Last week Yossarian introduced you to the latest stealth campaign being run by Hizb ut Tahrir: “The SRE Islamic Campaign”. In a nutshell, they’re getting worried about plans to teach ‘sex and relationship education’ (SRE) at school. The co-ordinator is Yusuf Patel, whose brother, Jalaluddin, used to be the leader of HT in Britain. On Facebook Yusuf boasts:
I am leading a national campaign against the plans to make SRE statutory. But I recognise that it does not start and end there.
*(see the facebook group “Rochdale Muslims against sex and relationship education for 5 year old’s“)
In this campaign, Patel lists his aims as being:
OUR VALUES
As Muslims we believe in the primacy of marriage, the prohibition of sexual relations outside marriage, the unacceptability of homosexuality which is often portrayed as a lifestyle choice. We also subscribe to the concept of Hayaa (modesty) which guides the interaction between men and women.
- We do not believe six year old children should be taught within a classroom setting to focus on intimate parts of their bodies, as the FPA comic ‘Let’s Grow With Nisha and Joe’ promotes.
- We cannot accept that our five year old children should be exposed to the Channel Four video ‘Living and Growing’ which encourages our children to explore their bodies through masturbation.
- We cannot accept that homosexuality is normalised in the minds of young children and that a normal family unit can involve two dads and two mums, as the storybook ‘And Tango Makes Three’ suggests.
- We cannot agree with the pragmatic acceptance of early sexual behaviour through the provision of contraception to children. Rather this behaviour needs to be challenged.It is unacceptable that a child of 13 becomes a dad or that there is a rise in promiscuous behaviour amongst the young with a knock on effect of a rise in the rate of teenage abortion.
- The sexualisation of children has become acceptable, promoted through television programmes, magazines and advertising. This lack of values needs to be challenged rather than accepted.
Of course, lots of parents (Muslim or otherwise) would agree with some of those points. Every parent adopts a slightly different approach to discussing sexual health and relationships with their children.
But, I have three major problems with this particular campaign.
The first is HT’s attempt to continue maligning and persecuting homosexuals, something Yusuf disingenuously (and repeatedly) describes as “a lifestyle choice” that is in danger of being “normalised”.
The second problem I have is with HT using this issue to further ingratiate itself to unsuspecting Muslims who might have their own objections to SRE classes. HT will use it to promote and market its ideas to these people and is seeking to make separatist demands for Muslim children on an issue that is not really Muslim-centric. As I’ve already said, many parents who are not Muslim would not want their children being taught about sexual health and relationships at a young age, or indeed by a school. Many think that, as parents, they’re best placed to do it themselves. So why is HT turning this into a sectarian issue?
Finally, and perhaps most worrying, is that HT is attempting to wage this campaign under the radar and not in its own name. I suspect this is because they know that any right-minded school and its parents would run a mile if they knew HT was lobbying it for concessions. This is particularly important when you consider that one of their strategies for thwarting the teaching of SRE is to encourage supporters to:
Become a governor at a local school
To achieve this they need to dupe and deceive people. So, let’s clarify any ambiguity that exists so people can be sure about this campaign.
Majed Iqbal, right, demanding no sex
Yusuf admits that he’s a member of Hizb ut Tahrir but insists the campaign is not being run by the group. Yet, everyone who seems to be driving this initiative forward on a national level is also a HT member. Just take a look at Majed’s blog (who is another member of the group) and you see the full extent of HT’s influence. He describes himself as one of the anti-SRE ‘organisers’, gave this interview to Islam Online about it and even produced this handy leaflet (pdf).
A few months ago Majed also arranged an event in Rochdale where another member of HT, Nasar Hanif, spoke about the campaign.
Nasar Hanif, a science teacher by profession and a member of the SRE Islamic team leading the campaign nationally presented the keynote speech highlighting what exactly the government was proposing.
In his PowerPoint presentation he detailed the ‘ill-devised’ thinking behind the plans and presented a range of points of activism for the audience on their role in how this can be counter-acted.
“Become governors of Primary Schools where you can have more of say in the education of your child and be a in a position to question such proposals and challenge them” he encouraged the audience with one of his proposals.
Nasar Hanif, indoctrinating kids at a school near you
Notice how Nasar is described as “a member of the SRE Islamic team leading the campaign nationally” and how he reiterates Yusuf’s suggestion that people should become school governors in order to influence them.
The PowerPoint presentation that Nasar used is available on the “Islamic SRE” website and is produced by Patel. For convenience, I’ve uploaded it here (pdf). Page 6 recommends that parents should “try and influence the SRE policy of your children’s school” before “opting out”, while page 9 helpfully suggests they should try and become governors themselves.
Another document (pdf) produced by Patel reveals just why this approach is emphasised so much. On page 27 it tells readers:
“Governors have a huge amount of leeway to mould the strategic direction of a school. Whether you are a parent, community, staff or LA governor, you can get involved to improve the educational experience of all children”.
But just in case you thought we might have been picking on the wrong man, click here to see Nasar addressing a HT rally in Bradford (see picture three). And, here’s Nasar writing back in 2003 when some Premiership footballers were questioned about an alleged rape:
…why should people be surprised at their lack of morality? Surely these players are just normal young men taken off the streets of Britain and they will therefore do what many other young men in Britain do. They are simply adhering to the same values of freedom and selfishness that have caused these types of action to become so common in the wider society. [My emphasis]
So, it seems that everyone we can find connected to the “SRE Islamic Campaign” is a member of HT with all the usual cult-based freakishness we’ve come to expect from that group.
Yusuf Patel and his mates clearly have major issues with sex, only fuelling Martin Amis’ famously Freudian theory of Islamist extremism – in essence, its less about religion and more about relief.
15 Comments
Just when I thought this site could not get more ridiculous, you end up astounding me with your sheer ignorance.
I have been to one of the seminars you so malign, I think that qualifies me to speak about this more than you. You don’t even know what the issue is you talk about the plan to teach SRE at school, that’s not the issue, it’s the proposals to make it statutory from key stage 1, there is a difference, as it’s already being taught.
Secondly, if they had hidden their link to HT they would have been attacked, they have been quite open about this but also have gone out of their way to be inclusive by working with Muslim groups like AMG and non-Muslim organisations as well. This is not a HT campaign. And it has been going on for at least the last eight months, with over 30 seminars centred around London. They have been working with Waltham Forest Council of Mosques, and Tower Hamlets Council of Mosques, they have actually been doing a good job. Now for you to run a tabloid piece devoid of understanding and using innuendo is in my opinion childish. Where are the enlightenment values you love to speak about.
They have also been fielding calls from parents, offering advice because they really believe in the need to counteract these plans and also urge Muslims to engage as governors in schools. But for you there must be evil intent around every corner, otherwise your raison d’être would collapse.
How do you know I haven’t been to one of these lectures as well?
And where is the evidence of them working with non-HT groups (Muslim or otherwise?) I’m afraid we only have your word for it.
Let’s look at the evidence which shows any objective individual that you haven’t been to a seminar/workshop.
1) The fact that you report this ‘story’ eight/nine months after the fact.
2) The use of secondary evidence, rather than primary ‘I was there and this is what was mentioned’ evidence. So you use the website, facebook. All secondary sources.
3) You use the Powerpoint presentation from the website, the SREIslamic team are negligent in not updating it as it is dated February 2009. Either you went to a seminar before that date, otherwise you would know that the presentation has been since been updated, (as I was at a later seminar) or you went to one pre-February one but decided to park it until now. Which is it?
You would also know the context for the message to become a governor was mentioned not to do so to become HT moles within schools, but to genuinely represent a community viewpoint, governing bodies have to represent the diverse communities that surround a school.
As for other groups, if you look at the website, you will see that the Association of Muslim Governors (non-HT) have organised at least 12 of the seminars. I was personally at an AMG organised seminar. If you look at the diverse list of places they have delivered at, some are obviously Deobandi, others Barelwi, a couple Salafi inclined, a few other Ikhwan inclined, others with no afilliation whatsoever, kind of like the make up of Muslims in this country.
I look forward to your reply.
By the way my affiliation is as a supporter of the campaign and its message.
I wrote my thesis on the subject of sex education in schools. It is an unfortunate but well documented fact that in general parents cannot be relied upon to provide adequate sex education for their offspring. There’s an awful lot more to this subject than just telling children ‘no’. Countries with the best (i.e. lowest) records on teenage pregnancies and STDs are those which begin teaching sex education early in a spiral form – each different age-group is taught more about the subject as they get older, building on knowledge they have already gained. Children and youth who are taught to recognise sex as one of many normal human behaviours which they can talk about freely actually begin sexual activity at a later age than those who are kept ignorant and embarrassed.
Obviously this is a sensitive subject in many communities, not just the Muslim one, but it is a subject which is far too important to sweep under the carpet. Children are naturally curious about sex, just as they are about the rest of the world around them. To ignore or dampen that curiosity is a recipe for disaster -their curiosity will not go away, but they will find their answers from less reliable and less ethical sources than those we can provide within a regulated system of education.
Honestly, I couldn’t have said it any better myself. Great post Israeli nurse.
How do you respond to that Shahid?
Shikwa,
I’m not sure who you are addressing when you say Shahid?
Nonetheless you have not dealt with my concerns wbout your lack of knowledge about the matter. Please address these and don’t jump on someone else’s comment to provide cover.
Israeli Nurse, your comment if it is relation to the thread about the SREIslamic campaign is not relevant. I say this because the campaign itself has said that children need values based and age appropriate SRE with appropriate materials (taken from one of their weekly mail outs and emphasised in the seminar I was at). If parents fail to deliver this themselves, they argue community institutions (mosques) must fill this gap. If you read the report this is also emphasised. Another reason why you, Shikwa, are groping in the dark on this one. At the seminar I was at, there wasa heated debate and critical reflection of the campaign which was welcomed by the speakers.
The point is, if you attended one of their seminars, you would find the content to be very sensible. It asks parents to be more involved in their childrens’ schools at alll levels including as governors. You wouldn’t know this was delivered by HT, actually they even asked everyone to respond to the public consulatation on this subject which I think ends in a couple of weeks.
So what is the real issue, besides your stated hatred of HT, which blinds you to everything else?
Actually I think members of fascist organisations should be banned from teaching in schools and being governers. In fact I think I might start a campaign about that, I’m sure I’ll attract plenty of attention from Muslims too.
As for Sex education, of course we need to have a healthy debate about this but not by listening to members of HT to reject democracy and freedom of speech, i.e. the very values which uphold debate in the first place. They clearly have ulterior motives and must be exposed for the fascists that they are.
Firstly, labelling someone as fascist has been a convenient way of shutting down debate.
Most importantly, whatever you may think of HT, if you can prove, in the seminars that these ideas have been promoted, then I will agree with you that they should have no say on these matters. It is easy to make a blanket statement and infer based upon previous knowledge rather than the discussion in hand.
Again, this is not a HT campaign, and they have declared their link so as not to hide anything, hardly a stealth campaign.
You need to ask yourself whether you believe in the values you espouse, or merely wear them as a badge of honour.
Again, Shikwa, Ibn Khaldun, provide me with evidence that this campaign promotes anything more than parental participation for Muslims in schools. What specific messages, make you summarily discount the campaign? If you say because different members of HT chose to be a part of it, then you have done nothing more than to shut down debate. If that’s the case, we now where we all stand, and the debate is over.
Ahmed – there is no compelling evidence as of yet that this campaign is merely an attempt by HT to attract people to their cause, this is my assumption informed by my knowledge of HT and their modus operandi. However, their involvement does taint the whole campaign. Just as I wouldn’t take a campaign by BNP members to support Asylum seekers very seriously.
As for my label ‘fascist’ if you have read the books of Nabhani then you will know what I mean.
Ahmad, can you tell us if you are or have ever been a member of Hizb ut Tahrir? If not, have you ever been in any of its halaqas?
I think this would help us understand where you are coming from.
I am not now nor have I ever been a member of HT .
I have never sat in a halaqa of HT.
Can I ask you, Ibn Khaldun and Shikwa, whether you have ever been members of HT or sat in a halaqa? And can you also give us all any information about afilliations that you may have that provide us all with context regarding your views about HT.
Ahmad
I wonder what HT’s method for sex education in schools is?
Do you have one?
When I knew Yusuf Patel (Jalaludin Patel’s brother) he was always saying how British law did not apply to Muslims and how it was forbidden for Muslims to follow British law.
Yeah I hung around with them tossers for a while in my youth. Sad depressing days they were.
Incidentally, my local mosque which I know for a fact have no partisan affiliations with any political organizations, and certainly have no connection with H.T., is organizing a weekend discussion and petition signing event about this very issue.
It is a valid concern for all parents who care about what their 5 year children are exposed to. As a parent, I completely want to reserve the right to choose at what age my children are exposed to sex education, and at what age they have to start thinking about condoms and homosexuality (two of the things which are being proposed to be taught). Personally, I think five years old is too young.
That is my choice, and I will resist any legislation which attempts to take this choice away from me, and I will give my support to organizations that do the same.
The name-calling and partisan one-upmanship which all but take priority on blogs like this (at least in the comments section) only succeeds in clouding the real issue. The fact the the state is gradually eroding my rights as a parent is apalling. Fight the power, or fight the fighters?
Abu Yusuf – as a Muslim parent myself I do sympathise with your perspective and of course we should have a say in this affair. However, I am sure that you are not naive and are able to recognise when extremist organisations are hijacking a cause for ulterior motives which is clearly the case with HT’s involvement.
This also reminds of an incident which took place outside a Moqsue in the Midlands a while back. HT members were handing out a leaflet called ‘Lets talk about sex’ to everyone who left Jumma prayers, including young children. This caused a storm and resulted in an ugly punch up outside the Mosque.