July 19, 2008	Saturday	Rajab 15, 1429

LONDON, July 18: As part of a government attempt to keep young Muslims away from what is believed to be the influence of extremism, they will now be taught citizenship in mosque schools.

The initiative — designed to show youngsters there is no conflict between their religion and being British — is part of a package of measures published on Friday. It includes a new independent board of academic and theological experts and a group of community leaders to advise on local responses to tackling extremism.

Trials of the new lessons will begin in several cities at the start of the next session in September.

Officials said mosque teachers in London, Leicester, Birmingham, Oldham, Rochdale and Bradford would be trained in using the new materials over the summer.

They will be used alongside traditional lessons about the holy Quran and focus on “demonstrating to young British Muslims that their faith is compatible with shared values and with being a British citizen — undermining the violent extremists’ argument that there is a fundamental conflict between the West and Islam, and being British and Muslim”, they said.

Last month the government published a national “de-radicalisation” programme, including advice to town halls to consider mapping their areas religion by religion and ensuring they had systems in place to remove funding or other support from inappropriate groups.

“We have made significant progress working with communities to build an alliance against violent extremists,” communities secretary Hazal Blears said.

“We have a responsibility to ensure that our young people are equipped with the skills they need to stand up to violent extremists and this project will help them understand how their faith is compatible with wider shared values and that being a good Muslim is also compatible with being a good citizen in the UK.

“We need to encourage and create safe places for sensible debate around issues that extremists can seek to exploit and make sure that young British Muslims recognise that their faith teaches shared citizenship values.”

Sheikh Ibrahim Mogra, an imam with the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB), said the creation of the group had been driven by Muslims rather than the government.