Report alleges Saudis spread hate through U.S. mosques

Washington D.C., Jan 31, 2005 / 22:00 pm

A Washington-based human rights group alleges that the Saudi Arabian government is disseminating propaganda through American mosques that teaches hatred of Jews and Christians.

The Freedom House's Center for Religious Freedom issued a chilling 95-page report recently, called "Saudi Publications on Hate Ideology Fill American Mosques."

The report, which is the result of a yearlong investigation by Muslims and non-Muslims, concludes that documents issued by the Saudi government and available in American mosques and Islamic centers reflect a "totalitarian ideology of hatred that can incite violence."

The Center for Religious Freedom emphasizes that Saudi Arabia's "extremist Wahhabi ideology" is followed by a distinct minority of Sunni Muslims worldwide, and that “the millions of Muslims who have chosen to make America their home and are upstanding, law-abiding citizens."

The study examined various Saudi government publications, most of them in Arabic. According to the report, these documents assert it is a religious obligation for Muslims to hate Christians and Jews. They warn against imitating, befriending, or helping them in any way or taking part in their festivities and celebrations.

They also promote contempt for the United States and condemn democracy as un-Islamic.

The documents speak in “an authoritative religious voice” and stress that when Muslims are in the lands of the unbelievers, they must behave as if on a mission behind enemy lines, says the report. Either they are there to acquire new knowledge and make money (to be later employed in the jihad against the infidels), or they are there to proselytize. Any other reason for lingering among the unbelievers is illegitimate, and unless a Muslim leaves as quickly as possible, he or she is not a true Muslim.

Regarding those who convert out of Islam, the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs plainly states that they "should be killed."

Saudi textbooks and other publications in the collection, propagate a Nazi-like hatred for Jews, treat the forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion as historical fact, and state that the Muslim's duty is to eliminate the state of Israel.

Regarding women, they instruct that they should be veiled, segregated from men and barred from certain employment and roles.

The report says the Saudi government “claims to be 'updating' or reforming its textbooks and study materials within the kingdom.” However, its current publications, which promote hatred, remain in American mosques and Islamic centers.

Read the full report at: http://freedomhouse.org/religion/pdfdocs/FINAL FINAL Saudi.pdf