“I saw something eerie this week. It wasn’t an apparition exactly, but rather a head-spinning blur of headlines about global jihad that, rather incredibly, began to take on the unmistakable shape of a British old school tie.

“How? Maybe I should start by explaining it was the old school tie that came to mind first in the form of a new publication on British education: namely, a 72-page manifesto (sorry, ‘guidance’) from the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) on how British state schools might better accommodate children from the Muslim community, which, according to the 2001 census, makes up 2.7 percent of the British population.

“Did I say ‘better’ accommodate their Muslim pupils? I mean, much, much better accommodate them. In fact, if the British were to adopt half of the MCB’s recommendations for making British schooling Muslim-friendly, they might as well re-issue the 19th-century boy’s school classic as Abdullah Brown’s School Days. At the crux of the Muslim council’s document is a call for special treatment for Britain’s Muslim students that is so special as to reorient the entire British system according to Islamic law….

“And what does all of this have to do with that blur of jihad stories mentioned at the top of the column? First, consider the headlines. In Pakistan, a liberal-minded minister (and wife and mother of two) was assassinated for not wearing a veil. (The shooter reportedly said, ‘I have no regrets. I just obeyed Allah’s commandment’.) Also in Pakistan, barbers received threatening letters warning them against continuing their ‘anti-sharia work’ cutting customers’ beards. (One barber told the Associated Press that two dozen barbers have responded by asking customers not to request shaves.) In London, a Muslim father killed his wife and four daughters (ages 16, 13, 10, and 3) because, according to the Telegraph, ‘he could not bear them adopting a more westernised lifestyle’.

“What is quite eerie about these horrific crimes is the striking fact that the perpetrators, who acted to avenge various infractions of Islamic law, would likely feel right at home in a British state school that had adopted the Muslim Council of Britain’s recommendations. In other words, the outlaws and the advocacy group are working in their different ways to enact Islamic law. Which should teach us all a lesson – if we bothered to learn it.”

Diana West in the Washington Times, 23 February 2007

For further comment on the MCB report, see Rolled Up Trousers and Indigo Jo Blogs.