First Minister Alex Salmond last night met Muslim leaders in the wake of recent terror attacks, claiming Scotland was better placed than any other European nation to achieve social cohesion.
Alex Salmond was joined by Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, community safety minister Fergus Ewing and Solicitor General Frank Mulholland.
Strathclyde Police Assistant Chief Constable John Neilson, who along with Mr Salmond visited Glasgow Central Mosque the day after the attempted terror attack at Glasgow Airport, was also present.
Mr Salmond said the reception at Bute House - part of the Scottish Executive's One Scotland campaign - was one of a series of events based on celebrating the role of a variety of communities in Scottish society.
"We are very fortunate in Scotland with the diversity of our communities and the enrichment of Scottish society with so many influences - faith groups, minority communities, the variety of cultures, variety of religions," he said.
"They all contribute to One Scotland. Tonight's meeting, like a range of other meetings, is celebrating the fact that there are many strands and shades to the Scottish tartan."
Mr Salmond claimed: "I think we are ahead of virtually every other European society on this.
"Rather than alienation, the predominant feeling is one of identification. That doesn't seem to be the case for European society.
"I suspect that this is because the Scottish identity has not been overbearing or threatening, making it a comfortable badge of identity to adopt that doesn't ask people to sacrifice their own cultural background or faith grouping."
He pointed to academic research by the Rowntree Foundation indicating that Scots of Asian origin felt even more strongly attached to Scots identity than many white Scots.
Mr Salmond was recently attacked by Bradford University professor Tom Gallagher for opportunism in his dealings with the Muslim community in Scotland.
He was accused of using the airport attack as "an opportunity to place his party at the foreground of national affairs in much the same way as Tony Blair used the death of Princess Diana in 1997 to project himself as New Labour's leader of destiny."
The First Minister said "even respected professors could be daft sometimes"
and urged academics to deal in the reality of today's Scotland. He insisted yesterday that he was seeking community cohesion, not political advantage.
Humza Yousaf, representing the Islamic Society of Britain but also an aide to SNP MSP Bashir Ahmad, said before the meeting that the reception was vital in showing Muslims that they had access to the highest political levels in the land.
But he said the key would be demonstrating that these were not one-off events, but part of a continuing dialogue, particularly with young Muslims.
Osama Saeed, Scottish spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain, said issues he hoped to raise included anti-terror legislation and Islamic schools.
He said: "I'm sure this meeting would have been taking place anyway, but obviously it has taken on a new light given the events at Glasgow Airport last month.
"Good community relations do not happen by accident, and need to be striven for.
"If we continue to get things right, and improve on it, Scotland can be a beacon to the world in Muslim and non-Muslim relations."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article