Child abuse policy at school run by Muslim hardliner was based on sharia: Islamic scholars were to be consulted in welfare cases

• Leicester school under scrutiny for citing sharia in child welfare cases
• Al-Aqsa was founded by Ibrahim Hewitt, an Islamist fundamentalist
• He has said in the past that homosexuals should be lashed
• At Al-Aqsa Islamic scholars are involved in child protection concerns
• Ofsted sent into the £1,800-a-year school after MoS exposed Hewitt's views

A school run by a Muslim hardliner was citing sharia in its child protection policies, it emerged yesterday.

Ofsted inspectors found that Al-Aqsa school in Leicester operated on the basis that ‘Ulama’ – Islamic scholars – should be consulted in child abuse and welfare cases, as well as ‘relevant outside agencies’.

The school – founded by Ibrahim Hewitt, an Islamist fundamentalist who says homosexuals should be lashed – declared ‘sharia and the law of the land will be the prime arbiters in child protection concerns’.

This raised the prospect of a different level of protection for Muslim children, said critics.

Ofsted made it clear only British law should be followed.

The school then revised its protection policy to exclude references to sharia law.

Ofsted had been sent into the £1,800-a-year independent school, which has 260 pupils aged three to 13, after the Department for Education ordered an inspection following the exposure of Hewitt’s extremist views by The Mail on Sunday earlier this year.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2789447/child-abuse-policy-school-run-muslim-hardliner-based-sharia-islamic-scholars-consulted-welfare-cases.html