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Reformers Work to Rid "Diet of Hate" from Muslim Textbooks

(AP/Chicago Sun-Times) Brian Murphy - Page after page, self-appointed hate hunters underline passages in Pakistani schoolbooks, flagging hard-edged Muslim views toward other faiths such Hindus and Christians. They note sections that speak of martyrdom and the duty to battle perceived religious enemies. ''Children are sometimes being force-fed a diet of hate, anger, and intolerance,'' said Ahmad Salim, leader of a campaign to push Pakistan's education system to remove what activists consider extreme language and images from the curriculum. Educators and activists argue that battles against Islamic extremism are only superficial without deep revisions of schoolbooks. It's clear some textbooks pay homage to violence. In a Palestinian seventh-grade Arabic language book, a protest poem called "The Martyr" includes the lines: ''And the flow of blood gladdens my soul....And who asks for a noble death, here it is.'' The Palestinians' 11th grade Islamic Culture book has dozens of appeals for Islamic solidarity to confront ''enemies'' such as Israel, its allies, and Western culture. ''The Islamic nation needs to spread the spirit of jihad and the love of self-sacrifice [martyrdom] among its sons,'' reads one passage.
2005-11-30 00:00:00
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