[lg policy] NI Muslim figure ‘really surprised’ by Cameron’s English language policy

Tue Jan 19 19:22:16 UTC 2016

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NI Muslim figure ‘really surprised’ by Cameron’s English language policy
[image: Prime Minister David Cameron talks to Imam Qari Asim (right), and
Shabana Muneer, a member of Makkah Masjid Mosque's women's group, during a
visit to the Makkah Masjid Mosque in Leeds, as he has warned that Muslim
women who fail to improve their English language skills could be kicked out
of the UK]
Prime Minister David Cameron talks to Imam Qari Asim (right), and Shabana
Muneer, a member of Makkah Masjid Mosque's women's group, during a visit to
the Makkah Masjid Mosque in Leeds, as he has warned that Muslim women who
fail to improve their English language skills could be kicked out of the UK
Adam Kula
adam.kula at newsletter.co.uk
07:00Tuesday 19 January 2016

A top figure from Belfast Islamic Centre has rejected the idea that there
is a “stay at home” attitude towards Muslim women in Northern Ireland, as
David Cameron yesterday faced a barrage of criticism over a new drive to
undermine extremism.

Anwar Mady was reacting to the Prime Minister’s proposal to spend £20m on a
project aimed at improving the English of UK Muslim women – with one
possibility being that those who do not make the grade may lose the right
to stay in the country (see panel to the right).

Whilst Mr Mady denied there is any major difference in the language skills
of Northern Ireland-based Muslim men and women, UKIP MLA David McNarry said
he doubts women are treated with equal standing among members of the
Province’s Muslim community – and condemned the level of spending involved.

Mr Mady has lived in Belfast for the last 10 years, and used to be the imam
(the Muslim equivalent of a minister) at the Islamic Centre.

Today, the 42-year-old is its project co-ordinator, although he still
occasionally takes prayers on a Friday (that being akin to the Muslim
Sabbath).

Worshippers come from across Africa and Asia, and he said the main language
spoken among them is English – with religious services mostly in English
too.

He said: “Islam generally urges education, demanding every Muslim, every
believing Muslim – men or women – go and seek education in the land,
anywhere in the world.”

He added: “However, what the Prime Minister said about the correlation
between uneducation, or low speaking of English in Muslim women, and being
recruited by Daesh or being segregated, I do not think it is true.”

Daesh is a pejorative term used in the Muslim world for the Islamic State
group, and David Cameron has suggested that Muslim women with poor English
may be “more susceptible to the extremist message that comes from Daesh”.

Speaking about the policy, Mr Mady said: “For me, I’m really surprised
about this.”

He said the number of Muslim women studying in Belfast exceeds men, and
that “in our small community” they have a number of female nurses,
engineers, and doctors.

“So how could I suggest that it’s a segregated sort of community, who
segregate women and ask for them to stay at home, not allowing them
education?” he asked.

Most of the 18 attendees at their bi-weekly English class are women “who
are looking forward to developing their career”.

He said it “is not a good argument, to say that Muslim women are not having
English language skills”.

He added: “If there are communities of low English skills, they are men and
women alike. And there are some communities with good English skills, men
and women alike. I don’t see in my career that there is a sort of
distinction between men and women in this regard.”

Asked if Northern Irish Muslims may be susceptible to recruitment from
Daesh, he said: “I don’t think so.”

David McNarry said the decision to spend £20m on the language project would
provoke “considerable uproar”, and that the money would be better spent on
the NHS.

When Mr Mady’s suggestion that there is little gender segregation in
Northern Ireland was put to him, he said: “That’s not fully my information.
My information is that many Muslim women who are not professional still
play a subservient role in their homes in Northern Ireland.”

Asked his source, he said it came from meeting and speaking to Muslim women.

*‘40,000 with no English’*

*Mr Cameron said it was not acceptable that women in parts of the UK were
not allowed to leave their homes without a male relative, and faced
sex-segregated school governors meetings.*

*He said the “evidence is that there are some 40,000 women in our country
who really don’t speak any English”.*

*He added: “What we’ve said is that if people come here on a spousal visa,
to be a husband or a wife, we’ve now said they have to learn English in
order to get that visa. But after two-and-a-half years, halfway through the
programme of getting settlement, they should be improving their English,
and if they don’t do that then they can’t be guaranteed to be able to go to
the full stage and retain their visa.”*

*He then faced a backlash, with top Tory Baroness Warsi calling the plans
“lazy and misguided”.*

Read more:
http://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/ni-muslim-figure-really-surprised-by-cameron-s-english-language-policy-1-7167380#ixzz3xigeiYjg

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