Dressed casually and with a ready smile, Wajid Malik is far from the staid stereotype of a religious leader. He welcomes me into his Middlesbrough home, apologising for the mess left by his four children, and we sit in a study surrounded by books. While serious tomes speak of Wajid's important job - as Imam of Middlesbrough's central mosque - the children's clothes lying around hint at his other main role in life, that of husband and dad.

Wajid, 34, has been an Imam for the past four years, ministering to a large and diverse congregation. And yet it wasn't the career he planned. "I was born in Middlesbrough and went to school and college here," he says. "I was planning on going to Teesside University to do engineering but I decided to go off to Saudi Arabia to do Islamic studies and Arabic, and I ended up doing a bachelor's in Islamic studies. Then I came back here and the natural progression was to be appointed the Imam."

The fact that he speaks four languages - Arabic, Urdu, Punjabi and English - makes Wajid the ideal choice to lead his multi-lingual flock. It also makes him rare among Imams.

"I would say that most Imams don't have a good grasp of English," he says. "We don't have institutions where people can get an Islamic education so people are imported from abroad, and you get all these Imams coming in who don't speak the language."

According to Wajid, this alienates English-speaking Muslims, who simply can't understand their preaching. "A young man came to me one day and said, 'I've been coming to Friday sermons for 20 years and yours is the only sermon I've understood'," he says.

He argues that English should be the common language in British mosques. "I preach in English and my opinion, which is an opinion that a lot of people hold, is that Imams should speak English. Obviously, that's not something that can happen overnight. I think may be we may be pushed in that direction.

"I think coming from this country gives you an edge. A lot of Imams who come to this country and don't know the language or the laws are a bit lost."

With their powers of influence, Imams are key to social harmony and while most promote peace, some have been pilloried for inciting anti-Western hatred. In the current anti-terror climate, such clerics are being deported as national threats.

Wajid has watched these developments with concern - and has his own views on what should have been done. "Although I recognise that, in the past, there were perhaps some loopholes in the legislation that allowed certain preachers not to be stopped that should have been, we have gone to the other extreme," he says.

"People like myself have spoken out against the preachers who have been sent back and notice was not taken. They allowed this sort of thing to linger. I think the Government response hasn't been thoroughly thought out. The IRA were here - why weren't these measures brought in then? I think it will alienate people if the Government isn't careful."

While agreeing that there has to be a crackdown, Wajid feels it could be handled better. "While nobody wants another incident like the July 7 London bombing, at the same time, we don't want to create the sort of mistrust that's beginning to form now," he says. "If the laws are put in the hands of someone responsible then fair enough, but I don't think that will happen. The Muslim community should be able to decide who's a threat and who's not a threat."

Wajid has first-hand experience of the heightened interest in Imams' conduct but far from resenting this, he says he's open to scrutiny. "We have a community liaison officer who has started coming every third or fourth sermon, which I don't mind," he says. "I've done sermons with the police chief and the mayor there. I don't mind because I've got nothing to hide. I'm sure all Imams are being checked and I don't see why I shouldn't be amongst them. I can't really blame them (the authorities) after what's happened."

When we touch specifically on the London bombings, carried out by young British Muslims, it's clear this is still a raw nerve. "To be honest with you, it was a real shock and even to this day, it's very hard to grasp the fact that somebody actually did that," says Wajid. "Fair enough, there were issues at the time like the war in Iraq but I didn't think that would be the end result."

While he doesn't condone the bombers' actions, he feels the war has been a factor in provoking unrest. "I think there was a frustration that people didn't want it to happen and still it was pushed through Parliament," says Wajid. "The fact that it's dragging on and you hear about Abu Ghraib and things like that are just adding to its unpopularity. Civil liberties are just going down the tubes. These are the things that I think people are very afraid of now.

"When I go to preach on a Friday, I tell my congregation that we have to abide by the laws of this country and follow the political system, but the Government isn't following this system. It's got to at least seem fair."

On a brighter note, Wajid was heartened by the world's response to the Pakistan earthquake. "To watch the news and see people and countries pledging aid was really reassuring," he says. "I think there was a sense of people coming together. That was very good."

At a local level, this went some way to healing wounds dating from September 11. Wajid says this - and more recently July 7 - caused an anti-Muslim backlash. "After September 11, people started to experience hostility," he says. "There have been a number of windows smashed in the mosque and after 7/7, a mosque in South Bank had a pig's head thrown into it. We had regular meetings at police headquarters and we were always being briefed about what was happening and what we needed to do."

Despite the challenges, Wajid believes that Muslims should play a full part in society - something he accepts they haven't always done. "I don't think there's a division - I think maybe it's more like we need to make a connection that was never really there," he says.

"People are now beginning to recognise and develop links. The onus has been put on the Muslim community perhaps more than the wider community but I think the onus lies on both sides - we have to have co-operation.

"I can't say we've made a huge effort on our part and I think that's something we have to encourage. It's taken an event like 7/7 to make us realise. With co-operation from both sides, we will hopefully make those links and connections."