The Muslim Council of Britain, an umbrella group for Muslim organisations in the UK, is distributing a voter card listing ten questions which it says voters should pose to candidates.

But its meeting was disrupted my Islamic militants today, highlighting the broad range of political opinion within the community. Sean O'Neill explains what is at stake for the main parties.

Is there such a thing as a single Muslim vote?

The estimated 1.1 million Muslim voters, who are concentrated in the UK’s large urban conurbations, have traditionally voted Labour. Their votes are being courted and analysed as never before in a general election.

Are British Muslims still pro-Labour?

Issues such as the Iraq war, the detention without trial of terrorist suspects and Islamophobia have inflamed Muslim opinion, especially among younger members of the community. Labour can no longer take the Muslim bloc vote for granted, but the other main parties will not automatically benefit from that disaffection unless they are seen to address the community’s concerns.

Why not?

More prosperous Muslim businessmen have been happy to vote Conservative in the past, but the party’s concentration immigration control is not well received. Voters who might have favoured the Liberal Democrats feel that their campaign has not made enough of issues such as the party’s opposition to the invasion of Iraq.

In what seats could the Muslim vote play a part in the election?

The anti-war Respect Coalition, led by George Galloway, is seeking to win Muslim votes and is fielding ten Muslim candidates. Mr Galloway is standing in the East London seat of Bethnal Green & Bow, where Bangladeshi Muslims make up almost 50 per cent of the electorate. His consistent anti-war stance, and his record of opposition to abortion, is winning strong support from Muslim voters.

The Muslim Association of Britain, which campaigned against the Iraq war and invited the hardline cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi to the UK last year, believes Muslim voters can influence the results in 40 seats. It is distributing a leaflet telling Muslims they have "a national duty" to participate in the election.

The Muslim Public Affairs Committee, a recently formed lobby group, is running a deliberately negative campaign in six target seats where it is urging Muslims to vote against MPs who it says are pro-Israel or strong supporters of the Iraq war.

What have the other Muslim organisations been saying during the election?

The Muslim Council of Britain card raises the issues of laws on religious hatred and the anti-terrorist legislation and suggests asking candidates if they support the publication of a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq.

The card also encourages electors to raise the questions of state funding for Muslim schools, the tone of deabte on immigration policy and seeks to have a religious and moral input on issues such as euthanasia and abortion

The Imams and Mosques Council (UK) tells Muslims that they have an obligation to vote and urges support for candidates who want to improve education, make the streets safer, campaigns to alleviate poverty, respects cultural diversity and favours fair trade. Its guidelines add that Muslims should reject racist candidates

Omar Bakri Mohammed, the extremist cleric, claims to have disbanded his al-Muhajiroun organisation, but is touring the country addressing audiences of young Muslims and urging them to boycott the election.

Mr Bakri Mohammed, who told Muslims earlier this year that they were obliged to follow physical jihad, claims that voting in a western democracy is an act of apostasy. Websites associated with him tell Muslims that they vote they will be consigned to hellfire.

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