Abdel-Ghany Saleh: A British school run by an Egyptian breaks cultural barriers All together now Profile by Gamal Nkrumah

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Dr Abdel-Ghany Saleh, the founder and director of the School of Islamic and Arabic Studies in Watford, England, enjoys opening up his home to strangers on Sundays. It is not entertaining that he does, exactly; rather, people visit him to learn more about Islamic culture and to perfect their Arabic. People congregate at 492, Whippendell Road every Sunday and the atmosphere is invariably friendly. They come primarily to learn, but lasting friendships are made and many stay on for tea.

Saleh believes the true measure of the school's effect can be gauged beyond the walls of the classroom. "It is to be found within the community," he says. His school has become a lively forum for cross-cultural communication, breaking down barriers of ignorance and intolerance.

Saleh's commitment to smooth inter-faith relationships in Britain is matched only by his determination to instill a sense of pride in their religion among Britain's young Muslims. "For many years I have tried to promote good relationships between the separate religious and cultural groups in my community. I have visited schools to talk to students and to teachers about the problems of a multi- cultural society and I have spoken at conferences to social and community workers and other professionals in the field."

A printing technology expert, Saleh found a niche that suited his temperament and matched his ideals. His efforts to establish a school in Watford where people can master the Arabic language and learn about Islam in an informal and friendly setting quickly became a vehicle through which to reach out to the community in Watford, north of London.

From humble beginnings the school has quietly evolved. To begin with the school had no proper premises, with classes taught on Sundays at the Lawrence Haines School, Vicarage Road, Watford. The school Saleh founded in Vicarage Road soon became a hub of activity serving both the local Muslim community and the community at large.

As chairman of the Watford Interfaith Group Saleh has for the past two decades been involved with religious leaders in Watford -- Jewish and Christian -- as together they work towards bridging cultural and religious divides. Never has this work been more important than today, when Islam is receiving very bad publicity in the West.

There is a perfectly tenable explanation for the upsurge of interest in Islam in the West, Saleh believes, though it is seldom considered. "The demand for Arabic language classes is illustrated by the number of children who regularly attend classes. It shows that a large number of Muslim parents in Britain value their Islamic culture and religion sufficiently to want it passed on to their offspring in an informed and educated manner," Saleh says.

Saleh is a serene-looking man: his strong and determined features remind me of an ancient Egyptian scribe. He lectures on a wide variety of topics, ranging from "Aspects of Islamic Faith" to "Arabic Calligraphy". Another subject dear to his heart are the learning needs and understanding required in teaching in a multi-racial society. His students come from many cultural backgrounds: African, Arab, Malaysian, Bangladeshi, Indian and Pakistani, as well as mainstream white British.

The school caters for children and adults of all ages, religious, racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds.

Saleh is optimistic about the school's future. Beryl Watts and Miriam Thompson, sisters who live together in Hemel Hempstead, attended the school for six years. Saleh values the experience of teaching pensioners such as Watts and Thompson Arabic as much as he obviously enjoys instructing the littlest ones.

"We teach Arabic language courses at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. We also have courses in Islamic studies for people whose mother tongue is Arabic and non-native Arabic speakers. We also teach a course in Muslim culture for non- Muslims," Saleh explained.

"We rent a school over the weekend though basically we run the programme from our home," his wife Nadia chipped in. As head teacher at the school she makes it her job to understand the challenges students face. "We teach all levels and people from all walks of life enroll at the school. We have pensioners, kindergarten kids, teenagers, professionals and housewives, all sorts of people."

Ironically, after the 11 September attacks on the World Trade Center's twin towers in New York and the attacks on Washington DC, more people became curious about Islam and wanted to know more about Islamic culture. "Learning Arabic is the key to understanding Islamic culture," Saleh believes. He notes that 2003 marks the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the school. "This is a very special occasion," Saleh smiles proudly.

Militant Islam might as well inhabit another world. In Watford he stresses that Islam is a religion of peace and maintains close links with local colleges, public libraries and teacher training centres.

"A family atmosphere exists which encourages an acceptance of people of different colours, ethnic and racial groups. We have a healthy respect for people of different creeds. An air of scholarship prevails throughout the classroom and the desire to learn and to teach is strong."

Loyal to his faith, it is difficult to fault his commitment and passion when it comes to championing Muslim rights in Britain. He pins his hopes on the British legal system and a tradition of liberalism.

"In Britain every Muslim can expect his or her freedom of worship to be safeguarded," Saleh says.

Which is not to say that he is unaware of racial and religious prejudice in England: "I am a lecturer, but I am seen as a man of colour. As a Muslim I am also seen as something of an outsider," Saleh says, three decades after first stepping on British soil. Even though many incidents of prejudice and persecution have been inflicted on the Muslim community of Britain, Saleh believes that the country he has chosen to make his home in, by and large, gives immigrants, with a will to succeed, a fair chance.

Soft-spoken and deliberate, Saleh founded the school in 1983, because he felt the pressing need to have children of Arabs and Muslims in England learn more about their own culture and religion. But, from the onset, the school's doors were open to people of different religions and cultural backgrounds. Though the majority of students enrolled at the school are Muslim, or hail from Muslim cultural backgrounds, there are many Christians, Jews and even agnostics interested in learning the Arabic language that enroll for courses.

Saleh's overriding concern is to make learning Arabic fun, "especially for the kids". He designed and made many of the teaching aides, such as the bright plastic templates of the Arabic alphabet that he uses in his Arabic language classes. "Some of the students enjoy the lessons so much that they wake their parents up on Sunday mornings demanding to go to school.

"It is my firm belief that if children's education is rooted in their own culture and creed, and that if the children are taught to respect others of different cultures, colours and creeds, then bigotry will diminish and racial and religious harmony will flourish. To achieve these ideals is among the chief aims of the Watford School of Islamic and Arabic Studies," Saleh says.

Born in January 1938 in Kafr Al-Sawalmeya, Menoufiya governorate in the Delta, Saleh's family moved to Giza when he was two.

He produces a photograph of three mirthful veiled women -- his daughters. No he did not ask his daughters to don the hijab. "To begin with he was a bit against them veiling. They did so individually and it was their choice. We had no say in the matter," explains Nadia. A vivacious woman, she is very proud of her husband and is an indispensable support in work at the school.

The Salehs were married on 11 January, 1968. They had only been married for a year when they moved to Canada. They have three daughters: Mona, the eldest, is a surgeon who lives and works in Edmonton, Canada;. Susan, the second daughter is a director of sales and marketing based in Cairo, Egypt, and Sarah, the youngest, is currently working on a masters degree in aeronautical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The three sisters all attended the school set up and run by their parents.

One of Saleh's main concerns when they arrived in England was how to maintain the heritage of Muslim children born in Britain.

"We wanted our children to retain their cultural identity. We didn't want them to be isolated from the host community but we wanted them to have their own sense of identity and to be proud of Arab and Muslim culture. In order to read the Qur'an and to understand it to any degree it is necessary to be educated in the classical Arabic language of the Qur'an."

The Salehs have devised special examination procedures to evaluate the standards and proficiency of their students. The exam has four parts: conversation, listening, reading and cultural studies.

"Speaking the language helps break down cultural barriers," Saleh believes. "When you know another language it is like looking through another window. It opens the door to another rich culture, and you see everything through different eyes," his wife agrees.

The pair met in Egypt but have lived most of their life in the West. There was a vicious campaign of slurs against Muslims in the Western media in the aftermath of 11 September. And there has been a rupture in the peaceful co-existence that existed between British Muslims and people of other religions, the couple acknowledge. But through the persistent work of institutions such as the school they run they hope the rift will be healed.

At heart Abdel-Ghany Saleh is a family man. His is a close-knit family and he says that he enjoys a rewarding relationship with his three daughters. As children they led a bit of a whirlwind life because their parents travelled a lot. They moved from country to country, Canada, Britain, Germany and Egypt.

Saleh is one of the leading authorities on printing technology in Britain. He knows what it means to pull yourself by the bootstraps. But money, he says, is not always an answer.

Saleh is proud that he completed undergraduate studies in Egypt. He graduated in printing science technology from the Faculty of Applied Arts, Photo-mechanical and Printing Department, Helwan Technical University, Cairo. After which he spent three years training in Germany. He worked for a couple of years at Moharrem Press, Alexandria, and taught at the Faculty of Applied Arts, Cairo University.

Saleh is keen on examining the latest innovations in the fields of security printing, holography, frequency modulated screening and desktop publishing. I find his elucidation of the application of plasma etching techniques for the printing and packaging industries terribly confusing.

In 1959 he was the first Egyptian industrial printing student to enroll at a German university. He returned again to Germany in 1964. From Germany the family moved to Ontario, Canada. He lived for "eight enjoyable years" in London, Ontario, teaching at Fanshaw College. Then he moved back to England. Saleh received his Council of National Academic Awards (CNAA) doctorate at Watford College, England. He has written many articles and presented discussion papers at international conferences and seminars. I leafed through a paper of his entitled An Investigation into the Application of Achromatic Synthesis to the Printing Industry, presented at the Technical Association of the Graphic Arts Conference in Boston, US in May 1984.

The family first arrived in Britain in 1974 when Saleh enrolled at Watford College for a PhD degree. At first everything was difficult. With a young family he found it hard to work at home. For the necessary peace and quiet he had to study on the college premises. "The caretaker said that I couldn't work beyond 6pm for insurance reasons, but the vice-principal agreed to give me a key so that I could work as long as I wanted." Sometimes he worked till the wee hours of the night -- until 2 or 3am, he says.

He completed his PhD in 1977 and embarked on an academic career. Teaching and research are inseparable to him. "To be a good lecturer you have to be a good researcher," he believes. "If you have good students, it is your duty to educate them. Have a single-minded approach and, as long as it is a good goal and does no harm to anybody, then follow it through."

Working his way through a series of printing posts and acquiring three degrees, Saleh still found the time to challenge the prevailing culture of confrontation he experienced as an immigrant in a host of Western countries, but he pressed on.

Students at the School of Islamic and Arabic Studies, Watford, now sit for Cambridge Certificate Examination in Arabic Studies and the University of London GCSE examination in Arabic. The school is an official examination centre for London and Cambridge. There have been many success stories but what the Salehs' cherish most is "a year of companionship and friendship between people of very diverse backgrounds and religions".