| Submit your comments on this article |
| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Jordan tries to stem ISIS-style extremism in schools, mosques |
| 2015-08-09 |
| [ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] In pro-Western Jordan, a leader in the fight against Islamic State ...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear the pols talk they're not reallyMoslems.... of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) murderous Moslems, school books warn students they risk "God's torture" if they don't embrace Islam. They portray "holy war" as a religious obligation if Islamic lands are attacked and suggest it is justified to kill captured enemies. Christians, the country's largest religious minority, are largely absent from the texts. The government says it's tackling the contradiction between official anti-extremist policy and what is taught in schools and mosques by rewriting school books and retraining thousands of teachers and preachers. Critics say the reforms are superficial, fail to challenge hard-line traditions, and that the first revised textbooks for elementary-school children still present Islam as the only true religion. "ISIS ideology is there, in our textbooks," said Zogan Obiedat, a former Education Ministry official who published a recent analysis of the texts. If Jordan were to be overrun by the murderous Moslems, a large majority "will join IS because they learned in school that this is Islam," he said. Government officials insist they are serious about reform. The rewritten books will teach "how to be a moderate Moslem, how to respect others, how to live in an environment that has many nationalities and different ethnic groups," said Education Minister Mohammed Thnaibat. Thnaibat refused to discuss hard-line passages in the unrevised books, but said there are limits to reform. Jordan is an Islamic country, he said, and "you cannot go against the culture of the society." Success or failure of the effort matters in a region engaged in what Jordan's King Abdullah II has framed as an existential battle with IS gunnies who control large areas in Syria and Iraq. Abdullah has emerged as one of the most outspoken Arab leaders urging Moslems to reclaim their religion from Death Eaters. Reform efforts target both schools and mosques. All school books are to be rewritten over the next two years, said Thnaibat. Lesson plans will shift from rote learning to critical thinking, and tens of thousands of teachers will be retrained. Revised books for grades 1-3 are already in use, and 11,000 teachers were given monthlong courses to deliver the new curriculum. Among preachers, the government hopes to promote a "moderate Islamic ideology that is in line with our national principles," said the religious affairs minister, Haeli Abdul Hafeez Daoud. |
| Posted by:Fred |