If the British Government is attempting to interfere in the Muslim community on matters of Islam by funding a board of theologians, it is being wrong-headed as such a panel would have no credibility in the eyes of the Muslims.
Other governments have tried to impose their views to control Islam and have failed. It has been counter-productive and divisive. It will be perceived that the whole strategy of the UK Government on tackling extremism is to target not just violent extremists but Islam itself.
Communities Secretary, Hazel Blears, said last month, the Government’s latest package of measures was part of “Winning Hearts and Minds” of the Muslim community. The launch of “Preventing Violent Extremism: Next Steps for Communities” included funding a board of some 20 theologians, who have yet to be named, under the auspices of Oxford and Cambridge universities.
Blears also said the Government would train young Muslims “to stand up to violent extremists” and help them “understand how their faith is compatible with wider shared values.” The assumption is that young Muslims are ignorant of their faith and that the Government is best placed to educate them.
The Communities Secretary told BBC Today programme, before the announcement of her measures, that she knows of British Muslim groups who have said that “Israel should be wiped off the face of the map” and that the Government will not engage with them. She did not say which these groups are or whether the boycott includes anyone who criticises Israel for breaching international and humanitarian laws.
Another measure targeted at Muslims and not other faiths is the development of new citizenship materials and training packages for mosque schools. It seems the aim is to have Government-approved Islamic education, including the teaching of the Qur’an, in compulsory citizenship classes in mainstream schools.
Ministers appear to have set their eyes on another Reformation akin to when the Church of England was set up to break away from Catholicism and affected the way Christianity was practised five centuries ago. It led to the dissolution of monasteries and long periods of persecution of the Catholics, with many of their rights not restored until the 19th century. From the onset, the dispute was largely political not religious, a parallel that seems to be missed.
http://muslimnews.co.uk/paper/index.php?article=3640
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