School is asking children to say ‘peace be upon him’ anytime Mohammed is mentioned

[Kitkat189]

My child’s teacher asks the class to always say ‘peace be upon him’ if the prophet Muhammed is mentioned in RE, for example. Used in a sentence it would be something like ‘Muhammad peace be upon him is the founder of Islam’

The teacher explained that this is to show respect to the Muslims in the class.

This is the first time I’ve ever heard of this. Is there an expectation that non Muslims use this expression? Or is it more of a courtesy? I am guessing the latter?

And if it’s the former, should people be compelled to utter this phrase out of respect? To literally wish peace upon a prophet of a religion they don’t belong to? I realise this is not a problem for the majority of people but out of interest, would a devout follower of another religion have objections to this?

(This is year 6, teacher is not Muslim, there is one Muslim in the class whose family are pretty secular, he told the teacher he doesn’t use this expression himself.)

All the Muslims will say "jesus peace be upon him"

I find the claim rather unbelievable.

I think it is respectful and teaches them religious tolerance.Couldn't get worked up.

This.

I wouldn’t accept kids being told to say “holy is his name” after Jesus either. This is inappropriate.

Nor is claiming every little thing is Islamophobic 🙄

Wtf 🤣🤣🤣🤣 I don't believe this is real.

100% inappropriate

it's not half term everywhere. We have another full week to go.

? sorry, I don't understand your comment. I don't think the teacher should be asking kids to say 'peace be upon him' ever.

So they tell any atheists to do this too? I've made a point of not withdrawing DD from religious studies because it's important to learn about all religions regardless of belief in any. I'd make a point of pulling the teacher up on this.

Still here. Really tiresome that you and some other posters see racism in my post. I had a genuine question about something I didn’t fully understand and thanks to some of the replies I am now satisfied with the situation. I wanted to know whether this happens in RE in other schools, particularly as I’d never heard of this with my older children, and it seems the answer is yes. That’s all I wanted to know. If people want to read outrage and racism into my post I can’t change that

In school, though?

There's a difference between being taught about a religion and being required to adopt one of its practices by an authority figure.

you took that somewhat out of context, I specifically said that this will not be a problem for most people, and that I was interested in the perspective of devout followers of other religions and how they would feel about this. My understanding of ‘peace be upon him’ is that the person uttering the phrase is not just going through motions, it is an expression of a genuine wish. For someone religious, would this be a problem? That would have been interesting to understand.

I am not outraged and I have not even considered raising this with the school, you are confusing my posts with what others have written here. My child is ten years old, of course there is a fair chance that there has been a misunderstanding. That’s why I spoke to some of the other parents, and that’s why I asked here, on this public forum. It helps me if I understand a) what actually happened in our school, and b) what is happening in other schools in this regard. It’s been helpful to read all the replies here and I have nothing further to say on this topic

If schools are going to teach about religion, I wish they'd teach about the consequences of religion. Men making shit up to control everything. Women in many religions having no autonomy, yet teaching their daughters the same nonsense. Brainwashing from birth.

That’s not remotely the same, and I would hope phrases like that are banned? Your primary school aged children attend a school at which it is ok to say ‘Jesus Christ’ like a swear word?

This is not the same as asking children not to blaspheme, which is reasonable. It’s akin to asking them to venerate a religious figure. Fine to do that in a school of that religion; not fine elsewhere.

Not ok, complain to Head and Governors. Totally OTT by the RE teacher. Compelled speech is unacceptable.

Why should Muslims be afforded a level of respect not given to other religious groups?

@Kitkat189 if you want to understand what actually happened, you need to ask the teacher, who was actually in the classroom and doing the lesson.

As to how Muslims feel about it, in general, they don't mind , but they do see it as rather pointless when people of other/no faith do it.

You have made it very clear that you are not racist or have a problem with it. However you must have seen that this would set other people flying off the handle. A cynical person would think that you did this on purpose.

Retired secondary teacher here. I taught GCSE RE for a number of years. All text books had (pbuh) after Muhammad's name, I'd explain why and use it myself but never expect the students to. It is seen as a sign of respect/deference. When writing, students did put (pbuh) as this was a requirement within the GCSE course- understanding why he's seen with this respect within Islam x

Oh no, absolutely not

Do you know it's what Muslims want though? Or are you just assuming that they would like non-Muslims to say it.

So what happens if they say so for a couple of times a year? will they get brain washed ? isn't that parents does by making these kind of statements?

op, obviously your first reaction drew the 2 different perspectives and am glad you are not that what looked like in your first post.

some dc are more sweet and they remember what is taught in RE, and them who actually spread the love and piece by reflecting outside the school.
great boy!

Fine in an RE class.

We did this 25+ years ago. It’s not new.