Pop quiz: Murder is permissible if the victim is:(a) An apostateIf you answered (d), then you are either a hardened Islamist hunkered down for a last stand in Mosul or a twelfth-grade student at the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA) in Arlington, Virginia. While the above quiz is fictional, it reflects the actual teachings of some of the textbooks used at the ISA.
(b) An adulteress
(c) A polytheist
(d) All of the above
As a result of the violent exhortations contained in ISA textbooks, Fairfax County has appealed directly to the U.S. Department of State for assistance in determining whether ISA's curriculum is "offensive to the interests of the United States."[1] So far, the State Department has refused to intervene, claiming it lacks jurisdiction.[2]
Under the Foreign Missions Act (FMA), the State Department has an obligation to review the ISA's textbooks and determine whether such texts contain violent teachings which would run "contrary to protection of the interests of the United States."[3]
A Violent Curriculum
In 2007, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF)--the independent, bipartisan federal agency mandated to recommend policies promoting religious freedom in U.S. foreign policy--launched an investigation into language contained in official Saudi textbooks used at the ISA. Although Saudi officials eventually provided the State Department with copies of ISA textbooks, the State Department has so far refused to issue a statement on the content of the materials, let alone make the texts public.[4]
Nevertheless, USCIRF was able to independently obtain several copies of ISA textbooks. The contents were troubling, as USCIRF's June 11 report documented with the following two representative examples:
"In a twelfth-grade Tafsir ([Quranic] interpretation) textbook, the authors state that it is permissible for a Muslim to kill an apostate (a convert from Islam[to another religion]), an adulterer, or someone who has murdered a believer intentionally: 'He (praised is He) prohibits killing the soul that God has forbidden (to kill) unless for just cause...' Just cause is defined as 'unbelief after belief, adultery, and killing an inviolable believer intentionally.'"[5]ISA officials charge that alarm over the contents of students' textbooks is being fueled by mistranslation and misinterpretation.[7] However, if the above-cited passages contained non-violent nuances lost in translation, why don't the ISA and the State Department publicize all Arabic language textbooks currently in use at the ISA? Instead, neither organization has complied with USCIRF's request for full public disclosure.
"A twelfth-grade Tawhid (monotheism) textbook states that '[m]ajor polytheism makes blood and wealth permissible,' which in Islamic legal terms means that a Muslim can take the life and property of someone believed to be guilty of this alleged transgression with impunity."[6]