Supreme Court : School dispute 'about religion, not race'

School dispute 'about religion, not race'

Edited by Saudi Ali 30.10.2009

A top Jewish school accused of race discrimination told the Supreme Court yesterday that a boy was refused admission because he was not a Jew under the rules set by the Chief Rabbi.

In a test case with implications for how faith schools select their pupils, Lord Pannick QC, representing the school, told a panel of nine Justices of the Supreme Court that this was a dispute about religious law.

JFS (formerly the Jews’ Free School) in Brent, north-west London are appealing to the highest court in the land after three Court of Appeal judges ruled in June this year that its entry criteria, imposed to deal with an excess of applicants. racially discriminated against the boy, referred to as M.

The boy’s father is Jewish by birth, but his mother is Jewish by conversion conducted at a Progressive rather than an Orthodox synagogue and therefore not recognised by the Office of the Chief Rabbi (OCR), Dr Jonathan Sacks.

“The difference in the result is not on the ground of M’s ethnic origins. It is on the ground of a religious dispute between Rabbis about who is a Jew,” Lord Pannick told the justices, headed by Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers.

Being Jewish under the criteria set by the Chief Rabbi was a matter of religious status under Jewish law, he added. “It is not dependent on religious practice or attendance at a synagogue.”

“We say that M failed to secure a place at the school because and only because of the religious criteria applied by the Chief Rabbi as to who is a Jew and those religious criteria do not depend on a person’s ethnicity,” he said.

JFS is now a “very successful” comprehensive secondary school, maintained by the London Borough of Brent, which every year is oversubscribed with applications for admission by two for every place.

He said the appeal concerned whether or not the adoption of an oversubscription criteria giving priority to children recognised by the Chief Rabbi to be Jewish is racial discrimination contrary to the Race Relations Act.

He added that the school’s case was that the criteria it applied were “legitimate and proportionate.”

“We say that a faith school is entitled to adopt an oversubcription policy that gives priority to those children who are members of the religious faith as defined by the religious authority of the faith.”

The mother of the boy converted to Judaism in a non-Orthodox procedure not recognised by the Chief Rabbi, Lord Pannick said.

He said that it was no part of the school’s case that it should be exempt from the Race Relations Act. Rather it was that “properly analysed”, the school’s case was that its entry criteria were not a breach of that Act.

“Our case is that the refusal of the place to M was not an act of race discrimination - that is less favourable treatment on the grounds of ethnic origin.

“We say M failed to secure a place at the school because and only because of the religious criteria applied by the Chief Rabbi as to who is Jewish.”

He said the school had adopted “legitimate and proper” criteria because a faith school was entitled to adopt a policy which gives priority to children who are members of the religious faith as defined by the religious authority of that faith.

The appeal judges had misinterpreted the law in finding that the school’s admission criteria discriminated on racial grounds, the QC added.

He said the criteria applied to all children - many children with Jewish ethnic origins do not qualify and some children who lack ethnic origins are admitted.

If the Court of Appeal decision was allowed to stand, it would always be unlawful for any Jewish school to adopt admissions policies giving priority to children recognised as Jews by their particular branch of the faith.

“Parliament cannot have intended that Jews, unlike other religious groups, could not use schools with oversubscription criteria giving priority to children who are members of their faith,” Lord Pannick said.

The case is set for three days with arguments from interested parties including the Secretary of State for Schools, the London Borough of Brent and the Office of the Schools Adjudicator.

Dinah Rose QC, representing the father of the boy, will argue that the Court of Appeal decision should stand.

Three judges at the Court of Appeal ruled in June this year that this entry criteria racially discriminated against the boy, referred to as M.

The appeal judges said that “the requirement that if a pupil is to qualify for admission his mother must be Jewish, whether by descent or by conversion, is a test of ethnicity which contravenes the Race Relations Act”.

The discrimination against M could not be justified, Lords Justices Sedley and Rimer and Lady Justice Smith ruled.

Islam is the way of life & muslim's is the one who........

Quran declares that all the prophets before Muhammad & their followers were all Muslims. Prophet Muhammad brought a revolution to the entire fate of the nomadic's Arabs. The prophets were also blessed with a manifestation of divine or thruth.
edited by: Saudi Ali, 27.10.2009


The world Islam means "submission to God". The Holy Quran describes Islam as an Arabic word Deen (way of life). The followers of Islam are called Muslims. The literal meaning of Muslim is "one who surrenders" or "submits" to the will of God. In order to understand Islam, the basic portrayal of belief in Quran must be considered. According to Quran, those who submit to one God are Muslims. Aisha Y. Musa writes in his article, Jews in the Quran: An Introduction  that, "Islam is the religion of all the prophets from Adam to Noah to Abraham to Moses, Jesus and Mohammad. (10:71-72, 84; 2:128-133; 5:110-112)." Quran also declares that all the prophets who came before Mohammad and their followers were all Muslims.

The origin of Islam dates back to the creation of the world. All the prophets who came to this world preached the same message of believing in one God and to accept them as His messenger. The prophets were also blessed with a manifestation of divine will or truth. Likewise, Prophet Mohammad was also a messenger of God. He revealed the truth and the way of life through the Holy Quran.

Before the birth of Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him), the Arab society believed in multiple Gods. Although the Arabs believed in the unity of God, but they also claimed that God has entrusted His duties to various gods, goddesses and idols. For this purpose, they had more than 360 idols. They considered angels as the daughters of God. They were ignorant of social values. They were nomadic people who were dependent on cattle for their living. There was no government or law. All power existed with the rich. The society was full of barbarity and brutality. Tribes fought with each other over trivial matters for centuries. A slight argument over horses or water could lead to the slaughtering of thousands of innocent people.

It was the birth of Prophet Mohammad in 570 A.D in the city of Makkah which brought a revolution to the entire fate of the nomadic Arabs. He became famous among the people of Makkah at a very early age because of his allegiance and reliability. He was widely known as Al-Ameen (honest, trustworthy.)

At the age of 40, when Mohammad was meditating at Mt. Hera, he received a revelations from God. The angel Gabriel said to him, "Iqra" which means "to read". Mohammad replied "I cannot read". Gabriel embraced and released him. Then the first five verses of God was revealed to him which said, "Recite in the name of your Lord who created! He created man, out of a (mere) cloth of congealed blood. Recite; and thy Lord is most bountiful. He who had taught by the pen, taught man what he knew not." (96:1-5)

Mohammad started proclaiming the message of believing in one God. The people who once called him "Trustworthy" and "Honest" boycotted and plotted to kill him. In 622 A.D., due to worsening living conditions and social isolation, Prophet Mohammad migrated to Medina along with his followers. This flight was known as Hijrah and marks the beginning of the Muslims calendar. Mohammad's message spread rapidly and the number of followers increased in Medina. During the next few years, a series of battles were fought between various tribes of Makkah and the Muslims of Medina. In 628 A.D, the Treaty of Hudaibiyah was signed between the two parties. Truce was declared for 10 years. The treaty was broken in 629 A.D by the non-Muslims of the Makkans. Mohammad moved towards Makkah with 10,000 men and the battle was won without a single bloodshed.  Mohmmad died in 632 A.D , at the age of 63 in the city of Medina. Mohammad's death brought a huge catastrophe among Muslims. People could not believe that Mohammad had left them forever. Many of the followers were perplexed and distraught, and claimed him to be still living.  At that time Mohammad funeral, Abu Bakr, who was the most respected of all the followers affirmed that, "O people, those of you who worshipped Mohammad, Mohammad has died. And those of you who worshipped God, God is still living."

Abu Bakr was chosen as the first Caliph (leader). Before his death in 634 A.D., Umar ibn ul Khattab was appointed as his successor. During the ten years of his rule, Muslims conquered 22 hundreds thousands miles of area. Mesopotamia and parts of Persia were taken from the Sassanids Empire (Iranian Dynasty), and Egypt, Palestine, Syria, North Africa and Armenia from the Byzantine Empire. He was devoted and committed to his people and established an empire of peace, justice and dignity. The teachings of Islam started to spread through love. The principle of equality among all the people irrespective of race, color, caste, and creed won the hearts of the people. Within a few years, a lot of people accepted the message of Islam.  By the tenth century, Islam dominated the half of the world known at that time.

Mohammad Ali writes in his article, "The condition of Arabs before the advent of the Holy Prophet and the Transformation He Wrought in Them," says that "From such debasing idolatry, the holy Prophet uplift the whole of Arabia in a brief span of twenty years . . . is not this the mightiest miracle that the world has ever witnessed ? . . . It was this fallen humanity whom the Holy prophet raised to the highest level of moral rectitude."

Mahatma Gandhi, in his unique style, says "Some one has said that Europeans in South Africa dread the advent Islam - Islam that civilized Spain, Islam that took the torch light to Morocco and preached to the world the Gospel of brotherhood. The Europeans of South Africa dread the Advent of Islam. They may claim equality with the white races. They may well dread it, if brotherhood is a sin. If it is equality of colored races then their dread is well founded."

Sarojini Naidu explains his point in Ideals of Islam by saying that "It was the first religion that preached and practiced democracy; for, in the mosque, when the call for prayer is sounded and worshippers are gathered together, the democracy of Islam is embodied five times a day when the peasant and king kneel side by side and proclaim: 'God Alone is Great'... I have been struck over and over again by this indivisible unity of Islam that makes man instinctively a brother."

Professor Hurgronje writes "the fact is that no nation of the world can show a parallel to what Islam has done towards the realization of the idea of the League of Nations ".



    Though this page has been carefully researched, the author does not claim expertise on Islam.Please send questions, comments, and corrections to emuseum@mnsu.edu and include the URL of this page.If you are Muslim, your feedback is much appreciated.


References:



Javed Chaudhary

2009  Who is the real Alexander the Great?  Jang News, January 1.

Rao ,K. S. Ramakrishna

1978 Mohammad the Prophet. Electronic Document, http://www.mesmarty.com/2008/11/islam-and-hazrat-muhammad-saww-in-the-eyes-of-non-muslim-scholars/, accessed January 6, 2009

Sahib, Mohammad Ali

The Condition of the Arabs Before the Advent of the Holy Prophet (pbuh) and the Transformation He Wrought in Them. Electronic Document, http://aaiil.org/text/pbuh/art/others/arabcond.shtml#3, accessed January 6, 2009.

Naidu, Sarojini

1918 Ideals of Islam, Madras, Video Speeches and Writing, p.169

Musa, Aisha

1989 Jews in the Quran : An Introduction. Electronic Document, http://www.theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/jews_in_the_quran_an_introduction/, accessed January 6, 2009

Deep exploration of powerful spiritual of mankind.......

Islam          Judaism          Buddhism          Christianity          Hinduism          Jainism


Study of World Religions

From the earliest known evidence of human religion by Homo sapiens neanderthalensis around 100,000 years ago to the present day, religion continues to be a very influential aspect of human lives. Without religion and belief human will have no lead in their everyday life. Hence, human too will never know about ownself and the hidden  spiritual power of mankind will always be hidden forever. With religion knowledge, human will start having question mark in their mind as how and why uman are being created for, what shall we do and where is our final destination, the searching of God itself and how does the afterworld look like.

Today, there are numerous challenges and problems faced by humans from every possible background, location and social class. Every day people must face issues of health, safety and mortality. It is because of these daily challenges that religion continues to exist. Religion is the universal tool for explaining things which we do not understand through the context of the unknown physical world.

Although there are countless religions, each are different from the other, they all serve the same purpose whish lead us to the correct path of life and after. Each answers and questions which all humans seem to be programmed to ask: Why are we being created? Why are we here? What happens when I die? How shall I live my life? How are we being created? and which is the correct path.

Religion helps us to transmit our values from one generation to another, and influences the way we interact with the natural environment. It teaches us how to see ourselves in light of the universe and gives purpose and meaning to life.

This pages serve as a brief introduction to several world religions. They are intended to open our appetite for further study and to help everyone understand those around us better.

With our global society, it is likely that in our lifetime we will meet people from every corner of the planet. Understanding the religious beliefs of other people is one of the many steps which mankind must take in order to someday prosper together in having peace and harmohy in this small world of HIS.



Edited by Saudi Ali, 2009

why are we being created and where is our final destination.....

All babies are created by God including you and me. Let go to basic. We were actually pregnant by our father first by 40 days(in terms of sperm) and then delivered the sperm to our mother through sex intercourse and our mother pregnant us for 9 months 10 days. Through this period, this is the time when our blood,veins,meat and our total body were created until our shape really look like a human but very small in size. This is the time that we no need to eat, sleep, breadth, think, see and etc. Everything is just like we are in heaven. No hunger no nothing.

You must also have this in your mind....why are we being born and created...for what vpurpose we are being created...and where is our final destination......

After 9 months and above, we are being delivered into this world. The first thing we do is just crying. There are two types of crying here. The first one is the positive cry which means the baby is very happy to learn all religious learning and willing to teach others. But the second cry is telling us that he is not willing to carry out the burden, learning and teaching others. Meaning the day we are being deloivered into this world we already have those negative and positive thing.

Back to your question why the baby die is due to God loved the baby more than her mother and that is why the baby die and this baby will straight go to heaven no matter from which religion the mother came from. All babies ar born clean and unsin
We as the parent who really turn the babies whether to be good or bad and to be thought into which religion

So that is why we need to understand our ownself. How are we being created and what should we learn to know our ownself. That is why i tell you about how babies are created. We have only 6 things with us that we need to take care that is firstly our eyes, nose, ears, mouth, brain and soul. So if either one of this temporary part of our body is being taken by God, we will be handicapped.

So in future please look with HIS looking, hear with HIS hearing, think with HIS thinking, Talk with HIS thought, breadth with HIS soul and lastly taste with our tounge of HIS.