A month after the London bombings in 2005, Tony Blair announced a sweeping set of proposals for tackling extremism and rooting out the threat of terrorism from disaffected young British Muslims. He urged British Muslim leaders to exclude “preachers of hate” from mosques, banned some extremist groups and bookshops, announced tougher visa restrictions for foreign-born imams and proposed legislation to outlaw the glorification of terrorism. His proposals met widespread opposition from many Muslims, who insisted that the Government had no place in telling preachers how to preach or trying to influence their faith. Two years later, however, Britain’s Muslims have now proposed a code of practice for the 1,500 mosques that goes a long way in addressing these concerns and laying down agreed standards that all observant Muslims have a right to expect from a well-run mosque.

The draft constitution drawn up by a new advisory board, sponsored by four of Britain’s Muslim umbrella organisations, is a document as refreshing as it is courageous. It implicitly acknowledges some of the failings that have allowed extremists to gain a foothold – poorly educated imams, a lack of financial transparency, little pastoral training and barriers to the participation of women – and lays down a ten-point code of “core standards” to tackle these. This includes stricter vetting of imams from abroad, leadership training for those in Britain, better language skills, greater accountability by the governing boards of mosques and better incorporation into management structures of national legislation on health and safety, child protection and outlawing discrimination in employment and services.

On issues that have caused the greatest controversy, the document is outspoken. There should be “no impediment”, it says, to the participation of young people and women in the running of mosques. All mosques should have programmes to “promote civic responsibility” of Muslims in wider society, as well as programmes to “combat all forms of violent extremism”. They should run regular events “to promote the importance of living in peace with others in a culturally diverse society”, and should ensure that interfaith activities take place with local communities. Mosques are obliged to make clear that “forced marriages are understood, and publicised, as unIslamic.” And this stigma, which carries greater weight among many Muslims than simply being illegal, applies also to marital violence and harassment.

There are important elements to these proposals to ensure their translation into practice. The first is that the code is voluntary. If mosques agree to subscribe, they will be subject to random inspection. If they do not, they will be swiftly identified as places where extremist doctrines or sloppy practices hold sway. Secondly, the democratic structure of governance is designed to prevent any ethnic or ideological group getting exclusive control. And, most importantly, this plan is for self-regulation. Although influenced by government-sponsored consultation, it is independent of the Government – and must remain so, if it is to have credibility. It may take time to improve things. It will not eliminate the influence of fanatics (or do anything to mitigate the baleful effect of antics by zealots elsewhere, such as those seeking punishment for a teacher in Sudan). But it will go a long way to winning the hearts and minds of younger British Muslims for a practice of religion that is tolerant, fair and in keeping with the values and laws of this country.