There's an Arabic proverb that helps epxlain the violence that's become a feature of the Arab world: "Knowledge in childhood is like engraving on a stone." What a child learns is rooted in his mind and remains the cornerstone of his conscience throughout his life. The sad truth in the Arab world is that our children are being taught fundamentalist Islamic ideas that glorify violence, at least since the 1990s. It's long past time to undertake a comprehensive review of our schools' curricula to assess the concepts our children have been absorbing for far too long and from which their cultural heritage is formed.
In most Muslim-majority countries, the religious and historical curricula contain narratives that violate the principles of human rights and international humanitarian law, yet they are taught to our impressionable children as sources of holiness and pride—even given a tinge of divinity.
Consider a prominent example: During the first Hijri centuries ("according to Muslim historians," our children are taught), the armies of our ancestors occupied countries that did not initiate aggression against them—Egypt, the Levant, Iraq, Persia, North Africa, and Andalusia—and forced the people there to enter the new religion or pay a tribute to avoid murder. Our children are taught that they took women as captives for the "conquering soldiers" and captured children to be small slaves. Another famous historian writes about how the conquering Muslims burned one of the largest libraries in Persia between 642-644 AD because the books did not "comport with their religious beliefs."
These practices, which embody full-fledged war crimes according to the rules of today's international humanitarian law, are called in our present curricula "conquest and victory granted by God" and taught to children as glorious, heroic actions by our ancestors that we must strive to emulate.
Remember how ISIS and Taliban joyfully destroyed the very precious and valuable archeological sites in Palmyra and Afghanistan?
No doubt, these practices contradict the simplest values of tolerance and coexistence, and yet they are taught to schoolchildren brightly, with a sweet flavor.
It's time to admit what it's done: It's not only normalized violence in the eyes of our kids; it's glorified it.
They are taught that conquering, enslaving, forced conversion, and book burning bring you closer to God. Even many who see themselves as moderate Muslims derive their dogmas from Sayed Qutub books full of calling for Jihad and exclusion for everything and everybody who is different.
Of course, we're not alone in this. Religious Zionists have played a dominant role in the current situation in Gaza through their provocative behavior near the Al-Aqsa holy mosque and in the West Bank settlements—violence that they, too, justify through their holy books. It's why Hamas called its horrific October 7 attack the "Al-Aqsa tsunami," affirming the religious war it is waging.
This approach, steeped in extremism and exclusion, is derived from a past that unfortunately shapes the present and future of many young Arab and Islamic peoples. Many have found in the stories of "conquests and heroics" a refuge from a bitter reality of poverty and oppression. We have become violent under the justification that this is what our ancestors practiced against everyone who disagreed with them, and we rationalize and encourage terrorist and fundamentalist movements to continue following in their footsteps.
It's not just against Atheists, Shia, or Sunna sects who are fighting against each other, nor is it limited to Jews. Anyone living in Arab and Islamic countries has been exposed to the wave that sweeps social media with the approach of Christmas and Easter every year, warning Muslims that it is not permissible to congratulate Christians on their holiday because that would constitute "an implicit acknowledgment of their narrative about the crucifixion and that Jesus Christ is the son of God."
We must change course.
Raising a generation that believes in the values of tolerance, equality, and diversity in action and word requires a comprehensive and bold review of our curricula. Everything that sanctifies violence and demonizes tolerance must be eliminated.
If it is necessary to study the tragedies that occurred in our history and were committed by some of our ancestors, it must be done in a critical framework that puts these practices in perspective and emphasizes that they are practices of their time and must be overcome and even apologized for.
The Church did just that, apologizing for historical episodes like Inquisition and the Crusades, which were considered a holy war for Christians until not long ago. The Church changed course, promoting instead the values of tolerance and self-criticism, apologizing for what its followers did in its name centuries ago.
Of course, every individual has the right to practice his or her religion. What is important is that religious faith and practice must not be part of political discussions but must remain within an individual's relationship with his Creator. This is the only way we can have a future without the continuous cycle of violence and hatred.
It starts with our children.
Dr. Muhannad Alazzeh is a former member of the Jordanian Senate and a human rights expert.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Uncommon Knowledge
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