The next generation of young Muslims that are coming through
are realising that there has to be a greater social integration.
My name is Akmal Saleem.
Being a young British Muslim now,
in comparison to when I was younger, is different for me,
purely because when I was younger I didn't have a beard.
I sometimes think to myself when I walk down the street,
what is the other person on the other side thinking about me?
Unfortunately, there's a connotation and association
with the beard and a Muslim, with terrorism,
which is wrongly associated.
When I went to university I met a group of people who
had never spoken to a white person before.
Very quickly, people started to segregate into specific communities.
There were people I knew who had come from hamlets and really small villages
and they did not know how to interact with people with beards.
Integration comes not just with outward appearance,
the integration has to come with dialogue and understanding.
I feel that the Muslim community are getting much better
at building the bridges with other communities
to integrate with them, to understand them,
and to look at where the common ground lies.
This is happening through the next generation of young Muslims that are coming about
who are extending their hand out to the others.