A dispute involving a Muslim school in Halifax is underscoring both the cultural and religious disparities in the Muslim faith.

A former student and his father have been banned from the campus of the Maritime Muslim Academy. They say they're being discriminated against, but school officials insist they're protecting students from a culture of hatred and violence.

Police officers responded to a mosque on the campus Tuesday morning and ordered Dr. Rafiq Islam, and his son Jaan, to stay off the property.

Islam says his 13-year-old son was expelled from the school last week.

"I think the moment that they discovered that this child speaks the truth, that he talks in favour of conscience, that's when they have a problem," says Islam.

The school's principal says he believes Jaan has been forcefully relaying his father's political views since the beginning of the school year and disrupting classes as he attempted to intimidate other students.

"He's basically campaigning issues, like against Zionism, issues against September 11 and the Taliban, Bin Laden, and all these issues," says Dr. Hadi Salah.

Salah says Jaan is not respecting the school's philosophy of maintaining a peaceful co-existence with other faiths and cultures, but Jaan says it is the school that is being intolerant.

"I was only expelled because he went all crazy over me, because I forgot to give him one of these newspapers, then he had a problem," says Jaan.

The newspapers are self-published by the student and they contain harsh criticism of the school. But Salah says the boy's expulsion wasn't about the criticism and that his activism was causing too much trouble.

"Yes, we are an Islamic school, but we don't preach politics," says Salah. "We only preach Nova Scotia curriculum in a safe Islamic environment."

Part of the issue is the pamphlet discusses bullying and some other issues relating to the Muslim community. It also offers some harsh words for the Muslim Academy and claims the Koran forbids a school from owning a mosque.

It doesn't appear the dispute between the Islams and the Maritime Muslim Academy will be resolved anytime soon, but Salah says he just hopes the issue doesn't create divisions in the community.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Ron Shaw