– fordi tiden kræver et MODSPIL

01. Feb 2007

Fredelig sameksistens mellem kristne, jøder og muslimer - også i vor tid?

 
Umuligt er det i hvert fald ikke, som historien om den jødiske skole King David School i Birmingham, hvor et flertal af eleverne er muslimer.

Når jeg skriver "jødisk", mener jeg "jødisk" - eleverne lærer at tale og læse hebraisk, fremsiger jødiske bønner og får ingen undervisning i andre religioner end jødedommen.

Hvordan kan det så være, at et flertal af skolens elever i dag er muslimer?

Dette kan vi læse om i dagens The Independent, hvor journalisten John Margolis bl.a. har talt med en række muslimske forældre:
The Muslim parents, however, are only too keen to talk in the playground about what might be seen by some in their communities as a controversial schooling decision.

"We actually bought a flat in the catchment area for the children to come here," says Nahid Shafiq, the mother of Zainah, four, and Hamza, nine, and wife of Mohammed, a taxi driver. "We were attracted by the high moral values of the school, and that's what we wanted our kids to have. None of us has any problem with it being a Jewish school. Why on earth should we? Our similarities as religions and cultures are far greater and more important than our differences. It's not even an issue.

"At the mosque, occasionally, people ask why we send the children here, but there is no antagonism whatsoever, and neither is there from anyone in our family. In fact, it was a big family decision to try and get them into King David. This is the real world. This is the way real people do things in the real world. All the violence and prejudice and problems - that's not real, that's just what you see on the news."

Fawzia Ismail (the mother of Aly-Raza, nine, and Aliah, six) is equally positive. "My nephew came here and my brother showed me the school, so it's a bit of a family tradition now. We're very, very pleased with the school. It's so friendly. All the kids mix and go to one another's parties and are in and out of each other's houses. They teach a bit about Israel, but we don't have any problem with that. There are such similarities between our people and our societies."
Men hvad siger mon de jødiske forældre til de mange muslimske elever på en skole, som de givetvis har sendt deres børn i for at bevare deres jødiske identitet?

Dem har Margolis også talt med et par stykker af:
"You know, in these difficult times in the world, I think we show how things should be done. It's really a bit of a beacon," says one teacher, whose three children all went to King David and ended up at Oxford University.

Parent Trevor Aremband is from South Africa. "In Johannesburg, we have Jewish schools, but they're 100 per cent Jewish, so we were a bit shocked when we first came here. But the integration works so well. It's clearly the way to go in today's world. My son is eight and has loads of Muslim friends."
Rabbi Tann, som er repræsentant for en af de synagoger, der står bag skolen også økonomisk, giver situationen disse ord med på vejen:
We never have any racial or inter-faith problems at all. Not ever. In 20 years here, it's simply never happened in any significant way. We teach that if you don't like someone, you avoid them. Don't play with them. Go to the other side of the playground. I believe that if more people followed the lead of King David School, we'd have a much more peaceful world.
Der er skrammer i idyllen - der er overvågningskameraer og vagter foran skolens indgang, og man er meget bevidst om, at en skole med denne profil meget vel kunne tiltrække den "forkerte" opmærksomhed - men ikke desto mindre beretter skolens historie en smuk historie om sameksistens i praksis, og modsiger den gamle traver om den inherente fjendtlighed mellem forskellige religioner.

En smuk historie, som i parantes bemærket også illustreres i hundredevis af andre skoler og på hundredevis af arbejdspladser hver eneste dag. Men en historie som den om King David School kan måske minde os om, at det er muligt, i en tid, hvor alt for mange ynder at puste til mistænksomhedens og fremmedhadets ild.

Fredelig sameksistens mellem kristne, jøder og muslimer - også i vor tid.

Link til artiklen i The Independent.

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