Islam is a religion characterized by rich debates and differences of opinion on many theological points. This has led to many transnational sects: not just the major Shi’a and Sunni groups, but sub-sects within them like the Sunni Deobandi and Barelwi and the Shi’a Ismaili. These sub-sects often have large international followings, including mosques dedicated to preaching their particular style of Islam.

The apparently senior figure among the London bombers, Mohammad Sidique Khan, came from the west Yorkshire town of Dewsbury, fifteen miles (twenty-five kilometres) south of Leeds. It is interesting to note that Dewsbury – after the northern Indian city of Deoband itself – houses the international headquarters of the Deobandi sect.

This Dar-al-Alum (“centre for learning”) occupies a large mosque in the heart of West Yorkshire, in the Dewsbury-Batley conurbation. The Deobandi are a large sect preaching a puritan form of Islam, including segregation of the sexes and abstention from any form of participation in politics. The basic rationale for these attitudes is that legislative authority belongs only to God; thus, for men to sanction their own governance even in the smallest capacity would be anti-Islamic.

The preferred Deobandi method of interacting with society is through propagation. The sect runs a network of mosques – locally, nationally and internationally – which host visiting delegations from the Dewsbury mosque. At the local level, Deobandi membership consists predominantly of people of Gujarati Indian origin, as well as Pakistanis and growing numbers of new converts from among the Afro-Caribbean and white British population.

A fascinating anomaly about Dewsbury is that in the British general election of May 2005, the voters of the town elected a charismatic young Muslim of Pakistani origin, Shahid Malik, as their Labour member of parliament. This was despite the fact that Malik was denied the specific endorsement of any local mosque (a fact perhaps hinted at in the first words of his acceptance speech at the count: “All praises to Allah, the most gracious and kind. Yes I am a Muslim, and yes I am here”).

In the context of the long process of post-colonial immigration, many Muslim immigrants to Britain have sought refuge in communities similar to the ones in their countries of origin. The origins of most people in west Yorkshire’s Muslim community lie in the Chach and Mirpur districts of Pakistan and the Gujurat region of India.

This coalescing tendency, combined with the segregationist nature of the Muslim community in west Yorkshire, make for a high degree of social separation between communities; local schools often have high concentrations of either Muslim children or white children, and second and third generation Muslims can reach university age without integrating into the wider British society in any meaningful way. For many individuals, this can lead to an awkward and isolated existence at university or in the early stages of adult life. Such isolated individuals are easily susceptible to the most extreme elements of Islamists who provide a strong sense of fraternity.

If this segregation is the first inherent feature of the Muslim community in west Yorkshire, the second major factor affecting the current generation of British Muslims is the quality and style of its leadership.

The first generation of local Muslim leaders, predominantly migrant workers, were little concerned with politics. They concentrated on building mosques, establishing burial facilities and halal food outlets. Today, they are being replaced by a new generation of well-educated young men aware of their transnational religious identity and significance. This new breed of young Muslim leader is generally trained to a graduate or postgraduate level, and its members are well versed in lobbying techniques.

1997 was a critical year for British Muslims in this respect. Many of their biggest national groups underwent convulsive changes in leadership. The Young Muslims (YM) split with its mother organization, the UK Islamic Mission (Ukim); new groups committed to parliamentary lobbying, such as the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) and the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) were set up.

The MCB is an umbrella organization representing most of the smaller mainstream Muslim organizations in Britain. It has enjoyed much perceived success in foreign-policy discussions and areas related to domestic legislation affecting Muslims. Through relentless, highly publicized campaigns led by its general-secretary Sir Iqbal Sacranie, the MCB is fast becoming the representative voice of British Muslims. It has been foremost in condemning the 7 July attacks.

But this very influence has helped create both a sense of unease and great polarization within the British Muslim community, now 1.6 million strong. The MCB is finding natural partners with other traditionally moderate groups such as Ukim and the IHRC. But other groups, like the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), see the very “success” of the mainstream organizations as evidence of their compromising, over-accommodating attitude to the government and authorities.

Meanwhile, groups like Hizb-ut Tahrir and Muhajiroun have won a small but significant reach within young members of Britain’s Muslim community by preaching a militant, extreme message. They have also been experiencing a turnover of leadership, involving celebration of their own, more macabre kind of political progress. Some Muslims use the term “hijacking” to characterise the phenomenon of a cycle of relatively young leaders in a local area, each proclaiming a more violent anti-establishment message than his predecessor.

There is thus a dangerous bifurcation opening up in British Muslim politics, involving two different models of “success” and influence. Whereas the moderate groups are becoming better at gaining access to policy-makers, the extreme groups are becoming better at gaining access to young Muslims in search of certainty, fellowship, meaning and direction in life, and a cause.

So what is happening to this younger generation of Muslims that leads a few of its members to embrace violence? I would say that the problem lies with the opportunist new leaders of some of the smallest Muslim groups. These groups use isolated individuals to promote their own agenda of hate, violence and bigotry. These tactics are now being used on the streets of west Yorkshire as openly as on the streets of Iraq. In the current world political climate this led to the terrible events of 7 July.

The Muslim community in Britain is at a pivotal stage in its development. After 7 July 2005 in London, it has reached the “end of the beginning”.