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Saudi Academy Disputes Radical Reputation
The Islamic Saudi Academy is seen by some as a dangerous outpost of militant Islam on the outskirts of the nation's capital. And as evidence, they point to the school's 1999 valedictorian, who is charged with joining al-Qaida and plotting to assassinate President Bush.But teachers, students and administrators at the school — which serves nearly 1,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade at two campuses just beyond the Capital Beltway — say such suspicions are unfounded. "These kids are not drilled in any kind of fanatical Islam," said Matt McClusky, who has taught American literature at the school for three years and is leaving to enroll in the New York Police Department training academy. "The kids are led to be open-minded." On a recent day at the school, most of the female students wore a traditional Muslim head scarf, but many did not. In one student essay on display, a youngster listed his favorite book as the Quran; another essay was about a student's favorite TV program — the gross-out reality show "Fear Factor." A student's artwork showed the emblems of the three Abrahamic faiths — the Muslim crescent, the cross and the star of David. The school was founded in 1984, primarily to serve children of the Saudi diplomatic corps. Today the student body is more diverse, with nearly three dozen countries represented, but much of the funding still comes from the Saudi government. In recent years, the academy has been at the center of debate over the religious curriculum in Saudi schools and whether it fosters radicalism. Those questions resurfaced when former valedictorian Ahmed Omar Abu Ali was charged in February. Abu Ali pleaded not guilty and argues that Saudi authorities extracted a false confession from him through torture. Two other people connected to the academy have turned up in terrorism-related cases: A federal indictment in Chicago last year named a former treasurer of the school, Ismael Selim Elbarasse, as a high-ranking official of the militant group Hamas, though Elbarasse was not charged with a crime. Mohamed Osman Idris, an ISA graduate, pleaded guilty in 2002 to lying on a passport application after an investigation into whether he was supporting Hamas. Frustrated by outsiders' perceptions of the school, academy officials say that two-thirds of the school's teachers are Americans and non-Muslims and would not work there if it promoted anti-Western propaganda. Also, with students from across the Muslim world, with a variety of religious and cultural traditions, it would be impossible to promote Wahhabism — a fundamentalist Saudi form of Islam that has influenced extremists — or any other specific strain, they say. The school's director general, Abdalla I. Al-Shabnan, said that some of the religious curriculum that comes from Saudi Arabia is actually toned down at the academy. "If there is anything in our curriculum that we feel is offensive, we ask the teachers not to teach that kind of subject here," Al-Shabnan said. School officials cited a textbook for first-graders that contains a notation in the teachers' edition instructing teachers to ensure "explaining that all religions, other than Islam, are false, including that of the Jews, Christians and all others." Could this be an example of what WE feel is offensive? Or does WE only include muslims? School officials said teachers were told to disregard that characterization. At least while infidel reporters are present. "To say the other religions are false is totally absurd," particularly in instructions to first-graders, said the school's education director, David Kovalik. But Ali Al-Ahmed, director of the Saudi Institute, a think tank that is critical of the Saudi regime, said it is difficult to believe that any amount of revision can salvage the Saudis' religious curriculum. "It's very clear what they teach," he said. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., has asked the Justice Department to investigate the school, saying in a letter, "The continued association of the ISA with individuals linked to terror within the United States must be addressed." The Justice Department told Schumer it could not comment on whether the school was under investigation. Abdullah Hijazi, a senior from Mitchellville, Md., said he and other students have not been exposed to extremism in the classroom. At the same time, he said, most of the students have access to the Arab media, and "most of the student body generally sides with the Palestinian cause." But as for the Sept. 11 attacks, Al-Shabnan said: "Our religion was hijacked by a group of people who do not represent Islam." They never do. Posted by: ed 2005-05-19 |
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