Islamic communityFriday prayers at London's Central Mosque at Regent's Park were busier than usual yesterday as ushers rolled out strip after strip of prayer mats in the forecourt to accommodate the extra worshippers.
They heard an imam condemn Thursday's bomb attacks and restate Islam's opposition to violence against civilians and the innocent.
As they left the mosque, passing through a police guard, many were anxious about a possible backlash against Muslims but others resented the obligation to prove their loyalty to the wider community.
Like most Irish people living in Britain during the IRA's campaign of violence, London's 600,000 Muslims fear that they will bear the brunt of popular anger against a small, murderous minority.
"We have to wait for things to settle," said Mahdi, a 21-year-old who was afraid to give his family name.
"There will be incidents and assaults. They won't do anything here outside the mosque but they'll attack us somewhere else. Our sisters are too afraid to go outdoors."
Some community groups have urged Muslims to stay at home over the next few days for their own safety but Dr Ahmed Al-Dubayan, director-general of the Islamic Cultural Centre at Regent's Park mosque, disagrees.
"We believe the Muslim community is now part of society here we ask people to live their normal lives and don't encourage people even to feel guilty," he said.
Ayaz Rehman, a, bearded 23-year-old, complains that Muslims have now replaced the Irish as "the new face of terror" in the eyes of the public.
Because some Muslims are easily identifiable by the way they dress, they are more vulnerable to insult and attack.
"Muslim women are afraid to go out. Yesterday, I wanted to go for a walk in the park. No member of my family would come with me and they all said I shouldn't go," he said.
Mr Rehman believes that the Muslim community is under greater pressure than the Irish were to prove their civic credentials after each terrorist attack.
"Why do Muslims have to go out and say we love London, we love the Tube and we love Tony Blair?" he said.
Another worshipper, Lukman Ahmed, said it was unfair that Islam should be blamed for the politically motivated actions of a small group of violent people.
"If Israelis do something, nobody says it was 'the Jews'. If Irish terrorists do something, they don't say it was 'the Catholics'," he said.
A number of people at the mosque spoke of their fear of assault because of their appearance but Mr Rehman is less worried about the danger of physical attack, at least in London, than about more subtle forms of discrimination.
"Things like job interviews - will girls who wear headscarves have problems? Will Muslim men not want to wear a beard," he said.
Most of the men at the mosque yesterday were dressed casually - one boy wore a soccer jersey with "R Nistelrooy" and the number 10 on its back and another wore a cagoule bearing the brand FCUK. But many worshippers wore traditional clothing such as the jellaba or the shalwar kameez - a long over-shirt over light, white trousers.
Among the latter group was a pale, red-haired 25-year-old called Mohammed Anthony, a former art student from Nottingham who converted to Islam four years ago. He was angry at the way the media portrayed British Muslims, usually interviewing people for whom English was not their first language. "I'm sick of seeing Islam reported as if Muslims don't belong here. I'm a British-born, white Muslim. My grandfather fought in the Battle of Britain," he said.
Away from the mosque, Azeem Majeed, a professor of general medical practice at London's Imperial College, was more relaxed about the danger of a backlash. He said that, although there would always be a few extremists, most Londoners knew that the broader Muslim community was not to blame for Thursday's attacks.
He suggested that, unlike the Irish 15 or 20 years ago, today's Muslims were not under pressure to conform or to melt into society. "I think the UK is now a much more multicultural and multiracial society. There is less pressure to fit in," he said.
Prof Majeed believes the authorities are conscious of the counter-productive nature of a heavy-handed police response directed towards Muslims, similar to that directed at Irish communities in the wake of IRA attacks.
"The police are more aware of the risks. I think they are more sensitive now," he said.
Like many British Muslims, however, Prof Majeed is wearied by demands that Muslims should publicly condemn atrocities such as Thursday's which, he argues, have nothing to do with him or the overwhelming majority of his co-religionists.
"People expect us to always apologise when in fact it's a criminal element. You don't apologise for car thieves or other criminals in your midst. Everyone is individually responsible for his actions," he said.