The latest inspiring Tory report on Muslims says we deserve attention because it can stop us becoming terrorists

An independent report chaired by Conservative MP Dominic Grieve, titled The Missing Muslims: Unlocking British Muslim Potential for the Good of All has just been released – and it’s made for discouraging reading.

Admittedly, the report includes some well-warranted policies, including an independent review into the Government’s anti-terrorism Prevent programme, advice for media reporting on issues relating to Islam, adopting a legal definition of anti-Muslim prejudice, and encouraging universities to offer courses for imams to receive religious and educational qualifications.

In these respects, the report signals a step forward in battling the rise in Islamophobia seen since the EU referendum result, and the anti-Muslim rhetoric that has become increasingly common in politics. And I appreciate that Dominic Grieve wants to unlock my potential “for the benefit of all”. However, the whole thing is inconsistent at best, providing only a half-hearted understanding of the political dynamics surrounding “integration”, and continuing to treat Muslims primarily as suspect.

In Dominic Grieve’s words, the report signals that “we cannot ignore the fact that polls demonstrate significant scepticism across British society about the integration, and even the shared allegiance, of their British Muslim fellow citizens”. A key recommendation of the report is thus to promote the integration of British Muslims; one such proposal being that imams ought to be fluent in English, ideally British-born, knowledgeable of British culture (although we’ve been asking what this means for at least the past decade), and more forceful in their condemnation of religious hatred.

Nevertheless, the question remains as to why the burden of integration must lie with British Muslims, especially when counter-reports show how Muslim identity has no bearing on whether or not someone feels British. This report claims that many British people believe Muslims have not integrated – but does this not tell us more about those British people than it does about British Muslims?

How many of these Brits criticising their Muslim compatriots actually know that sharia law dictates a person should obey the law of the country they live in, thus advocating strong national pride?

How much do these Brits really know about British Muslims, given the large-scale housing segregation of Muslims across the country? And then on the flip-side, how many of these Brits also complain about Muslims moving into their neighbourhoods?

The “Missing Muslims” report also raises a more cynical question about contemporary Britain. Why do powerful authorities only care about Muslims when it is “for the benefit of all”? Why can’t we just talk about “unlocking Muslim potential” for the good of Muslims themselves?

Islamophobia has a long history in Britain, and it’s currently receiving second wind, with a series of acid attacks on British Muslims in London last week and 100 attacks on mosques since 2013, and that’s without even mentioning the widespread problems with Prevent.

For many Muslims across Britain, suspicion and violence has become a daily event. So when a political report is offered to unlock our potential “for the benefit of all”, we cannot but help to treat it as disingenuous.

We want to be helped because of our own struggles, our own pride, and our own conditions. It is farcical that our being “unlocked” can only happen on the justification that it is perceived to benefit everybody else too.

This report’s reasoning offers a slippery slope that suggests Muslims only deserve help with their potential because authorities are convinced that if we don’t feel integrated, we will turn to violent extremism. And what sort of a message is that?