National Muslim Education Council

Last updated

The National Muslim Education Council is a British charity founded in 1978 by the Union of Muslim Organisations of UK. [1] Its first chairman was Safa Khulusi. [2]

Its mission is to "coordinate educational activities with other education charities. To help in training, education of Muslim adults and children. To promote religious activities and participate in inter-faith education boards." [3]

The council publishes documents and papers on religious education. [4] In 1988, it lobbied the government to change the UK's Education Reform Act which required "broadly Christian" acts of worship in schools. They wanted the wording to be changed to "the worship of the one supreme God". They also wanted the standing Advisory Committees on Religious Education to have more input from Muslims. [5] In 2001 Syed Aziz Pasha, secretary of the Council, defended Muslim religious teaching in the light of a report that excessive study of the Quran was leading to poor educational performance by Pakistani children in the UK. [6]

Notes

  1. Humayun Ansari, The Infidel within: Muslims in Britain since 1800, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2004, P.350
  2. Sam Khulusi, Safa Khulusi: Obituary, The Independent, October 5, 1995.
  3. Sheikh Afirst1=Aziz; Gatrad, Abdul Rashid (2008). Caring for Muslim patients. Radcliffe Publishing. p. 20.
  4. Muslim education quarterly, Volume 15, Islamic Academy, 1997, p. 20
  5. New community, Volume 18, Centre for Research in Ethnic Relations, University of Warwick, 1991, p.465.
  6. Warwick Mansell, Anger at attack on Muslim education, Times Educational Supplement , 2 November, 2001.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zakat</span> Form of almsgiving treated in Islam as a religious obligation or tax

Zakat is a form of almsgiving, often collected by the Muslim Ummah. It is considered in Islam as a religious obligation, and by Quranic ranking, is next after prayer (salat) in importance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">School prayer</span> State-sponsored or mandatory prayer by public school students

School prayer, in the context of religious liberty, is state-sanctioned or mandatory prayer by students in public schools. Depending on the country and the type of school, state-sponsored prayer may be required, permitted, or prohibited. The United Kingdom also requires daily worship by law, but does not enforce it. Countries which prohibit or limit school prayer often differ in their reasons for doing so. In the United States, school prayer cannot be required of students in accordance with the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. This is generally rigorously applied in public schools; the Establishment Clause does not prevent prayer in private schools that have no public funding. In Canada, school-sponsored prayer is disallowed under the concept of freedom of conscience as outlined in the Canadian Charter on Rights & Fundamental Freedoms. School-sponsored prayer is disallowed in France as a byproduct of its status as a secular nation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Syed Ahmad Khan</span> Indian Muslim reformer and social activist (1817–1898)

Sir Syed Ahmad KhanKCSI, also spelled Sayyid Ahmad Khan, was an Indian Muslim reformer, philosopher, and educationist in nineteenth-century British India. Though initially espousing Hindu–Muslim unity, he later became the pioneer of Muslim nationalism in India and is widely credited as the father of the two-nation theory, which formed the basis of the Pakistan movement. Born into a family with strong debts to the Mughal court, Ahmad studied science and the Quran within the court. He was awarded an honorary LLD from the University of Edinburgh in 1889.

A parochial school is a private primary or secondary school affiliated with a religious organization, and whose curriculum includes general religious education in addition to secular subjects, such as science, mathematics and language arts. The word parochial comes from the same root as "parish", and parochial schools were originally the educational wing of the local parish church. Christian parochial schools are called "church schools" or "Christian schools."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Humanists UK</span> Charitable organization promoting secular humanism

Humanists UK, known from 1967 until May 2017 as the British Humanist Association (BHA), is a charitable organisation which promotes secular humanism and aims to represent "people who seek to live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs" in the United Kingdom by campaigning on issues relating to humanism, secularism, and human rights. It seeks to act as a representative body for non-religious people in the UK.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Religion in the United Kingdom</span>

Religion in the United Kingdom, and in the countries that preceded it, has been dominated for over 1,400 years by various forms of Christianity, replacing Romano-British religions, Celtic and Anglo-Saxon paganism as the primary religion. Religious affiliations of United Kingdom citizens are recorded by regular surveys, the four major ones being the national decennial census, the Labour Force Survey, the British Social Attitudes survey and the European Social Survey.

Daʿwah is the act of converting people to Islam. The plural is daʿwāt (دَعْوات) or daʿawāt (دَعَوات).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hinduism in the United Kingdom</span> Overview of the presence of Hinduism in the United Kingdom

Hinduism is the third largest religious group in the United Kingdom, after Christianity and Islam; the religion is followed by around 1.7% of the total population of the nation. Hindus had a presence in the United Kingdom since the early 19th century, as at the time India was part of the British Empire. Many Indians in the British Indian Army settled in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. According to 2021 United Kingdom census, 1,032,775 residents (1.7%) identified themselves as Hindus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Education Reform Act 1988</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Education Reform Act 1988 is widely regarded as the most important single piece of education legislation in England and Wales since the 'Butler' Education Act 1944.

A faith school is a school in the United Kingdom that teaches a general curriculum but which has a particular religious character or formal links with a religious or faith-based organisation. The term is most commonly applied to state-funded faith schools, although many independent schools also have religious characteristics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Muslim Educational Trust</span>

Muslim Educational Trust (MET) is an educational organization offering information, advice and publications about education and the educational needs of children to parents in particular. It is based in London.

Ghulam Sarwar is a Bangladeshi-born British writer on Islam in English and director of the Muslim Educational Trust (MET).

The Constitution provides for freedom of religion and does not establish a state religion; however, in practice the Government imposes legal restrictions on all forms of religious expression. All groups must register in order to gain legal status; unregistered religious activity is illegal and may be punished by administrative fines. While the 1996 law on religion and subsequent 1999 amendments had effectively restricted registration to only the two largest groups, Sunni Muslim and Russian Orthodox, and criminalized unregistered religious activity, presidential decrees issued in 2000 dramatically reduced the numerical thresholds for registration and abolished criminal penalties for unregistered religious activity; civil penalties remain. As a result, nine minority religious groups were able to register, and the Turkmenistan government has permitted some other groups to meet quietly with reduced scrutiny.

James Arthur Beckford was a British sociologist of religion. He was professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Warwick and a Fellow of the British Academy. In 1988/1989, he served as president of the Association for the Sociology of Religion, and from 1999 to 2003, as the president of the International Society for the Sociology of Religion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khalili Foundation</span> UK-based interfaith and intercultural charity

The Khalili Foundation is a UK-based charity promoting interfaith and intercultural understanding through art, culture and education. Its founder and chairman is the London-based philanthropist, art collector and scholar Sir David Khalili. A Persian Jew who grew up in Iran, he is notable for having the world's largest private collection of Islamic art. Established in 1995, the foundation has created interfaith and intercultural links through "cultural, academic, sporting and educational programmes".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madina Mosque, Horsham</span>

Madina Mosque is a mosque in the centre of Horsham, an ancient market town in the English county of West Sussex. It has served the Muslim community of the town and the surrounding district of Horsham since 2008. The plain stuccoed building in which it is housed was originally a Baptist chapel—one of several in the town, which has a long history of Nonconformist Christian worship. The former Jireh Independent Chapel was in commercial use until Muslims acquired it after a lengthy search for a permanent space. The organization, 'Muslims in Britain' classify the Madina Mosque as, "Deobandi".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Safa Khulusi</span>

Safa Abdul-Aziz Khulusi was an Iraqi historian, novelist, poet, journalist and broadcaster. He is known for mediating between Arabic- and English-language cultures, and for his scholarship of modern Iraqi literature.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">UK Islamic Mission</span>

UK Islamic Mission (UKIM) is a registered charity and Islamic organization based in the United Kingdom. It is registered with the Charity Commission for England and Wales, and the Fundraising Standards Board (FRSB), the UK's independent regulator for charity fundraising.

The Trojan Horse scandal, also known as "Operation Trojan Horse" or the Trojan Horse affair, involves claims of an alleged conspiracy to introduce an "Islamist" or "Salafist" ethos into several schools in Birmingham, England. The name, based on the Greek legend, comes from an anonymous letter sent to Birmingham City Council in late 2013, alleged to be from Birmingham "Islamists" detailing how to wrest control of a school, and speculating about expanding the scheme to other cities. The letter was leaked to the press in March 2014. Around a month later, Birmingham City Council revealed that following the letter release it had received hundreds of allegations of plots similar to those described in the letter, some claims dating back over 20 years.

Islamic teachings on humanity and human welfare have been codified in its central religious book known as the Quran, which the Muslims believe was revealed by God for the mankind. These teachings have often been exemplified by Islamic prophet Muhammad as displayed in his sayings and practices. To the Muslims, Islam is what the Quran has instructed to do and how Muhammad has put them into practice. Thus, the understanding of any Islamic topic generally rely on these two.