Can the British Government Have it Both Ways?

The British government is currently pushing the idea that an infusion of state sponsored civic education amongst its young Muslim population will help to prevent acts of domestic terrorism in the future. The government funded program is hoped to transcend traditional Islamic education in the country. By and large religious instruction is taught in Mosques by conservative Imams hailing from the generally alienated Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities that are walled off from mainstream British society. In fact, many do not even speak English, let alone have a grasp of the issues that young British born Muslims face in terms of finding their way in what can be a hostile society. Critics charge that these traditional teachings tend to be literal interpretations of text that lack an interrogation of the deeper meanings associated with them and how they might relate to the experience of young Muslims in Britain. From literal and archaic notions of jihad, for example, it is argued that young Muslims may come to wrongly perceive that violence must be waged upon Western governments and those that support them. Further, and what is at the heart of the matter, these traditional teachings are criticized for saying little about how the Koran can be a guide to navigating the complexities of modern life. The West can be a confusing and alienating place for young people whose identity is being competed for by both Western values and cultural-religious tradition.

In this regard, we should applaud the effort to challenge what seems to be a form of conservative religious education that serves little purpose in helping young Muslims to find a balance between religion and life in Western society. Especially since religion is supposed to play the important role of acting as a touch stone for how to live a moral, valuable, and fulfilling life. Frequently young Muslims ask what the point is of having to remember verses and stories from religious text if there is no connection to how one should handle the challenges of daily living and modern realities. Not being able to find the kind of significant guidance from traditional elder Imams can be a catalyst for further alienation and a misconstrued interpretation of Islam.

Despite what seems to be a fine idea, there is still a sense of illegitimacy of such a program being pushed by the British government. How can they promote a program like this on the one hand and yet continue to fail at the decades old problem of assimilating these mostly South Asian Islamic communities into British society on the other? The failure of assimilation, coupled with a underlying prejudice among Britons, is the source of the alienation and frustration experienced by many young British Muslims. It also seems quite unlikely that the British state can continue as the U.S.’s number one ally in Iraq and the war on terror, which is perceived as the number one threat facing Islam and fuels the calls for jihad, yet seek to curb extremism at home through civic education alone. It seems as though the British government wants to have it both ways.

Eradicating Islamic political violence in Britain requires the government to come to terms with what is a crisis of prejudice and a failure of assimilation amongst its Muslim population. Coming to grips with these social realities and seeking to make change should be the task of the government; though not religious education. That task must be left to progressive and forward looking members of the Islamic community. Their charge is to demonstrate that the Koran can indeed speak to the realities faced by the British Muslim youth in meaningful ways.