Islamic school head backs textbooks

12 April 2012

The head of a Saudi-funded Islamic school in London has refused to withdraw textbooks said to dub other faiths "worthless" amid claims it was fuelling extremism.

But she insisted the King Fahad Academy did not teach "hatred" and blamed the controversy over the material on misinterpretation of passages from the Koran.

The private school has been under fire following claims by a former teacher that children were taught from books describing Jews as "repugnant" and Christians as "pigs".

And one Labour MP claimed it was part of a "deliberate Saudi initiative" to instil fundamentalism and said other schools should be investigated.

School director Dr Sumaya Alyusuf admitted that the books, published by the Saudi ministry of education, were kept at the school but said they were no longer part of the curriculum.

"We have these books in our school but they are not taught currently; we teach an international curriculum," she told BBC2's Newsnight.

"I can't withdraw them because they are a source and they have good chapters in them. These books have good chapters that can be used by the teachers."

She added: "The King Fahad Academy promotes inter-culturalism, inter-faith awareness. I personally participate in inter-faith forums in London."

Pressed on the claims children were taught that people of other faiths went to "hellfire" when they died, she added: "I reject that and I monitor what is taught in the classroom. I have developed the curriculum myself. We do not teach hatred towards Judaism or Christianity. We teach tolerance."

Louise Ellman, the Liverpool Riverside MP who chairs the Jewish Labour Movement, told the programme: "This whole situation is unacceptable. It is incitement; it is part of the deliberate Saudi initiative to instil Wahabi extremism amongst Muslims and the rest of society."

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