Critics of Saudi Academy Say Textbooks Promote Intolerance

The congressionally created commission's actions have caused some tension with the State Department, according to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. State Department officials were said to be annoyed that the panel is pressing the issue during a delicate moment of diplomacy over Saudi education. They said Saudi education is undergoing reforms within the kingdom and at affiliated schools around the world.

State Department officials said they have received a set of academy textbooks from the Saudi Embassy and are reviewing them.

Commission members said the Saudi Embassy and the State Department have not responded to their requests for textbooks. Instead, commission members said, they received some academy textbooks from other sources, including Ali Al-Ahmed, head of the nonprofit Institute for Gulf Affairs in Washington and a critic of the Saudi government who has monitored the academy's curriculum.

Al-Ahmed said he obtained about a dozen 12th-grade textbooks currently in use. He reviewed the books, as did a translator employed by the commission. The translator was described by panel spokeswoman Judith Ingram as "an expert in Islamic history who is highly proficient in Arabic."

Al-Ahmed said passages that had been the source of earlier complaints had been removed -- sometimes by whiting them out -- but that some intolerant material remained.

In a book of Koranic interpretation, called "Tafsir," some passages "are troubling," the commission translator wrote, including those that discuss the issue of the spirit of Islamic struggle, a common theme in Saudi education.

According to a copy of the translator's report, which is to be submitted to the full commission today, a passage interpreting a Koranic verse says:

"In these verses is a call for jihad, which is the pinnacle of Islam. In [jihad] is life for the body; thus it is one of the most important causes of outward life. Only through force and victory over the enemies is there security and repose. Within martyrdom in the path of God . . . is a type of noble life-force that is not diminished by fear or poverty."

Al-Ahmed said academy statements that the curriculum did not originate in Saudi Arabia are false.

"It still has poison in it," he said. "Who are we kidding? It's the mind-set, the spirit of the texts."

Commission members have asked the State Department for a decision about closing the academy by Jan. 17. President Bush left Tuesday on an eight-day trip to the Middle East, which includes a stop in Saudi Arabia.

About a dozen students said in recent interviews that they are taught the value of diversity and cooperation and are perplexed about allegations leveled at their school, which educates about 1,000 students at two campuses in Fairfax.

"None of my classes, none of my teachers ever hinted, suggested or promoted hate," said Rami Ali, 17, a senior who has attended the academy since kindergarten. "I wonder: Where is this coming from? "