Only then can young people be led to understand that groups like Isis use their religion as an excuse – rather than a guide - to justify their barbaric actions
If the last Prophet of Islam, Mohammed was to return to this earth today, what would he make of those who have misconstrued his teachings? This is the question that could begin deconstructing extremism and winning people back who have been tempted into violent interpretations of their faith. Simply put, the way to combat Islamic extremism is to invest in teaching Islamic theology in British schools: teaching that proves the Prophet Mohammed would never have condoned their actions.
Many reading this will find it difficult to stomach, but the Prophet Mohammed had what we also call "British values".
[TOP RATED COMMENT] Either the author is lying to himself, or he's lying to us. Whichever one it is, it's a lie!
[ANOTHER]Y Muslims can certainly teach us how to treat migrants. Remind us how many Syrian migrants have been accepted by Saudi Arabia, please, compared to doomed Germany.
[ANOTHER] Honestly, is this a joke? Our schools have been steadily phasing out the indoctrination of our children from the ridiculous fear inducing fairy tales of our ancestors and now you want our schools to teach the divisional, rotten, violent fables of your ancestors?
Why don't you just stop contributing to the corruption of our children's brains? Moron.
[ANOTHER] The author is deluded. How can there be an objectively "true" or "false" interpretation of a revealed religion whose acceptance depends on an act of faith? The "Islamic scholars" who she would set to work - no doubt generously subsidised by the taxpayer - would no more enjoy a privileged position to interpret the teachings of Islam than the jihadis and their sympathisers.
And while practising Islam isn't incompatible with living peacefully in modern Britain, let's not confuse it with British values - which are inextricably rooted in our national language, culture and customs - and with which it has as little to do as with meaningless abstractions like "diversity" or "equality", or empty cliches about "fair play" or "common sense".
The subtext of the article is, of course, to get Muslims off the hook when it comes to taking responsibility for the crimes committed by their community. There is a deep-rooted hypocrisy in the responses of many Muslims to criticisms of their attitudes towards Islamist terrorism.
How often have we heard the plea not to "shift responsibility from the individual to the minority", only for the speaker, in the same breath, to embark on all the usual special pleading for more grants, jobs, "respect", positive discrimination, special treatment, etc, for - you guessed it - the "Muslim community"? They seem to be saying: "When you're talking the language of entitlement, it's fine to talk about minorities - just leave us out when it comes to the whole responsibility thing". You can't have it both ways.
Condemning a crime committed by someone else does not entail "taking responsibility" for the criminal act itself, but it does signify one's shared solidarity with the victims and with the value system embodied by the law; a pointed refusal to condemn a crime, on the other hand, signifies the absence of such solidarity and offers the closet extremist the chance to hide behind evasions (and perhaps the chance to pocket more taxpayer handouts).
The author cautions us against "marginalising Muslims", warning us that: "History teaches us what happens if we further marginalise those who are tempted towards extremism by their own isolation." Some will always be "tempted towards extremism". That's a fact of life. But most can be (and have already been) persuaded to conform to their host society's values, even if they don't completely share them.
This persuasion can either take the form of inducements, such as access to the wealth and opportunities offered by our society; or it can take the form of sanctions, such as restriction of those opportunities to non-conformers, prohibiting or penalising certain forms of Islamic dress, banning extreme Islamic teaching in state or private schools, or taking the children of those with radical Islamist views into care with the likelihood that they will be adopted and raised as non-Muslims. Both methods can be effective. But the failure of multiculturalism in Britain has shown that indiscriminately offering full membership of our society to conforming and non-conforming minority members alike hasn't worked, and that it's time for a new approach.
Faced with the alternative of poverty and marginalization, and very real difficulties in living their lives and raising their families according to extreme Islamist values, many will eventually be induced to conform, whereas others will choose to live elsewhere. A few, of course, will remain defiant or "go underground", but their numbers will gradually decline as others are persuaded to make more fortunate choices.
[ANOTHER] Those values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect, and tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs that schools are now required to promote are inherently Islamic.
What utter balderdash.
Those are the very values which are categorically opposed by every school of Islamic thought I have heard put forward.
Poll after poll shows that support for sharia round the world among Muslims is around 60% does the writer actually believe it is acceptable to British values?
Of course converting everyone in Western society to Islam is just what they aspire to.
[ANOTHER] .... Rational discussion is impossible with people who regard the apocryphal musings of a 6th century desert nomad as inviolable law, and a rigid template for modern life.
[ANOTHER] Perhaps they'll also start teaching Christianity in Muslim lands: Jesus has far more importance to Muslims (being one of their prophets) than Muhammad has to Western society.
[ANOTHER] Mohammed? He's the guy that married the 6 year old, right?? You're insane. Islam has nothing in common with British values and has no place in its schools.
[ANOTHER] ".... the biography of Prophet Muhammad,"
Which is one of the most horrific things you could read! Will there be trauma counselling for kids when they read of the sick perversions and butchery of the Prophet?
ISIS is the way it is because it wants to 'do Islam' just like its founder. What better way could there be?
A glance around the world demonstrates that Islamic influence on a nation leads to at best slovenly-run corrupt societies, at worst Sharia hell on earth.
No one gives a toss about Islam and why should they?
[ANOTHER] This article is illustrated with a picture of a Moslem family,where the woman only is fully veiled with every hair and her face covered. This is an obscenity to a non- Muslim woman-how can this woman function,imprisoned in cloth,unable to feel the sun on her skin or hair,her movements and vision impaired.
This has no place in Britain or any other European country. Nor do I think it is acceptble to put full headcoverings on 5-year old girls. I never read all of the article-it is of course rubbish.I know most Moslems are not this extreme,but they all follow the same culture,and democracy and individual liberty is just what Islam is not about.
[ANOTHER] Sajda Khan: If you don't want your kids to be extremist then stop teaching them that other religions are inferior, it's ok to cheat an unbeliever and stop sending them to Saudi Arabia for 'religious' lessons in madrassas. If you were really living in a Muslin country, then your daughter could be sold into virtual slavery on reaching the age of nine and you could do nothing about it.
In an earlier time, the European powers fully understood in taking over the new world. The best way of supplanting the local population was to first replace their own local deities with the one true God. The politically correct social justice warriors in this country don't yet seem to have gotten the memo. I for one don't wish to live in a replica of sixth century Baghdad.
[ANOTHER] Indoctrinating children in any religion is child abuse. The number of people murdered in the name of religion is unforgiveable. Less not more and certainly not in schools. [The Independent] Read more
