“Many Muslims will feel alienated and victims of state Islamaphobia…”
With the Muslim population of the United Kingdom growing by leaps and bounds, many loyal subjects of the Queen have voiced concern over hard-line, violent jihadists in their midst. True to the modus operandi of a number of openly über-strict Sharia Law-compliant groups, many have cried discrimination. As reported by the BBC, claims of Islamophobia are the standard response.
In an inspection report by the British government’s Office for Standards in Education (OFSTED), an independent Islamic school in the English city of Luton was found to contain in its library certain texts that promote “fundamentalist views which had ‘no place in British society.'” OFSTED also reported to Parliament that at Olive Branch, “Senior leaders do not ensure ‘balanced views of the world.'”
The inspection found that some books in the school “promote stoning and lashing as appropriate punishments. There are too few books about the world’s major religions other than Islam.” Among books available to children were “The Ideal Muslim” by Muhammad Ali Al-Hashimi, which advocates parents hitting children if they do not pray by the age of 10. Another, “Commanders Of the Muslim Army” by Mahmood Ahmad Ghadanfar, was said to praise individuals who “loved death more than life in their pursuit of righteous and true religion.”
The Luton on Sunday newspaper reports that the Olive Tree Primary School issued a statement slamming both OFSTED and Michael Gove, a Member of Parliament and the country’s Secretary of State for Education. Despite Islam’s not being a race, the government was accused of “whipping up racist hysteria.”
In part, the statement accused the government of extremism as well as an ad hominem attack on Gove:
The inspection and the subsequent report was not about education, it was about a right extremist; Michael Gove, whipping up racist hysteria and OFSTED dancing to his poisonous tune. Many Muslims are left feeling alienated and victimised.
Farasat Latif, Chairman of Governors for the school, was quoted as saying:
We are the victims of the extreme politics of Michael Gove whose ignorance of Islam is matched by his hostility. Many Muslims will feel alienated and victims of state Islamaphobia.
Following this pattern, the Islamic Education and Research Academy (IERA) slammed the University of London late in 2013 for cancelling presentations by two speakers who advocated violence against anyone who didn’t agree with them. After receiving warnings from the London Metropolitan Police, university officials banned Abdur Raheem Green and Hamza Tzortzis from appearing on campus.
Green has openly stated that “Islam is not compatible with democracy” and that a husband may use “physical force … a very light beating” against his wife. Not to be outdone, Tzortzis has previously “endorsed barbaric punishments such as beheading, has said that homosexuality should be a criminal act, and has said that Islam is incompatible with democracy.”
