Teaching Brotherhood and Loving Kindness

In 2005, it was news that an eight-page essay written in Arabic by an elementary school student attending the Abraar Islamic school in Ottawa was given encouragement by his teachers for what he produced.  The essay was so successfully received that it won a prize and was pinned to the school's reception board so it could be seen and admired by all who entered the school as an outstanding piece of work.

The cover page illustration was of a burning Star of David, a machine gun and a Palestinian flag flying from the top of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem.  The student wrote in part: "Without thinking, Ahmed took his M-16 machine gun and threw the bombs and he showered the Jews, this resulted in the killing of the soldiers", to which a teacher wrote on the title page "God bless you, your efforts are good."


The principal of the Abraar Islamic school, Aisha Sherazi pronounced herself "shocked" at the public reaction when it was brought to the attention of the news media, and denied that the school practised anti-Semitism.  What the essay represented was an unfortunate one-off, and she would personally ensure it would not be repeated.  She is no longer with the school.



The Canadian Islamic Congress and the Canadian Arab Federation advertised an essay contest in 2008, inviting Canadian high school and university students to submit essays on the theme "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine", as part of activities commemorating the 60th anniversary of Al Nakba - the creation of the State of Israel, when Palestinians fled the fledgling country.

In Israel today the Palestinian Authority provides Palestinian parents with cartoons teaching children that it will become their duty to destroy Israel and retake the geography for Palestinians.  "Palestine" is the label of a cartoon from the PA daily Al-Havat Al-Jadida, of a mother saying to her children: "This is your bride...  When you grow up you will know the dowry."  A map included with the cartoon shows all of Israel as Palestinian Authority territory.


So is it really all that surprising that religious Islamic schools continue to teach their students bitterly adversarial attitudes toward Jews, accusing them of having cheated Arabs out of their destined homeland?  Police are currently investigating a complaint lodged by the Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, about the curriculum in a Toronto Muslim School.

The East End Madrassah has a web site and part of its curriculum is listed on it, with material that encourages boys to understand they should exercise so they will be "ready for jihad".  Elsewhere there are statements that contrast Islam with "the Jews and the Nazis".  "Yes, I can confirm for you that a complaint has been made and our Hate Crimes Unit is investigating", a York Region Police spokeswoman said.

The Islamic school operates out of a public high school in Toronto.  "We are looking into it", principal of the East End Madrassah" responded to enquiries.  The curriculum document in question had been removed from the website for the school.  And then, the entire website went offline.  It appears to be the Level 8 curriculum describing historical conflicts between Muslims and Jews that is involved.

There are references to "Jewish plots and treacheries", and "crafty" as well as "treacherous" Jews.  Jihad is discussed in another section, interpreted to mean "to strive for something", adding that jihad "sometimes also involves fighting a war against an unjust ruler".  Muslim scripture is quoted describing "fighting [in the cause of Allah] is ordained unto you..."

In one section, "Sports and Jihad", the Level 7 curriculum advises that in Islam boys are encouraged to engage in physical training so that they may be prepared to engage in jihad, while girls were meant to pay attention to "hobbies" that would prepare them to become wives and mothers. 

The school's principal, Masuma Jessa, informed that when the complaint was made, "We told them that we took the book off the website and ... we had a meeting and we looked at it and we are correcting it". "It was an error". 

The resident scholar of the Islamic Shia Ithna Asheri Jamaat, an Islamic centre in Toronto of which the school is a "subsidiary", was not available for comment.  But the group's honorary secretary promised that an internal review would follow.  "In the meantime, we have asked the book to be removed from the Web portal and there should be no distribution of any physical material (if available) until the necessary changes have been made to the text".

One simply never knows what one is teaching to vulnerable and receptive children in the name of Islam until others' eyes peruse the teaching and are less than impressed with the potential to create confusion, strife, anger and resentment. The 'religion of peace' that Islam is so often described as, seems to be completely absent in situations of this kind.

Are Muslims in Canada so aggravatingly wrapped up in preparing their children for their future in Islam and within Canada in this divisively aggressive, hostile and wretched manner?