Prayer Ban: Muslim Student Files Lawsuit

By Khadijat Aroyehun

A school is facing a legal challenge against its ban on prayer rituals after one of its Muslim students claimed the policy is discriminatory.

Judgment is expected at a later date following a two-day hearing in the High Court, but in the meantime, the school has found itself at the heart of a battle about religious expression and multiculturalism that has drawn in newspaper columnists and cabinet ministers.

The school, Michaela Community School in north-west London, led by Katharine Birbalsingh, self-styled “Britain’s strictest headteacher”, is at the forefront of the “no excuses” approach to education, combining a traditional style of teaching with features such as silent corridors while students move between classes.

The school, where about half of the 700 students are Muslim, introduced the ban last year, with Birbalsingh claiming prayer rituals had prompted an outbreak of violence and intimidation at the school, and led to teachers being racially harassed.

Michaela, also claimed in court that prayer rituals threatened the school’s ethics and led to more segregation between Muslim and non-Muslim students.

However, the case brought by one of its Muslim students claims the policy is discriminatory, with the lawyer representing the student saying its impact was only felt by Muslims.
Not being able to pray, had changed how the s dent felt about being Muslim in the U.K., the court heard, and that all the student wanted was five minutes to pray in a classroom during lunchtime.

The school’s fight against organized prayer has become a touchstone issue for many on both sides of the culture war.

While for some the school and Birbalsingh are taking a stand against “Islamic bullies”, others see it as a sinister attempt to restrict what it means to be British.
And, perhaps predictably, the case has prompted an outpouring of Islamophobia across social media, fuelling fears that culture war issues will play a prominent role in the general election campaign in Britain, expected later this year.

At its heart, the row is about competing visions of what a multicultural society should look like: whether it means celebrating different cultures or conforming to a single, majority culture.

Suella Braverman, a prominent former member of the Conservative government — and former chair of governors at Michaela — has already fired an early salvo in this particular battle, claiming that “multiculturalism” was a “misguided dogma” that threatened social cohesion.

Whatever the outcome of the case, it will doubtless be used as evidence to support this claim, as well as stoke divisions between different groups. And in the meantime, it is the students who will find themselves in the crossfire.

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