An Arab plea for reforming Muslim schools

Are Muslim schools indoctrinating students in hatred?

Abd Al-Hamid Al-Ansari, the dean of Sharia and Law at Qatar University, believes so. The prominent academician wrote a series of articles for the Qatari and Arab press calling for reform that has set off a firestorm of controversy in the Islamic world.

In an interview in the Qatari daily Al-Raya, translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute, Al-Ansari counted himself among those who want to remove “all seeds of hatred, repulsion and fanaticism toward the other, toward women, toward those whose religion is different than ours, or toward those belonging to a different school of (Islamic) thought.”

Al-Ansari says curricula should play a “tolerant role, as tolerance is a supreme value in Islam.” He condemned the teaching that “Muslims have the right to attack others who are non-Muslims. These things exist in several religious law books, but they are wrong. The concept of jihad in Islam must be clarified. … It expresses human beings’ right of choice. The Koran states that anyone who wants can be a believer and anyone who does not want can be an unbeliever. Some Koranic verses clearly emphasize freedom of belief. …”

“I, too, am opposed to the type of Islam that breeds terrorists,” he said. “This [kind of] Islam is a crime against the true Islam and against the Muslims themselves. [I oppose] these Islamic religious schools, which have produced extremist groups that can’t deal with modern reality.”

He also condemned such teaching in the mosques.

“I am among those who maintain that some of the preachers in the mosques incite hatred towards those of a different religion,” he said. “It is they who caused the Afghan-Arab phenomenon; it is they who portrayed the war in Afghanistan as a crusader war between Islam and Christianity. This is a lie that many youth fell for and fell victim to. Questions must be addressed to the inciters, because they are partners to the same crimes. Incitement, radicalization [and] calling for the destruction of the Christian enemies of Islam have become mandatory for some preachers. If Allah had destroyed the Christians, the Muslim preacher would not have a microphone to preach with, or the air conditioner or the car he so enjoys. …”

Al-Ansari disagrees with those in the Islamic world who equate the U.S. war in Afghanistan with terrorism.

“It is unfair to name the American response [to Sept. 11] ‘terrorism,’ because by so doing we are confusing the concepts of terrorism and self-defense or response to aggression – and at a time when we are demanding that the international community not confuse ‘terrorism’ with ‘legitimate resistance,'” he said. “What happened in America is terrorism; the American response is a response to that aggression, and there is a worldwide consensus on this.”

Al-Ansari said America tried other means to respond to the terrorist attacks before launching a war. He called for Muslims to combat terrorism with equal fervor.

“… Terrorism must be fought by any and all means,” he said. “All Muslims must support the struggle against terror. Terrorism has claimed more victims in many Islamic countries than in the West. Any country or group protecting and defending terrorists must be fought, and the world must be saved from their evil. … The time has come to call them to account and punish them. We must all support the efforts to repress and bring to an end the damage they do.”

He said the Islamic world “must have the courage to admit that what happened in Afghanistan was the liberation of our Muslim brothers – even if, unfortunately, it was by non-Muslim hands. …”

Al-Ansari says the popularity of Osama bin Laden in the Islamic world is understandable through history.

“Attraction to a rescuing or liberating hero is historically grounded in the Arab and Islamic mentality – from Antara through Saladin to Abd Al-Nasser and Saddam Hussein. …” he said. “Now it’s bin Laden. … It doesn’t matter whether the hero is a liar, adventurer, tyrant or terrorist, because the Arab mentality will ascribe to him a sanctity that covers his sins. …”

Additional reasons for bin Laden’s popularity are, he said, “frustration; political, social, and ideological repression; backwardness and inability to change; as well as incitement to hatred of the ‘colonialist West’ and ‘American hegemony.'”

Al-Ansari also cited problems with the Arab media.

“The masses’ political behavior is not motivated only by facts,” he said. “There are many influencing factors, such as incitement on television. Al-Jazeera TV Channel plays a prominent role by repeatedly broadcasting the ideas of bin Laden and his aides, making them stars. Al-Jazeera’s claims that this is a journalistic scoop, and [reflects] professionalism … is only half the truth, because in the final analysis the media convey a message and bear responsibility. … There is a difference between giving different opinions an opportunity [to be heard] and leaving the screen open to armed murderers to spread their ideas. …”