundamentalists. Iqbal Sacranie, secretary general of the council, said: "A letter is going to mosques across the country bringing to their attention the concern that has been expressed of an immediate attack taking place in the UK.

"It is important that we exercise vigilance. If there is anything we become aware of, it is our duty to ensure that this is reported immediately to the police. We will not tolerate terrorism."

The letter to more than 1,000 mosques urges imams to preach a message of peace on Friday. They are reminded that the Koran describes the murder of one human being as "tantamount to murdering entire humanity". It asks community leaders to pay special attention to young Muslims, calling for "correct Islamic guidance".

Concern is mounting that many younger Muslims are becoming alienated from their parents and from western society, providing extremists with an ideal recruiting ground.

The Muslim Council said leaders had to guard against "mischievous or criminal elements" trying to worm their way into the community.

The letter and the booklets, printed in the wake of the Madrid bombings, are the first concerted effort by the Muslim community to tackle criticism that it has not done enough to condemn terrorism and extremism.

There is mounting fear within the community of a climate of "Islamophobia" similar to that which swept the US in the wake of September 11.

It proved counterproductive to law enforcement. The FBI, which launched heavy-handed operations against Arab-American communities, is still struggling to build a positive relationship with the wider American Muslim community, and privately admits it lost the chance to gain valuable co-operation and intelligence.

Scotland Yard has gone out of its way to avoid a similar problem in Britain.

Within hours of the raids yesterday, police were meeting community leader to reassure them that they were targeting suspected terrorists, not British Muslims as a whole.