Saudi Arabia's Curriculum of Intolerance - Hudson Institute

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34 In the past year, Saudi journalists have written anguished columns about the proclivity toward terrorist violence of Saudi youth, demanding to know why Saudi young males seem more susceptible to suicide recruiters than others. The Middle East Media Research Institute translated and published excerpts from this debate, including the following: • Why are Saudi youngsters attempting to change the world through extremist terrorist thinking and through spreading death in all parts of the world? Why are they forcing the world to think of the Saudis only as candidates for suicide bombings anywhere?... Yet they nevertheless are easy prey for terrorist organizations, and constitute a generous and self-renewing source of suicide [bombers]. What justification could there be for [the fact that] the Saudis are so susceptible to extremist and terrorist mentality? (Jamil Al- Dhaydi, editor of and columnist for the London-based daily Al-Hayat, Saudi edition.) • Why is it the Saudis [who are involved in terrorism]? Because, like … time bombs, they are mentally and politically ready, [and are like] pawns in the hands of organizations with very dangerous political plans. We must investigate why Saudis have become so willing to die for a cause whose aim they do not [even] understand. (Abd Al-Rahman Al- Rached, former editor of the London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, in that paper.) • An interesting aspect of this [website] system is that it targets mainly the [Saudi] kingdom and Saudi youth. These sites would not have been established had it not been known for certain that thousands of young Saudis thirst for … [extremist] ideology. These sites are not aimed at young people from Syria, the Gulf, or Malaysia, or Muslim youth anywhere else… They focus only on the [Saudi] kingdom and on Saudi youth. This explains why the common denominator in all world terrorism is the involvement of young Saudis. (Abdallah bin Bakhit, in the Saudi daily Al Jazeera.) 112 Finally, the official position of the Saudi government, itself, is to acknowledge the need for change in the state’s curriculum. Since 2001, Saudi officials have publicly and voluntarily made numerous assertions to the American pubic that the curriculum needs to be revised and that, with time, reform would be accomplished. In our 2006 analysis, we documented many such official statements. Saudi Arabia, after extensive negotiations with the United States, confirmed that its policy is to thoroughly revise its textbooks to “remove remaining intolerant references that disparage Muslims or non-Muslims or that promote hatred toward other religions or religious groups.” Both the Kingdom’s wealth and its religious legitimacy as custodian of the two Muslim shrines ensure that the worldwide dissemination of Saudi educational materials will continue for the foreseeable future. Unless the curriculum is fully reformed, millions of Muslim students will be indoctrinated from textbooks that promote extreme intolerance and hatred, and have even been linked by some Saudis to religious violence. While the Saudi state has recently initiated a program to re-educate some Islamic terrorists, it appears to be educating even greater numbers with a religious curriculum that legitimizes the “violent repression” and “physical elimination” of the other. The thorough reform of these educational materials – as Saudi Arabia confirmed would occur following protracted bilateral negotiations with the United States government in July 2006 – is essential to American interests.
35 APPENDICES A. Press Release of the U.S. Department of State, July 19, 2006 36 B. Letter to Senator Jon Kyl from U.S. Department of State, Office of Legislative Affairs, Assistant Secretary Jeffrey Bergner, January 2, 2008 C. Detailed Excerpts of Saudi Textbooks for 2005-2006 and 2007- 2008 Academic Years D. Press Release on Islamic Saudi Academy (Alexandria, VA) of the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, and Corresponding Citations from Ministry of Education Books E. Lesson from Tenth Grade Saudi Textbook on Jurisprudence, pp. 76-77 F. Memorandum Submitted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to International Organizations on Human Rights and their Implementation Within Its Territory, 1970 37 39 52 59 64
Page 1: 2008 Update Saudi Arabia’s Curric
Page 4 and 5: 2 Copyright © 2008 by Center for R
Page 6 and 7: 4 About the Institute for Gulf Affa
Page 8 and 9: 6 Table of Contents Acknowledgement
Page 10 and 11: 8 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS We are very grat
Page 12 and 13: 10 technology for their oil. Today,
Page 14 and 15: 12 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION This repo
Page 16 and 17: 14 10. Cite a selective teaching of
Page 18 and 19: American interests that the U.S. Go
Page 20 and 21: 18 Muhammad. Yet, in addressing Wes
Page 22 and 23: 20 INTOLERANT TEXTBOOKS VIOLATE SAU
Page 24 and 25: 22 According to an informal documen
Page 26 and 27: 24 COMPARING SAUDI TEXTBOOKS: 2006-
Page 28 and 29: 26 from the 2006 analysis side by s
Page 30 and 31: 28 traditions of many Shiites and o
Page 32 and 33: 30 EDUCATIONAL REFORM IS CRITICAL:
Page 34 and 35: 32 first meeting of its kind, to ad
Page 38 and 39: 36 Appendix A Media Note Office of
Page 41 and 42: 39 Appendix C Detailed Textbook Exc
Page 43 and 44: 41 Furthermore, the new fifth grade
Page 45 and 46: 43 • “Just as Muslims were succ
Page 47 and 48: 45 • “The clash between this [M
Page 49 and 50: 47 No change. 199 • “The follow
Page 51 and 52: 49 Threat,” which it identifies a
Page 53 and 54: 51 jihad and through jihad was its
Page 55 and 56: 53 The most problematic texts invol
Page 57 and 58: 55 government textbooks, including
Page 59 and 60: 57 policies it confirmed in 2006 to
Page 61 and 62: 59 Appendix E Tenth Grade (Lesson 1
Page 63 and 64: Tenth Grade, Jurisprudence, p. 77 6
Page 65 and 66: 63 [PAGE 77] In the Qur’an we rea
Page 67 and 68: 65 c) Presenting any information we
Page 69 and 70: 67 h) Reciprocal responsibility amo
Page 71 and 72: 69 marriage because of religion but
Page 73 and 74: 71 the British industry is sufferin
Page 75 and 76: 73 called it the Social Security Fu
Page 77 and 78: 75 support, ended the State of Isra
Page 79 and 80: 40. For all these reasons, we draw
Page 81 and 82: 79 Monotheism, Tenth Grade. Kingdom
Page 83 and 84: 81 55 Concluding observations adopt
Page 85 and 86: 83 Hadith and Islamic Culture: Mana
Page 87 and 88:
85 115 Monotheism and Jurisprudence
Page 89 and 90:
87 169 Monotheism, Eighth Grade. Ki
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89 220 Hadith and Islamic Culture:
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Saudi Arabia's Curriculum of Intolerance - Hudson Institute

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