VA Islamist School says Kill Jews,
Polytheists
Friday, June 13, 2008
An Islamic
private school in McClean, Va. was recommended to be closed last year by
the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. The school was accused
of teaching that it's okay for Muslims to steal the property of, and/or kill
adulterers, converts from Islam, Jews who conspire against Islam and Muslims,
and polytheists (Christians and Hindus.)
Last year, the panel had not actually seen and reviewed the textbooks used by
the Muslim school when they recommended the school closing. After having
examined some of the textbooks, "we feel more confident that the
potential problems we flagged before really are there," said the
commission's spokeswoman, Judith Ingram. The Muslim school administrators claim
there is nothing wrong with the books, they do not teach intolerance, there is
some "harsh language", but the books have been improved and revised.
(If nothing was wrong, why were the books changed?)
Last Wednesday, the Commission released the following report.
June
11, 2008: Saudi Arabia: USCIRF Confirms Material Inciting Violence, Intolerance
Remains in Textbooks Used at Saudi Government's Islamic Saudi Academy
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 11, 2008
Contact: Judith Ingram
Communications Director
(202) 523-3240, ext. 127
WASHINGTON—Last fall, the United States Commission on International Religious
Freedom asked the U.S. Department of State to secure the release of all
Arabic-language textbooks used at a Saudi government school in Northern
Virginia, the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA). The Commission took this action in
order to ensure that the books be publicly examined to determine whether the
texts used at the ISA promote violence, discrimination, or intolerance based on
religion or belief. The ISA is unlike any conventional private or parochial
school in the United States in that it is operated by a foreign government and
uses that government’s official texts. It falls under the Commission’s mandate
to monitor the actions of foreign governments in relation to religious freedom.
The government of Saudi Arabia, as a member of the international community, is
committed to upholding international standards, including the obligation not to
promote violence, intolerance, or hate.
The Commission requested Saudi government textbooks repeatedly during and
following its trip to Saudi Arabia in May-June 2007. Shortly after the
Commission raised the issue publicly, the Saudi government turned over
textbooks used at the ISA to the State Department, but as of this writing, the
Department has not made them available either to the public or to the
Commission, nor has it released any statement about the content of the books
that it received. Nevertheless, although it was unable to obtain the entire
collection, the Commission managed to acquire and review 17 ISA textbooks in
use during this school year from other, independent sources, including a congressional
office. While the texts represent just a small fraction of the books used in
this Saudi government school, the Commission’s review confirmed that these
texts do, in fact, include some extremely troubling passages that do not
conform to international human rights norms. The Commission calls once again
for the full public release of all the Arabic-language textbooks used at the
ISA.
In July 2006, the Saudi government confirmed to the U.S. government that, among
other policies to improve religious freedom and tolerance, it would, within one
to two years, “revise and update textbooks to remove remaining references that
disparage Muslims or non-Muslims or that promote hatred toward other religions
or religious groups.” The Commission is releasing this statement as the
two-year timeframe is coming to an end, and with particular concern over the
content of textbooks used at the ISA, in order to highlight reforms that should
be made before the 2008-09 school year begins at the ISA.
Examples of Problematic Passages in Current ISA Textbooks
The most problematic texts involve passages that are not directly from the
Koran but rather contain the Saudi government’s particular interpretation of
Koranic and other Islamic texts. Some passages clearly exhort the readers to
commit acts of violence, as can be seen in the following two examples:
* In a twelfth-grade Tafsir (Koranic interpretation) textbook, the authors
state that it is permissible for a Muslim to kill an apostate (a convert from
Islam), an adulterer, or someone who has murdered a believer intentionally: “He
(praised is He) prohibits killing the soul that God has forbidden (to kill)
unless for just cause…” Just cause is then defined in the text as “unbelief
after belief, adultery, and killing an inviolable believer intentionally.”
(Tafsir, Arabic/Sharia, 123)
* A twelfth-grade Tawhid (monotheism) textbook states that “[m]ajor polytheism
makes blood and wealth permissible,” which in Islamic legal terms means that a
Muslim can take the life and property of someone believed to be guilty of this
alleged transgression with impunity. (Tawhid, Arabic/Sharia, 15) Under the
Saudi interpretation of Islam, “major polytheists” include Shi’a and Sufi
Muslims, who visit the shrines of their saints to ask for intercession with God
on their behalf, as well as Christians, Jews, Hindus, and Buddhists.
The overt exhortations to violence found in these passages make other
statements that promote intolerance troubling even though they do not
explicitly call for violent action. These other statements vilify adherents of
the Ahmadi, Baha’i, and Jewish religions, as well as of Shi’a Islam. This is
despite the fact that the Saudi government is obligated as a member of the
United Nations and a state party to the International Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and other relevant treaties
to guarantee the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion. The
statements include the following:
* "Today, Qadyanis [Ahmadis] are one of the greatest strongholds for
spreading aberration, deviation, and heresy in the name of religion, even from
within Islamic countries. Thus, the Qadyani [Ahmadi] movement has become a
force of destruction and internal corruption today in the Islamic world…”
(“Aspects of Muslim Political and Cultural History,” Eleventh Grade,
Administrative/Social Track, Sharia/Arabic Track, 99)
* "It [Baha’ism] is one of the destructive esoteric sects in the modern
age... It has become clear that Babism [the precursor to Baha’ism], Baha’ism,
and Qadyanism [Ahmadism] represent wayward forces inside the Islamic world that
seek to strike it from within and weaken it. They are colonial pillars in our
Islamic countries and among the true obstacles to a renaissance."
(“Aspects of Muslim Political and Cultural History,” Eleventh Grade, 99-100)
* "The cause of the discord: The Jews conspired against Islam and its
people. A sly, wicked person who sinfully and deceitfully professed Islam
infiltrated (the Muslims). He was ‘Abd Allah b. Saba’ (from the Jews of Yemen).
[___]* began spewing his malice and venom against the third of the
Rightly-Guided Caliphs, ‘Uthman (may God be pleased with him), and falsely
accused him." (Tawhid, Administrative/Social Sciences Track, 67) (*The
word or words here were obscured by correction fluid.)
* Sunni Muslims are told to “shun those who are extreme regarding the People of
the House (Muhammad’s family) and who claim infallibility for them.” (Tawhid,
Arabic/Sharia 82; Tawhid, Administrative/Social Sciences Track, 65) This would
include all Shi’a Muslims, for whom the doctrine of infallibility is a cardinal
principle.
Other problematic passages employ ambiguous language, and the textbook authors
do nothing to clarify the meaning.
* A ninth-grade Hadith textbook states: “It is not permissible to violate the
blood, property, or honor of the unbeliever who makes a compact with the
Muslims. The blood of the mu’ahid is not permissible unless for a legitimate
reason…the mu’ahid is an unbeliever who contracts a treaty with a Muslim
providing for the safety of his life, property, and family.” (Hadith, Ninth
Grade, 142-3)
The passages about the mu’ahid are most troubling for what they leave
out. They address the protected status of an unbeliever in a Muslim country,
but are silent on whether unbelievers living in non-Muslim countries are
afforded the same protections of “blood, property, or honor.” Such an omission,
taken together with the outright incitement to violence and vilifying language
noted above, could be interpreted as tacitly condoning violence against
non-Muslims living in non-Muslim countries.
The Commission would urge the textbook authors to put more context into some
sections of the textbooks to avoid any perception that they could be
encouraging violence. For example, one passage that requires clarification is
the following explication of the Koranic phrase, "Respond to God and His
Messenger when He calls you to that which will give you life." (Q 8:24)
Although this Koranic passage does not in itself invoke the term jihad, the
Saudi textbook authors write:
* "In these verses is a call for jihad, which is the pinnacle of Islam. In
(jihad) is life for the body; thus it is one of the most important causes of
outward life. Only through force and victory over the enemies is there security
and repose. Within martyrdom in the path of God (exalted and glorified is He)
is a type of noble life-force that is not diminished by fear or poverty.”
(Tafsir, Arabic/Sharia, 68)
While there are various meanings of the term jihad, including an internal
struggle of the soul, none are given in this brief discussion, which also
includes an emphasis on the importance of power or force over one’s enemies and
discusses “martyrdom” with approval. Such an ambiguous interpretation can be
perceived as giving the verse a militant connotation, potentially justifying
acts of violence, which should not be left without elucidation in a textbook
that is aimed at children who are still learning the main tenets of religion.
More broadly, the analysis of the ills of the Muslim world that is offered in
the ISA textbooks—that it was strong when united under a single caliph, a
single language (Arabic), and a single creed (Sunnism), and that it has grown
weak because of foreign influence and internal religious and ethnic
divisions—is identical to some of the exclusionary ideological arguments used
by extremists to justify acts of terror.
In the Commission’s view, these troubling passages should be modified,
clarified, or removed altogether from the next edition of the textbooks in
order to bring the books at this Saudi government school into conformity with
international human rights standards.
Long-term Commission Concern over Content of Saudi Government Textbooks
The Commission has long called for Saudi Arabia to be designated a “country of
particular concern,” or CPC, for its egregious and systematic violations of
religious freedom. In particular, the Commission has expressed concern about
the promotion of religious intolerance and religion-based violence in official
Saudi government textbooks used both within Saudi Arabia and at Saudi schools
abroad, such as the ISA. The Commission has been urging the U.S. government to
press the Saudi government to promote religious tolerance in the Saudi curriculum
since 2001, and in 2003 it issued an in-depth report about religious freedom
conditions in Saudi Arabia, including intolerance and incitement to violence
found in Saudi textbooks and the country’s official educational curriculum. It
was not until September 2004 that the State Department first publicly expressed
concern over the Saudi government’s “export of religious extremism and
intolerance to other countries” at a press conference announcing Saudi Arabia’s
CPC designation.
In mid-2007, the Commission visited Saudi Arabia to assess the government’s
progress in implementing textbook reform and other policies. However, based on
that visit and subsequent research into Saudi government textbooks, including
those used at the ISA, the Commission concluded that despite some improvements,
these commitments, regrettably, remain largely unfulfilled.
In every official meeting during the visit to Saudi Arabia, the Commission
delegation asked Saudi interlocutors for copies of textbooks. The Saudi
government’s refusal to make them available during that visit or after the
Commission’s return, despite repeated requests, left the Commission with
continued concerns about their content and serious questions about whether they
were in fact being reformed. The Commission also sought to obtain the textbooks
used at the ISA. Until the Commission drew attention to the problem at a press
conference in October 2007, the ISA publicly stated on its Web site that it
adhered to the official Saudi government curriculum. The Commission called for
the ISA to be closed under the terms of the Foreign Missions Act until the
official Saudi textbooks used at the school were made available for
comprehensive public examination. Soon after the Commission released its
October 2007 report, the ISA dropped the language on its Web site stating that
its Arabic-language and Islamic studies curriculum “is based on the Curriculum
of the Saudi Ministry of Education.” In the months following the Commission’s
report, the Saudi government has also posted copies of the official 2007-2008
Saudi textbooks on the Internet.
Members of Congress, some of whom had also sought in vain to obtain official
Saudi textbooks for review, have joined the Commission in expressing concern.
In November 2007, Reps. Frank Wolf (R-VA), Steve Israel (D-NY), and Anthony
Weiner (D-NY) introduced a resolution, H.Con.Res. 262, calling on the State
Department to heed the Commission’s requests regarding the ISA and to create a
mechanism to monitor implementation of the 2006 Saudi commitments to improving
educational materials. Twelve U.S. Senators, led by Sens. John Kyl (R-AZ) and
Charles Schumer (D-NY), wrote a bipartisan letter to Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice the same month, echoing the Commission’s call for closing the
ISA until the official Saudi textbooks used at the school were made available
for comprehensive public examination in the United States.
While neither the ISA nor the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia complied with the
Commission’s requests to release the school’s books publicly, the Commission
did obtain some Arabic-language books currently used in the twelfth grade and a
random selection of texts currently used in middle and high school classes. The
Commission’s review of these textbooks found that they did contain passages
justifying violence toward, and even the killing of, apostates and so-called
polytheists. The texts also include highly intolerant passages about non-Sunni
Muslims, such as Shi’a, Ismailis, and Ahmadis, and non-Muslims, such as Jews
and Baha’is. A list of the books reviewed is appended to this statement.
The ISA and Claims of Revisions
The ISA operates as an arm of the Saudi government. The ISA’s board is chaired
by the Saudi ambassador to Washington, it is located on two properties, one of
which is owned, the other leased, by the Saudi Embassy, and it shares the
Embassy’s Internal Revenue Service employer tax number under the name of the
“Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia.” It is part of a network of 19 international
schools run by the government of Saudi Arabia. The ISA distributed some
textbooks during a series of open houses held for selected reporters and
congressional staffers after the Commission’s press conference, but it did not
make available the texts with the most problematic passages—Tawhid (monotheism)
and Tafsir (Koranic interpretation)—which the Commission obtained from other
sources.
Last fall, after the Commission held a press conference, ISA personnel were
quoted in the media as saying that they had already revised the Saudi Ministry
of Education textbooks used at the school. However, the books reviewed by the
Commission in the winter of 2007-2008 show evidence of truncation, omission,
cutting and pasting, and the use of correction tape or fluid to cover over
text—but not sufficient revision to remove all objectionable material, as
evidenced by the passages cited above. They appear to be Saudi Ministry of
Education textbooks, with some alterations but with identical wording in many
sections of the texts.
Bilateral and International Commitments by the Saudi Government
The Saudi government is bound by more than just its 2006 confirmation of
policies with the United States. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights not
only guarantees religious freedom and bans discrimination and incitement to
discrimination on a number of bases, including religion; it also provides
specifically that education “shall promote understanding, tolerance and
friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups...” The UN Declaration
on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination based on
Religion or Belief also bans such discrimination, which it calls “an affront to
human dignity,” a “disavowal of the principles of the [UN] Charter,” a
violation of international human rights law, and “an obstacle to friendly and
peaceful relations between nations.” That Declaration, moreover, specifically
provides that “[t]he child shall be protected from any form of discrimination
on the ground of religion or belief. He shall be brought up in a spirit of
understanding, tolerance, friendship among peoples, peace and universal
brotherhood, [and] respect for freedom of religion or belief of others. . . .”
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Saudi Arabia is a party,
contains similar provisions mandating non-discrimination and the teaching of
tolerance in education. The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial Discrimination also calls on States Parties, which include Saudi Arabia,
“to guarantee the right of everyone, without distinction as to race, color, or
national or ethnic origin, to equality before the law” in the enjoyment of
rights including “the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.”
Those provisions stand in stark contrast to the problematic passages that
continue to appear in the ISA textbooks. It is deeply troubling that high
school students at a foreign government-operated school in the United States
are discussing when and under what circumstances killing an “unbeliever” would
be acceptable. The U.S. government must ensure that the Saudi government
thoroughly reviews and, as necessary, revises the books it has distributed
globally. In both the UN Human Rights Council and UN General Assembly, Saudi
Arabia has co-sponsored and supported repeated resolutions urging UN member
states to “take resolute action to prohibit the dissemination ... of racist and
xenophobic ideas and material aimed at any religion or its followers that
constitute incitement to racial and religious hatred, hostility or violence” and
to “ensure that all public officials, including ... educators, in the course of
their official duties, respect different religions and beliefs and do not
discriminate against persons on the grounds of their religion or belief.” The
U.S. government should insist that the Saudi government meet these commitments
fully as a member in good standing of the international community.
Recommendations for the U.S. Department of State
The Commission reiterates its recommendations that the State Department should:
* make available all textbooks that it has received from the Saudi government,
so that their content and compliance with international human rights standards
can be assessed; and
* promptly create a formal mechanism to monitor and encourage implementation of
the Saudi government’s 2006 policies as part of every meeting of the U.S.-Saudi
Arabia Strategic Dialogue, and ensure that U.S. representatives to each
relevant Working Group of the Strategic Dialogue, after each session, or at
least every six months, report the group’s findings to Congress.
The Commission reaffirms that governments have a clear obligation to teach
tolerance, not hatred. No government should be teaching children that it is
justified to kill anyone on the basis of his or her religion or belief. The
Commission is seriously concerned that the Saudi government is not abiding by
the policies it confirmed in 2006 to promote greater religious freedom and
tolerance, including by revising its school textbooks. The texts used at the
ISA are only one example.
APPENDIX Islamic Saudi Academy Arabic-Language Textbooks Reviewed by the
Commission
Monotheism (Tawhid), Twelfth Grade, Administrative, Social, Natural, and
Technical Sciences Track
Monotheism (Tawhid), Twelfth Grade, Sharia and Arabic Sciences Track
Interpretation (Tafsir), Twelfth Grade, Sharia and Arabic Sciences Track
Interpretation (Tafsir), Twelfth Grade, Administrative, Social, Natural, and
Technical Sciences Track
Hadith and Islamic Culture, Twelfth Grade, Administrative, Social, Natural, and
Technical Sciences Track
Hadith and Islamic Culture, Twelfth Grade, Sharia and Arabic Sciences Track
Jurisprudence (Fiqh), Twelfth Grade, Natural Sciences Track
Jurisprudence (Fiqh), Twelfth Grade, Sharia and Arabic Sciences Track
The History of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Twelfth Grade, Natural Sciences
Track
Sociology, Twelfth Grade, Sharia and Arabic Sciences Track
Studies from the Islamic World, Twelfth Grade, Administrative, Social, Natural,
and Technical Sciences Track
Hadith, Seventh Grade
Hadith, Ninth Grade
Jurisprudence (Fiqh), Ninth Grade
Jurisprudence (Fiqh), Tenth Grade
Aspects of Muslim Political and Cultural History, Eleventh Grade,
Administrative and Social Track, Sharia and Arabic Track
History of the Prophets, the Prophet’s Biography, and the Spread of Islam,
Tenth Grade
I say, close
them down; deport the teachers, students, administrators, and parents; burn the
school buildings and the contents to the ground.
The life of Indigo Red is full of adventure. Tune in next time for the Further
Adventures of Indigo Red.
Labels: America,
education,
Islam,
Muslim,
religion
posted by
Indigo Red | 6/13/2008
09:41:00 PM
Indigo Rose
said...
Amen to that
Indigo!
Throughout our school years people have asked us our heritage. We are
Hungarian, English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh and probably others that have been
watered down over the years. But, because of our grandparents and
great-grandparents we live, breathe and die AMERICAN. One Nation. Under God. (or
not). We speak ONE language... ENGLISH.
My neighbors are Yugoslavian, Native American, Spanish, Mexican, Basque....
but, the choice was made by all of us to put aside our differences (language,
religion, cultures...) to be Americans together.
There must have been something that made us all leave our lands of origin. But,
if you don't like it here in the land of many freedoms... go back where you are
from and shut up.
6/15/2008
03:13:00 PM
http://furtheradventuresofindigored.blogspot.com/2008/06/va-islamist-school-says-kill-jews.html
