Tolerance Has Its Limits Part 5: The Trojan Horse returns

In my previous reports on Muslim extremists who took over the governance of schools in Birmingham, Bradford and London etc., government action indicated that the threat was over.  Now, 5 head teachers have come forward in Birmingham with a warning that a "second layer"  of extremists are still plotting to take over state schools in the city.  Of the 5, only one remains in her job;  three were ousted and one is on "stress"  leave.  One of the heads, Saeeda Bano, said:  "There are still many things that need to be addressed.  I would not want any other teachers to have to go through what I have been through.  This really does need to be stopped".  Another head teacher, Bhupinder Kondal, walked away from her job 6 months ago, but she will soon be reinstated following the forced resignation of the board of governors.  She detailed how governors "cancelled Christmas, urged pupils to memorize the Koran and told me to remove all the urinals in the school because it was un - Islamic for boys to urinate standing up".  Head teacher, Kevin McCabe, concluded:  "the stress of trying to manage a school where you know the governing body is working against you is impossible".

Meanwhile, other extremists are promoting an ISIS - style interpretation of Islamic law on the streets of Britain by trying to ban people from listening to music, dancing or mixing with the opposite sex.  In Birmingham, for example, every year Muslims celebrate the end of the holy month of Ramadan and the arrival of Eid with music, dancing and feasting outside Asian shops and restaurants.  On July 27th, extremists disrupted the festivities by chanting and waving home - made banners at the crowd.  One banner said:  "Say no to satan.  No music.  No dancing.  Do not let the devil take away the deeds you struggled so hard for this Ramadan".

In London, extremists confronted women going to a family festival to celebrate the Bangladeshi new year.  They warned them not to attend, saying the event encouraged "sin",  "fornication"  and "drug - taking".  Last week, a flag resembling the black and white ISIS flag was flown over a housing estate in east London.  It was taken down the same day.  Ghaffer Hussain, managing director of Quilliam, a counterextremism think tank, said:  "It's very alarming that UK - based extremists are now seeking to import an ISIS -style interpretation of Islam and impose it on British citizens.  Banning music and dancing is completely unacceptable in a modern democracy and goes against all British values".

Of course, all of this evidence is anecdotal and by no means a tidal wave of extremism.  But it will be interesting to watch what impact future ISIS success in the middle east will have on fringe elements in Muslim communities in the U.K.  and other parts of the world.  Stay tuned for more.