LONDON – Muslim women were urged yesterday by a leading Islamic cleric to stop wearing head scarves that could lead to them being attacked or verbally abused.

The head of the Muslim College in London and chairman of the Council of Mosques and Imams, Dr. Zaki Badawi, advised them to abandon the traditional hijab because of fears of a backlash against the Muslim community after the London bombings.

His intervention came as a political debate intensified over a call from the Conservative shadow home secretary, David Davis, in yesterday’s Daily Telegraph of London, for Muslims to integrate into mainstream British society.

Dr. Badawi, regarded as a leading moderate voice, said: “In the present tense situation, with the rise of attacks on Muslims, we advise Muslim women who fear being attacked physically or verbally to remove their hijab so as not to be identified by those who are hostile to Muslims. A woman wearing the hijab in the present circumstances could suffer aggression from irresponsible elements. Therefore, she ought not to wear it.

“Dress is meant to protect from harm, not to invite it.”

Dr. Badawi said the preservation of life had a much higher priority than appearance, and the Koran justified the abandoning of the hijab in present circumstances.

Muslims have reported a rise in verbal abuse in the street and attacks on mosques in the wake of the London bomb attacks.

But Dr. Badawi’s advice is likely to receive a mixed reception amongst Muslim communities, many of whom will feel they should not abandon an outward symbol of their faith.

A senior Conservative member of Parliament yesterday stood by a call that Muslims who “despised” the British way of life should leave the country, even if they were British citizens.

A member of Parliament for Aldershot and the party’s defense spokesman, Gerald Howarth, said extremists who saw the Iraq war as a conflict against Islam should be considered as treacherous as Cold War Soviet sympathizers.

“If they don’t like our way of life, there is a simple remedy – go to another country, get out,” Mr. Howarth told the Scotsman newspaper. Asked what if those people were born in Britain, Mr. Howarth replied: “Tough. If you don’t give allegiance to this country, then leave.”

He criticized the shadow attorney general, Dominic Grieve, who said that the London attacks were “explicable” because of the deep sense of anger felt by Muslims in Britain about issues including Iraq and the state of the Islamic world.

Mr. Howarth was confident he would be supported by most British people, including many Muslims. He said Muslims who attacked Britain “despise our country and despise our values.”

But Muslim groups said Mr. Howarth’s comments could undermine community efforts to ease tensions.

A national spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain, Anas Altikriti, called the remarks “absurd” and contrary to the principles of democratic debate.

“To suggest that those people who hold opposing views to ours should leave the country, that this would be some kind of solution, is absurd,” said Mr. Altikriti.

The national president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association, Rafiq Hayat, called for a more “careful” use of language. But he said that Muslims must also ensure they did not use remarks that could inflame the situation.