Time to set some limits

For the past two years Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammad has preached in a London mosque, calling for Muslims to wage a holy war against Britain. Seemingly no one in tolerant, free-speech Britain has thought it a good idea to stop him. At a public meeting last December, he vowed that if Western governments did not change their policies, Muslims would give them "a 9/11 day after day after day".

It is almost certain now that last week's attacks on the London underground were carried out by young British men of Pakistani background. British intelligence estimates that 10,000 to 15,000 Muslims living in Britain support al-Qaeda.

It was not supposed to be like this. The idea was that tolerance and liberalism towards migrants would in turn make migrants tolerant and good citizens. Instead, Britain became a haven for terrorists. Did the bomb blasts in the London Underground mark the death of multiculturalism?

Multiculturalism means that migrants are not only allowed but encouraged to retain and celebrate their own cultures. To do so they receive financial help from governments to build schools and places of worship and community centres. Canada started it. We've had it here and it's mainly been wonderful, enriching the whole of the society. But is it now time to start thinking more about its limits? Couscous yes, child marriage no?

The acts of terror carried out by Islamic extremists lead to hostility against and suspicion of all Muslims, which is grossly unfair. The vast majority of Muslims, as political leaders rightly hasten to assure us after every terrorist attack, are decent, law-abiding citizens. I believe this is true. Indeed, all the Muslims I know personally are nice, decent, law-abiding citizens, going about their business like other Australians.

But in Melbourne the day after September 11, Muslim students at a state high school danced on the desks with glee. What are these young people being taught by their decent and law-abiding parents? Literature being sold at a store attached to a Brunswick mosque tells Muslims they should "hate and take as enemies" Jews, Christians, atheists and secularists, and that they should "learn to hate in order to properly love Allah". How many Muslims complain when they see this kind of hate literature? Did the large Sydney audience complain when Sheikh Feiz Muhammad charged recently that because of the way they dressed, women had only themselves to blame if they were raped? No, they applauded him.

A group of Muslim organisations did, however, condemn Muhammad's speech. Other Muslim clerics are preaching moderation. And Muslim leaders are coming out more often to distance themselves from radical Islamist ideology. They will need to do so even more strongly now. Of course generalisations about Muslims, who come from many ethnic backgrounds, should not be made. But it is also clear that many - how many? no one knows - Muslims feel entitled to hate non-Muslims.

Should we blame multiculturalism for this? Does it mean we can't any longer afford to be as nice and welcoming as we would like to be? I hope not, for as others have observed, if we change our values in response to the threat of terrorism, the terrorists will have won.

We are not alone in asking these questions. In Britain today they are certainly being asked. In Canada, there is controversy about attempts to establish separate sharia courts to hear family law matters. In Europe there are big debates about the best ways to integrate the continent's 12 million Muslims. In Germany, where six "honour killings" have taken place this year, the Government has been accused of allowing Islamic fundamentalism to flourish under a policy of "false tolerance".

The Netherlands, once known for its liberalism, has been gripped by racial and religious tension since the murder of film-maker Theo van Gogh, after he made a film critical of Islam.

A Somali-born politician, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who has spoken out against the treatment of women in Dutch Muslim communities, is now living under protection. Muslims (mainly African) make up 5.5 per cent of the Dutch population but more than half the women in battered women's shelters.

In Norway, where young Muslim women have been forced by their families to marry cousins who can then come to live in Norway, a law has been passed requiring residents who want to bring spouses into the country to demonstrate the marriage is voluntary. This has resulted in a dramatic drop in the number of overseas-born spouses.

It is interesting that in France, the widely criticised ban on the wearing of headscarves in state schools has been fairly well accepted, according to reports. (I am not advocating such a ban here.) It is also interesting that in the US, where migrants are simply expected to accept the American dream, unlike in Britain, there appear to be few home-grown Islamic terrorists.

I have long valued multiculturalism. But there is something wrong when second and third-generation Muslims can believe the society in which they grew up - indeed, into which they were born - is evil to the core and needs to be destroyed. There is something wrong with multiculturalism when Muslims can attend mosques in Europe that are more radical than some in the Middle East.

At the very least, we should insist on the right to know what is being taught in schools and mosques. Perhaps it is time to say, it's been wonderful, but a few things need to be made clear. Perhaps it is time to say, you are welcome, but this is the way it is here.

Pamela Bone is an associate editor.