My Exchange with Dr Iftikhar Ahmed of the London School of Islamics

Today, I received a comment on one of my postings from Dr Iftikhar Ahmed of the London School of Islamics. The post in question was the appearance of Dr Muzammil Siddiqi at Chapman University in a discussion about the relationship between Muslims and Jews. Dr Ahmed's comments are not related to the post in question. I assume I was one of many addressees to get the same message. I have noted that this individual sends comments to several blogs on the subject of Islam. The topic he is discussing is education for Muslim children in the UK. Below is his text followed by my response.

"British schooling has been mis-educating and de-educating Muslim children for the last 50 years and for the first time the Muslim leadership openly declared that British school is a home of institutional racism where there is no place for foreign culture and languages. Institutional racism is depriving Muslim children of the chance to go to their own faith schools. It leads LEAs to reject or delay approval of Muslim schools. Policy makers like Mr. Graham Lane and others like him do not want to see even a single Muslim school in the United Kingdom. The British teachers have no respect for Islamic faith and Muslim community. Western education system can easily deprogram Muslim children and force them to adopt un-Islamic values. Let the Muslim parents decides how and where to educate their children. According to MORI social research institute on behalf of Bristol LEA, nine out of ten Muslim parents agreed with the model of an Islamic secondary school set up within the state system. I rejected British schooling for Muslim children in the early 70s.

A child who has English as a second language is seen as having a special need – not as having a skill to be lauded from the rooftops. Bilingual children think in different way. Language has a profound effect in shaping the ways people think and act. Certain concepts are embedded in words that do not translate. There are repertoires of phrases which exist in Arabic or Urdu because there is no English equivalent. State schools are slaughter houses and are not suitable for bilingual Muslim children. Muslim children in the UK may lose out when they join reception classes because the school’s values and language reflect those of the dominant native culture, rather than those of their home. Almost all recent research literature agrees that if you want children whose home language is not English to excel in English –medium schools, it is important to nurture and acknowledge that first language along side their English development. Cultivating bilingualism could and should promote pupil’s linguistic development. Muslim children need bilingual Muslim teachers as role models.

Taxpayers’ money spent on schools should be handed to parents as vouchers to be used for their children’s education as they wished. Funds may be given to parents to set up their own schools. Lady Uddin argues strongly for the benefits of faith-based schooling, rejecting claims made in reports on the 2001 riots in Oldham, Burnley and Bradford that polarised schooling contributed to community division. Culturally separate groups, communities and institutions do not have to be the causes of social instability. There are hundreds of state schools where Muslim pupils are in majority, all such schools may be designated as Muslim community schools to be managed and controlled by Muslim Educational Trust and Charities.
Iftikhar Ahmad
www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk"


At December 8, 2008 5:34 PM , Gary Fouse said...
"
Dr Ahmad,

Since I live in the US, I am not prepared to speak in detail about the school system in the UK as it pertains to immigrants, their language or cultural needs. As a language teacher who has studied linguistics to some extent and who is married to a Mexican immigrant, I have more than just a passing knowledge of issues affecting Spanish-speaking Mexican school children in the US.

As to bilingual education, it is a system that has been tried in some US states-with not much success. I am a firm believer in total immersion for children. When I lived in Italy, my children were one and four years of age when we arrived. Quickly, they became fluent in Italian through interaction with Italian kids. We were not living separate from the Italians.

Now I would like to address another issue as one who has lived in three different countries myself-and learned the languages of all three-as an adult, which as you know is much harder than for children.

The main point I want to make here is one about immigration and assimilation. When a family makes the decision to immigrate from one country to another to establish permanent residence, that family should commit itself to assimilating into that culture. The family should also expect that their children will assimilate into that country's culture.

Assimilating means much more than learning the language. It means adapting oneself to the traditions, the culture and the values of that nation. It means giving loyalty to the nation once you become a citizen.

It means that it is your responsibility to change and adapt. It is not the responsibility of the host country.

No one is saying you have to change your religion or throw away traditional values. If you want your children to speak Arabic or Urdu, fine, but teaching or maintaining that language among your children is the responsibility of the immigrant family-not the host country. If you want to raise your children as Muslims, that is your right in the UK-and America. We, unlike some Muslim countries, have full freedom of religion.

However, with assimilation, immigrants have to accept some other things may come to pass if they choose to live in another country. Your children will be exposed to the host culture. They may someday desire to convert to another religion. They may desire to marry someone from the host country. I am sure that for you that is a problem if your daughter chose to marry a native who was not Muslim, or if your son or daughter desired to convert to another religion. You would not like that, but under American law, you would have no recourse if they were adults. As you well know, things like "honor killings" are illegal in the West.

I know there are many aspects of Western culture that you may find disturbing, such as drugs, sex, prostitution and such. Many of us Westerners are also disturbed by them, but it is the price we pay for living in free societies.

The point I am making here is that it should not be the responsibility of the host country to adapt itself to its immigrants. It is the other way around. It should not be the responsibility of the UK to provide you with Islamic schools within the public school sysyem. In the US, if you want to have your child in a religious-based school or one where another language is the language of instruction, you can send your child to a private school-and pay the tuition. Public schools in the US are funded by tax-payers and we have no desire to fund private schools as well for our immigrants.

Sir, what you are advocating in the UK strikes me as nothing less than arrogant. If you came to the US and demanded those things, my reaction would be for you to go back to whatever country you or your parents immigrated from where you can live the life you want according to your principles and in your own language.

Is it really in the interest of British Muslims that they become isolated from British society? I have read quite a bit about Muslims in the UK. I find it outrageous that Muslims in the UK would stand on street corners with placards reading, "Behead those who defame Islam", or insulting the Brits and Western society.

I know from reading some of your other writings on the Internet that you are an advocate for Islam who defends the faith and its adherents from charges of terrorism. I will leave that debate for another day if you choose to respond. What I will say is this;

I have no problem with you defending Islam. You should defend Islam. But you don't need to defend it from us. You need to defend it from those people who call themselves Muslims and are bringing disrepute to Islam by their violent and hateful deeds-such as just occurred in Mumbai.

I thank you for your comments."