Author: Diana West
Publication: The Washington Times
Date: February 23, 2007
I saw something eerie this week. It wasn't
an apparition exactly, but rather a head-spinning blur of headlines about
global jihad that, rather incredibly, began to take on the unmistakable shape
of a British old school tie.
How? Maybe I should start by explaining it
was the old school tie that came to mind first in the form of a new publication
on British education: namely, a 72-page manifesto (sorry, "guidance")
from the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) on how British state schools might
better accommodate children from the Muslim community, which, according to
the 2001 census, makes up 2.7 percent of the British population.
Did I say "better" accommodate their
Muslim pupils? I mean, much, much better accommodate them. In fact, if the
British were to adopt half of the MCB's recommendations for making British
schooling Muslim-friendly, they might as well re-issue the 19th-century boy's
school classic as Abdullah Brown's School Days. At the crux of the Muslim
council's document is a call for special treatment for Britain's Muslim students
that is so special as to reorient the entire British system according to Islamic
law.
The report kicks off with a British poll finding
that religion "appears to be more important" to young Muslims than
to young people of "white British or mixed heritage." It seems to
follow, then, at least according to the council's logic, that Muslim religious
requirements should also supercede those of "white British or mixed heritage
young people," not to mention those of the Church of England. And, so,
in this report, they effectively do.
Muslim girls should be allowed to wear the
hijab instead of regulation uniforms - of course, "schools may wish to
specify the colour." (Thanks awfully.) Muslim boys should be allowed
to grow beards "following the example of the Prophet Muhammad,"
not school grooming guidelines. Muslim children should receive "halal
meals," a suggestion which entails a slew of other "suggestions"
for staff training and food preparation and storage, and Muslim children should
be allotted prayer rooms, perhaps segregated by sex.
That's not all. "Muslim pupils who wish
to pray will need access to washing facilities to perform Wudu, which includes
the washing of the hands, mouth, arms to the elbow, and feet." Washing
facilities?
The guidelines continue. "This state
of purification becomes nullified when one goes to the toilet or breaks wind."
Heavens. Such, er, nullification calls for more washing - "private parts,"
this time. "Hence pupils will need to use water cans or bottles that
are easily accessible from a storage area in or near the washing area."
Then comes Ramadan. Rather than simply informing
schools how to accommodate pupils' private fasting, the Muslim Council of
Britain also explains how schools might participate in the holiday. Urging
them to schedule tests, meetings, swimming ("the potential for swallowing
water is very high") and sex education - even reproductive science lessons
- some other time, the report also advises schools "to build on"
the Ramadan spirit and participate in nightly fast-breaking meals.
Muslim students should be allowed to take
Arabic as a foreign language, and perhaps study "the art of Qur'anic
recitation" instead of music. And on and on. The Muslim council isn't
asking the British taxpayer to create the perfect Shariah state exactly, but
rather the perfect Shariah state school system.
And what does all of this have to do with
that blur of jihad stories mentioned at the top of the column? First, consider
the headlines. In Pakistan, a liberal-minded minister (and wife and mother
of two) was assassinated for not wearing a veil. (The shooter reportedly said,
"I have no regrets. I just obeyed Allah's commandment.") Also in
Pakistan, barbers received threatening letters warning them against continuing
their "anti-sharia work" cutting customers' beards. (One barber
told the Associated Press that two dozen barbers have responded by asking
customers not to request shaves.) In London, a Muslim father killed his wife
and four daughters (ages 16, 13, 10, and 3) because, according to the Telegraph,
"he could not bear them adopting a more westernised lifestyle."
What is quite eerie about these horrific crimes
is the striking fact that the perpetrators, who acted to avenge various infractions
of Islamic law, would likely feel right at home in a British state school
that had adopted the Muslim Council of Britain's recommendations. In other
words, the outlaws and the advocacy group are working in their different ways
to enact Islamic law. Which should teach us all a lesson - if we bothered
to learn it.
