January 23, 2009
Saudi School Textbooks Incite to Hatred and Violence
Dr. Sami Alrabaa
Ahmed Al-Sarraf cited in Al-Qabas (June 2, 2007) some passages from a Kuwaiti school textbook taught at the first secondary grade. Here is an English translation of passages from the book, "Jurisprudence", page 38:
Who is, or who is not, punished in a Muslim society:
* A Muslim who kills an apostate or someone who commits adultery against an infidel is not punished.
* If a Muslim kills an infidel or a slave, he is not punished.
* If a Muslim man, father, or grandfather kills someone from his offspring, he is not punished.
I went through school textbooks taught in Saudi Arabia and Indonesia. Here is an English translation of some passages from these books.
A fourth grade textbook on Monotheism and Religion instructs students:
"Any other religion other than Islam is invalid (false)." (P. 29 )
"Hate (yakrah) the polytheists and the infidels" as a requirement of "true faith." (P. 86)
5th Grade. Book: Monotheism and Religion:
*"Every religion other than Islam is invalid." (P. 33)
*"It is not permitted to be a loyal to non-Muslims, and to those who oppose God and His Prophet." (P. 14)
*"Whoever obeys the Prophet and accepts the oneness of God cannot be loyal to those who oppose God and His Prophet, even if they are his closest relatives." (P. 71)
*"A Muslim, even if he lives far away, is your brother in religion. Someone who opposes God, even if he is your brother by family tie, is your enemy in religion." (P. 73)
*"Just as Muslims were successful in the past when they came together in a sincere endeavor to evict the Christian crusaders from Palestine, so will the Arabs and Muslims emerge victorious, God willing, against the Jews and their allies if they stand together and fight a true jihad for God, for this is within God's power." (P. 75)
*"Jews are the people of the Sabbath, whose young people God turned into apes, and whose old people God turned into swine to punish them." "As cited in Ibn Abbas: The apes are Jews, the keepers of the Sabbath; while the swine are the Christian infidels of the communion of Jesus." (P. 83)
*"The clash between our [Muslim] community (umma) and the Jews and Christians has endured, and it will continue as long as God wills. In this hadith, Muhammad gives us an example of the battle between the Muslims and the Jews." (P. 113)
*"Narrated by Abu Hurayrah: The Prophet said, the hour [of judgment] will not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them. [It will not come] until the Jew hides behind rocks and trees. [It will not come] until the rocks or the trees say, 'O Muslim! O servant of God! There is a Jew behind me. Come and kill him.'." (P. 114)
*"Muslims will triumph because they are right. He who is right is always victorious, even if most people are against him." (P. 117)
"A woman who shows in public any part of her body except that of her eyes will be punished by hellfire by almighty Allah." (P. 194)
"The infidels have established Christian hospitals and clinics and send medics all over the world. As one of the Christianizers said, 'Where you find people, you find pain. And where there's pain, there's a need for a doctor. And where there's a need for a doctor, there's an appropriate opportunity for missionary activity [Christianization].'" (P. 163)
"The infidels have founded many schools and universities in the Muslim world at various educational levels. These include: the American Universities of Beirut and Cairo, the Jesuit University, Robert College in Istanbul, Gordon [Memorial] College in Khartoum, and others too numerous to mention. (P. 186)
Teacher's Manual:
Grade 5:
Teach that after their death, non-Muslims will be sent to hell. (P. 30)
Quiz: Is it permissible to love the Jews and Christians? Of course no. Explain why. (P. 15)
Grade 8:
*Command Muslims to "hate" Christians, Jews, polytheists and other "unbelievers," including non-devout Muslims." (P. 14)
*Teach that the Crusades never ended, and identify the American Universities in Beirut and in Cairo, other Western and Christian social service providers, media outlets, centers for academic studies of Orientalism, and campaigns for women's rights as part of the modern phase of the Crusades. (P. 15)
*Teach that "the Jews and the Christians are enemies of the [Muslim] believers" (P. 16) and that "the clash between the two realms "continues until the Day of Resurrection." (P. 18)
*Instruct students not to "greet," "befriend," "imitate," "show loyalty to," "be courteous to", or "respect" non-believers. (P. 24)
Grade 9:
*Define jihad to include "wrestling with the infidels by calling them to the faith and battling against them," (P. 25) and assert that the spread of Islam through jihad is a "religious obligation." (P. 26) [the word qital, translated here as "battle," is derived from the verb qatala, "to kill," and is virtually never used metaphorically.]
*Instruct that "the struggle between Muslims and Jews" will continue "until the hour [of judgment]" and that "Muslims will triumph because they are right" and "he who is right is always victorious." (P. 27)
Grade 10:
*Cite a selective teaching of violence against Jews, while in the same lesson, ignoring the passages of the Quran and hadeeths [narratives of the life of the Prophet, Peace be upon Him, that counsel tolerance. (P. 28)
*Teach the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as historical fact and relate modern events to it. (P. 29)
*Discuss Jews in violent terms, blaming them for virtually all the "subversion" and wars of the modern world. (P. 30)
*"Give examples of false religions, like Judaism, Christianity, paganism, etc." (P. 66)
*"Explain that when someone dies outside of Islam, hellfire is his fate." (P. 67)
By the way, over 20 Saudi schools, each chaired by the local ambassador from Saudi Arabia, are located throughout the world, in Bonn, Berlin, Washington, Algiers, Ankara, Beijing, Djibouti, Islamabad, Istanbul, Jakarta, Karachi, Kuala Lumpur, London, Madrid, Moscow, Paris, Rabat, Rome, and Tunis.
In fact, you can find some of the above stuff in many school textbooks in all the Arab Gulf countries, Egypt, Kuwait, The United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Jordan. Fourteen-year-old boys' and girls' brains are stuffed with intolerance, animosity towards other religions and their followers.
Al Sarraf wonders, what is the point in devoting $150 million of Kuwaiti money to spend on disseminating tolerance and moderation in society when the foundation of society, the youth, are taught religious fanaticism and religio-centricism? Islam is a tolerant and moderate religion, but some zealous Muslims have hijacked it and are determined to interpret it their own way.
I disagree with Al Sarraf over the last point. Islam is partially tolerant and moderate. When you check out the Koran and Hadeeth (the prophet Muhammad’s comments), you find out that Islam is also a violent faith. It preaches hatred and violence against non-Muslims and discriminates against women. (Check out “
Is Islam a Violent Faith?”).
What does all that imply in terms of the war on terror?
The war on Islamic terror will remain futile unless the free world forces Saudi Arabia and the other Arab oil countries on the Persian Gulf to remove hatred and violence from their school textbooks. The root causes of Islamic terror must be rooted out. This is not an internal issue and has nothing to do with freedom of speech. It impacts all of us and the world peace at large. The West must use all its leverage vis-à-vis these states to achieve this goal if it truly wants to gain the war on terror.
I’m also pretty sure that the more and more Muslims around the world who read the Koran thoroughly, many more of them would turn their back to Islam. According to a recent survey by Berlin University, 13% of male Muslims have read the Koran and among women it is only 7%.
Many Muslims around the globe, in particular non-Arabs, do not understand the Koran which is written in an old archaic Arabic. They learn about Islam from what their fanatic imams preach.
FamilySecurityMatters.org Contributing Editor Dr. Sami Alrabaa, an ex-Muslim, is a professor of Sociology and an Arab-Muslim culture specialist. He has taught at Kuwait University, King Saud University, and Michigan State University. He also writes for the Jerusalem Post.
What's wrong with teaching kids that their religion is the right one.
Even unbelievers do the same!Christians in my country warn their kids that Muslems worship a box in the desert although they know that al-Kaaba is only a symbol we look towards, not an object we worship.
Islam does not take those who believe in other religions as enemies. Only those who fight ISLAM are.
posted by: Magdy
Thursday, October 7, 2010 at 05:25 AM
So, you think Islam is a religion that is filled with hate? and if each muslim carefully read the Quran they would turn their back to it? well let me tell you that people who suicide bomb, and discriminate against non muslims are not embracing the true meaning of Islam, since the example of the Quran has been set out by many prohpets ie: When Muhammad [sala allah alayh wa salam] first started teaching Islam he never hated any of his relatives although they were praying to wooden and stone statues, but on the contrare they discriminated against him and Allah taala, they said "how can you believe in a God that is not to be seen?" he replied from the Quran saying "You do not see him but he sees you" [rough translations] this means that when you are a muslim it does not mean you should grab a gun and go out to hunt some "non-believers" it means you should embrace them and respect them to show and send to them the true nature of the Quran, I agree with one comment that some muslims take Islam and use it for their own "jihads" but the true muslim should not do this as it is not the true path of Allah, you need to pray, love, respect, and give charity as a muslim
Sincerely
-Ahmed
P.S respond to me through my email I would enjoy a nice debate about this.
posted by: Ahmed
Tuesday, October 26, 2010 at 11:51 AM
