Cambridge university hired academic who supported terror group

Cambridge University recently hired an academic, Farah Ahmed, who has a controversial past. Ahmed, who now serves as an assistant research professor at the Faculty of Education, once supported the proscribed Islamist terror group Hizb ut-Tahrir. This group advocates for a caliphate ruled under Islamic law and is banned in Britain.

In 2002, Ahmed wrote a chapter in a Hizb ut-Tahrir pamphlet titled “Education and Identity”. This chapter, republished in 2017, urged Muslims in Britain to recognize that Western education is a threat to their beliefs and values. Ahmed also attacked British schools for attempting to integrate Muslim children, stating that such efforts produce new generations that reject Islam.

She further criticized democracy, calling it a "corrupt tradition," and argued that science, fairytales, and even Romeo and Juliet are problematic for Muslim children as they expose them to ideas contradicting Islam. Ahmed even criticized the UK national curriculum as a form of "systematic indoctrination" designed to build "model British citizens" that conflict with Muslim beliefs.

She clarified in 2010 that she was no longer a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir. Despite these controversial views, Cambridge's Faculty of Education maintains that they uphold academic freedom and freedom of speech, encouraging their members to engage in scholarly debate and challenge ideas through rigorous discourse.