RECENTLY, the news broke that Muslims had acquired the Bellahouston Academy premises to establish a private school for girls in Glasgow. The Scottish Muslim community was not surprised when hostility to this proposal raised its ugly head. The norm nowadays seems to be that if a person adheres to his religion, and wants to bring up his children in his faith, he is considered to be a ''fundamentalist'', and an unworthy person in certain quarters. Whereas the one who turns his back on his faith and joins the race of irreligiosity is deemed to be a worthy person.

In a true democracy people should be free to live as they please so long as they are not breaking the law of the land or creating any nuisance. If the Government and public systems/authorities fail to meet particular needs, then people have the right to cater for themselves. Muslims want their children to

learn their religion. They want them to grow up as responsible and righteous citizens. They believe that in this secular and self-centred society only their religious values can save them from the evils of drugs, drink, promiscuity, and gambling. Therefore they take the education, and especially the religious instruction of their children in their formative years, very seriously. They are willing to sacrifice their comforts and needs in order to bear the high cost of private schooling, and ensure a stable and ethical future for their children.

There is little doubt that, instead of assimilating into a secular landscape in this country, Muslims are holding firm to their religious identity and to a religious agenda for action. Indeed, religion is central to the

self-definition of Muslims.

On the one hand, religion among the indigenous population is declining year by year, to such an extent that one in three ''white'' respondents in a recent Policy Studies Institute survey stated they had no religious affiliation. On the other hand, only 2% of South Asians stated they had no religious affiliation and their high religious identification does not vary much by factors such as age, gender, and class.

To support the rights of Muslims one has to take their religion into account. There are many people who pride themselves on being at the forefront of campaigns for minority rights. However, when faced with issues about religious rights, especially Muslim rights, there is considerable reluctance and unease. Why is it that the considerable achievements of Muslims in organising themselves, challenging conventional politics, and radicalising young people have not been celebrated as indicators of an important contemporary social movement?

Every one of the concessions now granted to Muslims in education - the provision of hatal meat, the acceptance of modest codes of dress, the right to prayer rooms, the separation of girls and boys in sports and recreation, and most recently, the right to state funding of denominational schools alongside other minority faiths in England has been won through prolonged, persistent campaigns. Moreover, throughout their campaigns, Muslims have been subjected to intimidating levels of hostility and abuse that, for the most part, they have endured with dignity.

Muslims are troubled about the way in which they are being viewed, and the kind of criticisms that are being levelled at them in Britain. In 1997, The Runnymede Trust, an independent research and policy agency dedicated to the development of a successful and equal multi-ethnic society, published the report of its Commission on British Muslims and Islamophobia. They summarised key distinctions to be made between ''closed'' and ''open'' views of Islam. ''Closed'' views are developed from unfounded prejudice and hostility, in which phobic dread of Islam is the most distinctive characteristic. ''Open'' views are based on respect that allows legitimate disagreement and criticism. Most opinions, newspaper articles, television and radio newscasts, and documentaries fall into ''closed views''. Little wonder that Muslims in Britain feel beleaguered.

Very few people fall in the ''open view'' category and know that Muslims have a unique position in European history and culture. They are not an ''exotic other'' because they have been ''indigenous'' since the glorious days of Muslim rule in Spain. For example, Andalucia saw the burgeoning of the civilisation that aroused the admiration of medieval Europe. Arabic literature, scholarship, medicine, and sciences were the foundation and inspiration of the European renaissance.

Indeed, it was a Scot, the famous philosopher, mathematician, and astrologer, Michael Scot (died 1232) who played a major role in introducing Muslim sciences to Europe. He went to Muslim Spain, learnt Arabic, and translated into Latin the various celebrated works of Muslim philosophers like Averoes (Ibn Rushd), Avicena (Abu Ali Sena), and Al-Bitrugi.

Many Muslims, like me, see the dangers of segregation in religious schools, and do not entirely favour the idea. But, at the same time, we also realise the need for religious instruction of our children and, in the absence of any other arrangements, support the establishment of a religious school. For 10 years, the Muslims have been urging the education authorities to look into this matter and do something in this connection. They have been continuously warning them that unless some arrangements for religious instructions in schools were made, there would be the demand and, inevitably, the reality of a separate Muslim school. Strathclyde Regional Council and the present unitary authorities have not met the demands and needs of the Muslim community.

The last straw is the uncertainty surrounding the single sex status of Notre Dame High which has been drawing Muslim girls from all over and even beyond the city. With this only parental choice disappearing, the Muslim parents have no option but to go for their own school.

Here is the nub of the problem. If Muslims ask for religious instruction to become part of their curriculum in state schools they are told the law does not allow that. If they ask for state funding for a Muslim school, they are accused of ''further fragmentation''. If they ask for a facility that is already allowed to another religious minority - Roman Catholics - the West of Scotland sectarian issue is held against them. If they claim their rights as a ''religious'' minority, they are told they are not Muslim, they are Asian and black. If they insist on being respected as Muslims, they are suspected of being ''fundamentalists''. This is unjust.

Islam is a cultural reality in Scotland, it is not about to be willed away, as seems to be the wish of many. If education were simply to bypass the issue today, it would have to confront it later. It is unlikely a postponement will increase ability to face the problem in the future, and a delay may, in fact, impede education as a whole. Educational justice needs to be done for Muslims, and for other religious minorities. People who oppose the development of a Muslim school in Glasgow should ask themselves what other remedy is open to Muslims in Scotland today.