Treading carefully in bare feet

What we all know is that Muslim extremists are in a tiny minority within the Islamic community.

The last few weeks have revealed, however, that journalists who understand how to deal appropriately with members of that community are in an even smaller minority.

Writing a story about matters relating to Islam has become a minefield of political and religious correctness, and reporters on my student paper the IslingtonNow have found themselves having to tiptoe - sometimes literally - around sensitive subjects for fear of causing offence.

Don't forget, for example, to remove your shoes when entering a mosque to interview the Imam.

Luckily enough yours truly had his wits about him and avoided blundering Converse-clad into the prayer hall of the Finsbury Park Mosque, but not before raising a number of eyebrows in the foyer as he tentatively slipped his trainers onto the shoe-rack.

These eyebrows belonged to older, wiser looking men, who did not entirely seem to appreciate the visit of a fresh-faced journalist and his dictaphone.

But that very dictaphone was a saving grace, if only to save that particular journalist from sleepless nights of worry about possible misquotation or misconstruction.

The front page of my student paper two weeks ago bore the story of the struggle taking place within Finsbury Park Mosque between the majority of moderate worshippers and the minority of extremists trying to influence them.

Although the article praised the good work of the mosque in combating these radicals, it was hardly good press for the mosque’s cause, and this is how the Imam took it. Co-operative and agreeable though he had been in his dealings with us, his subsequent e-mails revealed the sharpness of his tongue, and he criticised the story because it was not "positive".

To what extent does one argue with the man? Especially when the online home page of his mosque has a link saying "Need a Fatwa?"

None of us wants to end up in a bunker somewhere with Salman Rushdie and a Danish cartoonist. Plus, I don’t think I’d look good as an effigy.

And besides, it isn’t a journalist’s job to write flattering stories about people. The Imam had not been mis-quoted - as dictaphone recordings and transcripts can prove - all of the facts in the story had been verified, and we all felt we had presented a balanced picture of both sides of the debate.

What seems more likely is that the Imam got rather cold feet about what he had told me, which is hardly surprising considering he has spent his entire working life without shoes on.

However, a skill in journalism is knowing when not to shoot yourself in the foot, whether shoed or not. The Imam of the Finsbury Park Mosque is an important, respected and, it should be said, thoroughly pleasant man, and it would be foolish to alienate him for the sake of a story.

This tactic proved wise when colleagues from my student paper went knocking at the mosque’s door - bearing a slice of unwarranted humble pie, I might add - to ask Sheikh Saad for his opinion on Sharia law in the UK.

Hence a new front page story. Hence a healthy working relationship with a local religious leader. And hence no copies of the IslingtonNow student paper being furiously burned on the streets of Beirut.

The effigies can at least be kept on ice...for now.