Taxpayer-funded trainer told North Yorkshire Council staff that the Virgin Mary wore a hijab

From the Newshound archive · first published 1 October 2026.

North Yorkshire Council counter-terrorism staff were told during a taxpayer-funded seminar that the Virgin Mary wore a hijab, sparking fury over training materials accused of rewriting religious history. Abbas Najib, a former police officer and CEO of Bradford charity Better Communities, led the session under the Project Unity programme, which aimed to combat 'myths and misinformation about Muslims'. The training also claimed Jesus grew a beard and that the hijab was commonplace in Britain just 100 years ago, illustrated with images of unrelated early 20th-century shawls.

The seminar was delivered to council workers involved in counter-terrorism work, meaning anti-extremism staff were themselves the audience for the contested claims.

Najib defended the Virgin Mary reference, arguing head coverings were a tradition shared across faiths and that 'hijab' simply means 'covering' in Arabic.

Critics say the taxpayer-funded course crossed the line from education into rewriting Christian history to serve a political agenda.