Our Friends, the Saudis

Via RealClear Politics, I have learned of a timely article about the depth of the Saudis' self-proclaimed friendship with the United States. Reporter Nina Shea of The Washington Post reports that, promises and a publicity campaign to the contrary, the Saudis have not cleaned up the numerous incitements to religious persecution for which their textbooks deserve to be famous.

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.

Well, there's no need to use the scare quotes on my account, but since anyone who dares question Islam "enrages" Arabs, I'm honored to be included with the Christians and the Jews nonetheless.

In any event, the Saudi embassy, which has shouted proclamations of friendship with the Great Sat-- I mean, the United States from the virtual rooftops, must really be serious this time. It " is also distributing a 74-page review on curriculum reform to show that the textbooks have been moderated."

As it turns out, this bout of bragging on the part of our Saudi friends amounts to screaming, "'F' is for 'Fantastic'!" So let's take a peek inside some of those nice, new textbooks, shall we?

FIRST GRADE

" Every religion other than Islam is false." [Remember: This is a public school. --ed]

...

FIFTH GRADE

"Whoever obeys the Prophet and accepts the oneness of God cannot maintain a loyal friendship with those who oppose God and His Prophet, even if they are his closest relatives."

"It is forbidden for a Muslim to be a loyal friend to someone who does not believe in God and His Prophet, or someone who fights the religion of Islam."

"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."

...


"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."

NINTH GRADE

...

"Muslims will triumph because they are right. He who is right is always victorious, even if most people are against him." [Contrast this with the cultural relativism many children in the West grow up with. Or compare this to the fundamentalism others are getting. --ed]

TENTH GRADE

The 10th-grade text on jurisprudence teaches that life for non-Muslims (as well as women, and, by implication, slaves) is worth a fraction of that of a "free Muslim male." Blood money is retribution paid to the victim or the victim's heirs for murder or injury:

...


TWELFTH GRADE

"Jihad in the path of God -- which consists of battling against unbelief, oppression, injustice, and those who perpetrate it -- is the summit of Islam. This religion arose through jihad and through jihad was its banner raised high. It is one of the noblest acts, which brings one closer to God, and one of the most magnificent acts of obedience to God."

And there are plenty more samples where these came from....

So tell me again why we're supposed to pretend that it was coincidental that so many of the perpetrators of the September 11 atrocities were from Saudi Arabia, where Islamic studies in the public schools take up something like a third of the time. Unless, of course, it's because the Saudis have a death grip on so many Islamic schools worldwide....

Saudi Arabia also distributes its religion texts worldwide to numerous Islamic schools and madrassas that it does not directly operate. Undeterred by Wahhabism's historically fringe status, Saudi Arabia is trying to assert itself as the world's authoritative voice on Islam -- a sort of "Vatican" for Islam, as several Saudi officials have stated-- and these textbooks are integral to this effort. As the report of the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks observed, "Even in affluent countries, Saudi-funded Wahhabi schools are often the only Islamic schools" available.

And we can count the United States among the "affluent countries" where Wahhabis control a large proportion of Moslem schools.

This is what most children in some Islamic countries (and some even in America!) are being fed on a daily basis. And it should come as no surprise that the violent ideals of Islam are taught by instructors who are violent themselves.

Our Urdu teacher was once talking to a few students in the front of the class. A few rows back, a student was causing a ruckus. The bearded teacher told him to shut up and he piped down for a few minutes. The teacher called him by name the second time and again he was quite for a short while.

Finally, the teacher had had enough. He got up. The entire class went silent. He went over to the student and started slapping him. The student covered his face. The teacher started to slap and punch him on the neck and the back with each hit more forceful than the last. The kid sitting next to the student got up from the desk. The teacher kept on brutally beating the student. The student started crying and fell to the ground within the desk. The teacher grabbed the front of the desk with his left hand and the back with his right. He now started to kick the bawling student. He kicked the student for about 20 seconds. He then went to his desk while swearing. No one said a word.

It amazes me that anything even remotely human could emerge from -- or, more accurately, in spite of -- such a system. [Note: I do not definitely know that the above account is about a Wahhabi school, although it was in Saudi Arabia, and it was a Moslem school. Narrator Isaac Schroedinger continues, "It is no secret that Muslim parents themselves hand out medieval punishments in the home. ... A teacher could be cruel to his pupils for decades without as much as a telephone complaint." Update: See below.]

Clearly, a society engaged in such a thorough campaign of mental and psychological mutilation of its own children cannot remotely hope to win against the West -- unless we in the West doubt the superiority of our culture and, in so doing, allow them to win. Such a victory can only come if we fail to confront them with the choice to reform or die, and if we fail to transmit our culture successfully to our children. Both failures can be averted only if we rediscover our greatness as a civilization, and its root, reason.

-- CAV

Updates

5-23-06: Issac Schrodinger emails the following.

For the record: I went to a Pakistani school in Saudi Arabia. The curriculum in that school was roughly based on the material that kids learn in the Province of Punjab, Pakistan. Thus, it wasn't a Wahhabi school.

In Saudi Arabia, the Arabic term for a school is a madrassa but in the West we only refer to a purely Islamic / Islamist school as a madrassa. In that sense, I went to a non-madrassa. My education (I use that term loosely) was relatively tame compared to the brutality that visits the students who attend an authentic religious school.

Note that students in a madrassa are told to memorize the entire Quran. Most of these student, such as the ones in Pakistan, don't even understand Arabic. The Quran is often beaten into them. [my bold]

I thank Isaac for the clarification. In addition to my gratitude, he has my sympathy and my respect!