OPINION: The Islamic State's Ideology Is Grounded in Saudi Education
By <
http://www.ipsnews.net/author/emile-nakhleh/> Emile Nakhleh
Emile Nakhleh is a Research Professor at the University of New Mexico, a
member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and author of "A Necessary
Engagement: Reinventing America's Relations with the Muslim World."
WASHINGTON, Oct 31 2014 (IPS) - According to an article published Oct. 21 on
Al-Monitor, the Islamic State (ISIS or IS) has issued new regulations for
the school systems under its control in Iraq and Syria. The announced
purpose of the so-called guidelines, which carried the imprimatur of the
group's "Amir al-Mu'minin," presumably leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, is to
"eradicate ignorance and disseminate Sharia sciences."
Although the "guidelines" are extreme, controlling and regressive, some of
the key elements in the IS educational programme are similar to what one
finds in Saudi textbooks, especially those that are taught in Saudi public
middle and high schools. The ideological foundations of Saudi public school
education are based on Wahhabi-Salafi-Hanbali theology.
One key difference focuses on the nation-state. Whereas Saudi education
accepts the Saudi and other Arab and Muslim states, with recognised
boundaries and national ethos, IS rejects national boundaries within Dar
al-Islam, or the Abode of Islam, and individual states. Instead, it calls
for one Islamic State or a "Caliphate."
The new guidelines call on teachers to emphasise creationism, reject
Darwinism, eliminate music and the arts, teach history from a Sunni-Islamic
perspective, discard modernity, and of course segregate the sexes.
Saudi textbooks
Much of IS's educational "curriculum" finds its roots in Saudi textbooks,
especially at the middle school and high school levels. Arabic, literature,
history, civic education, cultural values, and norms of behaviour-whether in
a home or societal setting-are all taught according to a particular
interpretation of Sunni Islam.
The Wahhabi-Salafi-Hanbali interpretation also permeates religion or
theology classes, especially those that focus on elements of Sharia, fiqh
(jurisprudence), or the Hadith. The biological and physical sciences are
taught from a pre-ordained creationist perspective, which rejects modernity
in favour of traditionalism.
Science experiments are allowed with the understanding that the doctrine of
"Tawheed" or "Oneness" of God permeates the universe. God created everything
and every creature. There is no "Big Bang" theory and no evolution of the
human, animal, or plant species.
Even the geography curriculum discusses the region from an Islamic
perspective. For example, kids are taught that the "Zionists" have occupied
Palestine illegally, and the Islamic umma one day must re-establish Muslim
control over Jerusalem, the "Third Qibla" of Islam, to which Muslims turn to
pray after Mecca and Medina. "Israel," for example, does not appear on maps
of the Arab world in Saudi geography textbooks.
The Saudi curriculum, much like what IS is urging Syrians and Iraqis under
its control to teach and preach, imparts to the youth a narrow-minded,
conservative, traditional worldview. It is intolerant of other religions and
even of other sects in Islam.
Oftentimes, Shia Muslims are considered "apostates," or "rejectionists," and
could be subject to discrimination and even death. The Shia in Saudi Arabia
and Bahrain are excluded from key government, defence, and national security
positions.
The Saudi youth are socialised in public schools on the importance of Islam
in the personal, familial, social, and national levels. Whenever Islam, as a
faith and a territory, is threatened or invaded, Muslims have a duty to do
jihad against the perceived "enemies" of Islam.
Saudi education espouses this ideology, so do al-Qaeda and IS. In the past
three decades, Muslim youth have participated in large numbers in jihad
across the Muslim world, from Afghanistan to Chechnya, and from the Balkans
to Iraq and Syria.
The Saudi government participates in the anti-IS coalition, yet IS's
jihadist ideology resonates with Saudi educated youth. Their government
talks about a possible peace with Israel should it withdraw to the 1967
borders, yet Saudi youth do not see Israel on the maps in their textbooks.
If the Saudi youth are taught about the duty of jihad in the face of a "war
on Islam," as Bin Ladin had preached for years, and view IS rightly or
wrongly as the "defender" of Islam, they can't understand why their
government is fighting on the side of Islam's "enemies."
This is particularly poignant, especially since some Saudi clerics have
strongly endorsed the type of educational curriculum that is currently being
pushed by IS in Iraq and Syria.
Textbooks play a central role in educating and socialising Saudi youth and
many of their teachers. Many Saudi grade school teachers do not have a
college degree and rely on the textbook to guide them through the course.
Those who are college graduates usually receive their degrees from teachers'
colleges, which teach a curriculum heavily imbued with Islamic studies and
Arabic language, grammar, and literature.
The ministries of education and religious affairs, which are heavily staffed
by Salafi Islamists, approve the curriculums and have the final say on
what's taught in schools.
Teachers are not allowed to stray away from the textbook or offer analytic
judgments or opinions either on the material in the text or current issues
that might relate to the subject under discussion. Both teaching and
learning are done almost by rote memory. No critical thinking is allowed and
no logical extrapolation is encouraged.
Teachers and students accept whatever interpretations are offered in the
textbooks, especially if such an interpretation is attributed to the Koran,
the Hadith, or Sharia. Such attributions and religious quotations permeate
the textbooks regardless of the subject matter.
Policy implications
So what if the educational curriculum of IS tracks with Saudi education?
Should the U.S. and other countries do anything about it, and can they?
Several years back, I briefed senior policymakers in the United States and
other countries on the Saudi curriculum, the jihadist message it transmits
to youth, and the radicalisation that was sure to follow. It was
"actionable" intelligence in that Western diplomats could speak to Saudi
leaders about a very specific problem, which they could address.
According to media reports, Saudi officials were amenable to review their
textbooks with an eye toward softening the Islamist message. Unfortunately,
not much was done.
Saudi clerics objected to any revisions of the textbooks on the grounds that
non-Muslim outsiders were interfering with religious teachings in the
kingdom. Some of them went even further to depict suggestions along these
lines as a "conspiracy" against Islam. Western diplomats, who had pushed the
issue, backed off.
Other interests in recent years-including Iran, Iraq, the aftermath of the
Arab Spring, counterterrorism, commerce, oil, arming anti-Assad jihadists,
and more recently, building a coalition against IS-have in all candor
trumped Western interests in "reforming" Saudi textbooks.
I argued in previous articles that although IS is defeatable and
containable, the ideological root causes must be dealt with. Otherwise,
other Islamist terrorist organisations would rise on the ashes of IS.
The latest educational "guidelines" issued by the Islamic State are a stark
example of what's wrong with our strategic policy planning on the root
causes of terrorism. Discussing Saudi textbooks is the first step toward
"degrading and defeating" IS.
Received on Fri Oct 31 2014 - 14:45:03 EDT