For the past few years, municipal councils in northern England have instructed schoolteachers to refrain from asking students to draw images of Jesus or Muhammad or even the human figure because the “three-dimensional figurative imagery of humans is considered idolatrous by some Muslims.”
The guidance to schools on “sensitivity and awareness around faiths and beliefs” has sparked outrage, with public intellectuals and Christian voices condemning it as an attempt to impose Shariah law on schools and accusing it of co-opting biblical characters as Muslim prophets.
The councils’ guidance is nothing more than a covert attempt to force submission to Islam onto the nation’s young, paving the way for Muslim domination of our culture and country.
A 32-page booklet, which effectively imposes Islamic codes of behavior on non-Muslims was first issued in 2022. The booklet, titled Sharing the Journey, distributed in cities with large Muslim populations, including Leeds, Doncaster, Calderdale, Oldham, and Wakefield, encouraged teachers to listen to Muslim parents over “sensitivities” about their children participating in certain forms of art, dance, drama, music, and physical and religious education.
“It is very important that the school understands this and is also careful not to ask its students to reproduce images of Jesus, the Prophet Mohammed, or other figures considered to be prophets in Islam. Some Muslim pupils may not wish to draw the human figure,” the guidance states.
The booklet did not arouse much objection in 2022, but its reissuance in 2026 has prompted an outcry from politicians and intellectuals who object to state-funded schools enforcing Islamic codes of conduct on non-Muslim students.
“Can it REALLY now be an official government diktat that children in primary school, say, are forbidden to draw Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden or the baby Jesus in the manger?” award-winning historian, author, and broadcaster, Tom Holland asked on X.
“After all, if it’s a Muslim tradition not to illustrate the Biblical figures appropriated by Islam as prophets, there is also quite a strong Christian tradition of portraying Biblical scenes in art—as will be more than clear to students when they go on trips to art galleries,” Holland observed.
Guidance Includes Rigid Interpretations of Music in Islam
The booklet acknowledges a diversity of opinion regarding music in Islam but nonetheless stresses the need to cater to Muslims who hold strict interpretations: “In Islam, music is traditionally limited to the human voice and non-tuneable percussion instruments as in the days of the Prophet, when they were only used in marriage ceremonies and on the battlefield,” the booklet reads, adding, “Schools should listen to any concerns, discuss the place of music in the curriculum, and ensure that students are not asked to join in songs that conflict with their religious beliefs.”
School officials are warned that dance lessons could trigger parental concerns over “physical contact between males and females or performing in a manner that might encourage immodesty or sexual feelings.”
For physical education lessons, the advice asks teachers to respect “Islamic expectations about modesty” by permitting girls to wear tracksuits and sports hijabs. It urges the use of full-length Lycra swimsuits, or leggings and a long t-shirt, for Muslim girls swimming and showering, and knee-length swimming trunks for Muslim boys.
The guidance advises single sex groups for contact sports as “many Muslim and other parents may object if boys and girls are organised in mixed groups.” Schools are also asked to consider single sex lessons for physical education classes, separate changing facilities, and individual showering arrangements.
The guidance, which has been reissued for 2026, triggered accusations of favoritism towards Muslims, days after the Labour government published its official definition on “Islamophobia,” rebranding it as “anti-Muslim” hostility.
Directives Draw Condemnation from Shadow Education Minister
On March 12, Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott wrote to Secretary of State for Education Bridget Phillipson, asking the minister to write to the councils and require them to withdraw their directives.
“The prohibition on depicting the Prophet Mohammed is a religious observance held by some Muslims. It is emphatically not a restriction that should be imposed on all pupils in state-funded schools,” Trott observed, noting that the guidance “conflates cultural sensitivity with doctrinal compliance.”
“The councils’ guidance is nothing more than a covert attempt to force submission to Islam onto the nation’s young, paving the way for Muslim domination of our culture and country,” Rev. Lynda Rose, Director of Voice for Justice UK, told Focus on Western Islamism.
“The attempt to force compliance with Islamic practice onto our education system elevates Islam over other religions,” she added. “Britain is still nominally a Christian, yet ‘liberal’ country—whether we remain so will depend on the education our children receive.”
“The ‘sensitivity and awareness’ is unashamedly one-way: inclined to Shariah,” Adrian Hilton, author and lecturer in political philosophy, history, theology, and education, warned. “Shariah censorship is now official in English state schools,” he tweeted.
Shariah censorship is now official in English state schools.
Hilton, a well-known Anglican theologian, explained how the guidance showed deference to Islam by giving Mohammed the title of prophet “as though that prophethood is uncontested” but referring simply to “Jesus.” He wrote: “It isn’t even ‘Jesus Christ,’ and one wonders if that’s because in Islam Isa/Jesus is not the Christ. That, of course, makes Mohammed a false prophet; an antichrist (cf. 1John 2:22).”
“School should be a safe place for Muslim children to get used to the fact that other religions depict their gods and prophets in art. It ought to be about introducing them to Christian cultural norms, including tolerance of other faith traditions; not making all conform to a particular Sunni Islamic belief,” he added.
While the booklet flags other religious sensitivities, including dietary and fasting requirements for Jews, Hindus, and Sikhs, Rastafarians, Mormons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses, it appears to single out and prioritize the demands of Muslim parents.
In February, the Barcelona City Council recommended suspending music and dancing for Muslim students in schools during Ramadan, thereby endorsing a rigorous reading of Islamic scriptures categorizing such activities as haram (forbidden).
The eight-page document, titled Directives for Educational Centers During Ramadan, asked schools to exempt Muslim students from music, dance, and gymnastics, adhere to Ramadan fasting and dietary regulations, and allow students to skip classes and exams.
