Militant Islam Monitor > Satire > Jihad through Jilbab: Hizb ut Tahrir welcomes Islamist garb ruling as "a great source of motivation for Muslims living in the West"
Jihad through Jilbab: Hizb ut Tahrir welcomes Islamist garb ruling as "a great source of motivation for Muslims living in the West"
Dhimmitude in the UK :Education secretary assures Muslims: "Conservative policy will provide funding for Islamic faith schools"
March 2, 2005
MIM: A ruling which enables a Muslim girl to wear a 'jilbab' a burqa like Islamic covering to public school was applauded by radical Islamists in the UK. The school in question is mostly Muslim and already allows certain forms of Islamic dress.The school's Jilbab ban was a result of concerns about 'fundamentalist' manifestations of Islamic religious attire causing division among students, and not had nothing to do with secular or British concerns about the character of the school.
This being the case, it is bizarre that UK education secretary Tim Collins felt compelled to assure Muslims of undiminished dhimmitude on the part of the countrie's educational establishment and that the Conservative Party would "continue to provide funding for faith based schools so parents who wish to choose schools which would permit the wearing of traditional Muslim clothing will be able to do so". In addition, he stated that the Human Rights Act "was unduly restricting the right of head teachers to run schools in their own way".
Which begs two questions:
Which radical Islamist group in Britain was funding and supporting Begum's legal battle as a test of Koranic vs. United Kingdom law ?
When will the Koran replace Shakespeare in the public school curriculum and Islamic clothing be mandated for all students in order not to offend Muslim student's sensibilities.
MIM: Zero degrees of Separation: Note that the head of the Muslim Council of Britain, Iqbal Sacranie, who justified sucide bombings, and the spokewoman for Hizb ut Tahrir, a group which advocates the Islamisation of the West and the implementation of a Khalifate, and has been repeatedly fined for inciting racial hatred,both welcomed the ruling.
The Muslim Council of Britain , radical Islamists who falsely presents themselves as moderates, disingenuously called the decision, " a very important ruling on the issue of personal freedom".
The spokewoman of Hizb ut Tahrir , Nazeem Nawaz openly declared the Jihadist agenda behind the case when she declared the ruling " a great source of inspiration for Muslims living in the West".
Nawaz's biography is a textbook study of a fifth columnist. Despite the fact that she was in Britain from the age of three, and has a doctorate from Kings College in London, Nawaz celebrated the victory of shari'a law in the UK and is the spokewoman for a group which wants to turn Britain into an Islamic country.
(The Begum case in Britain brings to mind the case of Sultana Freeman, an American convert to Islam, who sued the Florida Department of Motor vehicles in 2003 for "violating her religious rights" by refusing to grant her a license if she did not allow a photo of her face, which required her to lift her niqab. ( full veil which only reveals the eyes). While both Freeman's and her convert husband's felony arrest records came to light ( and her mug shot showed her without a face veil). The public,courts, and media ignored the fact that Freeman's legal battle was part of a Jihadist struggle which involves trying to use the Constitution to bring about the implemention of Koranic (shari;a) law, and did not ask questions as to who was funding her case.At the time of the trial Freeman ran and continues to run a Jihadi website called Muttaqun,where she declared that "wearing a niqab is a form of Jihad in an oppressive land". http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/174
MIM: According to a Times newspaper article on 23/6/05, a local MK claimed that "Hizb ut Tahrir had targetted the school" and accused them of 'grandstanding the case'. (It should be noted that pictures of Begum with her brother showed him to be clean shaven and in a suit, revealing that her family background is not so religous) . She herself claimed that while at the predominently Muslim school "her faith deepened" and she wanted to display her new found piousness. The school, which allowed certain forms of Islamic dress (such as the shalwar khameez, jerkin (traditional shirt and trousers, and hijab) was opposed the wearing of the Jilbab on the grounds that Begum's choice of dress was an attempt to manifest her fundamentalist disdain for the other students level of piousness and would lead to conflicts .
The defense of Begum by the wife of Prime Minister Blair, should lead to questions regarding a blatant "conflict of interests" and be the subject of intensive scrutiny vis a vis who was funding the case, in light of the 'victory for individual freedom' being claimed by the radical Islamist Hizb ut Tahrir and Muslim Council of Britain.
Dr. Daniel Pipes commented on the decision in his weblog: A Jilbab in school colors :
"...What makes this high-profile case notable beyond the issues at hand is the identity of Begum's lawyer at the appellate level: none other than Cherie Booth, the wife of British prime minister Tony Blair. Booth called the judgment "a victory for all Muslims who wish to preserve their identity and values despite prejudice and bigotry." More petulantly, Begum denounced the school's decision as "a consequence of an atmosphere that has been created in Western societies post 9/11, an atmosphere in which Islam has been made a target for vilification in the name of the ‘war on terror'. … It is amazing that in the so-called free world I have to fight to wear this attire." (That "so-called" adds just the right touch – Begum neatly manages simultaneously to exploit Londonistan and despise it.)..." http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/270
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Muslim girl's brother linked to Islam radicals: 4/4/2005
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/17038092?source=Evening%20Standard
"...The brother of the girl who won a landmark court battle allowing her to wear a jilbab to school is accused of engineering the case because of his alleged support for a radical Islamic group. A local MP said today the Muslim community in Luton was blaming Shuweb Rahman for "egging on" his sister to bring the action against her former school, which had refused to teach her when she turned up for lessons in head-to-toe Islamic dress..." "...Khalid Mahmood, Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Bar, said: "She [Shabina] has been used as a political football by Hizb ut-Tahrir. They have been working on this girl. They want an Islamic revolution and they will try to disrupt anybody they can."
The MP has in the past likened the group to the British National Party and claimed it had a record of targeting young people to lure them away from the mainstream Muslim community. Dr Nazreen Nawaz, Hizb ut-Tahrir's women's representative, confirmed she had advised Shabina. "We offered her general support. She just needed encouragement..." (see complete article below) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Muslim Council Welcomes School Dress Ruling http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=4198715 The Muslim Council of Britain today welcomed what it described as a "landmark decision" by the Court of Appeal over the right to wear the jilbab to school. Iqbal Sacranie, secretary-general of the council, said: "This is a very important ruling on the issue of personal freedoms. Many other schools have willingly accommodated Muslim schoolgirls wearing the jilbab. "The British Muslim community is a diverse community in terms of the interpretation and understanding of their faith and its practice. "Within this broad spectrum those that believe and choose to wear the jilbab and consider it to be part of the faith requirement for modest attire should be respected." Shadow education secretary Tim Collins said: "It should be for schools and schools alone to decide on the dress code they wish to specify and enforce. "Conservative education policy will provide funding for Islamic faith schools, so those parents who wish to choose schools which permit the wearing of traditional Muslim clothing will be able to do so. "However, this case yet again reflects the way in which the Human Rights Act is unduly restricting the freedom of head teachers to run their schools in their own way. "The Conservative Party is already reviewing the Human Rights Act and its negative effects in many fields, and this latest ruling further strengthens the case for fundamental change or repeal." Dr Nazreen Nawaz, women's representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir which seeks to explain Islamic beliefs to Western society, said: "Shabina's case is a great source of motivation for Muslims living in the West to maintain their Islamic values regardless of the obstacles." ---------------------------------------------- http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=232112005 Muslim girl wins school dress battle A MUSLIM girl today won her battle to wear traditional "head-to-toe" dress in the classroom after the Court of Appeal ruled her school had acted unlawfully in barring her. Shabina Begum, 15, accused the headteachers and governors of Denbigh High School, Luton, Beds, of denying her the "right to education and to manifest her religious beliefs". Lord Justice Brooke, vice president of the civil division of the Court of Appeal, called on the Department of Education to give schools more guidance on how to comply with their obligations under the Human Rights Act. He ruled that her school had unlawfully excluded her, unlawfully denied her the right to manifest her religion and unlawfully denied her access to suitable and appropriate education. She was represented at the appeal court by Cherie Booth QC, who told the judges at a hearing last December that the case involved "fundamental issues" about the nature and interpretation of Miss Begum's rights to education and freedom to practise her religion. Last June, High Court judge Mr Justice Bennett dismissed the girl's application for judicial review, ruling she had failed to show that the "highly successful" 1000-pupil school, with 79 per cent of its students Muslims, had excluded her or breached her human rights. ------------------------------------------------------- http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4311193.stm The Court of Appeal held that a Muslim girl's human rights were violated by a school's insistence on its dress code.
The court called on the Department for Education and Skills to give schools more guidance on how to meet their obligations under the Human Rights Act.
The department says its guidance does take account of religious needs.
Shabina Begum, 15, had accused Denbigh High School in Luton, Bedfordshire, of denying her the "right to education and to manifest her religious beliefs" over her wish to wear a full-length jilbab gown. She said after the ruling that an atmosphere of "bigotry" towards Muslims had been created in Western society "post 9/11".
The school, where most pupils are Muslim, does allow religious clothing but drew the line at the jilbab.
It had consulted Islamic scholars for advice, and had argued that Ms Begum had chosen a school with a uniform policy and, if she did not like it, could move to another school.
But Lord Justice Brooke, vice-president of the civil division of the Court of Appeal, ruled that this exclusion was unlawful.
The school had unlawfully denied her "the right to manifest her religion" and had unlawfully denied her access to suitable and appropriate education, he said.
A spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) said: "Our school uniform guidance states that governors should bear in mind their responsibilities under sex and race discrimination legislation and the Human Rights Act, be sensitive to pupils' cultural and religious needs and differences and give high priority to cost considerations."
Currently in the UK there is no legislation that deals specifically with school uniforms, which are a matter for individual schools.
DfES guidelines say that where the governing body has decided that pupils should wear a school uniform, it is for the head teacher to enforce the policy as part of day-to-day discipline.
But the department "does not consider that exclusion from school would normally be appropriate where a pupil fails to comply with the school's rules on uniform".
This proviso applies where a pupil's non-compliance with the uniform policy "results from them having to adhere to a particular cultural, race or religious dress code".
The guidelines say schools must be "sensitive to the needs of different cultures, races and religions" and accommodate those needs within their general uniform policy.
"For example, allowing Muslim girls to wear appropriate dress and Sikh boys to wear traditional headdress."
The guidelines do not go into detail about what would constitute "appropriate" dress. Many schools, including the one Ms Begum now attends, do allow jilbabs.
New advice
The Appeal Court judges said they had sympathy with the school, but it had gone about things wrongly.
It had "approached the issues in this case from an entirely wrong direction and did not attribute to the claimant's beliefs the weight they deserved".
But Lord Justice Brooke added: "Nothing in this judgment should be taken as meaning that it would be impossible for the school to justify its stance if it were to reconsider its uniform policy in the light of this judgement and were to determine not to alter it in any significant respect."
The sorts of matters schools needed to consider included:
"The case was lost due to a small technical breach of the Human Rights Act. The judges accepted that the school is entitled to have a uniform policy and could see nothing wrong with it. The policy will be reviewed as it always is annually."
Its local education authority, Luton Borough Council, said it was pleased the court had upheld the school's uniform policy.
But in light of the judgement, it would developing guidance on school uniform and advising Luton schools' governing bodies to review their uniform policy, taking into account the religious and cultural needs of pupils.
Review
The shadow education secretary, Tim Collins, said: "It should be for schools alone to decide on the dress code they wished to specify and enforce.
"Conservative education policy will provide funding for Islamic faith schools, so those parents who wish to choose schools which permit the wearing of traditional Muslim clothing will be able to do so."
The case yet again reflected the way the Human Rights Act was unduly restricting the freedom of head teachers to run their schools in their own way, he said.
It further strengthened the case for fundamental change or repeal of the law. ----------------------------------------------- MIM: Background on the story from Dr.Daniel Pipes who termed Luton " the frontline of Islam's non -violent war with the West". http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/270 Weblog "A Jilbab in the School's Colors" It's hard to say exactly where the frontlines of militant Islam's non-violent war with the West are most advanced, but here's a nomination for the British town of Luton, Bedfordshire, about 30 miles northwest from downtown London.
The town's Denbigh High School has a student population of one thousand, of whom an estimated eight hundred are Muslim. The school long ago accommodated their needs, including an Islamic school uniform made up of the Pakistani shalwar kameez trousers, jerkin top, and hijab head covering.
Shabina Begum
By Stephen Howard, PA
In a statement, Denbigh High School said it was a multi-racial, multi-faith school whose uniform policy did take into account the cultural and religious sensitivities of its pupils.
"A Jilbab in the School's Colors"
June 15, 2004
For two years, a female student of Bangladeshi origins named Shabina Begum wore this uniform. But then, starting in September 2002, she said her faith had deepened and she had to wear a jilbab, an ankle-length gown that covers the entire body but for the face and hands. The school administrators rejected her request and denied her access to the school until she wore an approved uniform. Begum replied that the shalwar kameez did not adequately conceal her arms and lower legs. As a compromise, Begum suggested that she wear a jilbab in the school's colors. Her lawyer, Yvonne Spencer explained Begum's outlook: "She is very happy to be identified as a member of the school community. But what she is not prepared to do is sacrifice her devout religious beliefs."
Of course, the matter ended up in court. Perhaps the most interesting argument was one put forward by Simon Birks for the school, who noted that Denbigh is a multi-cultural and multi-faith secular school and there would be "the risk of division if the jilbab were to be adopted. There could be two classes of people - those who wore the jilbab and those who wore the shalwar kameez, with those wearing the jilbab regarded as ‘better Muslims' than those who wore the shalwar kameez."
Today the verdict came down, in favor of the school. Judge Sir Hugh Bennett found the school's dress code to be a "reasoned, balanced, proportionate policy." In response, the Muslim Council of Britain condemned the judgment as "extremely worrying."
Comment: Although the jilbab lost this round, it is already acceptable at other British schools (indeed Denbigh High tried to get Begum to transfer to one of those) and it seems destined to vanquish the opposition. (June 15, 2004)
Women wear head scarves in the French flag's colors at a protest of a ban on religious attire in schools. (Laurent Rebours for AP) | |
June 16, 2004 update: Quick confirmation of my prediction came in today's Daily Telegraph, the normally very sensible and hard-headed London newspaper, which editorialized that yesterday's ruling is "a regrettable limitation of personal freedom."
July 3, 2004 update: For a twist to the jilbab in school colors, note the women in France wearing tricolor hijabs as they protest the ban on hijabs in public schools, as pictured in today's Washington Post.
March 2, 2005 update: As I predicted above (the jilbab "seems destined to vanquish the opposition"), Britain's Court of Appeal reversed last year's verdict on the grounds that it violated Begum's right to religious freedom under Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which guarantees "freedom to manifest one's religion or beliefs." The appeals court instructed Denbigh High School to come to terms with the jilbab, and did not even require that it be in the school colors. It also instructed the school to pay her legal costs.
What makes this high-profile case notable beyond the issues at hand is the identity of Begum's lawyer at the appellate level: none other than Cherie Booth, the wife of British prime minister Tony Blair. Booth called the judgment "a victory for all Muslims who wish to preserve their identity and values despite prejudice and bigotry." More petulantly, Begum denounced the school's decision as "a consequence of an atmosphere that has been created in Western societies post 9/11, an atmosphere in which Islam has been made a target for vilification in the name of the ‘war on terror'. … It is amazing that in the so-called free world I have to fight to wear this attire." (That "so-called" adds just the right touch – Begum neatly manages simultaneously to exploit Londonistan and despise it.) http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/270
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Bio of Nazreen Nawaz from the 1924.org website - a group which advocates the destruction of Western society and it's replacement with a Khalifate - an Islamic state ruled by Shari'a law. The group has been cited for inciting racial hatred and urging people to kill Jews and was banned from college campuses in the UK.
Hizb ut Tahrir's founder, Omar Bakri, is now the head of the radical Islamist Al Muhajiroun. Last month Bakri called for British Muslims to wage Jihad in Britain and join Al Qaeda.
http://www.1924.org/text/1229/0/28/M
Dr. Nazreen Nawaz is the Women's Media Representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain, the global Islamic political party that is well known for its non-violent intellectual and political work throughout the Muslim and Western world.
She was born in 1973 in Sri Lanka but brought up and educated in the UK from the age of three. Her father was a psychiatrist and her mother a housewife and she has one brother. She has lived in a number of towns and cities across the UK including Manchester, Wakefield, Northampton and is currently resident in London.
She attended Northampton School for Girls for her secondary education where she received a prize award for Effort and Achievement in Science as well as for Academic Excellence. Dr. Nazreen entered Kings College School of Medicine and Dentistry in London in 1991 and qualified in 1997 having also acquired a BSc with First Class Honours in Biomedical Sciences. During her time at university, she was awarded a Medical Research Council Scholarship for the intercalated BSc and was also involved for a period in Cancer Research. She had an article published in the journal "Experimental Cell Research" in 1996. Following graduation, she completed her year of medical and surgical internship, followed by work in the accident and emergency field.
During her university years, she began to practise Islam comprehensively after coming into contact with members of Hizb ut-Tahrir. Through various discussions she became convinced of Islam as an ideology that could provide solutions to all aspects of life: as an individual, society, and globally. She began to appreciate how the Islamic systems could solve modern day problems such as world poverty, crime, and the oppression of women and at the same time produce an advanced society in technology and medicine within an environment of security and preservation of the dignity of the human being. Dr. Nazreen joined Hizb ut-Tahrir in 1994, convinced intellectually of its thoughts and the importance of its objective of resuming Islam as a way of life through the re-establishment of the Khilafah State.
She is currently a wife and an active member of the party. She has delivered many Islamic talks throughout the UK, especially on women and Islam and has also participated in a number of debates, including one at Oxford University regarding the banning of the hijab in France. Dr. Nazreen has been involved in organising many conferences for women in the UK including, "The Role of the Muslim Woman in Re-establishing the Khilafah", "The War on Terror and the Muslim Woman", and "Education and Identity - the Dilemma of Muslims in the West". She was previously one of the women's editorial advisors of the Islamic "Khilafah Magazine", which is published monthly in the UK and has also authored a number of Islamic articles and booklets such as "The Western Beauty Myth" and "The Responsibility of Muslim Sisters in Britain in Re-establishing the Khilafah". She was also a member of the women's UK Executive [Wilayah] Committee that supervises the work of the female members of Hizb ut-Tahrir in Britain.
Dr. Nazreen has engaged in various Islamic discussions on a number of radio and television news channels, including BBC News 24, BBC World, Al-Jazeera, Sky News, and a South African Islamic Radio station.
You can e-mail Dr. Nazreen Nawaz at [email protected]
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-1511146,00.html"...Khalid Mahmood, Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Bar, said: "Hizb ut-Tahrir targeted the school, they grandstanded this case, they are trying to pick a fight . . . social services should have looked at this case. A 13-year-old girl does not make statements and decisions like that on her own..."
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http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/articles/17038092?source=Evening%20Standard
04/03/05 - News and city section
Muslim girl's brother linked to Islam radicals
By Robert Mendick And Kiran Randhawa, Evening Standard
The brother of the girl who won a landmark court battle allowing her to wear a jilbab to school is accused of engineering the case because of his alleged support for a radical Islamic group. A local MP said today the Muslim community in Luton was blaming Shuweb Rahman for "egging on" his sister to bring the action against her former school, which had refused to teach her when she turned up for lessons in head-to-toe Islamic dress.
A local MP said today the Muslim community in Luton was blaming Shuweb Rahman for "egging on" his sister to bring the action against her former school, which had refused to teach her when she turned up for lessons in head-to-toe Islamic dress.
Mr Rahman, a 22-year-old student, is said to be a supporter of the Islamic group Hizb ut-Tahrir, whose ultimate aim is a worldwide Muslim state. Hizb ut-Tahrir has admitted advising Shabina Begum, who won her appeal on Wednesday, over the past 12 months.
Shabina, 16, was orphaned last year when her mother died from a brain haemorrhage - her father died when she was three - and she lives with Mr Rahman and an elder sister. The family denies Shabina was in any way manipulated.
Margaret Moran, Labour MP for Luton South, said: "The community's view was very, very strongly this had nothing to do with the girl's education but that this was a political stunt made by a fundamentalist group. The word in the community is her brother is a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir. The imams know it, the community leaders know it. My view is this has been engineered by the brother and I feel very sad for this girl ... this has nothing to do with education or uniforms."
Khalid Mahmood, Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Bar, said: "She [Shabina] has been used as a political football by Hizb ut-Tahrir. They have been working on this girl. They want an Islamic revolution and they will try to disrupt anybody they can."
The MP has in the past likened the group to the British National Party and claimed it had a record of targeting young people to lure them away from the mainstream Muslim community. Dr Nazreen Nawaz, Hizb ut-Tahrir's women's representative, confirmed she had advised Shabina. "We offered her general support. She just needed encouragement. Our work in the west is about explaining Islam to the community. I first had contact with her about a year ago. It was to give general advice about the Islamic view on the issue of the jilbab. But it needs to be stressed she is somebody who thinks for herself.
She has discovered Islam for herself."
Dr Imran Waheed, spokesman for the group, said: "Any suggestion that Hizb ut-Tahrir motivated the girl is complete nonsense. This was a religious issue, not a political one." The group could not confirm if Mr Rahman is a member.
Denbigh High School in Luton refused to teach Shabina when she arrived for the first day of the academic year in September 2002 wearing a jilbab. Her appeal court victory is being seen as effectively ending a school's right to decide its own uniform policy.
Shabina told the Evening Standard : "When a Muslim woman reaches puberty she has to decide what path to take. I decided I wanted to follow Islam and go all the way."
The Children's Legal Centre, a charity based at Essex University, took on Shabina's case. Julia Thomas, her solicitor, said: "Shabina is a very determined young lady. We have been certain from the outset this was coming from her. There has been no adverse influence by adults."
Hizb ut-Tahrir was founded in Jerusalem in 1953 with the aim of creating a single Islamic state but was banned in much of the Middle-East after an attempted coup in Egypt in
1974. Germany also banned the group, accusing it of promoting anti-Jewish sentiment.
---------------------------------------------------- MIM: Note that the Muslim Council of Britain spokesman Bungawala cynically states that english tests for Imams will "not only facilitate integration, help them connect with new generations of British born Muslims" . This would also include the' facilitation' of recruitment of converts. http://www.isna.net/news/miniheadlines.asp?dismode=article&artid=530 Imams face english test London: Imams and other foreign ministers of religion will have to go through an English test, under new Home Office rules. From September 2004, they will need to prove they have a "basic" grasp of spoken English before coming to the UK. In two years, the Home Office plans to raise the level of English required before entry from basic to "competent". Muslim Council of Britain spokesman, Inayat Bunglawala said that it was important for Imams to have a knowledge of the English language. "Not just to facilitate their integration, but also to help them connect with the new generation of British-born Muslims," he said. --------------------- http://www.cdlr.net/English/cdlrboard/showthread.php?s=d2269f8e463af7b6462a31ea89b9d064&threadid=45 An article about "How to bring up children" on a radical Islamist CDLR website writtenby the Al Muhajiroun leader Mohammed Bakri . The CDLR promotes a Taliban style Islam and advocates the overthrow of the Saudi ruling family for being "unIslamic". "11. Let them be modest 14. Give them home-work ----------------------------- This article was also posted on the CDLR website. http://www.cdlr.net/English/cdlrboard/showthread.php?s=d2269f8e463af7b6462a31ea89b9d064&threadid=950 MIM: In the same way Begum used the democratic laws of the UK to win her case while at the same time expressing her contempt for "the so called free world" This article The London School of Islamics demands that majority Muslim schools the UK should be state funded to serve the needs of "bi linqual children from the subcontinent' while accusing the government of having "dislocated Muslim pupils from their cultural heritage". Established 1981
With their clothes. They should be taught to cover their aworah from an early age. Let them wear the best clothes without imitating the kuffar.
12. Let their hair be cut as per their gender
Hence the girls should have longer hair.
13. Let them have a care-free life
Children should not be worried about where their meal is coming from, although they must have proper Islamic emotions about e.g. Israel etc… They should be able to have whatever they want Islamically. But Omar (ra) said: ‘Don't be soft all the time, sometimes have a harder life' So we might walk sometimes so that they will not think it odd if we do not always have a car."
Don't keep the children at home without giving them tasks, e.g. to help cook, clean, make things etc…as well as the home-work from the school.
15. Avoid places of Al-lahu
Avoid places of entertainment where prohibited things take place e.g. snooker halls, swimming pools etc…
Rather let them contribute to the Jihad weekly or monthly from some pocket money or take them to visit the Mosque and where the brothers are training for Jihad (if he is a boy) or to Islamic lectures on what Islam says about fighting in the way of Allah (SWT) if that is their interest. [Although to train for Jihad is Fard upon every mature male]..."
London School of Islamics
An Educational Trust
63 Margery Park Road London E7 9LD
Email: [email protected]
www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk
Tel/Fax: 0208 555 2733 / 07817 112 667
Education and Language
A comprehensive school that pioneered the teaching of pupils in their home language in maths and sciences has won the approval of school inspectors. According to OFSTED, good improvement has been made and the school no longer has the serious weaknesses. Turkish and Somali pupils are taught lessons in their mother tongues until they have mastered English well enough to learn through that medium. The said school must have employed Turkish and Somali teachers well versed in their own languages and English. The pupils felt at home with their own teachers who could understand their needs and demands. They developed confidence crucial for mental, emotional and personality development. There are thousands of bilingual children from the sub-continent. Majority of them are at the bottom. They need to be educated bilingualy.
The Muslim community has been demanding to set up state funded Muslim schools to raise the standard of their children. State schools have dislocated Muslim pupils from their cultural heritage. State education system is leaving Muslims in a cultural limbo. By the age of 16, they neither belong to Muslim community nor belong to host community. Only state funded Muslim schools can play a vibrant part in British society. Few Muslim schools with Muslim teachers are doing a better job to raise the standard of education but majority of Muslim pupils is in state schools leaving with low grades and without Islamic Identity. LEA's are proposing race quotas in schools inorder to disperse Muslim pupils. In my opinion it is not going to work. It will fail just like the policy of busing children from different areas in the 70s. It will not help to raise the standard of education of the Muslim pupils. It will not help to develop better race relation. The Muslim pupils will be victims of racism and bullying if the proposal of race quota is implemented.
In my opinion, those state schools where Muslim pupils are in majority should be designated as Muslim community schools under the management of Muslim educational Trust and Charities. They are in a better position to understand the needs and demands of the Muslim pupils. Voucher system may be introduced to give choice to the parents to choose a school. Qualified bilingual Muslim teachers from abroad should be recruited to teach bilingual Muslim children. They will be able to teach community languages and Islamic studies so that the children do not find themselves cut off from their cultural roots. British educated Muslim teachers could teach English language, literature and poetry. Muslim children need to learn Standard English to follow the National Curriculum and to go for higher studies and research to serve humanity.
Iftikhar Ahmad
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