Muslim School Head Fights Shutdown

Published: Thursday, November 29, 2007 2:26 PM EST

Textbooks Sent to State Department

By Court Gifford

The Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA), a Muslim school with campuses in Alexandria and Fairfax, has complied with a request by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom to turn over its textbooks or face a possible shutdown of the school, according to the school's director-general, Abdalla I. Al-Shabnan.

In an interview with Chronicle Newspapers, Al-Shabnan said all of the textbooks have been delivered to the State Department, as requested by the commission in October, and to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors at the request of county Supervisor Gerry Hyland.

The commission recommended to the State Department that school be closed in 90 days if all the textbooks used at ISA were not turned over, or if the religious books were found to contain references to violence and hatred toward non-Muslims. It said textbooks "whose pages are missing or ripped out" would be unacceptable.

Commission spokeswoman Judith Ingram said the commission had not been notified by the State Department that the books had been received, but commended the school for taking the "first step" toward compliance. However, she said compliance requires ISA to turn over all of the books used in its curriculum, including certain Arabic-language religious textbooks. Compliance also depends on a finding that any violent or intolerant references have been removed, she said.

Hyland, who represents the Mount Vernon District of Fairfax County, visited the school following the release of the commission's report. He told the Chronicle that the textbooks are currently being examined by Arabic-speaking county employees. At this point, he said he has no reason to believe they will find "anything untoward, or anti-American, or anti-non-Muslim," and is awaiting the results of the translation, which he said could take several months.

In the interview, Al-Shabnan strongly denied that anything in the academy's curriculum could be construed as being hostile toward Christians, Jews or non-Muslims.

"This is an ordinary American school," he said. "Students here are taught nothing different than any school here in Virginia or anyplace else," except that it offers Arabic language studies and Muslim religious instruction. Many of the school's graduates, he said, go on to attend Christian-based colleges and universities in the United States.

"We are proud of what we are doing in this country and we have nothing to hide," Al-Shabnan said. He said he was confident that, once the books are examined carefully, the State Department will conclude that "there is nothing wrong" and that the school will remain open.

ISA was established in 1984 and uses the old Mount Vernon High School on Richmond Highway as its main campus. It also operates a second, smaller campus for pre-kindergarten and first grade students on Popes Head Road in Fairfax.

Except for the division of older boys and girls into separate schools and the wearing of uniforms and head scarves by the girls, there was little to distinguish the ISA students and classrooms from any other school during a tour. For example, one class was working on a Thanksgiving project, while fourth graders were dressed for Pajama Day. One bulletin board included photos of students on a visit to Jamestown, while another focused on the history and traditions of American Indians.

Several students defended the school's curriculum and said they were surprised that anyone would think that hatred of other religious beliefs was taught at the school. "We're taught to tolerate other people's religious beliefs," said Anisah Kabli, who said she would be "devastated" if the school were closed. Omar Talib, a senior, said he had been a student since kindergarten and that "hate is not in our curriculum."

In its report, the commission said it was concerned about radical religious beliefs held by some members of Saudi society and "whether what is being taught at the ISA promotes religious intolerance and may adversely affect the interests of the United States."

Among other things, it cited a 2003 study by a former Saudi judge and Saudi journalist that concluded that certain textbooks used in Saudi schools encouraged "violence toward others and misguides the pupils into believing that in order to safeguard their own religion, they must violently repress and even physically eliminate the 'other.'"

Al-Shabnan described the academy, which is funded by the Saudi government, as a model of religious tolerance in that the majority of its teachers are non-Muslims and only four are Saudi. More than 70 percent of the students are American citizens.

"Our job here is to teach, and politics and insulting other religions is not part of our job, and all of my colleagues here know that," he said.

Al-Shabnan said he was concerned about the impact the report may have on academy graduates who may be unfairly treated in college admissions because of the publicity surrounding the allegations. At the same time, he said he worries that students may become fearful of the reaction within the Fairfax community and elsewhere because of the negative image created by the commission's report.

The commission, which describes itself as an "independent, bipartisan federal agency" set up to promote religious freedom, said the government of Saudi Arabia has ignored repeated requests by the State Department to allow it to examine ISA's textbooks.

Saudi officials promised several years ago to remove passages that promote hatred and intolerance, but have failed to make the textbooks available to the State Department or the commission for translation, according to the commission report.

Al-Shabnan acknowledged that the textbooks used by the academy, including religious texts, were "updated" in 2004 to eliminate any references that could be considered intolerant of others with a different religious viewpoint.

Al-Shabnan, a Saudi citizen who is a graduate of Columbia University, described himself as an "educator" who came to the United States "to learn from the American educational system." Two of his three children are now in college in the U.S. He said he plans to one day return to Saudi Arabia and "apply what's good in this system."

Al-Shabnan said he did not understand why the commission did not request the ISA's textbooks from the school directly prior to the release of the report, and said he first heard about the commission's recommendation from a reporter who called him for a comment. He said the school would have turned the books over to anyone who asked for them, but was never asked by the State Department or the commission.