Christians are Pigs,says Saudi funded Text book in London

Nandini Jawli | London

Source:www.dailypioneer.com

A Saudi-funded school in London has been accused of using textbooks that allegedly portray Jews as ‘monkeys’ and Christians as ‘pigs’.

Allegations about the Arabic books emerged when a former teacher accused the ‘King Fahad Academy’, in Acton, of institutional racism.

The private school has about 600 children, aged 5 to 18, and it receives more than four million pounds from the Saudi royal family each year.

The controversy is about the use of textbooks produced by the Saudi Ministry of Education.

A textbook dated 2005-2006 allegedly asks the reader to “give examples of worthless religions such as Judaism, Christianity, idol worship and others”. The book asks to explain that “those who die without adhering to Islam will go to hellfire”.

The textbook lines, which have created a furore, are dated 2004-2005 in which an early Islamic scholar is quoted as saying, “The monkeys are the Jews. And the pigs, they are the Christian infidels at Jesus’s table.”

Confronted by media, King Fahad Academy director Dr Sumaya Aluyusuf has admitted that the textbooks in question were kept at the school. But the ‘particular chapters’ were no longer part of the curriculum.

She said she would not withdraw them as, according to her, “These books have good chapters that can be used by the teachers.”

Aluyusuf insisted that the academy promoted “interculturalism and interfaith awareness”.

The official body for inspecting schools in the UK, Ofsted had inspected the school last spring and concluded it provided a good Islamic education and knowledge about British institutions and citizenship.

Now Ofsted has told BBC News that its inspection team included a Muslim Arabic speaker but not all textbooks would have been examined.

The school was founded for the children of Saudi diplomats in London but now caters to children of British Muslims. Half of the lessons are religious education, teaching almost all classes in Arabic.

American human rights group Freedom House had highlighted the hate agenda of some of the textbooks in its 2006 report called “Saudi Arabia’s Curriculum of Intolerance.”