BBC: British Schools, Islamic Rules

In response to a BBC Panorama programme which claimed children in some Muslim schools are being exposed to extremism, the Islamic Education and Research Academy (iERA) carried out what they described as a ‘warm’ protest yesterday by distributing specially produced educational packs outside the BBC Headquarters for the programme makers.

The iERA say their action was to counteract the negative image that the programme attempted to portray of Islam and Muslims.

The Islamic Education and Research Academy (iERA) among many Islamic groups responded swiftly to rebut the claims of the BBC Panorama programme ‘British Schools, Islamic Rules’ aired last week.

This programme claimed it aimed to investigate the “disturbing evidence” that some Muslim schools were providing a platform to “extremist preachers” and “fundamentalist Islamic groups”; And attempted to “expose” the extreme, anti-Semitic and homophobic material found within the curriculum of some Islamic schools.

But the iERA say the programme misrepresented established Islamic teachings on a range of issues in a manner that portrayed them as crude and insensitive whilst linking them to social unrest and violence.

Saqib Sattar, Vice-Chairman of the Islamic Education and Research Academy (iERA) said: “The attack on Muslim schools as an institution is both ill-informed and misguided. Muslim schools constantly achieve high academic standards with students continuously becoming highly responsible members of society, contributing positively to the public good. No ‘hard’ evidence has ever been presented otherwise.

“Muslim Schools have excelled in this regard, due in no small part to their ethos which is rooted in the Islamic scholarly tradition which provides an objective and cohesive basis for social values and norms, something which we find lacking in our increasingly secular society. The irony is that most of our social ills stem from the failure of state schools and society at large to provide such grounding, leading ever more conscientious parents to choose private or faith schools for their children’s secondary education. Faith schools and communities are providing that important moral voice for our society, making their presence felt through social welfare projects across the country. The contribution of faith communities should actually be championed and not maligned.”

“The BBC has shown that it does not have the ability to convey the reality of the Islamic tradition. iERA condemns such irresponsible and sensationalist programmes. It is obvious that this Panorama programme has been designed to attract viewers without engaging their minds”.

Hamza Andreas Tzortzis, iERA’s media representative said, “The attack on mainstream Islamic speakers because they hold established theological views is making the job of community cohesion difficult, as is the constant misconstruing or lack of context with regards to their statements.

The programme-makers would have been better served to look deeply into the Islamic scholarly tradition and its historical impact, and they would have found a beautiful model of community cohesion”.

The  “Another View” CD and leaflets distributed to the BBC are avaialbe from the iERA.