Administrators at an Islamic elementary school in England where school inspectors discovered books promoting stoning and lashing as proper criminal punishments responded by claiming that Muslims are being “alienated and victimized” by the British government.
Inspectors from the Office of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools – commonly called Ofsted in British shorthand – found the books last month in the library at Olive Tree Primary School in Luton, about 30 miles north of London, reports the BBC News.
The fundamentalist views endorsing lashing and stoning have “no place in British society,” the inspectors said.
They also charged that the primary school does not encourage “balanced views of the world” and that students have “limited” contact with “different cultures, faiths and traditions,” according to the BBC.
“There are too few books about the world’s major religions other than Islam,” government officials said.
The books at Olive Tree Primary School include The Ideal Muslim by Dr Muhammad Ali Al-Hashimi. Brit inspectors say the 386-page tome instructs parents to smack their children if they are not praying adequately once they are 10 years old, notes the Huffington Post.
The officials say another book, Commanders of the Muslim Army by Mahmood Ahmad Ghadanfar, applauds adherents of Islam who “loved death more than life in their pursuit of righteous and true religion.”
Farasat Latif, the chairman of governors at Olive Tree Primary School, strongly criticized the charges, saying that the school does not promote lashing or stoning.
“It is a half-baked, highly politicized report, replete with factual inaccuracies, and based upon an inspection that was abandoned halfway through,” Latif said in a statement obtained by Luton On Sunday.
“The inspectors come into our school looking for evidence that we promote extremism and intolerance, quizzing nine-year-old children about their attitudes to homosexuality, gay marriage and terrorism.”
Latif’s statement refers to the fact that government officials stopped their inspection last month after parents protested that their kids had been asked about homosexuality.
“We gave ample evidence of how our school prepares children to participate as active members of British society citing assemblies on topics as diverse as tolerance, love for humanity, living in a multi-faith society, law and order, and being British and Muslim,” Latif’s statement said.
“Our library has a selection books on all faiths, as well as various children’s fiction and non-fiction, for example Roald Dahl, George Orwell and Ann Frank,” he added.
Latif also suggested that the Bible calls for “stoning to death for 18 different crimes and burning to death for a number of crimes,” according to Luton On Sunday.
Tuition at Olive Tree Primary School is about $2,040 per year.
The investigation of the school comes at a time when Great Britain’s education officials have launched a full-fledged inquiry concerning a “Trojan Horse” plot involving several schools that are allegedly attempting to indoctrinate students with hardcore, terror-sympathizing Islamic beliefs. (RELATED: British government, BBC probe AL-QAIDA PROMOTION at taxpayer-funded schools)
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