Children as young as six and seven years old are beaten by religious instructors in madrassas within the UK, an undercover investigation by Britain's "Dispatches" news show and the Daily Mail newspaper revealed. In at least one Islamic high school, students were taught religious hatred against non-Muslims.
"Muslim children are being taught religious apartheid and social segregation," the Daily Mail reported. An undercover Muslim reporter was sent into the Darul Uloom Islamic High School in Birmingham for the investigation. Darul Uloom schools are considered to be renowned Islamic educational institutions and in England have been described as the "Etons of Islam." The investigation at the Birmingham school revealed speakers "giving deeply disturbing talks about Jews, Christians and atheists." Pupils were told that Hindus have no intellect and drink cow urine and that Muslims who adopt Western ways would be tortured in the afterlife.
The media inquiry then focused on a mosque religious school, or madrassa, in West Yorkshire that offers part-time religious instruction. Over several months, the investigation revealed young students repeatedly beaten by their instructors by being slapped, kicked, struck on the back and head with hands, and hit with sticks and rulers. In at least one instance, an older student acting as an instructor threatened to strike a young pupil with a chair.
British government inspectors have previously given the schools passing marks for operations and curriculum, seemingly unaware of the problems identified by this media investigation. When confronted by the newspaper with its findings, the administrators of the Darul Uloom school and the investigated mosque downplayed the incidents and claimed they were isolated and promised to look into the matters further. The evidence presented by the Daily Mail speaks for itself, and hopefully British government authorities pursue further investigations into these clear instances of institutionalized hatred and abuse.
Read the full story here and see the "Dispatches" report here.