Young people are not as naïve as some adults think
A new course on ‘Islamophobia’…
There are clear parallels in the prejudices, stereotypes and misconceptions of Islamophobia and sectarianism, says Mr Gray. But there are also important differences…“One thing I try to get across to young people is that terrorists are not truly Islamic,” he says. “The word ‘Islam’ means ‘peace’, and if you read the Qur’an it has a message of peace on almost every page. The idea of murder is utterly against its teachings. Any text is open to interpretation, but the fundamental truth of the Qur’an is submission to the will of God, who demands that Muslims are seen to be peaceful people.”
The word ‘Islam’ means ‘submission,’ and if you read the Qur’an it has different messages in different places.
This distinction between Muslims and Islamists is one that pupils on the course it is designed for (S1-2) are able to appreciate, he says. “In my experience, young people are sympathetic to Islam and are not as naïve as some adults think. They can listen to stories on the news, for instance, and say, ‘Hold on, I’ve studied Islam at school and I know that’s not true’.”
Or they can say, ‘Hold on, I’ve studied Islamophobia at school and I know what I was taught in that course’ – which could itself be thoroughly naïve. Mr Gray sounds somewhat naïve himself.
Besides imparting knowledge and developing understanding, a key aim of the course is to foster this kind of questioning among young people. “We have to challenge ideas and guide pupils to becoming independent learners and critical thinkers. That’s very important,” says Mr Gray.
Provided, of course, they question and challenge in the way Mr Gray has taught them to; provided they become independent learners and critical thinkers who reach the conclusions Mr Gray wants them to reach. It doesn’t sound very much as if he wants them to question Islam, or challenge the ‘fundamental truth of the Qur’an’ or become critical thinkers about Islam. It sounds as if Mr Gray wants them to learn that ‘terrorists are not truly Islamic’ and that Islam means peace and that ‘Islamophobia’ is a bad thing. It doesn’t sound as if he’ll be assigning them any books by Ayaan Hirsi Ali or my friend Ibn Warraq. Questioning is as questioning does.
Just about all of Suras 8 and 9 is about making war and dividing up the spoils. And it seems none of the longer suras can stay on topic for long without veering off into yet another iteration of THE INFIDEL DOGS ARE GONNA BURN BURN BURN!
I’m always deeply suspicious of the motives of these folk from the West of Scotland (aka the supernaturalist heartlands of our nation). A lot of the anti-sectarian stuff they produce focuses solely on importance of respecting other beliefs, etc, and misses-out the ‘questioning the whole bloody concept’ aspect.
There’s definitely a strong whiff of ‘faith’ is better than ‘no faith’, even if it’s not “your” faith, because as soon as one set of authoritarian fairytales is challenged, well…they know what happens next.
Ho hum.
They’re a weird, tribal, troglodyte lot over there…
:-)
Qur’an it has a message of peace on almost every page.”
Yes, Mr Gray should show the students paintings of Mohammed – he will find therein in the background contemptible violence towards women which is too beyond the pale and unplumbed to even chew over.
Do Scottish folk object to Scotland being referred to as part of Britain? (As was stated in the article).
Isn’t that like Mexicans objecting to México being referred to as part of North America?
Comment is free: The long game of independence has an update on Scottish political affairs, such as the recent ‘white paper’.
I do not have a bull’s notion about Mexico, so because of that fact I will look it up. My present image of it, to tell you the honest truth, is only in terms of its inhabitants whom I perceive to be dark skinned banditti’s, wearing straw sombreros and multi-coloured poncho’s who find themselves riding on mules into American Towns. Preposterous of me in actuality – in this present day, to be thinking in this way!
Sure, people have uncanny old-fashioned ideas about Ireland. They think we believe in fairies and leprechauns. Well, I used to once, but not anymore.