We are often asked: "What are the consequences of [the] increasing Muslim political identity?" This question frames "Muslim political identity", and by extension the Muslim community, as "problem" with "consequences" that can only be bad. So no matter how you answer, the assumption that the Muslim community and its political identity a "problem" is confirmed.
The question is based on daft assumptions. First, the object "Muslim political identity" is taken as known. What is known is that this identity is discrete, group-specific and uniform. It is assumed to be unchangeable. And implicitly what is assumed to be known is feared. Hence we all have a problem.
Second, it assumes that "Muslim political identity" is more problematic than say, black, feminist or gay political identity. It is not.Muslims may demand their political rights, but this is no more threatening than any other marginalised group asking for access to public space. Third, the question also assumes that "Muslim political identity" is "increasing", when no such evidence exists.
Thus, to answer the question is to reinforce prejudices that Muslims' "political identity" is a threat to Britain. Instead of leading us towards enlightenment, the question further marginalises Muslims. It's an act of violence.
Asking the wrong questions can sometimes be fatal. We are asked: "Multiculturalism has failed. What can we put in its place?" The question kills off multiculturalism, consigns it to history.
In fact, what failed is not multiculturalism, but the questions we asked of it and the ways we sought to implement it. We asked "how can we celebrate difference?" instead of "how can we empower difference?" We asked "how can we represent minority cultures" instead of "how can minority cultures represent themselves?" Multiculturalism was - is - all about power. By removing power from the equation, we turned multiculturalism into a hollow institution concerned largely with festivals and food. If we continue to ask the same questions, ones that ignore the question of power, no matter what we replace multiculturalism with, it will still lead to failure.
So, what are the right questions? Identities are always contested and negotiated. They require give and take. The question of Muslim identity has two basic components. One has to be addressed to Britain as a whole; the other to the Muslim community itself.
Is secular Britain, we Muslims are asking, generous and capable enough to provide adequate space for Muslims to live as Muslims? Will the secularists allow us the full expression of our religious identity, including a political dimension, in the public sphere? And Muslims must ask themselves: how can we use our own internal resources to empower ourselves and become active citizens of a secular Britain?
Muslims can be loyal to Britain only by being loyal to their own worldview. And Britain can only become a genuinely pluralistic and multicultural society by providing the Muslim community with enough space to express itself the way it chooses. Neither Britain nor the Muslim community can assume they know the answers. Instead, we need new questions.
· Ziauddin Sardar is the author of Desperately Seeking Paradise: Journeys of a Sceptical Muslim