Not if it teaches Islam from the Koran. Bruce
http://www.sundaytimes.co.za/zones/sundaytimesNEW/basket7st/basket7st1117101 402.aspx British Islamic school cure to extremism Thursday May 26, 2005 11:56 - (SA) LONDON - Two hundred students, giggling and gathering on the playground, are the best antidote to Islamic extremism, although they may not realize it yet. Students at Britain's first state-funded Islamic school are pint-sized but carry the huge responsibility of forging a new identity for Muslims, one which is neither secular nor extremist, but "organic, dynamic and chaotic", according to their headmaster. "We're creating a British-Muslim identity and ethic, and we're not in the business of preserving any particular culture," Abdullah Trevathan said, describing the motley group of 23 nationalities, mostly of mixed descent, that make up the Islamia Primary School. The youths are famous across Britain, and not just because their north London school was founded by the folksinger Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam, in 1983. A decade after winning state funding, a right long accorded to Protestant and Catholic schools, they now attend one of the top primary schools in the country, learning the required state curriculum, plus religion and Arabic. At seven, pupils begin attending services at the mosque. Headscarves are optional for the youngest, and become part of the uniform at nine years of age. Cartesian analysis, questioning and debate are encouraged, replacing madrassa-style rote learning of the Koran. At its founding, during the era of Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher, there were "fears about us having Molotov cocktail classes", Trevathan said in a recent interview. Such blatant Islamophobia has been largely silenced in the wake of Islamia's successes and in some ways the school has become iconic of the diversity touted by Britain's Labour-led government. But the chief English schools inspector touched off fresh debate in January, worrying publicly that Islamic schools could pose a "challenge to our coherence as a nation". Five of some 100 Muslim schools in England are now state funded, with the rest independent, and are joined by more than 50 Jewish schools and about 100 Evangelical Christian schools, in addition to existing Catholic and Protestant structures. Far from teaching radicalism and separatism, Islamia has become a model of diversity, preaching tolerance not only to students but their families and the larger community, assembled from a jumble of Sunni and Shiite Muslim, Arab, Asian and European, privileged and poor backgrounds. "Islam is not served by centralization, it is served by diversity," Trevathan said. The school's adherence to traditional classical Islam, or the "scholastic approach responding to the problems of modern-day Britain", contrasts with the "modernist" stand he said was embodied by both secularists and fundamentalists seeking to impose their uniform, universal view. "Their methodology is completely Western like franchised Islam," he said. "It's Kentucky Fried Islam". Trevathan, an American-born convert to the faith who was the school's first teacher, said his staff also encouraged families to stop blaming non-Muslims for the discrimination and difficulties faced in the post-September 11 world. "It is presently endemic in the community to see ourselves as victims," he said. "There is the presence of Islamophobia, but we have to take some responsibility" for the perception of Britain's 1.6 million Muslims. "We don't generalise about Islamophobia," he said, claiming to educate parents through their children, and to put in extra efforts in the "struggle" with angry 14- and 15-year-olds. But world-shattering events weigh heavily upon the idyll of Irish-Moroccans, Algerian-English, Afghans, Iraqis, South Asians and Arabs gathered to play in the tree-lined brick ensemble of low-lying buildings and courtyards. "After 9/11 there were clear signs of trauma. The students were asking, 'Was this my community that did this?'" Trevathan recalled. Islamia's top-notch exam results, its media-savvy director and globally diverse image make it an ideal for those who, like Trevathan, want to sit on the "cutting edge of the encounter between Muslims and the host community". For its 210 primary school spots, separate secondary schools for boys and girls are still private, there are 3,500 children on the waiting list. Trevathan predicts those crowds may dwindle as the school shifts from a private school catering to middle-class professional families, to a state school struggling with non-English-speaking immigrants, shell-shocked refugees and the socially disadvantaged. Results will dip, he said with a shrug. "We don't want to be a results-orientated school; we believe in a broad education." AFP ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Give underprivileged students the materials they need to learn. Bring education to life by funding a specific classroom project. http://us.click.yahoo.com/FHLuJD/_WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? 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