Each week, Prospect asks a range of experts, as well as our readers, to come up with answers to the questions defining the political agenda.

This week, radical and extremist Islam has been at the heart of the news agenda, as a video circulated showing the beheading of an American journalist by an IS fighter who appeared to be of British extraction. Clearly, radical Islam exists in Britain but its roots, and the solutions to it, remain obscure.

It's time for action

We have a huge problem with integration, and it's being grossly underplayed. If about 500 British muslims have gone to fight in Iraq and Syria, assuming it's mostly young Sunni males that's one in every 800. It's been three years since David Cameron pointed to the link between extremism and terrorist attacks in his speech in Munich, and the Department for Communities and Local Government, which was responsible for rolling out the counter-extremism strategy, has done nothing. Both the government and Muslim communities need to work together to resolve this. We've seen huge improvements in our lifetimes with racism and homophobia. If we can do it with them, we can do it with Islamist extremism, which is also a form of bigotry. Maajid Nawaz, co-founder of counter-extremism think tank Quilliam

We're asking the wrong question

When will this question ever cease to be asked? Muslims have been in Britain for over two centuries. Academic studies continuously show Muslims are proud to be British, are aware of their freedom to practice their religion and are happy to be here. There are no internal conflicts within the overwhelming majority of British Muslims about their loyalty. Jihadi-Islam is a multi-faceted, socio-political movement that uses the language of religion to galvanise support. Any religion or ideology can be manipulated. These socio-political problems need to be better understood, discussed and addressed otherwise, unfortunately, violent solutions will continue to resurface. Hira Amin, blogger on MuslimMatters.org

Generational conflicts create confusion

Integration has not failed, but then it has not really been tried either. The Muslim condition is marked by two things: roots in traditional, rural areas of Pakistan and Bangladesh, plus a British multiculturalism that largely accepted the idea of “parallel lives.” As a result we have the most segregated and conservative Muslim community in Europe. Islamist politics has insinuated itself into the generational conflict within Muslim families, helping to create some of those confused young jihadis. Optimists say that because of these factors Muslim integration will just take a bit longer than, say, Hindu or Sikh integration. But British politics also needs to create a safer space for those Muslims who are trying to combine their religion with modern liberal norms. David Goodhart, director of Demos and Editor-at-Large of Prospect

Islam preaches integration

Integration of Muslims in Britain has not failed. Living proof of this are the 30,000 members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community who live here. This community has been established in this country since 1914, and regularly raises vast sums for British charities, holds open days and cultural events at its mosques around the country, denounces terrorism and extremism in all its forms and its members pledge loyalty to the United Kingdom. Islam is completely compatible with British society and values. Islam teaches loyalty to one's nation: the holy prophet Mohammed said that love of one's country is an integral part of faith. If any British Muslims have moved to extremism they are in the tiny minority and have done so as a result of personal frustrations and a failure to understand Islam’s basic concepts. Farooq Aftab, Deputy Director of Communications & Spokesperson, Ahmadiyya Muslim Community

Integration isn't the answer

The narrative is more complex than “have they failed to integrate?” The general view is that, if Muslims don't integrate, they won't feel loyalty to the state, and they'll go off to fight. But you see a lot of very educated, middle class people living “integrated” lives go away and fight. It's not about alienation. I don't think we know why people are going, because there is no one reason. Some may feel seduced by the rhetoric of a higher cause beyond their family and friends and work. The irony is that, in the countries they're going to, such ordinariness is exactly what people are struggling for. Mona Siddiqi-Professor of Islamic and Interreligious Studies at Edinburgh University

This week's big question is edited by Josh Lowe and Dimple Vijaykumar

Reader responses:

@prospect_uk gov policy is contradictory sending out mixed messages of accepting ethnic communities while heightened securitisation rhetoric

— Oula Kadhum (@OulaKadhum) August 22, 2014

@prospect_uk Because sheer weight & concentration of numbers has encouraged many to think they need only create their own parallel society.

— Will Henry (@Harry_cartoons) August 22, 2014

@prospect_uk I think so. At a national level it might seem obvious that the relationship is asymmetric in terms of numbers and timescales...

— Hamish MacPherson (@HamishMacP) August 22, 2014