In Saudi Arabia,
teaching hatred for others is a normal everyday scholastic activity. But what
happens when that teaching gets transferred to the United
States? One children’s school with branches
in Virginia, the Islamic Saudi Academy, has managed to accomplish this with
hate-filled texts, a terror-linked website, and students and school personnel
that have been involved in radical activity.
The Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA),
an institution run by the government of Saudi
Arabia, has been occupying northern Virginia,
since 1984. Within the state, it has two facilities, one in Fairfax
(pre-K – first grade) and one in Alexandria (grades 2 – 12). The school offers all of the standard
curriculum: Math, English, Social Studies, Science, etc. However, what has been
of concern to many is the group’s religious studies.
In October of 2007, the U.S.
Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an organization
established by the United States Congress, issued
a press release calling for the closure of ISA,
until the school’s textbooks would be made available to it for inspection,
which they were not. The release stated that “significant past documented
concerns remain about whether what is being taught at the ISA
explicitly promotes hate, intolerance and human rights violations, in some
cases violence.”
The concerns of the commission
were based on previous findings regarding Saudi curricula, which showed that
Saudi authorized school textbooks encouraged violence and theft, even
religiously sanctioned murder, against a variety of non-Muslim groups.
In July of 2006, the Saudi
government released a statement, saying that it would, within one or two years,
“revise and update textbooks to remove remaining references that disparage
Muslims or non-Muslims or that promote hatred toward other religions or
religious groups.” But without having the material in front of it, the
commission was not able to determine if the Saudis were indeed abiding by their
own commitments.
Between USCIRF’s first action and
now, the commission has been able to acquire
and review 17 current ISA textbooks for examination, and the findings have
been disturbing to say the least. According to USCIRF, some of the passages in
the texts “clearly exhort the readers to commit acts of violence.” These acts
include the killing of apostates (converts from Islam) and the taking of the
lives and property of Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists and those adhering to
the Shiite faction of Islam.
In addition, according to the
commission, the reviewed texts “show evidence of truncation, omission, cutting
and pasting, and the use of correction tape or fluid to cover over text – but
not sufficient revision to remove all objectionable material.” As well, some of
the material was altered but contained “identical wording.”
Besides the textbooks, the ISA’s
website has set off alarms. From March of 2000 through August of 2001, the site
had a link to
IslamiCity, a website that repeatedly calls for the murder of Jews and
repeatedly “curses” Jews and Christians.
Some statements from IslamiCity include:
- “May Allah curse the Jews and Christians for they
built the places of worship at the graves of their Prophets.”
- “The
Jews will fight with you, and you will be given victory over them so that
a stone will say, ‘O Muslim! There is a Jew behind me; kill him!’”
- “The
Jews are being punished in their graves.”
From March of 2000 through
February of 2002, ISA’s website contained a link to Islam Question
and Answer, a site authored by Saudi radical Muhammed Salih Al-Munajjid,
which stresses violence against non-Muslims and others. Some quotes from it
include:
- “There
cannot be harmony between Jews – who are usurpers and aggressors, who have
oppressed and persecuted others, and who are known for their treachery and
corruption throughout the world, historically and in the present age... As
the Muslims and Jews are enemies residing in opposing religious and
doctrinal camps, it is not possible for them to be brought together unless
one is made to submit to the other by force.”
- “There
is no doubt that it is prescribed to engage in jihad against the enemies
of Allaah, Jews and others, with our lives and our wealth. That includes
every means that will weaken their economy and cause them harm... The
Muslims in general should cooperate in righteousness and piety and help
the Muslims in all places in ways that will lead them to prevail and
strengthen them and enable them to manifest the symbols of religion, to
practise the teachings of Islam and to implement the rulings of sharee’ah
and carry out hudood punishments, and whatever will lead to their victory
over the kuffaar, Jews, Christians and others.”
- “The
Sahaabah were unanimously agreed on the execution of homosexuals, but they
differed as to how they were to be executed. Some of them were of the view
that they should be burned with fire... And some of them thought that they
should be thrown down from a high place then have stones thrown at them...
Because the evil consequences of homosexuality are among the worst of evil
consequences, so its punishment is one of the most severe of punishments
in this world and in the Hereafter.”
Today, the above ISA web
links have been replaced by new extremist links. Beginning in August of 2002, ISA’s website
linked to Al-Islam,
a site run by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Ministry of Islamic Affairs,
Endowments, Da‘wah and Guidance. The site, similar to the previous mentioned
sites, propagates hatred against Jews and Christians. Al-Islam includes such
brutal pleas as: “Let there be curse upon the Jews and the Christians...”
and “May Allah the Exalted and Majestic destroy the Jews.”
As well, entire web pages on
Al-Islam are devoted to fighting jihad – jihad, which the site defines as “holy
war.” The index for the site’s ‘Al-Jihad’ section is as follows:
- The
superiority of Jihad and moslem warriors (Mujahideen)
- Judgment
concerning Jihad
- Staying
behind from battles
- Characteristics
of Mujahideen
- Elements
of the battle
- Stages
of battles
- Booty
and Al-Fai
- Pledges
and covenants
Another website that ISA
currently links to is Arab News, a site that labels the Islamic Association for
Palestine (IAP), the former American propaganda wing of Hamas, as
“Palestinian[s] who believe in the liberty of [sic] there holyland” and
describes Radio Islam, a site that
publishes Mein Kampf and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, as
“[sic] Informations about Zionism and Palestine.”
Furthermore, according to the school’s
website, from 2000 to 2001, the 9th and 10th grade ISA
curriculum included learning about “the reform of Mohammed Bin Abdulwahab and
his alliance with the Saudi family, who united the Arabian Peninsula during the first half of the 20th century.” Bin
Abdul Wahhab was the individual from which Wahhabism was created, arguably the
movement that ignited the terrorist threat faced by the world today.
Between the textbooks and
the websites, ISA students could get quite
an education in hatred and violence, two subjects that young children should
not be exposed to, especially kindergarteners. Unfortunately, though, it seems
that at least some of the ISA students took
these vicious lessons to heart.
Ahmed Omar Abu Ali was 1999 class valedictorian at ISA.
In an act of foreboding, his class named him “Most Likely to Be a Martyr.”
Foreboding, because, in November of 2005, he would be convicted of joining
Al-Qaeda and plotting
to assassinate President Bush. He received a 30 year prison sentence for his crime.
As stated in an FBI criminal
complaint, ISA graduates Mohammed Osman Idris and Mohammed Hassan
El-Yacoubi, in December of 2001, were on their way to Israel, for what seemed to be a suicide mission. El-Yacoubi,
during a search that was conducted by El Al security personnel, was found to
have had on his person a farewell letter from his younger brother, Abdalmuhssin,
who himself had attended ISA. The letter was in Arabic, and according to writing experts,
it contained language discussing an attack that was to be carried out against
Israelis, possibly in relation to Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
In August of 2002, Idris was sentenced
to four months in jail for lying on a passport application.
And it’s not just the students. Ismael
Selim Elbarasse is a former comptroller (accountant) for ISA. Elbarasse,
named as a co-conspirator for the 2007 Holy Land Foundation (HLF) terror trial,
has been described by the U.S. government as a “high-ranking” Hamas operative for his
financial dealings with Hamas leader Mousa Abu Marzook. In August of 2004,
Elbarasse was arrested, after police viewed his wife videotaping
sensitive parts of Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay
Bridge from his vehicle.
Earlier this month, on June 9th, the
Director General of ISA, Abdullah Al-Shabnan, was taken into custody for failing
to report the alleged sexual abuse of a five-year-old ISA student.
This, while protests have erupted over the school’s use of violent texts.
ISA is most certainly not the only Islamic facility to be
teaching hatred and violence in America, but it is one that has been caught and exposed. Under
pressure, the U.S. State Department has called on the school to reform its
educational materials by August, but if history is any indicator, the school’s
future will be no different than its past.
On September 11, 2001, terrorists coming from Saudi Arabia flew planes into our buildings causing death and
destruction. This school, the Islamic Saudi Academy, in contrast, is evidence
that Saudi
Arabia is
now attempting to destroy us from within.