The Washington Post reports that Islamic schools in the U.S. receiving funds from Saudi Arabia may be promoting anti-U.S., anti-Christian, and anti-Semitic views. The report focuses on the Islamic Saudi Academy in northern Virginia. According to the Washington Post, an eleventh grade textbook at the school tells students that “one sign of the Day of Judgment will be that Muslims will fight and kill Jews, who will hide behind trees that say: ÔOh Muslim, Oh servant of God, here is a Jew hiding behind me. Come here and kill him.'” Students also told reporters that they are taught to discriminate against Christians, Jews, and Shiite Muslims. While not all teachers at the Islamic Saudi Academy promote this way of thinking, the Virginia-based Saudi Institute, an organization encouraging religious tolerance, reviewed numerous textbooks used at the school and, according to the Washington Post, found that “many passages promote hatred of non-Muslims and Shiite Muslims.”
In response to the Washington Post report, Islamic Saudi Academy President Anthony Nozzoli said that his school “teaches Islam’s respect for Christianity and Judaism as stated in the Koran.” He also noted that the school is accredited by the state of Virginia.
The funding of schools in the U.S. may be another example of how some prominent Saudis try to propagate an extremist form of Islam, Wahhabism, in the United States. Although no mention of Wahhabism was made in the Washington Post article, the Feminist Daily News Wire has reported in the past on the use of Saudi funds to build Wahhabi mosques throughout the United States.
