London

The Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) is the leading institution representing Sunni Muslim fundamentalism in the United Kingdom. An independent umbrella association of some 400 mosques, educational and charitable institutions, women's and youth groups, and professional bodies, it came into being in 1997. It has generally reflected the ideologies of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, the Saudi Wahhabi cult, and the Deobandi jihadists of Pakistan, whose thinking underlay the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

The council's new secretary general is the Bangladesh-born Muhammad Abdul Bari. He succeeds the infamous Sir Iqbal Sacranie, who endorsed threats against the novelist Salman Rushdie, saying: "Death, perhaps, is a bit too easy for him." Sacranie and the MCB protested the publication of the Muhammad caricatures in Denmark. The council boycotts Britain's Holocaust Memorial Day, observed each January 27, with the argument that an occasion for remembrance should be established for all victims of genocide, and not merely for the Jews killed by Hitler. It produces a steady stream of excuses for suicide terror in Israel and Kashmir. Yet the council professes moderation.

Now, however, its authentic agenda is discernible in its new recommended guidelines for accommodating Muslim students in British state schools--equivalent to the public school system in the United States. Just published, the guidelines are entitled "Towards Greater Understanding--Meeting the Needs of Muslim Pupils in State Schools: Information & Guidance for Schools" and can be downloaded at www.mcb.org.uk. The guidelines call upon British schools to "respond positively to meeting the needs of Muslim pupils." It's a tall order.

The first challenge is to grasp the comprehensive nature of the Muslim faith. "The faith commitments of Muslim pupils and their families encompass all aspects of everyday life and conduct, including daily life in school," explains the foreword. To realize this, school teachers and administrators should undergo cultural awareness training. Indeed, the ordinary assumption that pupils' religion is a private matter is problematic. As the guidelines explain:

Some community schools adopt a policy where the religion and faith of their pupils is strictly regarded as a matter of private and personal concern for each pupil and is therefore not appropriately addressed within the school. This approach makes it more difficult for schools to appreciate and respond positively to meeting some of the distinctive spiritual, moral, social and cultural needs of Muslim children.

Instead, schools should not only "recognise and affirm" Muslim needs, they should protect Muslim children from "situations involving conflicts of belief or conscience . . .likely to have an alienating effect where pupils may feel that they are not valued and may give rise to inappropriate assumptions that in order to progress in society they will have to compromise or give up aspects of who they are, and their religious beliefs and values."

This is important for standard multicultural reasons--"for Muslim pupils' sense of self-esteem and worth"--but also because Islam is special. "Although there are many similarities with other faith groups, many of the issues facing Muslim pupils are different in kind and in degree. Schools need to be better informed and have greater and more accurate appreciation of their Muslim pupils' needs."

On the matter of clothing, the MCB explains, "In principle the dress for both boys and girls should be modest and neither tight-fitting nor transparent and not accentuate the body shape. In practice this means a wide variety of styles are acceptable. In public boys should always be covered between the navel and knee and girls should be covered except for their hands and faces, a concept known as 'hijab.'" A footnote adds, "For some Muslims fulfilling this requirement may mean the wearing of the jilbab (a long outer garment down to the ankles)." Further, "schools should accommodate Muslim girls so that they are allowed to wear a full-length loose school skirt or loose trousers, a long-sleeved shirt and a head scarf to cover their hair."