What are the difficulties of living in Britain if you are of the Muslim faith?

All Muslims affirm the oneness of God. They believe that all power belongs to Him (who they name Allah); they believe in His prophets and angels, in the books that He has revealed, in the Day of Judgement and in life after death.

They pray five times a day, give two and a half per cent of their savings and income to the needy and observe the holy month of fasting and discipline, called Ramadan. And every Muslim who can afford to do so is expected to perform the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca, at least once.

British Muslims face growing tensions. Most came here from somewhere else, and were therefore once immigrants, people who naturally still looked back to their homelands. But they have put down deep roots, and they are Britons who happen to be Muslims.

They continue to face discrimination and disadvantage: Bangladeshis and Pakistanis together have a long-term unemployment rate nearly three times greater than people of West Indian descent. In the inner cities, nearly half of all Bangladeshi and Pakistani adults are out of work.

Again, the number of Muslims in prison in England and Wales rose by 40% in the four years to 1995 to account for nine per cent of the prison population, although Muslims constitute only about four per cent of the entire British population.

A recent report identified "Islamophobia" as a problem besetting British Muslims of every generation and background: an irrational fear of Muslims as people bent on imposing their religious and political views on the rest of society, if necessary by force.

But the problems they face here are intensified by some of the acts committed in the name of Islam by people who most Muslims disown.

There are many problems Muslim people face living in Britain. As you might of seen in the news lately, there has been a lot of coverage to do with Muslim women and veils. Wearing a veil often affects what other people think about Muslim women. Quite recently there have been reports on racist attacks in Britain, mainly on Muslim women. This of course is a great worry to the Muslim population. Also there is a lot of up-roar in British schools at this time. Many head teachers have said that it's not ok for Muslim girls to wear veils, only to wear head scarves. This of course is very hard on people that try to include Islam in their British way of life.

Recent studies show that most of the Muslim culture living in Britain counts themselves as British people. Only very few stated themselves as non-British. This shows that even though Muslims do live in the way of Islam, they still have British Citizenship as a huge part of their life.

Also, there are many factors that could make being a Muslim hard in the British way of work. Interviews with British Muslim Asma tell us that she finds it very hard to pray 5 times a day in her work. "I find that there's not only the time factor in work but also many of my colleagues judge what I do, I find it hard to practice my religion in my work place."

Also with the recent controversy in the east a minority non-Muslim British citizens blame the Muslims for what's happening. This results in stereotyping, racism and even political disagreements on rights of Muslims.

On the extreme of one side to another, there have been cases of racist attacks on non-Muslim British citizens arranged and taken out by Muslims. Also there has been a lot of controversy on the death of the Brazilian man in the underground. Many say the police are treating Asian people with less respect than white citizens.

The government does many things to make peace with the Muslim population. However in recent events, Jack Straw, the Leader of the House of Commons and MP for Blackburn, has said that he asks Muslim women who have meetings with him to remove their veils so they can talk "face-to-face". This caused a huge up-roar amongst the Muslims.

In conclusion I believe that being a Muslim in Britain is a very strong thing to be able to do. To have that mix of cultures and that combination of lives is extraordinary. However the recent events have stirred many people and it could eventually lead to a rebellion. To stop this from happening I believe non-Muslim British citizens should learn more about the religion itself and maybe from then be able to understand the Muslim people more.

Sources: BBC news and Wikipedia.

Essay by Jack Minty 10w