This week’s religious controversy comes to us from Acton London where former teacher Colin Cook is accusing the King Fahd Academy, an Islamic school, of preaching hatred and intolerance towards non-Muslims.
Cook alleges that children as young as five are taught from racist textbooks that refer to Jews as apes and Christians as pigs. In addition, pupils have allegedly been heard praising Osama bin Laden and 9/11. Cook claims he was fired last December after blowing the whistle on the school for covering up cheating on the GCSE exams.
There’s much more to the story as can been seen on BBC Newsnight. Have a look at the podcast here and share your thoughts. The video includes an interesting interview with the school’s principal Dr Sumaya Alyusuf, who does indeed admit that they posses “racist” textbooks. Crappy quality YouTube version is below.
I want to add one more thing. Before 9/11, I don’t remember any stories about Muslims in Europe or the US. Why is that? We’re the stories just not reported or is there a new trend sweeping the globe in which the media is instilling this religious intolerance? It just seems that every time to turn on the TV or read the news, there’s a negative story about Islam and how we’re all doomed. Is this just another case of Islamophobia or is there a noticeable increase in Islamic fundamentalism?
NOTE: No ignorant Muslim bashing will be tolerated in the comments section. Argue on the merits of this story and recent events.
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February 7th, 2007 at 2:47 pm
The weird propaganda wars of religions and unreligion:
you have the christian, the jew, the muslim and the secular.
the christian hates the muslim
the muslim hates the jew
the jew hates noone
and the secular hates everyone, and everyone hates him
The christian is by far the most overpowered, the jew doesn’t need power as they aren’t on the offensive, the secular has the second most power, and the muslim has the least power.
This means that there is an abundance of propagande agenst:
muslims, by both the christians, the secular and the muslim himself (backlash of his extermly poor propaganda agenst the jew).
christians, only by the secular.
the jew, none (as muslim propaganda is so bad it has the negative effect)
the secular is under attack by all, but is barely hurt by it because their defense is so high (they can’t be attacked by normal religious propaganda because of their lact of specific ideals)
…hope noone will take this too serious.
February 7th, 2007 at 2:50 pm
neh, there was “evil muslim” and “you’re all going to die” news before 9/11.
I think the news is exactly the same as with natural disasters, there isn’t any more of it, but the media pounce every oppotunity to show how evil muslims are.
also, it’s the way it’s covered.
Before 9/11: “A man was robbed and a suicide bombing occured in indonesia”
After 9/11: “A man was robbed by a Iraqi and a muslim fundamentalist killed 2 and injured numerous others in a dasterdly suicide attack”
February 7th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
Wow. I don’t feel like scrolling back through the thing to check the exact words, but the spots that said something like this stuck out to me:
“What about the sections that spoke about Jews as Christians as pigs?”
“That’s a bad translation…”
“Then what would you translate them as?”
“…those verses were taken out of context…”
This kind of thing seriously worries me, not just as it involves extreme Islamic views. As much as studies and reports like to tell us otherwise, kids do pick things up at schools. If they hear racist claims again and again and again they will believe them. It’s how we learn, and it makes a bad education a dangerous thing. It’s okay to teach religion at a school. That’s fine. But you teach it in the context of it being one view among many. You teach that people see it differently. You don’t teach that people who disagree with an idea that hasn’t been settled for all of human history are less than human.
As far as the coverage of Islam goes, I agree with Alcari. It’s probably not much different, but now it gets higher ratings than before, so coverage is up.
February 7th, 2007 at 5:49 pm
What are you guys complaining about?
It says in the quran that God turned jews into monkeys and apes IIRC.
The only news I see:
1. how did christians get in this? oh probably bad translation
2. the guys aren’t telling its said in their holy book
February 7th, 2007 at 6:31 pm
Okay I’ll elaborate some more:
Found the verse that talks about monkeys(still looking for the pigs though) its sura 2 ayah 65
basicly the text before and after goes into great detail of how ungreatful jews were, when they were lost in the desert they said “we won’t be satisfied with one kind of food, so call [moses] your good and ask him to send to us of the things that grow on earth…”
The text after goes on about how the jews were supposed to butcher some cow, but they kept asking “which cow? tell us it’s color, tell us it’s age…etc” instead of just butchering any cow that they had to pay it’s weight in gold…
and now for the verse itself, it basically says that those who offended the [holy] Saturday were turned into monkeys by god.
I’ve just put the verse in over 15 verses of context… it sounds even worse now…
February 7th, 2007 at 7:50 pm
Gasmonso says: “Were the stories just not reported or is there a new trend sweeping the globe in which the media is instilling this religious intolerance?”
How is it religiously intolerant to report that this filth is being taught in a Muslim school? I am reminded of an editorial in our local paper a few years back that complained that newpaper reports of a serial rapist that had attacked over 20 women were racist because the description of the rapist included the fact that he was black. The writer felt that to protect the sensitivities of the black community, the description should have been supressed. In other words, women were to be denied a description of a dangerous criminal intent on harming them so other people wouldn’t have their feelings hurt.
I believe we do need to start being aware and a little afraid. Please visit jihadwatch.com and thereligionofpeace.com for a different perspective. Granted they shade over into the right wing a bit, but what they are reporting is real, establishes a pattern, and cries out to be addressed seriously, especially by the many reasonable, thoughtful people who come to this site. Otherwise it will be the klan types who take over the bandwagon.
February 7th, 2007 at 10:45 pm
whenever i see anything about how muslims hate others or notice my favorite website hacked by some radical I cant help but think about the bullies back in elementary school. you know, the ones who were mean to everyone else because they are SO insecure about themselves.
February 8th, 2007 at 1:41 am
Most Saudi Wahabi/Salafi material is rather intolerant. I make it a point to prevent people I know from reading their texts and citing them as “Islamic primary texts” (which incidentally is an alarmingly increasing trend of late).
if anyone is interested, they’re welcome to check out this and this. I don’t know what they’re teaching in this school but I’m quite sure that if I were in the UK, I wouldn’t send my kids there.
That being said, there is another side to the issue. Islam has it’s ideas of what is right and what is wrong. eg. Islam cites idol worship as wrong. It says that people who worship idols are doing something that is wrong. To require that this be “edited” out of the religion (for reasons of tolerance perhaps) is asking for a modification of it’s teachings (whether that is acceptable or not is another question).
Now for the rest. I attended a Madrassa (Islamic religious school) when I was a kid and learnt these things. I learnt the Islamic viewpoints on the Abrahamic religions, the position of Islam on the Christian and Jewish faiths etc. I was also taught about the need to be respectful towards other people, to be kind etc. The net result was that although I think that faiths other than Islam are wrong, I don’t go about breathing fire at peoples of other faiths. We go on with our lives like most people do. I’m not required to hold a knife to every “infidel”s throat unless they convert (notwithstanding how the media portray Muslims these days). However, I do try to follow my religion as accurately as I can (pray 5 times a day etc - which some people see as “extremism”).
This thing needs to be taught as a whole. If you teach someone *only* the rules of warfare, you’ll make a brigand. If you teach him *only* the rules of how to recite properly, you’ll end up with a singer. Frankly, I don’t know what the school is teaching, but if it’s using Islam as a instrument to inculcate a “we’re superior to you (people of other faiths) mindset”, that goes against the grain of the religion itself.
February 8th, 2007 at 2:51 am
Here’s the passage Agony quoted, as taken from Wikisource Quran:
002.062 Those who believe (in the Qur’an), and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians and the Sabians,- any who believe in Allah and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve.
002.063 And remember We took your covenant and We raised above you (The towering height) of Mount (Sinai) : (Saying): “Hold firmly to what We have given you and bring (ever) to remembrance what is therein: Perchance ye may fear Allah.”
002.064 But ye turned back thereafter: Had it not been for the Grace and Mercy of Allah to you, ye had surely been among the lost.
002.065 And well ye knew those amongst you who transgressed in the matter of the Sabbath: We said to them: “Be ye apes, despised and rejected.”
* http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Holy_Qur%27an/Al-Baqara#2:65
The index lists several places for Monkeys but none for pigs:
* http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Quran/Index
February 8th, 2007 at 4:19 am
All hallowed is the great Wikipedia and its sister projects. Didn’t know they had a translation of this stuff as well:)
February 8th, 2007 at 8:17 am
“Is this just another case of Islamophobia or is there a noticeable increase in Islamic fundamentalism?”
I’m hoping it’s due to increased awareness of the threat posed by extremist fundamentalist religious people. However, the world still has to fully realize that religious beliefs are a form of insanity, and that those who act on those beliefs can be a threat. There’s a reason why insane people get treated or locked in cells.
February 9th, 2007 at 7:28 pm
There is an increase in islamic fundamentalism in this country. However i feel the media abuses peoples fears and beleifs in order to increase ratings.
Its only natural for people of similar beliefs,race ideas to stick together, we can see this after the arrests of the ‘muslim plotters’ where although the gang planned to kidnap and execute a British muslim soldier the islamic community stood by those arrested.Several events such as these has led muslims to believe they are victimised and everyone else to feel threatened by them.Therefore a climate of muslims vs everyone else has evolved.
This is incredibly dangerous as it only takes a few extremeists to convert others inciting them to commit hate crimes.
As far as i can see Jews, Christians and Muslims all believe in one god with the same message of love and respect. There is more that unites us than divides us.
February 10th, 2007 at 5:33 pm
well knowing that BBC really did some false investigation about islam and framing islam as an offensive religion is realy backword .(apes and monkeys) they say ? yup it was taken from the quraan indeed but what was it all about ?? the quaran is telling us a story from ancient people ignoring allah’s -god- order so allah punished them by turning them into monkeys and pigs . thats the whole story but the BBC guys is saying “they are teaching haterd”
February 11th, 2007 at 8:39 am
cascade001, correct me if i’m wrong, but IIRC those “people who ignored allah’s order” and were punished are the people of israel, which is the jews.
I actually hope i’m wrong about this one because it would give “religious freaks” a whole new dimension.
February 11th, 2007 at 9:20 am
I am surprised that this is the worst thing they could find at a school financed and run by Saudi Arabia. Calling adherents of other religions bad names is no worse than what you would be likely to find being taught to American Christian fundamentalists. Perhaps the people who run this school realize that the really bad stuff (like how they should treat women and how they should bide their time until they are powerful enough to take over and enslave or kill the rest of us) is best saved for the mosque and the home, away from the prying eyes of regulators.
I hope this isn’t regarded as ignorant Muslim bashing. A recent BBC documentary showed an imam in a British mosque teaching that his followers should obey British laws and bide their time until they are powerful enough to take over. And the Koran says that when Muslims take over, non-Muslims can either convert, die, or live under subjugation. And we all know what the Saudis think of women. That principal in the video sure wouldn’t be allowed to go around uncovered in SA. I wonder if she drives a car?
I also wonder why, if Mr. Colin Cook was really so horrified by the school curriculum, he continued teaching English there for 19 years without complaining to anyone until he was fired.
It would be nice if Christian fundamentalists who are outraged by this sort of thing would remember what it is like to be on the receiving end of bigotry and learn to “do unto others” in the future. Fat chance.
April 1st, 2007 at 3:54 am
Agony,
The Quaran is not calling Jews monkeys, it is just reminding Jews of what their own religious scriptures say will happen to them if they stray from the right path.
CursedOne,
The United States accepts trillions of dollars in investment money from Saudi Arabia. How come those who are upset about Saudi Arabia’s human rights record don’t demand from the U.S. government to stop accepting money from them?