Response to the Article in “Luton Today” on Zafar Khan and Rabia School in Luton

Dear Editor,

I am writing in response to your recent article reporting the banning of Zafar Iqbal Khan, former head of Rabia Girls’ and Boys’ School, due to “Gender Segregation”. While framed as a legal and moral victory, the media narrative surrounding it—reveals more about the secular establishment’s discomfort with religious expression than any genuine concern for equality or safeguarding.

At the core of this story lies a weaponised word: “segregation.” Both media and institutions repeatedly use it to describe gender separation in faith-based schools. But let’s be clear—there is a world of difference between segregation, as enforced under Jim Crow or apartheid, and the voluntary, faith-rooted separation of boys and girls in a classroom.

Segregation, as historically understood, is coercive, racist, and dehumanising. Separation in religious settings is often based on principles of modesty, focus, and cultural preference—an expression of values rather than an act of exclusion. By deliberately conflating the two, the media creates a moral panic. The goal is not just to critique a policy—it’s to cast Muslim values as inherently regressive.

If Rabia Schools were mismanaged or failed in safeguarding, that would justify intervention. But that’s not the heart of the article here. It seems the media’s spotlight was a faith-based approach to gender—a practice many Muslim families actively support and one that causes no demonstrable harm to pupils’ education or well-being.

So why the disproportionate reaction?

Because this isn’t really about education—it’s about values. More specifically, about secular Britain’s inability to tolerate value systems it cannot control.

A timely example of what happens when secularism is sold on steroids is reflected in the new Netflix series Adolescence, which recently became the most-watched show globally. It explores the tragic consequences of misogyny, social media addiction, and the rise of incel culture among British teenage boys—culminating in the murder of a female classmate. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer called it an “emerging and growing problem,” and the show’s creators want it screened in Parliament and schools. But this cultural crisis didn’t emerge in a vacuum—it is the result of a society that dismantled moral boundaries without offering any coherent alternative. When liberal secularism exalts individualism and “freedom” without values, young minds are left rudderless—susceptible to toxic ideologies. That’s far more dangerous than any gender-separation policy in a religious school.

If gender separation is now considered harmful, we must ask: what has secular Britain achieved with its supposedly enlightened approach to gender and equality? The track record is far from perfect—and, in many cases, actively harmful.

Rape convictions in the UK remain shockingly low, with only 1.6% of reported rapes in England and Wales resulting in charges. Despite progressive rhetoric, women still face systemic disbelief, victim-blaming, and institutional neglect within the justice system. Women’s prisons have been compromised by the inclusion of biological males identifying as female. In 2018, Karen White—a trans-identifying male—was housed in a female prison and went on to sexually assault female inmates. Where was the government’s urgency then? Where were the sweeping national interventions to protect women’s dignity and spaces?

When British schools operated under clearer separation policies and stronger moral boundaries, we didn’t hear of teachers grooming pupils for sex with the same frequency. Today, this has changed—between 2018 and 2022, over 500 teachers and school staff in England were accused of sexual misconduct involving pupils, according to data from the Teaching Regulation Agency. Teenage pregnancies, while declining statistically, remain among the highest in Western Europe, especially in areas where moral and parental structures have weakened. Even more concerning, children as young as four are now being exposed to sexualised concepts under the guise of Relationship and Sex Education (RSE)—as seen in Birmingham and Wales, where lessons on gender identity and explicit relationship content sparked widespread protests by concerned parents. These changes haven’t protected children—they’ve robbed them of innocence, sold under the illusion of progress. And yet none of these issues triggered the kind of institutional crackdown that Rabia School faced for organising gender-separated classrooms. That speaks volumes.

The article ends by celebrating the decision as a “victory” for the National Secular Society (NSS). But the NSS should not be treated as a moral compass. Its entire mission is to erase religion from public life—not to promote fairness or equality. Where is the NSS when women are exploited by online pornography? When misogyny spreads across social media unchecked? When commercial industries profit from women’s objectification? These are hallmarks of secular, liberal Britain—not of conservative religious spaces.

To suggest that secularism guarantees equality is not only dishonest—it’s historically false and presently contradicted by evidence.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of this story is the media’s role in framing it. No voices from the Muslim community were consulted. No discussion of parental support for gender separation. No curiosity about the theological or cultural context. Just a tired narrative: backward Muslims, enlightened state, problem solved.

But this is not journalism—it’s cultural policing, serving a dominant ideology that tolerates only what it defines as acceptable. Faith-based education becomes an easy target in a society desperate to universalise secularism while ignoring its own decay.

If Britain is truly to embrace pluralism, it must accept that not all legitimate values are secular. Yet, in practice, pluralism in modern Britain often functions as a one-way street—where only secular, liberal worldviews are granted legitimacy, while faith-based perspectives are marginalised or caricatured. The right to differ is only respected when the difference is cosmetic, not moral or philosophical. Schools should be assessed on their outcomes, safeguarding measures, and service to their communities—not on how closely they conform to Westminster’s cultural norms or the dogmas of liberal orthodoxy. Before rushing to condemn gender separation in religious schools, perhaps the reporter ought to investigate the misogyny that exists within Westminster itself—where men and women may sit side by side, but power, respect, and dignity are far from equally distributed.

When religious separation is demonised while secular failures towards women are ignored, we are not witnessing the triumph of equality. We are watching the rise of an ideology that seeks to erase dissenting values in the name of progress.

It’s time the media and policymakers showed consistency, humility, and respect—for all communities, not just the ones that conform.

M Khan (Editor of ReRun)

https://www.lutontoday.co.uk/education/leader-of-luton-faith-school-that-segregated-males-and-females-given-ban-5084670“