A primary school in East London has decided to force secularism on its youngest Muslim girls, as it bans them from wearing headscarves outright, having previously banned all children from fasting in Ramadan.

The headteacher claims that she was motivated by an apparent lack of “Britishness” that the students felt, so she realised that she “had some work to do here… to help integrate Muslim children into modern British society” and that “they have got to realise how fortunate they are to be here in the United Kingdom, in this education system.” She also claims that Muslims girls are already banned from wearing headscarves during physical education lessons, because it “hindered movement,” so it was also inappropriate for them to wear them during the rest of the day too.

Such twisted logic and false claims only expose the desperate lengths that those with a secularisation agenda will take to suppress Islam in the Muslim community. Having no intellectual argument at all against Islam, but emboldened by the establishment’s “muscular liberalism” agenda, it is not surprising that secularist activists try to win “by hook or crook” to remove visible symbols of Islam. Apparently they have no shame in bullying the youngest most vulnerable group in society, girls under eight years old.

The education system that Muslims are expected to be so grateful for, is designed by a secular elite to serve the interests of the wealthy capitalists, to churn out consumers who know their place in society and do not question or challenge the establishment’s right to rule. After being conditioned by such an “education” and witnessing centuries of British colonialism, a group of Muslims adopted a colonised mentality, where they became grateful of whatever scraps the colonists threw their way. They became ashamed of their Islam, which they felt held them back, so they too started to “lord it” over the rest of the Muslims, attempting to “enlighten” and secularise them too. The British colonial masters claimed to know what is best for the Muslims, as they carried Kipling’s “white man’s burden” to civilise the uncivilised.

The British gutter press wasted no time in trumpeting the calls of secular activists for such a total ban on Islamic headscarves in British schools, regardless of age. It is not surprising to read in such papers the quotes of some Muslims allegedly in support of this ban, using all kinds of bizarre justifications in doing so. However, most telling was the quote attributed to the school’s chair of governors, who said that he always asks parents “‘Do you want your daughter to grow up to be like you or like Neena (the head teacher)?’ They say, ‘Like Neena.’ When I hear that I think we have done our job.”

Muslims in the UK need to be vigilant in holding onto our Islamic way of life, not succumbing to pressure to bend or twist it to fit in with the values of the liberal British elite. We must recognise that such cases are not few and far between, rather an intended outcome of the British government’s counter-extremism strategy that is designed to impose the secular liberal lifestyle on the next generation of Muslims.

Muslims should not get drawn into debates about the age at which a Muslim girl is required to cover her body and hair, as accurate adherence to the Islamic shariah is not the concern of the secularist, rather it is the love that Muslims have for the Islamic shariah rules that bothers them so much.

It should be clear that these school girls are being used by the liberals to forcibly remove Islam from the lives of Muslims, because they are vulnerable and their scarves are a visible symbol of being a Muslim. This has nothing to do with safeguarding, as that is the last of their concerns.

We need to expose the forced secularisation agenda of the establishment and their agents, who know that they have no intellectual argument against Islam, so resort to all manner of shameless lies and pressure tactics.

We should mobilise our family, friends and other parents to reject such bullying school policies and make it clear that we will not compromise our beliefs and children’s beliefs in order to further the secularisation agenda. We should work with our local mosques and community to exert pressure on the schools that seek to undermine the Islamic values.

Such direct pressure on Muslims, by imposing it upon the children who are incapable of arguing against its fallacy, should only strengthen our resolve to stand up on their behalf, calling all mankind to understand and witness the pure deen of Islam.

وَلَا تَهِنُوا وَلَا تَحْزَنُوا وَأَنْتُمُ الْأَعْلَوْنَ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ مُؤْمِنِينَ

“Do not grieve and get disheartened: for you have the upper hand if you are the believers.” [Aal-Imran: 139]

We should stand up to explain and demonstrate how Islam came as a mercy to mankind with a complete way of life that we believe is the cure to failed liberal values. Britain faces widespread sexual abuse, domestic violence and child abuse from all segments of society including the media, celebrities and politicians. Instead of forcing Muslim children to suppress the natural expression of their Islamic values, schools should instead be learning from the sublime values of Islam, and teaching the children to reject liberalism to truly safeguard them and prepare them to avoid the dangers and rotten fruits of the sick secular society.

كُنتُم خَيرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخرِجَت لِلنّاسِ تَأمُرونَ بِالمَعروفِ وَتَنهَونَ عَنِ المُنكَرِ وَتُؤمِنونَ بِاللَّهِ ۗ وَلَو آمَنَ أَهلُ الكِتابِ لَكانَ خَيرًا لَهُم ۚ مِنهُمُ المُؤمِنونَ وَأَكثَرُهُمُ الفاسِقونَ

You are the best ummah brought forth for mankind: you bid what is right and forbid what is wrong, and have iman in Allah. And if the People of the Book had believed, it would have been better for them. Among them [some] are faithful, but most of them are transgressors.[Aal-Imran: 110]

Yahya Nisbet,
Media representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain
17th January 2018