News:

Six independent Muslim schools in London's East End must make urgent changes or be forced to close, the education secretary, Nicky Morgan, said after Ofsted inspectors last week faulted them for failing to promote "British values".

In a letter to the Education Secretary, the Head of Ofsted, Sir Michael Wilshaw, wrote that the pupils' "physical and educational welfare is at serious risk" and that all the schools "focused too heavily on Islamic teachings". Inspectors were concerned at the "narrow minded" view of women and statement from a primary school pupil at East London Islamic School said he believed he would "go to hell" if he participated in music or dance. Students at the respective schools are thought to be vulnerable to extremism and radicalization unless drastic changes be made.

Comment:

It appears that the government has designated Ofsted as its new weapon to hunt Muslim schools, and the ammunition is the freedom to apply the ambiguous and ever expanding terms of extremism, which has come to be an umbrella term for anything remotely Islamic. This is part of the wider agenda of the British government to reform Islam and encourage Muslims to compromise.

Speaking in June 2014, British Prime Minister David Cameron said, "We need to be far more muscular in promoting British values". He has advocated this "muscular" approach before, against those who hold Islamic values and are critical of state policy towards Muslims and the Islamic world.

It has since become clear that the youth are the key target in the government's plans. From targeting Islamic societies and gender segregation at universities to the vilification of Islamic beliefs in schools, every obstacle is being placed in front of Muslim students to prevent them from being raised with Islam.

The Islamic way of life poses a threat to western secular liberalism. Whilst British educational institutions face an onslaught of social problems, from drugs, rape culture, binge drinking, teenage pregnancies and falling grades, the growing attachment of Muslim students to their Deen molding successful individuals on all levels shows the superiority of Islam. The Muslim community in the UK has also seen a growing attachment to the global Ummah and been more vocal of their concerns over the fate of the Muslim world. It is in a bid to stop such voices that the government has mounted its latest attack.

Muslim parents and the community in general have a collective responsibility to challenge this forceful assimilation strategy by protecting their children's Islamic identity.

Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir by

Aisha Hasan