Rosh Hashana Saudi Textbook Edification (1) - Answer To MR's "Pigs and Apes" Query
Earlier this week, in rant 1 of 7 about that morning's Guardian article on the Pope, we asked:
The Guardian is pissed off because Pope Benedict XVI - the spiritual leader of a billion people - suggested that he thinks that his religion is superior to Islam. This is like every single Friday in the Muslim world, where worshipers are told in sermons that they are superior to the Jews and Christians, who are pigs and apes (query: is it that the Jews are pigs and the Christians are apes... or the other way around... or are there pigs and apes who are Jews and pigs and apes who are Christians?... and is the ape thing like a Darwinian thing, or did they just guess?).
Turns out, there's an answer. MR reader David points us to this WaPo article from last May:
Saudi Arabia's public schools have long been cited for demonizing the West as well as Christians, Jews and other "unbelievers." But after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 -- in which 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis - that was all supposed to change. A 2004 Saudi royal study group recognized the need for reform after finding that the kingdom's religious studies curriculum "encourages violence toward others, and misguides the pupils into believing that in order to safeguard their own religion, they must violently repress and even physically eliminate the 'other.' " Since then, the Saudi government has claimed repeatedly that it has revised its educational texts...
A year ago, an embassy spokesman declared: "We have reviewed our educational curriculums. We have removed materials that are inciteful or intolerant towards people of other faiths." The embassy is also distributing a 74-page review on curriculum reform to show that the textbooks have been moderated. The problem is: These claims are not true. A review of a sample of official Saudi textbooks for Islamic studies used during the current academic year reveals that, despite the Saudi government's statements to the contrary, an ideology of hatred toward Christians and Jews and Muslims who do not follow Wahhabi doctrine remains in this area of the public school system. The texts teach a dualistic vision, dividing the world into true believers of Islam (the "monotheists") and unbelievers (the "polytheists" and "infidels")
But as we went through the textbook descriptions, we realized that there was just too much good stuff in there for one post. Also, it's a pre-holiday Friday and most of you could care less about the most recent Israeli opinion poll (which the right is of course screwing up - hint: count the Kadima/Labor percentages versus the Likud/Yisrael Beiteinu percentages... or just subtract 42 seats from 120). So although this is a pretty old article, we're going to split it into multiple posts for clarity and edification. Plus, (a) if it's true it's new and (b) we're in a really generous mood because we're pretty sure that we get to be the apes:
EIGHTH GRADE
"As cited in Ibn Abbas: The apes are Jews, the people of the Sabbath; while the swine are the Christians, the infidels of the communion of Jesus... God told His Prophet, Muhammad, about the Jews, who learned from parts of God's book [the Torah and the Gospels] that God alone is worthy of worship. Despite this, they espouse falsehood through idol-worship, soothsaying, and sorcery. In doing so, they obey the devil. They prefer the people of falsehood to the people of the truth out of envy and hostility. This earns them condemnation and is a warning to us not to do as they did... They are the Jews, whom God has cursed and with whom He is so angry that He will never again be satisfied [with them]... Some of the people of the Sabbath were punished by being turned into apes and swine. Some of them were made to worship the devil, and not God, through consecration, sacrifice, prayer, appeals for help, and other types of worship. Some of the Jews worship the devil. Likewise, some members of this nation worship the devil, and not God"
Activity: The student writes a composition on the danger of imitating the infidels."
See here's the thing - we were feeling pretty solid at the beginning that we got to be the apes, but then in the middle it implies that we might be pigs or apes. Unless Christians also could as "people of the Sabbath", in which case they're obviously the pigs and the Jews are the apes. Which is sweet, because sure pigs are smart and get to talk to spiders and everything - but apes get to hang out with Helena Bonham Carter. Who is hot. And with Charlton Heston. Who is Moses.
Anyway:
The Saudi public school system totals 25,000 schools, educating about 5 million students. In addition, Saudi Arabia runs academies in 19 world capitals, including one outside Washington in Fairfax County, that use some of these same religious texts. Saudi Arabia also distributes its religion texts worldwide to numerous Islamic schools and madrassas that it does not directly operate... Education is at the core of the debate over freedom in the Muslim world. Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden understands this well; in a recent audiotape he railed against those who would 'interfere with school curricula.'"
Happy new year.
The Guardian is pissed off because Pope Benedict XVI - the spiritual leader of a billion people - suggested that he thinks that his religion is superior to Islam. This is like every single Friday in the Muslim world, where worshipers are told in sermons that they are superior to the Jews and Christians, who are pigs and apes (query: is it that the Jews are pigs and the Christians are apes... or the other way around... or are there pigs and apes who are Jews and pigs and apes who are Christians?... and is the ape thing like a Darwinian thing, or did they just guess?).
Turns out, there's an answer. MR reader David points us to this WaPo article from last May:
Saudi Arabia's public schools have long been cited for demonizing the West as well as Christians, Jews and other "unbelievers." But after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 -- in which 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis - that was all supposed to change. A 2004 Saudi royal study group recognized the need for reform after finding that the kingdom's religious studies curriculum "encourages violence toward others, and misguides the pupils into believing that in order to safeguard their own religion, they must violently repress and even physically eliminate the 'other.' " Since then, the Saudi government has claimed repeatedly that it has revised its educational texts...
A year ago, an embassy spokesman declared: "We have reviewed our educational curriculums. We have removed materials that are inciteful or intolerant towards people of other faiths." The embassy is also distributing a 74-page review on curriculum reform to show that the textbooks have been moderated. The problem is: These claims are not true. A review of a sample of official Saudi textbooks for Islamic studies used during the current academic year reveals that, despite the Saudi government's statements to the contrary, an ideology of hatred toward Christians and Jews and Muslims who do not follow Wahhabi doctrine remains in this area of the public school system. The texts teach a dualistic vision, dividing the world into true believers of Islam (the "monotheists") and unbelievers (the "polytheists" and "infidels")
But as we went through the textbook descriptions, we realized that there was just too much good stuff in there for one post. Also, it's a pre-holiday Friday and most of you could care less about the most recent Israeli opinion poll (which the right is of course screwing up - hint: count the Kadima/Labor percentages versus the Likud/Yisrael Beiteinu percentages... or just subtract 42 seats from 120). So although this is a pretty old article, we're going to split it into multiple posts for clarity and edification. Plus, (a) if it's true it's new and (b) we're in a really generous mood because we're pretty sure that we get to be the apes:
EIGHTH GRADE
"As cited in Ibn Abbas: The apes are Jews, the people of the Sabbath; while the swine are the Christians, the infidels of the communion of Jesus... God told His Prophet, Muhammad, about the Jews, who learned from parts of God's book [the Torah and the Gospels] that God alone is worthy of worship. Despite this, they espouse falsehood through idol-worship, soothsaying, and sorcery. In doing so, they obey the devil. They prefer the people of falsehood to the people of the truth out of envy and hostility. This earns them condemnation and is a warning to us not to do as they did... They are the Jews, whom God has cursed and with whom He is so angry that He will never again be satisfied [with them]... Some of the people of the Sabbath were punished by being turned into apes and swine. Some of them were made to worship the devil, and not God, through consecration, sacrifice, prayer, appeals for help, and other types of worship. Some of the Jews worship the devil. Likewise, some members of this nation worship the devil, and not God"
Activity: The student writes a composition on the danger of imitating the infidels."
See here's the thing - we were feeling pretty solid at the beginning that we got to be the apes, but then in the middle it implies that we might be pigs or apes. Unless Christians also could as "people of the Sabbath", in which case they're obviously the pigs and the Jews are the apes. Which is sweet, because sure pigs are smart and get to talk to spiders and everything - but apes get to hang out with Helena Bonham Carter. Who is hot. And with Charlton Heston. Who is Moses.
Anyway:
The Saudi public school system totals 25,000 schools, educating about 5 million students. In addition, Saudi Arabia runs academies in 19 world capitals, including one outside Washington in Fairfax County, that use some of these same religious texts. Saudi Arabia also distributes its religion texts worldwide to numerous Islamic schools and madrassas that it does not directly operate... Education is at the core of the debate over freedom in the Muslim world. Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden understands this well; in a recent audiotape he railed against those who would 'interfere with school curricula.'"
Happy new year.
