CAIRO, March 31 (IslamOnline.net) - A British Muslim body called on mosque imams and community members to be vigilant against "any mischievous or criminal" elements and report them to police, an appeal met with mixed reactions from Muslims in the country.

"We want to isolate and stop tolerating those spreading hatred against the country using the name of Islam," Iqbal Sacranie, Secretary General of the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), told IslamOnline.net Wednesday, March 31.

"We have to get our house in order."

The MCB made the unprecedented move of sending letters to mosques and community leaders, urging concerted effort to work for the peace and security of all in Britain.

"It particularly urges imams to observe the utmost vigilance against any mischievous or criminal elements from infiltrating the community and provoking any unlawful activity," the group said in the letter posted on its website.

It also appeals to Muslims "to liaise with the local police and give them the fullest cooperation in dealing with any criminal activity including terrorist threat".

"Islam tells us to stop bad people. We have a duty and responsibility in this," Sacranie said.

The Muslim leader said the step would help Muslims to further integrate in the society and avoid a fierce backlash from threats of potential attacks.

A Guardian/ICM poll survey carried out in the aftermath of the Madrid train bombings found that most voters feel the government is "handling the crisis well".

Sacranie argued that the MCB's new line of action is working to put an end to such maltreatment by catching suspected terrorists.

Although several Muslims welcomed the appeal as a self-criticism measure, others lambasted it as further associating mosques and Islam with terrorism and justifying attacks against community members.

Massoud Shadjareh, chairman of the Islamic Human Rights Commission, pointed to Home Office figures which showed that in 2002-03 there were 32,100 searches overall under the Terrorism Act, 21,900 more than the previous year.

"Muslims were the subject of a hugely disproportionate number of these, but four of six people proven guilty after the raids were Muslims," Shadjareh told IOL.

But he said the MCB letter would not prove a healthy solution to the crisis, cautioning it "could be counter-productive."

Shadjareh opined that associating mosques and Muslim leaders with "extremism and terrorism" could be further justified by the appeal letters.

"You have Catholic extremists and criminals. And two of the six indicted after the mass raids were Sikhs. Why you point fingers at Muslims only," he said.

Ihtisham Hibatullah, the head of the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) media office, agreed.

"Terrorism does not come from mosques. We all the time stressing that it is a problem of society rather than a one of religion."

However, the MCB secretary general argued that Muslims should face their own problems bravely rather than hiding or at least ignoring them.

"We have a duty in society as British citizens. We have to be a part of this larger community," Sacranie said.

He asserted that the government and the media have a role to play for Muslims to respond effectively to the appeal.

Inayat Bunglawala, another official of the MCB, criticized the media coverage of Tuesday’s raid, picking out one headline which read: "Islamic bomb attack foiled".

"First of all we don't know whether it was a bomb attack, and secondly, to describe it as Islamic is offensive to ordinary Muslims," he told BBC Breakfast.