Hazel Blears pledges to do "more work on the ground" with Muslim Communities

Muslim Youths

Muslim youths are angry, frustrated and extremist because they have been mis-educated and de-educated by the British schooling. Muslim children are confused because they are being educated in a wrong place at a wrong time in state schools with non-Muslim monolingual teachers. They face lots of problems of growing up in two distinctive cultural traditions and value systems, which may come into conflict over issues such as the role of women in the society, and adherence to religious and cultural traditions. The conflicting demands made by home and schools on behaviour, loyalties and obligations can be a source of psychological conflict and tension in Muslim youngsters. There are also the issues of racial prejudice and discrimination to deal with, in education and employment. They have been victim of racism and bullying in all walks of life. According to DCSF, 56% of Pakistanis and 54% of Bangladeshi children has been victims of bullies. The first wave of Muslim migrants were happy to send their children to state schools, thinking their children would get a much better education. Than little by little, the overt and covert discrimination in the system turned them off. There are fifteen areas where Muslim parents find themselves offended by state schools.

The right to education in one’s own comfort zone is a fundamental and inalienable human right that should be available to all people irrespective of their ethnicity or religious background. Schools do not belong to state, they belong to parents. It is the parents’ choice to have faith schools for their children. Bilingual Muslim children need state funded Muslim schools with bilingual Muslim teachers as role models during their developmental periods. There is no place for a non-Muslim teacher or a child in a Muslim school. There are hundreds of state schools where Muslim children are in majority. In my opinion, all such schools may be designated as Muslim community schools. An ICM Poll of British Muslims showed that nearly half wanted their children to attend Muslim schools. There are only 143 Muslim schools. A state funded Muslim school in Birmingham has 220 pupils and more than 1000 applicants chasing just 60.

Majority of anti-Muslim stories are not about terrorism but about Muslim
culture--the hijab, Muslim schools, family life and religiosity. Muslims in the west ought to be recognised as a western community, not as an alien culture.
Iftikhar Ahmad
www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk

What a load of self-indulgent, self-righteous, pity-us-Muslims nonsense. Islamic terrorism is jihad. As you ought to know, jihad is sacralised warfare for the propagation of Islam, and it has a "peaceful", legal, and non-violent dimension in addition to the militant, violent one. All 4 major schools of Islamic jurisprudence teach it. It is supported by the Qur'an and the Sunna, and constantly cited by "extremists" the world over. It has nothing to do with discrimination - Islam is not a race after all and if you want to experience racism, try being black. There are plenty of poor people in the UK not using poverty as an excuse. Plenty in the world. But only Muslims are rallying the world over in defiance of what they deem as an attack on their Allah-given rights to self-determination according to the doctrine of the unity of the ummah and the prevalence of Islamic rule on earth as consistent with centuries of scholarly consensus. What you are doing is encouraging a culture of victimisation amongst Muslim youths which only has the effect of intensifying their alienation and ghettoization. You say Muslim youths are angry. Expect more and more non-Muslim youths – kuffar as we are so politely called in the Qur’an and by Muslims – to start getting angry too, as they learn more and more about Islamic doctrine and its fundamental tenets of bigotry and hatred.

So Ms Hazel Blears wants to dialogue with Muslim communities and pay them for the privilege, but ‘rejects dialogue with extremists’. This stipulation would seem to make it difficult to proceed with her project. Does she also reject dialogue with those who believe:

That the hands of thieves should be cut off (Qur'an 5:38);

That those who cause ‘mischief in the land’ should be ‘killed or crucified or their hands and their feet be cut off on the opposite sides’ (Qur'an 5:33)

That 'whoever changes his Islamic religion’ should be killed Bukhari (009.084.057)

That husbands have the permission of Allah to beat their wives (Qur'an 4:34)

That men are permitted to ‘marry’ and have sex with nine year old girls (ref Aisha)

That men can have four wives (Qur'an 4:3), but women only one husband

That Allah turned some Jews into apes and pigs (Qur'an 5:60)

That Allah commanded Muslims to ‘Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day…’ (Qur'an 9:29)

That Mohammed said: “The Hour will not be established until you fight with the Jews, and the stone behind which a Jew will be hiding will say, "O Muslim! There is a Jew hiding behind me, so kill him." Bukhari (004.052.177)

Etc.

This project seeks to "undermine extremist ideology." How is this possible when the only primary source material Muslims work with, the Qur'an and Hadith, is extremist at its very core?

If she thinks it is not and that Muslims in this country to whom she has handed over tax-payers money can fashion an Islam that is compatible with modern western values of freedom of speech, conscience, equality for women, and a democracy which forsakes Sharia law, etc. then we can all do with an education about Islam. Somehow non-Muslims and even Muslims have got it wrong for the last 1400 years. If she can correct that misunderstanding for only £12.5 then I would consider that a bargain.

But I sense problems already for Ms Blears’s initiative. The group that is supposed to help fashion these path breaking resources for the modern Islam is not coming up with the goods, or so it seems. Maybe they need more money? The resources page on their website is still ‘under construction.’ http://www.theiceproject.co.uk/

Or perhaps ‘extremist’ is the wrong word to describe these views. The correct word is probably just ‘Islam.’

Remember Kinana

So, Iftikhar says that "Muslim youths are angry, frustrated and extremist because they have been mis-educated ... by the British schooling".

Is that nothing to do with any of the racist and violent verses in your "holy scripture" listed by Kinana in the first posting? Sorry, did that article get missed by your blind spot?

Ohh, but you have more 'demands' (strangely never giving anything, always taking).

"The right to education in one’s own comfort zone is a fundamental and inalienable human right". Yes it is, and I would like an education which excludes people who state that I am a Najis thing like faeces, urine, pigs and dogs.

But I guess you don't want to do anything about those statements either. It must be really handy having one of those blind spots. Just ignore anything bad your people are saying and doing, and keep hammering away with the demands.

Wow, I take my hat off to CSC, you guys really do value Free Speech and Democratic Values! I never expected my last message to be posted, so it was only partial. If I may continue...

Iftikhar also he talks about:
"issues of racial prejudice and discrimination to deal with, in education and employment. They have been victim of racism and bullying in all walks of life". Then he continues "There is no place for a non-Muslim teacher or a child in a Muslim school. There are hundreds of state schools where Muslim children are in majority. In my opinion, all such schools may be designated as Muslim community schools".
So he wishes to designate all these schools as Islamic, kick out all the Kafir, then the Muslims will finally be happy. But wait a minute, whats that called, oh yes, Racism and Ethnic Cleansing. Isn't that what he was complaining about?

And finally:
"There are fifteen areas where Muslim parents find themselves offended by state schools".
Well, I don't know at what point in our befuddled 20th century 'being offended by' something, established a 'right to stop' that thing, but its time we cut the logical connection.

And in terms of being offended, there are an order of magnitude more verses in the Islamic scripture which are offensive to the Kafir. The Koran contains 109 verses that call Muslims to war against the Kafir. In the Sira (story of Mohammed's life), 72% of the text is about Jihad against non-Muslims, and 8.6% of the text is about hatred and violence towards Jews. That's nearly 2% more Jew hatred than Hitler put in Mein Kampf! Finally, the Hadith contains hundreds more deeply offensive verses, many of which are too offensive to even publicise. Does Iftikhar have anything to say about these offensive statements? Another blind spot perhaps?

To thank everyone for listening, I'll finish with a joke:
Isn't "Holy War" an oxymoron, or have I got that wrong as well?