Religious Education students in Britain must now include the letters “pbuh” (“peace be upon him”) in parentheses every time they write the name of Mohammed, according to teacher David Holford.

Religious Education in most schools in the UK is about comparative religion. There are six statutory religions in teaching RE. The law says that Christianity has to be the dominant religion taught in RE. Schools then choose amongst Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, Hinduism, and Buddhism to fill out the rest of the curriculum. My school does the first three. These four religions are taught in years 7, 8, 9 (the same ages as 6th-8th grade in the US).

At GCSE* we do one of the Christianity papers and one of the Islam papers (with corresponding essay coursework). Now I don’t have a problem teaching comparative religion generally. I think it is a good thing for both children and adults to know about other religions and understand the cultures around them.

The potential problem has arisen in teaching about Muhammad. The exam board requires that every time Muhammad is written, the letters “pbuh” in parentheses be placed after it. This is shorthand for “peace be upon him”. The writer therefore prays a blessing upon him everytime his name is written, as is the custom of Muslims. So I have to tell my students (over and over if there is any hope of them remembering) that they must bless Muhammad every time they mention his name.

For most, if not all, of my students, this will be no problem. Few, if any, have any religious convictions whatsoever. It’s not so bad that I have to tell them to do something that I would find reprehensible. However, I am expected to model what they should do to reinforce their learning. I will never pray a blessing upon Muhammad. To do so would be to repudiate my faith. It would imply I believe the Shahada (the Muslim declaration of faith) even if those hearing or reading it were unable to infer this.

I do not wear my faith on my sleeve when I teach RE. When students ask me if I believe in God, I tell them. If they ask if I am a Christian, I tell them. If they ask which variety of Christian I am, I tell them. I never do more than honestly answer their questions. And I would never insist that non-Christian (Muslim or otherwise) students make the sign of the Cross at every mention of the Holy Trinity, even though that is part of the tradition of my religion.

UPDATE at 2/14/05 9:33:06 am:

This Specimen Paper from 2003 at the exam board’s web site (PDF file) actually uses Arabic script for the blessing: