Mashuq Ally chairs the Channel Panel in Birmingham that decides if someone needs to be referred to a mentor like Mr Qadir. Mr Ally is responsible for overseeing all Channel cases in the Birmingham area. Once a lecturer in Islamic studies, he is now an assistant director of Birmingham City Council and is in charge of equality and community cohesion.
Last year a government inquiry found evidence of what it defines as non-violent extremism in up to 16 state schools in Birmingham. In total about 5,000 pupils were in schools affected by the Trojan Horse affair.
The inquiry was led by Peter Clarke a former head of counter-terrorism assisted by a team of senior civil servants and experts. Clarke reported that the Islamist “ideology” his inquiry found was “an intolerant and politicised form of extreme social conservatism that claims to represent, and ultimately seeks to control, all Muslims”.
Its manifestations in these Birmingham schools included: “anti-Western rhetoric, particularly anti-US and anti-Jewish; segregationism: dividing the world into ‘us and them’, with ‘them’ to include all non-Muslims and any other Muslims who disagree; perception of a worldwide conspiracy against Muslims; attempts to impose its views and practices upon others; intolerance of difference, whether the secular, other religions or other Muslims” and disdain among teachers for the armed forces.
Both the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary, Theresa May, have described what Clarke found as examples of (non-violent) extremism. Indeed, the government’s recently published counter-extremism strategy said that Clarke had “described extremists gaining positions on governing bodies and joining the staff . . . extremist speakers making presentations to pupils and bullying and intimidation of staff who refused to support extremist views”.
However, when I asked Mr Ally if he regarded what Clarke had found as evidence of extremism he replied: “No I don’t, because I think that Trojan Horse was about essentially conservative Muslims using state schools or local government schools to promote their particular version of Islam, which wasn’t extremist, and also that was related to poor governance and management of those schools.”
Although Mr Ally said that this “conservative interpretation of Islam” was not one he would subscribe to, he nonetheless questioned whether Clarke had actually found any examples of anti-Semitism.
Last year a government inquiry found evidence of what it defines as non-violent extremism in up to 16 state schools in Birmingham. In total about 5,000 pupils were in schools affected by the Trojan Horse affair.
The inquiry was led by Peter Clarke a former head of counter-terrorism assisted by a team of senior civil servants and experts. Clarke reported that the Islamist “ideology” his inquiry found was “an intolerant and politicised form of extreme social conservatism that claims to represent, and ultimately seeks to control, all Muslims”.
Its manifestations in these Birmingham schools included: “anti-Western rhetoric, particularly anti-US and anti-Jewish; segregationism: dividing the world into ‘us and them’, with ‘them’ to include all non-Muslims and any other Muslims who disagree; perception of a worldwide conspiracy against Muslims; attempts to impose its views and practices upon others; intolerance of difference, whether the secular, other religions or other Muslims” and disdain among teachers for the armed forces.
Both the Prime Minister and the Home Secretary, Theresa May, have described what Clarke found as examples of (non-violent) extremism. Indeed, the government’s recently published counter-extremism strategy said that Clarke had “described extremists gaining positions on governing bodies and joining the staff . . . extremist speakers making presentations to pupils and bullying and intimidation of staff who refused to support extremist views”.
However, when I asked Mr Ally if he regarded what Clarke had found as evidence of extremism he replied: “No I don’t, because I think that Trojan Horse was about essentially conservative Muslims using state schools or local government schools to promote their particular version of Islam, which wasn’t extremist, and also that was related to poor governance and management of those schools.”
Although Mr Ally said that this “conservative interpretation of Islam” was not one he would subscribe to, he nonetheless questioned whether Clarke had actually found any examples of anti-Semitism.
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