Scotland’s biggest council believes that a state-funded Islamic faith school would lead to the “social isolation” of young Scottish Muslims, a secret document has revealed. Despite publicly saying it would consider a school if community leaders could prove the demand, a memo obtained by Scotland on Sunday shows that Glasgow’s education chiefs have voiced “serious concerns” about any such plans.

Muslim leaders have reacted with concern to the memo. Osama Saeed, Scottish spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain, said: “It’s disappointing that they haven’t raised these concerns with us up to now, the issue has always been one of proving the demand, which we are confident we can do. The concerns are completely misplaced, studies of pupils from Islamic schools in England have shown that they are more tolerant and open than those not in Islamic schools.”

Scotland on Sunday, 29 October 2006

You’ll note that a quote from Osama saying that the failure to consult was “disappointing” becomes translated in the headline into “Muslim anger”. It appears that Muslims can’t express disagreement with anything, however politely and reasonably, without being accused of aggressive hostility.