Friday, February 18, 2005
SAUDI GOVERNMENT FILLS
AMERICAN MOSQUES WITH HATE LITERATURE
'Duty to hate
Christians and Jews'
By Mark Ellis
WASHINGTON, D.C. (ANS) -- The
Saudi government has filled American mosques with hate propaganda,
according to a year-long study of over 200 books and pamphlets found in
mosques throughout the United States.
 “The version of Islam the Saudis have been
propagating is of a kind that can lead to terrorism,” says Dr. Paul
Marshall, a Senior Fellow at Freedom House’s Center for Religious
Freedom, which conducted the study. (Pictured:
Parl Marshall).
The 89-page report, “Saudi Publications on Hate Ideology Fill American
Mosques,” is based on a study of original documents disseminated by the
government of Saudi Arabia. Some of the documents bear the words
“Greetings from the Cultural Attache in Washington D.C.” of the Embassy
of Saudi Arabia.
Among the key findings of the report:
--Various publications assert it is a religious duty for Muslims to
hate Christians and Jews and warn against befriending or helping them
in any way, or taking part in their festivities and celebrations.
--The documents promote contempt for the U.S. because it is ruled by
legislated civil law rather than totalitarian Wahhabi-style Islamic
law. They condemn democracy as un-Islamic.
--The publications stress that when Muslims are in the lands of
unbelievers, they must behave as if on a mission behind enemy lines.
Either they should acquire knowledge and make money to be used in the
jihad against infidels, or proselytize until some convert to Islam.
--Muslims who advocate tolerance are condemned as infidels. Sufi and
Shiite Muslims are viciously condemned. Those who convert out of Islam,
the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs explicitly states, “should be
killed.”
--Saudi textbooks and other publications propagate a Nazi-like hatred
for Jews, treat the forged “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” as
historical fact, and proclaim the Muslim’s duty to eliminate the state
of Israel.
“This study was at the request of American Muslims who were very
worried about this sort of material in their own mosques,” Dr. Marshall
notes. “They said: ‘We think this needs to be exposed.’” The
publications were collected in December 2003 from more than a dozen
mosques in Washington D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, Orange County, San
Diego, and other cities throughout the U.S. Two independent translators
reviewed each Arabic document. The same mosques were rechecked in
December 2004, and the same materials were still available.
The Center for Religious Freedom didn’t study the content of all the
printed material available in the mosques. “I don’t claim this is the
dominant literature,” Dr. Marshall notes. “But this is not just an
occasional pamphlet tucked away on a back shelf.”
The report concludes that the Saudi government propaganda reflects “a
totalitarian ideology of hatred that can incite to violence,” and the
fact that it is “being mainstreamed within our borders through the
efforts of a foreign government, namely Saudi Arabia, demands our
urgent attention.” The report finds: “Not only does the government of
Saudi Arabia not have a right – under the First Amendment or any other
legal document – to spread hate ideology within U.S. borders, it is
committing a human rights violation by doing so.”
Dr. Marshall is concerned about Saudi influence in Washington. “Saudi
Arabia can control the price of oil and that puts us to some degree at
their mercy,” Dr. Marshall notes. “They could probably produce a
recession in the U.S. and every administration thinks about this,” he
says. “I do worry about the degree to which the Saudis influence policy
in Washington. They spread a lot of money around.”
“The ambassador, Prince Bandar, has been a close friend with a lot of
U.S. administrations,” he adds, “in the sense of inviting people around
to dinner and playing squash with someone like Colin Powell. This is
not just diplomatic politeness. It seems to be more than that.”
Dr. Marshall is the author and editor of 18 books and booklets on
religion and politics. His latest book: “Radical Islam’s Rules – The
Worldwide Spread of Extreme Shari’a Law” (Roman & Littlefield) will
appear next month.
He remains cautiously hopeful about U.S. prospects in Iraq. “There is
no guaranteed outcome,” Dr. Marshall notes. “You had an amazing turnout
in the election by people facing death,” he says. “Now they’ve done
something for themselves.” Dr. Marshall expects increased tension
between the new government in Iraq and the U.S. “Americans will need to
be humble,” he adds.
Dr. Marshall agrees that President Bush’s dream of bringing freedom and
democracy to the Middle East will be the work of generations. “I was
more doubtful a couple years ago,” he admits. After watching the Iraqi
elections, and the courage displayed by citizens given the opportunity
to vote, his feelings changed. “This is deeper in the human soul than I
thought,” he says.
Mark Ellis is a Senior
Correspondent for ASSIST News Service. He is also an assistant pastor
in Laguna Beach, CA. Contact Ellis at marsalis@fea.net
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