A Muslim in need of faith facts

"I am more than a little surprised, he declared, "at the mention of Zionism in relation to an educational establishment and the connotation that Judaism and Zionism are inseparable".

Michael Gove should dispel the myth that Zionism was invented by Theodor Herzl

Claiming to understand "the Jewish nature" of these schools, Mr Asif nonetheless challenged the legitimacy of Zionism within their governing ethos, and then made an extraordinary statement: "Zionism is not part of the Jewish faith. It is a political ideology which has its roots in the works of Theodor Herzl and subsequent ideologues…" And then, drawing Mr Gove's attention to a statement that the Secretary of State had made in November, objecting to the use of public funds to support a school dedicated to the propagation of the notion of an Islamic state, Mr Asif posed the ultimate question: how could Mr Gove support the use of taxpayers' money to fund schools that promoted the virtues of a Jewish state, while opposing the use of the same money to fund schools promoting Islamic statehood?

It is a very fair question, and I applaud Mohammed Asif for asking it. Mr Gove will no doubt be pondering his response - which will have implications going far beyond the relatively parochial matter of faith schools and their funding. And being of a somewhat impertinent disposition I am going to offer Mr Gove some advice on how this rejoinder might be framed.

In his opening paragraph, he should thank Mr Asif for his letter but then venture the observation that Mr Asif has (doubtless through no fault of his own) been grievously ill-informed about the place of Zionism within the Jewish faith.

The Education Secretary might even want to draw Mr Asif's attention (perhaps in a suitably erudite footnote) to appropriate extracts from widely used Jewish prayer-books, attesting to the truth of this observation.

In the next paragraph, Mr Gove should offer a short summary of the history of modern Zionism, dispelling once and for all the myth that this movement was invented by Theodor Herzl. I can help here, by providing the Education Secretary with the names of, for example, prominent pre-Herzlian rabbis who advocated the re-establishment of the Jewish state.

Mr Gove will then need to defend the remarks he made last November. In an article in the Daily Telegraph (November 30 2009), he went out of his way to praise "Islamic faith schools across the country that do an excellent job of promoting high educational standards." But he then drew attention to an Anglo-Islamic foundation that had secured government funding to run schools in Tottenham and Slough.

The foundation has, or had, strong links with an extremist group that promotes the replacement of individual nation-states across the world with an Islamic super-state. Mr Gove should point out that the creation of a worldwide super-state has never been a Jewish or even a Zionist ambition. And he should end his reply by politely suggesting to Mr Asif that, unless he has credible evidence to the contrary, he would be well advised to keep his ill-informed opinions to himself.