Would he approve of Muslims schools that had a policy of only allowing the use of English and Arabic and refusing to offer support for, or even allow, children to use community languages such as Urdu or Gujurati? I doubt it. He is just trying to use Islam as a smokescreen to get cultural services for his own people.

“Muslims have the right to educate their children in an environment that suits their culture. ” Does that apply to everyone? What about mormons? What about bahais? What about racists? What are muslims doing emigrating to a country that they know very well does not suit their culture if that is their opinion?

“In Sydney, Muslims were refused to build a Muslim school, because of a protest by the residents. Yet a year later, permission was given for the building of a Catholic school and no protests from the residents. This clrearly shows the blatant hypocrisy, double standards and racism. Christians oppose Muslim schools in western countries yet build their own religious schools.” Sydney is rather a long way from the U.K. Where in the area did people propose to build the respective schools? What proportion of the local population are muslim, what proportion catholic? There are a great many other possible reasons besides crude religious bias for these two attitudes.

“British schooling and the British society is the home of institutional racism. ” Evidence, please. Even if true, what does this have to do with islam which is an ideology/religion/way of life, not a race?

“Every native child is born with a gene or virus of racism,” Evidence, please. Which is it, a gene or a virus? The two are very ifferent things. Also, evidence that every non-native child is not born with a gene or virus of racism. Is every native child with non-native parents also born with a gene or virus of racism? Evidence for that too, please.

“father of a Pakistani office cadet who was called a “Paki” by Prince Harry has profoundly condemned his actions. ” What is his son’s opinions? He is better placed than his father to assess motives and behaviour. Deliberate transgression of tabus is an aspect of people- especially young men- bonding together and joking among theselves.

” There is no place for a non-Muslim child or a teacher in a Muslim school.” So, presumably there is no place for a muslim child or teacher in a non-muslim school either. Does the same apply to universities? What about neighbourhoods? What about non-muslim countries?

State schools with monolingual teachers are not capable to teach English to bilingual Muslim children. Bilingual teachers are needed to teach English to such children along with their mother tongue. According to a number of studies, a child will not learn a second language if his first language is ignored.

Bilingual Muslim children need state funded Muslim schools with bilingual Muslim teachers as role models during their developmental periods. Muslims have the right to educate their children in an environment that suits their culture. This notion of “integration”, actually means “assimilation”, by which people generally really mean “be more like me”. That is not multiculturalism. In Sydney, Muslims were refused to build a Muslim school, because of a protest by the residents. Yet a year later, permission was given for the building of a Catholic school and no protests from the residents. This clrearly shows the blatant hypocrisy, double standards and racism. Christians oppose Muslim schools in western countries yet build their own religious schools.

British schooling and the British society is the home of institutional racism. The result is that Muslim children are unable to develop self-confidence and self-esteem, therefore, majority of them leave schools with low grades. Racism is deeply rooted in British society. Every native child is born with a gene or virus of racism, therefore, no law could change the attitudes of racism towards those who are different. It is not only the common man, even member of the royal family is involved in racism. The father of a Pakistani office cadet who was called a “Paki” by Prince Harry has profoundly condemned his actions. He had felt proud when he met the Queen and the Prince of Wales at his son’s passing out parade at Sandhurst in 2006 but now felt upset after learning about the Prince’s comments. Queen Victoria invited an Imam from India to teach her Urdu language. He was highly respected by the Queen but other members of the royal family had no respect for him. He was forced to go back to India. His protrait is still in one of the royal places.

There are hundreds of state schools where Muslim pupils are in majority. In my opinion, all such schools may be designated as Muslim community schools with bilingual Muslim teachers. There is no place for a non-Muslim child or a teacher in a Muslim school. Iftikhar Ahmad http://www.londonschoolofislamics.org.uk

Is “I’m all for religious tolerance…” the new “I’m not racist but…”?

My brother Yusuf has written an eloquent, systematic rebuttal to McEoin’s report and you accuse him of “engaging in Islamic jihad”. Jihad being a word that you’ve probably heard frequently, but don’t actually know the correct meaning of.

You hide behind lots of pompous letters and appear to try and show the respectable side of your religion and beliefs, yet would you condemn the barbaric medieval practices of Sharia law which include stoning people to death and limb removal?

I am all for religious tolerance, and a “live and let live” attitude to other people’s beliefs and religions - it’s such a shame that Islam (perticularly the more extreme factions of it) is incapable of doing the same - witness the apostasy laws which Islam insists apply to anyone leaving the Islam faith and deciding to convert to another faith.

You should be very grateful that you live in a society which repects and tolerates your beliefs. I am in no doubt what my fate would be if I were living in a predominantly Islam region.

Try and use that considerable intellect of yours to do some fence-mending, rather than using it to attack anything which dares to criticize Islam. Let’s engage in productive debate rather than resort to Islamic jihad when things don’t quite go our way.

http://www.meforum.org/2049/denis-maceoin-appointed-middle-east-quarterly

“We are delighted Denis MacEoin is joining the Quarterly as editor,” said Mr. Pipes. “His scholarship on the Middle East, his knowledge of the languages of the region, and his long experience as a published writer and a writing instructor make him an excellent choice for the position.”

He is a member of the advisory council of the Centre for Social Cohesion, an offshoot of the Civitas think tank. He writes a blog - A Liberal Defence of Israel.

The sad part is that this piece of trash made the front page of the Daily Express.

You cannot inspect schools without actually visiting them. To suggest otherwise is ridiculous and I’d like to know if any taxpayer’s money was spent funding such nonsense.

Btw, in response to your question on my blog: Mid 80’s George Michael song.