Revelations

Muslim School

Watch this episode now on 4oD Aysha and Zara

Muslim School traces the lives of two girls from very different backgrounds in their first year at a Muslim faith school.

The Nottingham Islamia has opened its doors to cameras, giving a rare insight, through the eyes of two children, into what it means to have a Muslim education in Britain today.

Seven-year-old Zara is third generation Pakistani, and Aysha, 12, is a white girl from a mixed English/Pakistani family. Both have transferred from regular state schools to the Nottingham Islamia: one of some 130 Muslim faith schools in Britain.

Inside the school, boys and girls line up separately at the start of each day for a timetable of Arabic lessons, Islamic studies, prayers, and a basic national curriculum.

At lunch time, the school stage in the assembly hall doubles up as a mosque, where staff and students pray together.

Filmed over one year, the film captures Zara and Aysha's lives both at school and at home as they make choices about their identity and beliefs.

On TV

First Shown

Date Time Channel
Sunday 05 July 2009 7PM Channel 4

Last Shown

Date Time Channel
Thursday 09 July 2009 4.30AM Channel 4

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Comments

  1. i think is very good that these two young muslin are commited to their faith and belifts
    Posted by yasmin on 30/07/2009 03:51:41
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  2. i think there is a confusion between being muslim and being british as if they are two seperate groups and you cant be both at same time. muslims such as myself are both muslim and british my religion doesnt affect my ability to be british i am still born and raised british and am proud my religion is just my beliefs. the children at this school will not have any problem not being british because i expect they are all born here and also live in here so being british is natural. so many times people become confused and this is why it seperated muslims from other communities we are not that differant there is no need. i am a journalism student if there is an oppotunity i hope i can open up and reveal what young open minded muslims actually feel like and fit into british society. thankyou
    Posted by sadia ali on 27/07/2009 02:54:46
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  3. After watching this programme I think that brainwashing young girls at these schools with the belief that they will not go to heaven/paradise if they do not wear a hijab and making them see indigenous children as not worthy of being playmates because they do not wear hijabs and making them anxious that their own mother will not go to paradise because she does not wear one either is unbelievable. How on earth does wearing a piece of cloth warrant going to paradise - this whole ideology beggars belief. Call this an education?
    Posted by Mrs. K.Heywood on 26/07/2009 18:39:07
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  4. please can you give me the production company details.
    Posted by mrs F.Shaker on 13/07/2009 11:31:43
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  5. There is the KD grammar high school, this link shows you the location: http://www.yell.com/listings/DoFindListings/3090132/K-D-Grammar-School-for-Boys/Schools-and-Colleges-_-Independent I've personally attended the school, simply outstanding both academically and in religious education and atmosphere
    Posted by Suli on 08/07/2009 00:15:57
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  6. Raising children to have particular religious beliefs seems, at best, unfair, and at worst, (in the words of Richard Dawkins) child abuse. Knowing that these delightful children have been institutionalised makes me feel sad. Don't parents owe it to their children to give them a balanced education, and let them decide what religion they want to be (if any) once they have reached an age where they are able to make meaningful decisions for themselves ? I can, of course, fully understand parents wanting their children to be well-behaved, but is telling them that if they don't adhere to their religions teachings, they will be severely punished in an afterlife really the best way of doing this ? At what cost is this decision made ?
    Posted by David on 07/07/2009 20:39:51
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  7. i watched the programme with my chidlren and they want to go to a muslim school. it was really impressive.
    Posted by KHAN on 06/07/2009 12:38:31
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  8. am impressed nice going girls keep up the good work :) i didn't know such schools existed in England one sure thing i will be shopping around for one like that near Manchester dose any of u know if there is any ?
    Posted by malik on 05/07/2009 20:41:49
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  9. Extremism is not the problem. Having an ideology and system of law seperate from the indigenous people is. There is no real flexibility in Islam as there is with our secular law. If our Bible was our system of law and ideology we would also have far less freedom. It means every non-Muslim country with growing numbers of Muslims will end up both balkanised and with a Kosovo. It also means growing numbers of majority Muslim areas which in turn forces 'mainstream' local parties to nominate Muslim candidates for election to parliament in these areas or face certain defeat if another does. A growing number of Muslim MP's in conjunction with parliamentary sovereignty and alliances with other ethnic groups could easily force, at the very least, devolved English regions along ethnic, religious, or cultural lines. (Balkanisation.) Quote: "Forty years ago visitors described Britain as homogeneous. That unlike the US and other comprable countries there were relatively few important lines of division. Whereas race, religion, and TERRITORY divided other countries they did not in Britain." -UK POLITICS. Put simply, the problem isn't the differences between us but the fact we are all fundamentally the same. And as such all need our ethnic, cultural, and especially territorial sovereignty. Finally a mention for the group 'Mother's of Prevention.' Mothers of young white girls, 12, 13, ect, who have been targeted for rape and trafficking by a minority of Muslim gangs. While the authorities look on in silence, fearing riots should they speak and not valuing these children of the poorest white families anyway. Many muslim and black gangs refer to 'payback' against white men as they abuse these white girls. Explain to white men why they should gamble with their daughters lives in the hope this will naturally cease to happen the more 'diverse' and welcoming we are. Explain to them why you are sure it wont get worse.
    Posted by Origin8 on 05/07/2009 01:59:52
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Sunday 23 August

4.15AM, Channel 4

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