ISLAM has strong tradition of educating the people about the tenets of Islam, said British Home Office minister, Meg Hillier, at the National Conference on “Muslim Youth and British Identity,” organized by NIDA Trust in cooperation with the Islamic Cultural Centre (ICC), London at the Library Hall of the Centre, London, on 25 April, 2008. “I am very fortunate in my job I know many Muslim professionals and friends who can explain to me when I ask about the routines for prayer. I am able to ask someone openly and acknowledge that I don't know the ins and outs of every aspect of Islam,” she said. Emphasizing the importance of involvement, the minister said, “It is important to get involved to help change policy and if it would not be for strong Muslim voice we would not be having government initiative on Islamic finance; we wouldn't have had over the years the understanding that there was need to do with planning permission for mosque.” Speaking about fear religion, the minister said, “What was interesting to me that they talk about tolerance but they could not recognize their own intolerance. We need to help people with faith to understand that faith is important; it is not threatening and faith is intensely personal. The people have choice about their faith. We are now battling in parliament and we will be able to use free vote on the issue. I think my colleagues will see that the world will not fall apart as a result of that. But it is important that we put pressure to exercise our conscience,” Hillier said. The Home Office minister also added, “…as the an international religion followers of Muslims have a great opportunity to help welcome and support the new migrants in this country and help them integrate and support them as they look forward to work in school and housing for their children and I think we need to serve better the international aspect of Islam within one city within one country which I do think give so much to enrich the UK.” Speaking about faith schools, the minister said that the government has no problem having faith schools. “I am trying to explain to some of my colleagues in the Parliament. If you go to the Catholic or Islamic schools, it is international. When they talk about segregation, they may think of it in one sense; but they assume it also as ethnic segregation. Of course, they are so wrong.” Speaking about the madrasas, she said, “I think there is work to focus on citizenship education in the madrasa. I have visited some of the madrasas in Hackney. They don't have the best facilities. We need to make sure that those schools should get the support to take the wider curriculum.” She also talked about the work done in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office regarding road shows attracting people to talk about matters concerning Islam, Imams and mainstream scholars. She again emphasized on the need for young people to get engaged in politics. “I think it is vital for all young people to engage in politics. At the end, in politics, you are the future. The future of our country is in your hands,” the minister stressed. Earlier, while introducing the National Conference, Dr. Ahmed Al-Dubayan, the Director General of The Islamic Cultural Centre, said, “This Conference is important because it is about the future. We will talk in this conference about youth, education, identity. “In the Muslim community, mostly we talk about the past. While the Islamic civilization was really excellent in many ways, it is more important that we talk about the future. Many studies recently done about the Muslim community in the UK have shown that there are problems about education, employment and social issues. “There is even problem about understanding of Islam by the Muslims themselves. And I believe all these are very important for the Muslim community and for building the future of the community in the West generally, and in the UK in particular.” he observed. __
