‘Diet of hate’ under attack

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Page after page, activists are battling to purge school textbooks of Muslim-inspired hatred and intolerance that they fear is creating a new generation of Islamic extremists.

They flag hard-edged Muslim views toward other faiths, such as those describing past efforts by Hindus and Christians to “erase” Muslims. They note sections that speak of martyrdom and the duty to battle perceived religious enemies.

“We are fighting for the future of Islam. Children are sometimes being force-fed a diet of hate, anger and intolerance,” said Ahmad Salim, leader of a campaign to have Pakistan’s education establishment remove what activists consider extreme language and images from the curriculum.

Mr. Salim’s group, the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, issued a report two years ago calling for broad revisions.

This month, it plans to issue an updated review of all Pakistan’s textbooks that reprimands authorities for failing to make serious changes.

It will be the latest example of widening appeals for textbook reform across the Islamic world.

Barely a whisper just a few years ago, the demands have begun to draw attention at the highest levels. Educators and activists argue that current battles against Islamic extremism are superficial without deep revisions of schoolbooks — similar to efforts to purge Balkan lessons of ethnic slurs after the wars of the 1990s.

In Jordan — the target of triple suicide blasts Nov. 9 claimed by al Qaeda — another overhaul is expected in next year’s textbooks, part of a process that includes making clear distinctions between terrorism and what that nation sees as legitimate struggles, such as the Palestinian uprising. Even Saudi Arabia has started to rewrite its highly conservative lessons after worries they were encouraging homegrown radicals.

Jihad a central concept

Much of the concern among reformers is how students learn about jihad — a concept that encompasses all acts on behalf of Islam. It’s clear the phrases in some textbooks pay homage — directly or indirectly — to violence.

“Recognize the importance of jihad in every sphere of life,” say the curriculum guidelines for Pakistan’s elementary schools. Critics claim the message is often interpreted in malignant ways, such as strong denunciations of Pakistan’s historical Hindu rivals in India or sympathy for Islamic militants in Kashmir and elsewhere.

In the Palestinian seventh-grade Arabic language book, a 1930s protest poem called “The Martyr” includes the lines: “And the flow of blood gladdens my soul. … And who asks for a noble death, here it is.”

The Palestinian 11th-grade “Islamic Culture” book has dozens of appeals for Islamic solidarity to confront “enemies” such as Israel, its allies and Western culture. “The Islamic nation needs to spread the spirit of jihad and the love of self-sacrifice among its sons,” reads one passage.

Fifth-graders read: “The martyrs kiss [the Palestinian flag] with their blood.”

Critics sound off

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