From BuzzFeed
by Siraj Datoo and Hussein Kesvani
David Cameron is facing criticism from British Muslim organisations who say a section of the prime minister’s speech at the Conservative party conference on Wednesday appeared to single out Islamic supplementary schools — known as madrasahs — and implied the schools are teaching students to hate other faiths and social groups.
“There is nothing wrong with children learning about their faith whether that was in madrasahs, Sunday schools or Jewish yeshivas,” Cameron said. “But in some madrassas, we’ve got children being taught that they shouldn’t mix with people of other religions; being beaten; swallowing conspiracy theories about Jewish people”.
Muslim Council of Britain, one of Britain’s largest Muslim organisations, issued a statement following Cameron’s speech saying “we are concerned at the Prime Minister’s targeting of the supplementary schools. It is neither Islamic, nor prevalent in madrassas to be isolationist or to preach hate of other faiths. We would hope that these serious allegations can be substantiated and the evidence brought forward, so that appropriate action can be taken.”
Muhbeen Hussain, the chairman of British Muslim Youth, criticised Cameron for failing to reach out to young Muslims in a positive way.
“He mentioned multiculturalism in the speech, but he appeared to just focus on Islam and Muslims,” he said. “He singled out Muslim schools and Madrassas, not Christian schools or Jewish schools. And when he spoke about forced marriage, he did so in the context of Islam and Muslims, even though this is a huge problem that faces many cultures all over the world.”
