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26–312PDF 2017

SAUDI ARABIA’S TROUBLING EDUCATIONAL

CURRICULUM

HEARING

BEFORE THE

SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRORISM, 

NONPROLIFERATION, AND TRADE

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS

FIRST SESSION

JULY 19, 2017

Serial No. 115–46

Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs

(

Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/ or

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/

(II)

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman 

CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey 

ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida 

DANA ROHRABACHER, California 

STEVE CHABOT, Ohio 

JOE WILSON, South Carolina 

MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas 

TED POE, Texas 

DARRELL E. ISSA, California 

TOM MARINO, Pennsylvania 

JEFF DUNCAN, South Carolina 

MO BROOKS, Alabama 

PAUL COOK, California 

SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania 

RON DESANTIS, Florida 

MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina 

TED S. YOHO, Florida 

ADAM KINZINGER, Illinois 

LEE M. ZELDIN, New York 

DANIEL M. DONOVAN, JR., New York 

F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER, JR., 

Wisconsin 

ANN WAGNER, Missouri 

BRIAN J. MAST, Florida 

FRANCIS ROONEY, Florida 

BRIAN K. FITZPATRICK, Pennsylvania 

THOMAS A. GARRETT, JR., Virginia 

ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York 

BRAD SHERMAN, California 

GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York 

ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey 

GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia 

THEODORE E. DEUTCH, Florida 

KAREN BASS, California 

WILLIAM R. KEATING, Massachusetts 

DAVID N. CICILLINE, Rhode Island 

AMI BERA, California 

LOIS FRANKEL, Florida 

TULSI GABBARD, Hawaii 

JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas 

ROBIN L. KELLY, Illinois 

BRENDAN F. BOYLE, Pennsylvania 

DINA TITUS, Nevada 

NORMA J. TORRES, California 

BRADLEY SCOTT SCHNEIDER, Illinois 

THOMAS R. SUOZZI, New York 

ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York 

TED LIEU, California

AMY PORTER, Chief of Staff THOMAS SHEEHY, Staff Director

JASON STEINBAUM, Democratic Staff Director 

SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRORISM, NONPROLIFERATION, AND TRADE

TED POE, Texas, Chairman 

JOE WILSON, South Carolina 

DARRELL E. ISSA, California 

PAUL COOK, California 

SCOTT PERRY, Pennsylvania 

LEE M. ZELDIN, New York 

BRIAN J. MAST, Florida 

THOMAS A. GARRETT, JR., Virginia 

WILLIAM R. KEATING, Massachusetts 

LOIS FRANKEL, Florida 

BRENDAN F. BOYLE, Pennsylvania 

DINA TITUS, Nevada 

NORMA J. TORRES, California 

BRADLEY SCOTT SCHNEIDER, Illinois 

(III)

C O N T E N T S 

Page

WITNESSES 

Ms. Nina Shea, director, Center for Religious Freedom, Hudson Institute ........ 4

David A. Weinberg, Ph.D., senior fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies ..................................................................................................................... 14

The Honorable Frank Wolf, distinguished senior fellow, 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative (former U.S. Representative) ..................................................... 34

Douglas Johnston, Ph.D., president emeritus, International Center for Religion and Diplomacy .............................................................................................. 40

LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING 

Ms. Nina Shea: Prepared statement ...................................................................... 7

David A. Weinberg, Ph.D.: Prepared statement ................................................... 16

The Honorable Frank Wolf: Prepared statement .................................................. 37

Douglas Johnston, Ph.D.: Prepared statement ..................................................... 42

APPENDIX 

Hearing notice .......................................................................................................... 62

Hearing minutes ...................................................................................................... 63

David A. Weinberg, Ph.D.: Material submitted for the record ............................ 64

The Honorable Frank Wolf: Material submitted for the record ........................... 72

(1)

SAUDI ARABIA’S TROUBLING EDUCATIONAL 

CURRICULUM 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 2017

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRORISM, NONPROLIFERATION, AND TRADE,

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS,

Washington, DC. 

The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 2:15 p.m., in room 

2200 Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Ted Poe (chairman of 

the subcommittee) presiding. 

Mr. POE. The subcommittee will now come to order. 

Without objection, all members may have 5 days to submit statements, questions, and extraneous materials for the record, subject 

to the limitation in the rules. 

The Chair will ask that the witnesses come forward and sit in 

your designated positions. 

The Chair has distributed to all members an expert from—excerpts from current textbooks published by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry 

of Education. The Chair would ask and direct that the staff furnish 

this material to all of the witnesses at this time. 

Saudi Arabia is an ally in the fight against terrorism. Many of 

the same terrorist organizations that threaten the United States 

also desire to overthrow the Saudi Government and break our partnership with the government. It is a key member of the Coalition 

to Fight ISIS, with its pilots flying alongside Americans since day 

one of the campaign in Syria. Last year Saudi Arabia adopted strict 

laws prohibiting fundraising for terrorism, jointly designated support networks for al-Qaeda and the Taliban. 

However, the Saudis still have much more they need to do at 

home to counter the sources of extremism in the region. The battle 

against terrorism will ultimately have to be fought and won on the 

battlefield of ideas. Saudi Arabia has simply not done enough to defeat extremist ideology. 

The Kingdom is playing the role of both arsonist and firefighter 

when it comes to Islamic extremism. Nowhere is this more evident 

than the textbooks Saudi Arabia produces to teach young people. 

For too long, Saudi Arabia’s education curriculum has inspired the 

very ideology that is at the root of many terrorist organizations like 

ISIS and al-Qaeda. Saudi textbooks are full of anti-Semitism, conspiracy theories, and calls to violence that have incited students 

both at home and across the world. 

This poisonous ideology has provided the groundwork for generations of extremism. In fact, ISIS adopted official Saudi textbooks 

2

for its schools in 2015 until that terrorist organization could publish its own textbooks. However, its export of hateful material 

through Saudi-funded schools abroad has helped spread the toxic 

ideology to more tolerant and open Muslim communities in countries such as Kosovo and Indonesia. 

While the Kingdom has repeatedly pledged to remove extremist 

content from its curriculum, troubling language remains in many 

of the most recent editions of Saudi textbooks. In 2006, the Saudis 

committed to eliminate all passages that promoted hatred toward 

any religion by 2008. Yet even today, years later, textbooks include 

content that discourages befriending infidels, claims the goal of Zionism is world domination, and encourages fighting any infidel who 

refuses to submit to the supremacy of Islam. This intolerance is unacceptable and directly contributes to the widespread persecution 

of religious minorities that plague the Middle East. 

Another passage in a current Saudi textbook for middle school 

students states that ‘‘the mujahideen who are doing good deeds for 

the sake of Allah . . . should be given transportation, weapons, 

food, and anything else that they may need to continue their 

jihad.’’ Messages such as this undermine the Saudi’s own counterterrorism efforts. By indoctrinating children into the belief that the 

people of other faiths are inferior or that are a threat to Islam, 

Saudi Arabia is ensuring future generations of extremists that will 

join the ranks of terrorist groups. 

This is not to ignore that some positive steps have been taken. 

In recent years, the Kingdom has introduced passages that denounce terrorism and encourage dialogue with other faiths. But 

these steps only send mixed messages to easily influenced young 

minds so as long as those more extreme messages remain. 

The State Department has previously in other administrations, 

failed to hold Saudi Arabia counterparts to past pledges. The 

Saudi—the State Department has even refused to publish reports 

that shed light on these troubling textbooks for fear of embarrassing our Saudi partners, information that they have in the possession of the State Department. This is troubling. 

While we appreciate Saudi Arabia’s contribution to our overall 

counterterrorism efforts in the region, we must hold them accountable for their role in fueling the very extremism that we are both 

trying to combat. It is in both of our countries’ interests in the fight 

against terrorism. We all need to be on the same page. And that 

is just the way it is. 

I will yield from the gentleman from Massachusetts Mr. Keating, 

the ranking member, for his opening statement. 

Mr. KEATING. Thank you, Chairman Poe, for holding this hearing. And thank you to our witnesses for being here. Mr. Wolf, welcome back. 

We have dedicated a lot of time in this subcommittee with talks 

of countering terrorism and violent extremism. Our last hearing 

addressed that very issue in Europe, in light of the many attacks 

carried out against so many innocent civilians across the region. 

We are here to discuss the issue in the context of Saudi Arabia’s 

school curriculum, and in particular, reforms that have been made 

to ensure children just going to school are not being trained in intolerance and violence but, also importantly, to identify what work 

3

still must be done. The spread of extremist ideologies and instances 

of individuals being inspired to commit acts of terrorism has forced 

us to learn much, much more about the factors that make individuals vulnerable to committing acts of violence and taking human 

lives. 

We realize that the messages these individuals are exposed to 

can change the course of their lives and push them to carry out heinous crimes of their own in their own communities, and in those 

communities they may have never known, but their actions have 

led to dehumanization, and they actually come to believe legitimate 

targets of violence are their victims. 

These materials that our future generations spend every day of 

the most formative years of their lives learning from are therefore 

very important. Texts that dehumanize and condone violence 

against others simply cannot be tolerated. 

Saudi Arabia is an ally of the United States in fighting terrorism. And if there is ever to be a lasting peace and security in 

the Middle East it will require every country in the region stepping 

up and being a leader in eradicating extremism and promoting the 

institutions and rule of law needed to ensure that such hatred and 

violent ideologies are never again permitted to take root or to 

spread. 

Today I hope to learn more from our witnesses about the reforms 

and progress the Kingdom has already made, what existing challenges lie before us and, specifically, how we in Congress can support progress in this regard. Every year that goes by children are 

being taught intolerance. And that compounds the challenges we 

will face in creating a safer world for them to grow up in going forward. 

So, I am looking forward to today’s hearing about the steps that 

can be made sure to take these materials molding our future generations and bringing them forward, not only in Saudi Arabia but 

in communities around the world. We all have forms of intolerance, 

and we all must work to remove these from our own countries. This 

must be achieved as quickly as possible, however. We cannot afford 

to be patient while intolerance that promotes or condones violence 

in any form is not only shared but taught and continues to undermine our collective efforts to protect communities from terrorism 

and violent extremism. 

Again I would like to thank our witnesses and I yield back. 

Mr. POE. I thank the gentleman from Massachusetts. 

Do any other members wish to be recognized? 

[No response.] 

Mr. POE. Seeing none, without objection all witnesses’ prepared 

statements will be made part of the record. I ask that each witness 

please keep your presentation to no more than 5 minutes. If you 

see a red light that appears before you, that means stop. And we 

do have your statements and all members have had access to those 

statements for some time. 

I will introduce each witness and then give them time for their 

opening statements. 

Ms. Nina Shea is the director of the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute. Previously she was appointed by the 

United States House of Representatives to serve seven terms as a 

4

commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious 

Freedom. 

Dr. David Weinberg is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Prior to joining the FDD, he served as Democratic professional staff member at the House Committee on Foreign Affairs. 

The Honorable Frank Wolf served, God bless you, 17 terms in 

the United States House of Representatives. He is now a distinguished senior fellow at the 21st Century Wilberforce Initiative. 

And Dr. Douglas Johnston is the president emeritus and founder 

of the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy. Prior to his 

current position he served as vice president and COO of Center for 

Strategic and International Studies. 

Ms. Shea, we will start with you. You have 5 minutes. 

STATEMENT OF MS. NINA SHEA, DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR 

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM, HUDSON INSTITUTE 

Ms. SHEA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. 

This is an important hearing. It comes at a critical time when 

Saudi Arabia itself is expressing a new vision for itself of reform. 

And many thoughtful voices after 9/11 made a connection between 

the fact that most of the perpetrators and the mastermind behind 

those attacks were from Saudi Arabia, and that their educational 

system could have a lot to do with what happened that day. 

The Saudis—the Saudi King—back in 2003 convened his own 

panel to examine the Saudi textbooks and they confirmed some of 

our worst fears. And they found that the Saudi Kingdom, and I am 

quoting, ‘‘religious studies curriculum encourages violence with others and misguides the people into believing that in order to safeguard their own religion they must violently repress and even 

physically eliminate the others.’’

For 15 years after 9/11 Saudi Ministry of Education textbooks 

still teach an ideology of hatred and violence against Jews, Christians, other Muslims such as Shiites, Sufis and Amadiyyas, Hindus, Baha’is, Yezidis, animists, sorcerers, and infidels of all stripes, 

as well as other groups with different beliefs. The most objectionable passages are from the upper grades’ religious textbooks. 

While the Saudi Government has made much of reform in the 

early grades, those religious texts, like those for math or English, 

have not been particularly problematic, though overall critical 

thinking and ideas that conflict with the government-approved 

ones are banned. 

Each academic year the Ministry of Education issues a new edition of grades 1 through 12’s religious textbooks. And they are 

mandatory in all Saudi public schools. Each edition reflects some 

changes in wording, content, and placement. Nevertheless, over the 

past some 10 years, the content, that I have been looking at these 

books, the content has continued to retain violent passages and directives. 

Christians, Hindus, and those practicing witchcraft are to be 

fought and killed. The textbooks incite violence against polytheists, 

a category that would of course include all non-monotheistic religions, but in Saudi Wahhabi teaching can include monotheistic reVerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:31 Aug 03, 2017 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_TNT\071917\26312 SHIRL
5

ligions too, such as Christianity. Christians are also considered 

infidels who must be fought unless they have a protection contract 

with Muslims. Conspiracy theories are taught as fact about the 

Freemasons, the Rotary Club, the Lion’s Club, the American University of Beirut, and so on. 

Dogmatic lessons in Saudi middle and high school textbooks include that many—instruct that many Muslims should be killed for 

their beliefs, including blasphemers, Christian converts, and those 

who merely doubt the Prophet’s truth, as well as Shiites and Sufis, 

who are condemned as polytheists for praying or even seen crying 

at gravesites. 

No group, however, is more vilified than the Jews. The problem 

is far deeper than that conveyed by the State Department’s characterization of it as simply stereotypical or anti-Semitic language. Repeatedly Jews are demonized, dehumanized, and targeted for violence. The textbooks instruct that the Zionist aim is Jewish domination of the world and controlling its destiny. 

When I was in Saudi Arabia in 2011 with the U.S. Commission 

on International Religious Freedom I had a chance to ask the 

Saudi justice minister at the time why the Protocols of the Elders 

of Zion, an infamously anti-Semitic fabrication from the Russian 

revolution, is included in the textbooks on Hadith, which is the traditions of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed, where it continues to be 

taught as historical fact. He responded that the Protocols are treated as part of Islamic culture because it is a book that has long been 

found in plentiful supply in Saudi Arabia and that it was a book 

that his father had in his house. 

In the interests of time I am going to refer to my written testimony for specific examples. You have already cited a few. 

But just to say that apostates are singled out for punishment in 

this life, death unless they repent within 3 days. 

Christians, again, are considered polytheists, and polytheists are 

to be—is a reason to fight those who practice it and to commit 

jihad against it, is another quote from these books. 

Homosexuals, the punishment is death. 

Jihad is extolled and defined. Its first definition is asserting effort in fighting unbelievers and tyrants. 

And there are many more examples. And these are posted on the 

Internet and shipped worldwide. And they have been linked by our 

counterterrorism officials to growing extremism. 

The Saudis, the one point I would like to make is that the Saudis 

themselves have admitted that the textbooks need reform. They do 

not deny it. Any Saudi that I talked to has agreed, including the 

Saudi Minister of Education in 2011, but they have not really finished it. They have never finished it. And they have a long history 

of broken promises where they have said that they did; either they 

did clean them up, as our Ambassador to Washington, former Ambassador Turki al-Faisal told us, or that the reform is just around 

the corner and that it will be completed in 2 years or 5 years or 

10 years. And over this period it has not happened. 

The government—U.S. Government—has failed to verify this. 

And has even, as you mentioned, covered it up. 

So, I will conclude my testimony there and urge you to mandate 

that Congress, mandate—that Congress mandate the State DepartVerDate 0ct 09 2002 11:31 Aug 03, 2017 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 F:\WORK\_TNT\071917\26312 SHIRL
6

ment review the textbooks and highlight and detail the troublesome portions of it. And to, even to make defense contracts with 

Saudi Arabia contingent on the cleanup of these textbooks and so 

that they are not in danger of hurting or killing any American that 

might be a member of the groups that are singled out for violence 

and dehumanization in these reports. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Ms. Shea follows:]

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TESTIMONY OF NINA SHEA, DIRECTOR 

HUDSON INSTITUTE'S CENTER FOR RELIGIOUS FREEDOM 

BEFORE THE 

HOUSE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

"Saudi Arabia's Troubling Educational Curriculum" 

July 19, 2017 

Mr. Chairman, representing Hudson Institute's Center for Religious Freedom, I thank you for holding this 

important hearing today. It comes at an important time in the strengthening of United States and Saudi 

Arabia relations and when a new vision for Saudi Arabia by its rulers is being presented. In confronting 

lslamist extremist terror, we have a new opportunity to make a difference by examining the ideology 

reflected in Saudi Arabia's official textbooks. 

After 9/11, when it became clear that 79 percent of the terrorists who waged the murderous attacks on 

American soil that day, not to mention the plot's mastermind, Osama bin Laden, were sons of Saudi 

Arabia, Saudi Arabia's education system was brought into question. The 9/11 Commission and other 

thoughtful voices suggested that the kingdom's interpretation of Islam, Wahhabism, which is taught as 

the core of its schools' standardized curriculum, could bear some responsibility for inciting violence 

against the West. 

Soon after, with the help of Saudi-American journalist Ali Ahmed and several other American Muslims, 

who wish to remain anonymous, I began collecting, translating and analyzing Saudi textbooks for grades 

1 through 12 of the Saudi religious curriculum. I published my findings in 2005, 2006, 2008 and 2011. In 

2011, as a Commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, I visited Saudi 

Arabia and discussed its textbooks directly with the Minister of Education, the Minister of Justice and 

the Minister of Islamic Affairs. In subsequent years, I have studied and written about the global spread 

of Saudi Wahhabi education, including here in the academy operated by the Saudi embassy under the 

name Islamic Saudi Academy (for the academic year just concluded, its name was changed to King 

Abdullah Academy). My findings were generally validated by later reporting by the State Department 

and others. 

The Saudi Textbooks 

Fears that the Saudi government was indoctrinating its young people in violent and belligerent teachings 

toward us proved warranted. In 2003, a scholarly panel commissioned by Saudi King Abdullah reviewed 

the middle and high school religious curriculum for three subjects pertaining to Wahhabi Islam- Fiqh 

(law). Hadith (tradition), and Tawhid (beliefs regarding monotheism). Their conclusion was as shocking 

as it was blunt. At the 2003 National Dialogue in Saudi Arabia, these Saudi scholars presented their key 

finding that: 
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[The Saudi Kingdom's religious studies curriculum] encourages violence towards 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.' 

Sixteen years after 9/11, Saudi Ministry of Education textbooks still teach an ideology of hatred and 

violence against Jews, Christians, Muslims, such as Shiites, Sufis and Ahmadis, Hindus, Bahais, Yizidis, 

animists, sorcerers, and "infidels" of all stripes, as well as other groups with different beliefs. The most 

objectionable passages are found in the upper grades' religious textbooks. While the Saudi government 

has heralded reform for the early grades, those religious texts, like those for math and English, have not 

been particularly problematic, though, overall, critical thinking and ideas that conflict with the 

government approved ones are banned. (A Wahhabi educational document I analyzed had denounced 

"freedom of thinking" since it "let[s]loose the ideas and pens to write of disbelief as one likes, and 

put[s] ornaments on sin as one likes.") 

Each academic year, Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Education publishes new editions of grades 1 through 12 

religious textbooks, which are mandatory in the Saudi public schools. Each edition reflects some 

changes in wording, content and placement. Nevertheless, over the past some ten years, the content 

has continued to retain violent passages and directives. 

Christians, Hindus and those "practicing witchcraft" are to be fought and killed. The textbooks incite 

violence against "polytheists," a category that would of course include all non-monotheistic religions 

but, in Saudi Wahhabi teaching, can include monotheistic religions, too. While Christianity is considered 

one of the three great monotheistic religions by the rest of the world, the Saudi textbooks teach that 

Christians are polytheists for their belief in Jesus Christ. Christians are also considered "infidels" who 

must be fought unless they have a protection contract with Muslims. Conspiracy theories are taught as 

fact about the Free Masons, the Rotary Club, the Lions Club and the American University of Beirut. 

Dogmatic lessons in Saudi middle and high school textbooks instruct that many Muslims should be killed 

for their beliefs, including blasphemers, Christian converts, and those who merely "doubt" the Prophet's 

truth, as well as Shiites and Sufis, who are condemned as "polytheists" for praying or even seen crying at 

gravesites. 

No group, however, is more vilified than Jews. The problem is far deeper than that conveyed by the 

State Department characterization of it as simply "stereotypical" or "anti-Semitic" language. Repeatedly, 

Jews are demonized, dehumanized, and targeted for violence. The textbooks instruct that the Zionist 

aim is "Jewish domination of the world and controlling its destiny." Israel's existence is de-legitimized 

and students are mentally prepared for eventual war with the Jews. All of Israel is called "occupied 

Islamic territory" (as are Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, much of Spain and the Balkans.) 

When I met in 2011 with the then-Saudi justice minister Muhammad a I-Issa, I asked him why the 

Protocols of the Elders of Zion, an infamously anti-Semitic fabrication from the Russian revolution 

period, is included in the textbook on Hadiths (traditions of Islam's Prophet Mohammed) where it 

continues to be taught as historical fact. He responded that the Protocols is treated as part of Islamic 

culture because it is a book that has long been found in plentiful supply in Saudi Arabia, and was a book 

that his father had in his home. 

A few examples I documented from the Saudi textbooks for the higher grades, follow: 

2 
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26312a-3.eps

1. 'The Jews and the Christians are enemies of the believers, and they cannot approve of Muslims." 

2. 'The struggle of this [Muslim] nation with the Jews and Christians has endured, and it will continue as 

long as God wills." 

3. "Do not kill what God has forbidden killing such as the Muslim or the infidel between whom and the 

Muslims there is a covenant or under protection, unless for just cause such as unbelief after belief, just 

punishment or adultery." 

4. 'The apostate has two punishments; worldly and in the hereafter. Punishment in this life: Death if he 

does not repent." 

5. "Major polytheism is a reason to fight those that practice it." 

6. "Major polytheism makes [the taking of] blood and wealth permissible." 

7. "Fighting the Infidels and the Polytheists has certain conditions and controls, including: That they be 

invited to Islam and they refuse to enter it and refuse to pay Jizya [a special tax] That Muslims have the 

power and the capacity to combat, That this be with the permission of the guardian and under his 

banner, That there be no guarantee between them and the Muslims not to combat." 

8. 'The punishment of homosexuality is death .... Ibn Qudamah said: 'The companions (of the Prophet) 

agreed unanimously on killing. Some of the Companions argued that he (a homosexual) is to be burned 

with fire. It has been said that he should be stoned, or thrown from a high place. Other things have also 

been said." 

9. "In Islamic law, (jihad) has two uses: 1. specific usage: which means: Exerting effort in fighting 

unbelievers and tyrants." 

10. "In the general usage, Jihad is divided into the following categories: ... Wrestling with the 

unbelievers by calling them (to the faith) and fighting them." 

11. "As was cited in Ibn Abbas, and was said: The Apes are the people of the Sabbath, the Jews; and the 

Swine are the infidels of the communion of Jesus, the Christians." 

12. "You can hardly find an example of sedition in which the Jews have not played a role." 

13. "For since the Jews were scattered sundries they never knew peace with a single nation because of 

their proclivity for deceit, lying and conspiracy. Nothing proves this more than the Muslims' experience 

with them in Medina as the Prophet (PBUH) deported them and recommended that they be driven out 

from the Arabian Peninsula and as happened with them in other countries such as Germany, Poland, 

Spain and others." 

14. "It is part of God's wisdom that the struggle between the Muslims and the Jews should continue 

until the hour [of judgment] The good news for Muslims is that God will help them against the Jews in 

the end." 

15. "The whole [Muslim] nation lives in a Jihad against international Zionism manifested by the State of 

Jewish gangs' called Israel established on the land of Palestine wrongfully and in transgression." 

3 
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26312a-4.eps

To be sure the textbook language varies from year to year, and some intolerant passages have been 

word smithed, moved to later grades, repeated less often in the curriculum, paired with contradictory 

tolerant teachings and otherwise toned down. For example, last year's textbooks only instruct one way, 

by stoning, to kill a homosexual, instead of three, as before. Students are instructed to "hate the 

polytheists and the infidels" but, incongruously and without explanation, not to treat the infidels 

"unjustly," and, in a higher grade, taught four "reasons for hostility toward the kuffar (unbeliever)." Holy 

war is still extolled but now a ruler must decide when to make the call for jihad. The ideology of hatred 

and violence toward the "other" continued to be reflected in the textbooks of the last academic year. 

Posted on the Internet and shipped worldwide, these texts are linked to growing extremism. Top U.S. 

Treasury counterterrorism officials have called the Wahhabi teachings of these textbooks "kindling for 

Bin Laden's match," and warned that, without education reform, "we will forever be faced with the 

challenge of disrupting the next group of terrorist facilitators and supporters." Most damning is the New 

York Times report that Saudi texts were used by ISIS in Mosul's schools. Indeed, Saudi high school 

students were studying from a textbook teaching that Muslims have an obligation to kill sorcerers even 

as ISIS posted a video this spring showing its militants in Egypt carrying out this directive- by beheading 

two elderly "sorcerers," probably Sufi Muslims, since such terms are loosely defined. 

Complete Reform Is Always Just Around the Corner 

In Riyadh, the other Commissioners and I met with the then-Saudi minister of education, Prince Faisal 

Bin Abdullah Bin Muhammad ai-Saud. Like virtually every Saudi official who is asked, he acknowledged 

that 1-12 textbook reform was needed. But, he indicated that higher education, not high school, 

reform was then the government's priority. As confirmed in the State's religious freedom report, his 

office asserted to us that the math, science and English textbooks in 1st, 4th and 7th grades were given 

priority for revision, but these texts have not posed the greatest threats. He told us that he had a fiveyear plan for complete textbook reform. That meant that the high school textbooks would have been 

cleaned up by 2016 but they were not. As the 2017 State Department's human rights report on Saudi 

Arabia notes: 

The government's multi-year Tatweer project to revise textbooks, curricula, and teaching 

methods to promote tolerance and remove content disparaging religions other than Islam 

began in 2007. As of 2013, the program had received more than 11 billion riyals ($2.9 billion) to 

revise the curriculum, and the government had developed new curricula and textbooks for at 

least grades four through 10. Despite these efforts, some intolerant material remained in 

textbooks used in schools.( emphasis added) 

This is not the first time that the Saudi government has obfuscated and broken its textbook reform 

promises to the U.S. government. On July 19, 20006, I was personally briefed about a new promise of 

reform by the State Department's ambassador for religious freedom. As a State Department press 

release announced, in a diplomatic "confirmation of policy," the Saudi government promised the United 

States complete educational reform by ZOOS. It asserted: 

The Saudi Government is conducting a comprehensive revision of textbooks and educational 

curricula to weed out disparaging remarks toward religious groups, a process that will be 

completed in one to two years. 

4 
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26312a-5.eps

Over a decade later, the process has yet to be completed. Moreover, the education minister told our 

commission delegation in 2011 that he was not aware of any such commitment. 

Saudi Arabia's baleful reassurances of textbook reform date back even further to when its ambassador 

to Washington, Prince Turki al Faisal, in addition to taking out full page ads in American publications 

touting reform, stated at a Town Hall meeting in Los Angeles that: 

The Kingdom has reviewed all of its education practices and materials, and has removed any 

element that is inconsistent with the needs of a modern education. Not only have we eliminated 

what might be perceived as intolerance from old textbooks that were in our system, we have 

implemented a comprehensive internal revision and modernization plan. 

When I later met with Ambassador Turki to show him my report findings on his government textbooks, 

he told me he had not personally read the textbooks and acknowledged that reform was still needed. 

Periodically throughout these years, the Saudi government, with the help of a powerful public relations 

effort in Washington, has announced initiatives that were said to indicate resolve for textbook reform: 

the appointment of a woman director to the education department, the appointment of purported 

liberals as education ministers, a textbook pilot programs, the opening of a dialogue center in Vienna, 

Austria, teacher training programs, tolerance workshops and a "deradicalization" re-education program. 

It is difficult not to conclude that these efforts have been largely distractions that served to pull the wool 

over our eyes and failed to get at the heart of the problem -that is, eradicating the violent bigotry being 

actively promoted by the Saudi government in its textbooks. In March, Saudi Education Minister lssa 

announced plans to stop altogether the printing of textbooks within two or three years and to digitize 

them instead for wider accessibility. Whether or how this will impact the content of the religious texts is 

not clear. 

Last year, the new Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman made new promises to improve education, 

outlined in "National Transformation Program 2020." It contains plans to strengthen basic reading, 

math and science skills but gives little indication as to whether the state's religious textbooks will be 

reformed. 

U.S. Government's Failure ta Verify 

The State Department has long treated the subject of Saudi Arabia's textbooks with kid gloves. Each 

year, these textbooks directing religious hatred, violence and war indoctrinate six million Saudi students 

and reach untold millions of others as they are spread far and wide in the Muslim world by a state that 

claims moral authority as the custodian of Islam's holiest sites. Yet, their role in advancing lslamist 

extremist ideology has not be taken seriously as a U.S. national security concern. Since 9/11, the State 

Department has barely raised the issue and at times has even worked to cover up their toxic content. It 

has not held the Saudi government to its repeated promises to the United States to reform its 

textbooks. 

Since 2003, the State Department's some 1,000-page reports on human rights and religious freedom 

have contained a mere few lines each year on the Saudi textbooks. While blandly stating in boilerplate 

fashion, "some intolerant material remained in textbooks," they have routinely given assurances that 

reform is progressing. (A notable exception has been the reporting of the special envoy against antiSemitism, which provided specific examples pertaining it this topic.) Assertions that reform was 

5 
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completed in a book authored by a former U.S. secretary of state also contributed to creating a false 

public perception that the Saudi textbooks no longer contain lessons that could be endangering 

American security and Middle Eastern stability. 

The State Department once contracted the International Center on Religion & Diplomacy to evaluate the 

Saudi textbooks for the 2011-2012 academic year. The resulting report was promptly marked 

"classified" by the State Department and only became available to the public on June 29, 2016, by virtue 

of the Freedom of Information Act. By then, the Saudis could dismiss its findings on the basis it was out 

of date, four textbook editions having had replaced the one examined by the center. On another 

occasion, while I was a commissioner, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom sent a 

delegation to Saudi Arabia, where it initiated a request for a set of the textbooks (which at that time 

were difficult to obtain) but, when, the requested texts arrived at the State Department, the U.S. 

International Religious Freedom Ambassador refused to release them, either to the commission or 

publicly. 

Recommendations 

Two months ago in Saudi Arabia, President Trump delivered a major speech before a gathering of fifty 

Saudi and other government leaders, laying out a new foreign policy strategy addressing terror. In it, the 

United States officially recognized- for the first time- that there is an ideology of "lslamist extremism" 

behind the terror attacks proliferating worldwide. The President pleaded with Muslim leaders to begin 

"honestly confronting the crisis of lslamist extremism and the lslamist terror groups it inspires." He 

declared that "Muslim nations must be willing to take on the burden, if we are going to defeat terrorism 

and send its wicked ideology into oblivion." He urged that we unite against "the murder of innocent 

Muslims, the oppression of women, the persecution of Jews, and the slaughter of Christians." 

The president's words require new policies to be given effect. Five recommendations aimed at Saudi 

textbook reform follow: 

1. The State Department should be mandated to review and publicly report annually on 

contemporaneous editions of Saudi government's textbooks, particularly the high school 

religious texts. These reports should point out intolerant passages that could negatively impact 

American citizens and interests. 

2. American defense contracts with Saudi Arabia should be halted as long as the Saudi government 

publishes, posts, approves, finances or distributes textbooks that direct violence and hatred 

against any religion or group that may include American citizens. 

3. The United States government should apply the range of diplomatic measures, including 

targeted visa denials to its government officials and their families, to press Saudi Arabia, at long 

last, to remove intolerant passages from school textbooks and other educational materials. 

4. The State Department should report on the extent of the distribution of Saudi textbooks and 

education materials, including those distributed by the Saudi Department of Islamic Affairs, 

throughout the world. 

6 
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26312a-7.eps

5. Saudi Arabia should also be pressed to generally end its policies of religious persecution, as 

detailed in the State Department's religious freedom reports and the reports of the U.S. 

Commission on International Religious Freedom. 

7 
14

Mr. POE. Thank you, Ms. Shea. 

Dr. Weinberg. 

STATEMENT OF DAVID A. WEINBERG, PH.D., SENIOR FELLOW, 

FOUNDATION FOR DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES 

Mr. WEINBERG. Chairman Poe, Ranking Member Keating, and 

distinguished members of the subcommittee, thank you on behalf 

of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies for having me here 

today. I will deliver an abridged version of my written testimony. 

As I explain in that text, encouraging Saudi Arabia to remove incitement from its government-published textbooks for its public 

education system is not just the right thing to do, it is also a national security issue. Fighting terrorists militarily can only achieve 

so much if Saudi textbooks and other sources of incitement continue to provide fertile intellectual ground for violent extremism. 

This past May I published a long list of intolerant statements in 

Saudi textbooks from the most current school year, which I will 

draw from extensively here. I have included all of these passages 

in their original Arabic as an appendix to my written testimony. 

I found that Saudi textbooks still recommend killing people for 

many acts that U.S. law would characterize as personal choices. 

That included adultery, anal sex, converting from Islam, or purported acts of sorcery. 

The textbooks are also rife with anti-Christian and particularly 

anti-Semitic inciting, often framed as anti-Zionism. One book called 

Christianity an invalid, perverted religion. Another accused Zionism of plotting a global Jewish government. And a third called Zionism an octopus that it accused, falsely, of trying to destroy the 

Al Aqsa Mosque and the entire Islamic creed. 

A fourth book taught that befriending infidels is forbidden, citing 

a Quranic verse that says not to take Christians or Jews as allies. 

That textbook called such infidels enemies of Muslims and of God, 

and taught that Muslims must abhor them, quite literally teaching 

hatred. 

These are all examples from current textbooks used in the 2016 

to 2017 Saudi school year. 

According to a forthcoming report by Human Rights Watch, the 

textbooks also repeatedly refer to well-known stereotypes of Shiite 

or Sufi Muslim rituals as horrendous examples of polytheism. This 

is particularly important, because a passage I found in a current 

Saudi textbook called for fighting such polytheists except under a 

handful of extenuating circumstances. 

That book also teaches that there are four types of infidels, and 

that if a non-believer doesn’t happen to fit into one of the first 

three categories—diplomats, peoples with whom Muslims have a 

non-aggression treaty, or people who agree to pay a special tax associated with second class status—then they are combatant whom 

it says Muslims are commanded to fight. 

Saudi Arabia has made some positive changes to its textbooks in 

recent years but not enough. A few passages condemning terrorism 

or racism and permitting kind treatment to peaceful non-believers 

have been added. Direct calls to violence or hatred are somewhat 

less common. 

15

By the way, I would like to share a little bit of news with you 

today. Seventeen minutes after this hearing was scheduled to start 

the Saudi Embassy posted on Twitter that, ‘‘The Ministry of Education has finalized a round of textbook revisions in line with the 

objectives of the national transformation plan.’’ This is particularly 

puzzling because in an interview with the Wall Street Journal earlier this year Saudi Arabia’s education minister seemed to suggest 

that the broader change involving incitement and other issues in 

its curriculum would have to wait until 3 years, up to 3 years from 

now when the Kingdom would move to tablets in the classroom. 

Saudi officials routinely oversell the success and ambition of 

their efforts to reform these books to date. In 2005 Saudi Arabia 

said it had removed all the problematic passages from its textbooks. When Nina Shea proved that that was incorrect, the Saudis 

assured the U.S. that all intolerant passages would be removed by 

2008. They missed that deadline, as well as others they had 

pledged for 2013, 2014, 2015, and 2016. Even some of the textbooks 

they claim to have fixed in recent years still contain incitement. 

U.S. policy on this issue has not been up to the task. For example, the State Department issued the country reports on counterterrorism today. And while there are several lines in there about the 

Saudi curriculum, there is only half, less than a full sentence on 

what incitement still remains. 

But there is much that Congress can do to help. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom called on the executive 

branch this year to ‘‘undertake and make public an annual assessment’’ of Saudi textbooks to ‘‘determine if passages that teach religious intolerance had been removed.’’ Congress should help by 

passing legislation that requires the administration to issue such 

a yearly report, and allocates the resources of it to do so, no later 

than 90 days after the start of the Saudi school year so such findings are actually still valid for diplomats. And such a report should 

quote all such passages that could be seen as encouraging violence 

or intolerance for public scrutiny. 

There are a number of other recommendations that I include in 

my written testimony. But in the interests of time, I will leave off 

there. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Weinberg follows:]

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David Andrew Weinberg July 19, 2017 

Chairman Poe, Ranking Member Keating, and distinguished Members of the Subcommittee, thank 

you on behalf of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies for the opportunity to testify before 

you today about incitement in Saudi Arabia's government-published textbooks for school children. 

It is an honor to be back, particularly because I first engaged with Saudi Arabia on this issue as a 

staff member for this body's full committee. 

Half a decade after 9/ll, Nina Shea wrote in an outstanding Freedom House report that Saudi 

officials accepted their textbooks had problems but "have repeatedly pledged that reform is 

underway or completedd That is still the case today2 

Yet as the author of the most recent published study on incitement remaining in Saudi textbooks 

today, 3 I can vouch that over a decade later Riyadh still has not persuasively shown that this 

problem has been resolved. 

Unfortunately, U.S. policy has not been up to the task of convincing our Saudi allies to remove 

this incitement with greater urgency. 

For example, I exposed in a 20I4 monograph that the State Department appeared to have allocated 

half a million dollars in taxpayer funds to commission a two-part study on Saudi textbooks that 

was intended for public release but was instead withheld to avoid embarrassing the Saudis or the 

U.S. administration4 Its detailed findings were hidden from public scrutiny for years' and only 

raised with the Saudis at a senior level after the textbooks it had evaluated were already out of 

date 6 

In the testimony that follows, I will argue that this is particularly disturbing because incitement of 

this sort is not just a moral issue or a human tights issue, it is a national security issue. While Saudi 

1 Nina Shea "Saudi Arabia's Curriculum oflntolerance: With Excerpts from Saudi Ministry of Education 

Tex1books for Islamic Studies." Freedom House, 2006, page 11. 

(h!tps://frccdomhousc.orgisi!cs/dcC1ult/filcs/Cuniculu:nl0l1ntolcrancc.pdf) 

2 Margherit<J Stnncati and Ahmed AI Om ran, ··sm1dis Ready Digital Push to Get Islamic Extremism 011t of Schools: 

Texibooks \Vere Criticized after 9/11 for Tendentious Content Pitting Muslims against Other Religions:· 1 he 11-a/1 

Street Journal, February 15. 2017. (llltps://vvYV\V .\YSi.com/arliclcs/'3audis-r(:adv-djgit3.1-push-to-gct-lslamic-

~>ctrenl!Eln-out -<lf-scj1ools.:J.JB_7154601) 3 David Andrew Weinberg ... Tnunp's Counter-Ex1remismEffort Should Address Saudi Te,.1books: The President 

Will Have to Address Incitement in Riyadh's Government-Published Textbooks," The Huffington Post. May 20. 

2017. (http:I/\Y\1"\Y.huf!ingtonpost.comleutrY/hmling-the-page-on-hate-tmmps-countercxlrcmism us 5920a~5dc4b0cSf.55~bb2710) 

4 David Andrew Weinberg. "Textbook Diplomacy: Why the State Department Shelved a Study on Incitement in 

Saudi Education Materials:· Foundation for Defense ofDemocracies. March 2014. 

(http://''\\''" .defcitddemocrac\ .o:rg/comenUuploads/doculnentsrl"extbook Dlplomac\ .pdf) 

""The State of Tolerance in the Curriculum of the Kingdom of Saudi Ambia:· !nternational remer for Religion and 

Diplomac_v. 2012. page 10-t. (J1trvs://1Y'."\'\Y. nvtimes.com!interactive/20 16/08; 17 /international-home/document -statt-

{1.5,!p.l-:?llld>~--:C1l_:-_,s_qudi-:...t_.;":-;Jl10Q~~Jli_IHD: "The Global Spread of Saudi Textbooks,'' Jnternaliona/ Cf'nter flw Religion 

and TJ1plomacy. 2013. (htlps://'n \Y\\ .nvtimcs.com/intcmctivc/20 16/08/! 7/!ntcnmtionnl-homc/documcnt-s1atc-dcpt: 

~-lli>l..Y -OlJ::Sau(li-texihQ.oks.htm!) 6 David Andrew \Veinberg, "Textbook Diplomacy: \Vhy the State Department Shelved a Study on Incitement in 

Saudi Education Materials:· Foundatwnfor Defense ofDemocrocws. March 2014. pages 4 and 8. 

(http:/iY'f\V\Y .defenddemocncv. mytcontent/nploads/docniuents/' l'exlhook ! )iplomacY. pdf) 

Foundation for Defense of Democracies www.defenddemocracy.org 
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David Andrew Weinberg July 19, 2017 

textbooks are not the only significant source of incitement from the Gulf- or even in Saudi Arabia 

-they are an important bellwether and concern for U.S. policy. 

I will then endeavor to present everything we know about incitement in the latest edition of Saudi 

Arabia's official textbooks. Examples of such incitement include ( 1) directives to kill people in 

response to their non-violent personal life choices, (2) messages that are undoubtedly anti-Semitic 

or anti-Christian, (3) lessons that are intolerant toward adherents of non-monotheistic religions as 

well as implicitly toward Shiite and Sufi Muslims, and ( 4) several other passages encouraging 

violence. 

I will explain how Riyadh regularly oversells the success of its textbook reforms. I will then argue 

for why U.S. policy in this regard needs to change urgently. Next, I will refute some common 

counterarguments by those who claim that U.S. pressure cannot have a positive impact on the 

Saudi curriculum. Finally, I will conclude by offering a list of policy recommendations for 

Congress which could help encourage the Saudi government to address this issue in a more 

effective and timely manner. 

I. The Books are a National Security Issue 

Addressing incitement in Saudi Arabia's government-published textbooks is important for several 

different reasons. First of all, speaking out when hatred is being spread is simply the right thing to 

do. Tt is a barometer of how seriously any US. administration takes the fight against anti-Semitism 

and protecting Christians and vulnerable Muslim minorities abroad7 It is an important avenue for 

toning down sectarian hatred in the Middle East without taking the side ofT ran's terror-sponsoring 

regime. And it is a basic human rights issue. 

But most importantly, addressing incitement in Saudi Arabia, including in textbooks, is a serious 

national security issue. Saudi society has been a top source of foreign terrorist fighters- and, at 

times, terrorist leaders- in places like Iraq and Syria8 Saudi Arabia was the original home of 

Osama bin Laden, and fifteen of the nineteen hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi nationals. While Saudi 

authorities have reportedly convicted hundreds of defendants on terror finance charges,9 they still 

grapple with the enormous challenge of radicalized private individuals seeking to fund terrorist 

groups. 10 

See, for example_ "AIC Urges U.S. to Press Saudis on Te""tbooks_" • .Jmerican Jmish Committee_ March 26, 2014. 

(http://www.mc.orgl!;itehmnsin!!let/conts:,mLaspx?c7oJ!LSPwFflSG&h-8~797<J&ct-1 3805~ 1. 9) 

l-: Ned Parker. "Iraqi Insurgency Said to Include Many Saudis: They Outnumber other Foreigners, and Half Join as 

Suicide Bombers, a Scrrior U.S. Ofliccr Says:' Los Angeles limes, July 15,2007. 

(!1ttp://mticlef'.lmimes.com/200i,JnlL!.5/1,yorid/fg··snudjJ1): Mohanad Hnshim, "Tmq and Syria: Who are the Foreign 

Fighters'~" BBC Nms (UK), September 3_ 20 1~. (http:!/www.bbc.cominewslworld-middle-east-29lH333l): "The 

Olher Beheaders: Crime and Punishment in Saudi Arabia,'' The Hconomisl. September 20. 201-t. 

(https: I h.v\YYL&:£Q.no mist. co mi nc·p--s/middlc-cast -a11d -africa/2 16189 18 -po;;;sib !c-rcaso l!S-l1}Y_?tc riml.2::~.[g~.:9.2iCCutio 1!.5.:. 

other-beheaders) 

9 Financial Action Task Force, "Terrorist Financing F ATF Report to G20 Leaders: Actions Being Taken by the 

FA TF, .. Nm·cmbcr 2015. page 4. (h!tp·//w\\ \\.fatf-gafi.org/mcdia/fatf/docunlcnts/rcports/Tcrrorist-finatlCingacriQlJ5.:i:Jken-l)v-FATE!l!lD 

10 Declan Walsil "Wikileaks Cables Portmy Saudi Arabia as a Cash Machine for Terrorists_" 1he Guardian (UK)_ 

December 5. 20 10. (.hl_tps :1/\H"'I·YY .tll~gnarclia n._coq1'world/lill O/deci05t\\-!k!le3ks-cables-saudi--te norist -filllill.ng); 

David Andre\v Weinberg, ""Analysis: State Department Identifies Gulf Shortcomings on Counterterrorism Efforts, .. 

Foundation for Defense of Democracies 2 www.defenddemocracy.org 
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David Andrew Weinberg July 19, 2017 

The kingdom's books have emerged in well over a dozen countries over the years, including 

Algeria, Austria, Burkina Faso, China, Comoros, Djibouti, France, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, 

Somalia, Tanzania, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and previously the United States. 11 The 

valedictorian of a school in Virginia that had used the textbooks was convicted in 2005 of plotting 

with ai-Qaeda to assassinate President George W. Bush. 12 

Until 2015, Saudi textbooks were even the curriculum of choice in territory held by the Islamic 

State, according to the New York Times. 13 Much like those books recommended, the Islamic State 

executed numerous individuals on suspicion of homosexuality, insulting Allah or the Prophet 

Muhammad, adultery, or purported sorcery. 14 

Saudi textbooks are the most pivotal ones from a national security perspective, due to what author 

Robert Lacey explains is an accident of history regarding how the kingdom was established. The 

Saudi kingdom, founded in 1932, brought together disparate elements from three different regions: 

(1) the austere religious traditions of central Saudi Arabia, (2) the oil wealth of Saudi Arabia's 

Eastern Province, and (3) the mantle of religious legitimacy from controlling the two holiest sites 

in Islam, in Saudi Arabia's west This fusion allowed Saudi rulers to lavishly and persuasively 

promote their brand of Islam, first within the kingdom and then beyond. 15 

When Stuart Levey was the U.S. Treasury Department's under secretary for terrorism and financial 

intelligence, he wrote that fighting indoctrination such as intolerant textbooks is "even more 

important" than cutting off terrorist finance. He explained that unless we stop the indoctrination 

of future generations, America "will forever be faced with the challenge of disrupting the next 

group of terrorist facilitators and supporters." 16 

FDD 's Long War Journal, June 3, 2016. (http://vvw,,/.lompy;ujonrnal.org/archives/)0 1()!06/al!alysis-st.J.te-

~i~par_tm~Jll ~ id!-3Jlt[ic,S-:£_~l_l(-~;;h_p_l1GQ_!!_ll_lm_~-Olt:CQU1ll~H~tJQij_51Jl~~J(Qr{liJ2llp) 

11 Trnemational Center for Religion and Diplonmcy. "The Global Spread of Saudi Textbooks." 2013. 

(httos: /h,-,'"\Y'\V .nYtimes.com/i_nteractive/20 16/08/17 /int~rnatiollal: home/do..QJ.ment:§tate-@.ill.:§_t@v -on-saudi.: 

textboohhtml)~ Graham PatmL "Muslim Pupils Learn to Cut Off Hands of Thieves." lhe 1'elegraph (UK). 

November 21, 2010. (ht1p:i/v. \\ \V. Jckgraph.co.uk/cducmion/cducntimmc\vs/R 150247;?viuslim-pupils-lcJm-to-cutoff-hon,<:ls-of:111ieyes.lJjml)~ "Saudi School 'Te3ching Anti-Semitism'." The T.oca/ (Anstri3)_ November 14.2014. 

(https·/li.V,Y\V.the1ocal.at/2Ul-+1ll4/sandi-school-teaching-mlti-semitism): Jmnie Tardbay. '"Vir,ginia Islamic School's 

Expansion Met Protests," NPR, January 30. 2010. 

(JJ1tn.:/h,Y\V\Y.npr.org/t~iatesls1orylstorv .php'.'storvTd--:: 1229S7:19 J) 12 Jerry Markon, "Va. Man's Sentence Increased to Life in Terror Plot," The Washington Post. July 28. 2009. 

lb!JnJ /www. Yi'<lH.hiDgtQ.pposr .cQ..m/wp-4J:n/co nte nt/a n~c le/2009/0 7/2 7/ A~:2009~)72 70 i l ~4. html) 13 David D. Kirkpatrick, "ISIS' Harsh Brand of Islam is Rooted in Austere Saudi Creed ... The Nm York Times. 

Scplcmbcr 2-t-. 20 1-J.. (hHps:/1\, \\ 'I·V. nvlilncs.com/20 l..J./()9/25/vlorld/middlccasLiisis-abt:-bakr-baghdadl-cal iph-

\Y<11.ili.Dbl.htrrrl2P.annet- rss&emc_:=_1_22&sn:lliL:1l'Y.:!1J1Lmes& rl ): Scott Shnne, '·Saudis nnd Exiremism: ·Both the 

Arsonists and the Firefighters .... The Nell' rork Times. August 25. 20 !G. 

(https://\"' '' \\- .H\ times.com/20 J 6/!lS/26/n,o.rld/llJ.iddleeasl/saudi-arabia-lslam. html) 11 Sec, for example, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, ··1 03 People Executed in 7 Provinces over 50 Days," 

,)~vrian Observatory fOr Humall Rights. Feb mary 20. 2015. (http://t"\",\'1Y.svriahr.com/en/?p= 13059); David Andrew· 

Weinberg. "Saudi Textbooks Propagate Intolerance,'' lhe Hill. October 30, 2015. (\Jttrx!b]lellill.,:_ony'l)lgg\f9Q!lgr<;s>-

blog/cducntioni25S583-snudi-tc·,tbooks-propB.&.11C-intoicmncc) 

15 Robert Lacey_ Inside the Kingdom: Kings. Clerics. ~\fodernists, Terrorists, and the Struggle fOr Saudi Arabia 

(Pen),'llilL 2009), pages xx-xxi 16 Stuart A "Loss ofMoneyman" Big Blow for al-Qaeda, .. The Washmgton Post. J1me 6, 2010. 

Foundation for Defense of Democracies www.defenddemocracy.org 
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David Andrew Weinberg July 19, 2017 

Tom Farr, a fonner director of the State Department's International Religious Freedom, was even 

more explicit. In 2008, he argued that the U.S. government's lack of urgency and failure to hold 

Riyadh to its own deadlines for fixing the textbooks and other promised religious freedom reforrns 

meant that "the primary 'lesson' of 9/11 [was] shunted to the side" 17 Indeed, without urgently 

addressing the religious incitement that provides fertile intellectual ground for such violent 

extremism, we may unfortunately be fated to keep repeating the past. 

Saudi Arabia today is not the worst country in the Gulf when it comes to state-backed incitement. 

That title goes to the government of Iran, which regularly calls for the annihilation of Israel and 

viciously dehumanizes its enemies. 1

g Qatar's record is also as bad or worse than Saudi Arabia's 

when it comes to the extremist messages that are propagated by its state-backed media and by 

state-backed preachers. 19 But because Saudi Arabia is so much bigger than Qatar, the impact of 

what it teaches to school children at home is felt around the world. 

Textbooks are also not the only challenge involving incitement in Saudi Arabia, but they are the 

most obvious bellwether for assessing issues of this sort. When the Education Ministry itself adopts 

certain extremist messages, puts them in writing, and teaches them to children, the link that runs 

from the state to such incitement is particularly meaningful. While the U.S. should seek to address 

other areas of incitement as well - such as by Saudi government officials20 and by state-backed 

preachers21 - the kingdom's textbooks are a very important indicator of its conduct and intentions. 

II. Accessing the Latest Books 

Oren Adaki and I worked together at FDD on the issue of Saudi textbooks during the 2013-2014 

school year. He did path-breaking work on those books at the time, 22 and Tam thrilled to see him 

serving as the staff director for this subcommittee today. For the subsequent two school years, 

however, two of the main online venues for accessing the books were made password protected, 

effectively blocking foreigners. 23 The senior Saudi officials whom I contacted in this regard 

declined to grant me access. 

1

' Thomas F. Farr, World (?fFmth and Jlreedom: Why Jnternatmnal Religwus TJ!Jerty 1:'1 I 'ita! to Amen can Vatwnal 

Securitt· (Oxford. 2008). page 2~1. 

li( Michael Gerson, "Iran's Hate S}Xcch is an Incitement to Genocide," lhe Washington Post, April-L 2013. 

(_l]jps:/h"IDY:.lY3ShillWl!llQ.5t.cnm.funi.D.ions/michae!-<>er';Oll-irans-bnte-speec11-is-an-lllCitement-togellOCide/20 13/04J0..::./2()86c 7a8-9c:J l-11e2-9a79-cb5280c81c(i3 sto:rv.html':'utm term- .d4b95d66e89e) 

"David Andrew Weinberg, '·Congress Must Press Qatar for Highlighting Hate Preacher:· The Hill. April 30. 2017. 

(http://thehillcomJb logs/ptntdits-blog!forei gn -policv J J 31264--congress-must -press-qatar-for-hlghlighting-hate-

~.l.l9rl 

"David Daoud nnd Dnvid Andrew Weinberg, "Two Steps Forwnrd, One Step Bnck: Saudi Arab in Still Hostile to 

Jews." The Fonrard. May 15, 2017. (ltttp:/fw"\\'"\\··.defenddemocracv.org/ni.edia-hit/daYid-daoud-t'i.YO-steps-:forvFardone-step-back-satKli-arabia-st.iH-hostile-lo-israeli) 

21 David Daoud nnd Dnvid Andrew Weinberg, "Saudi Clerics' Rhetoric- and Implications for Global Security," The 

rf"all Street Journal, April20, 2016. (lrr.tps:/!blo~Ysj.colni\YaslnYiie!2016/C.f/20/saudi-deric:-.-rheturic-and.­

huniiq0Ji9_.!),~-!5n~-:-glgQ(lj_-:_~~GHriL~D 

22 Oren Adnki. "Highlighting Hatred in Saudi Textbooks," FoundaJion fhr Defense oJDemocracies 1-rehsiie. March 

27, 20 1 ~. Qlliu;L!Yunv. deferK\<.:l§nocra..£LQJg/_!l!~!if_dll!Loren:adaki_J]jg!J).ig]J1i.ng::!J;Jtred-in-smldi -te,1booksD 

'' iTunes app ";;,..,lyJI <?WI" accessed July 14. 2017. (htlpsi/goo.gL'qk~SBk): .. i?u.Jl ,..0)1 c<_,:;,...ll:\;1_, .. accessed 

July 14. 2017; archived April 10. 2016. (.!J11JJSiigoo.g!/wo2kv TT): "i?L.ll '-""' ..JI c< ~ll.;l .., .. accessed July 14. 2017: 

archived July 8, 2016. (IJt(ps.i/roo.gJ!2J\1Z<8 A) 

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David Andrew Weinberg July 19, 2017 

Accessing Saudi Arabia's government-published textbooks has been a recurring challenge not just 

for American researchers, but also for U.S. government otlicials. When the State Department 

undertook a 2006 in-house study of several textbooks at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, it "borrowed" 

books trom school children because the host government did not answer repeated requests for the 

books24 When the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy (ICRD) was conducting a 

review of Saudi textbooks on behalf of the U.S. government, it said religious studies textbooks for 

grades three and six "were regrettably unobtainable." 25 On several occasions, the U.S. Commission 

on International Religious Freedom was promised textbooks by Saudi officials, wrote letters to 

follow up, and received no reply26 Other times, the websites recommended by Riyadh to U.S. 

officials for accessing the books were out of service or incomplete. 27 

But in early 2017, 1 received an invaluable tip that many, if not all, of the Education Ministrypublished books for the 2016-2017 school year were now available at a different location that was 

not password protected - a website maintained by the state-chartered corporation for curriculum 

modernization. 28 To the best of my knowledge, books for the 2017-2018 school year have not yet 

been released, so these are still the most up-to-date books for use in Saudi public schools. 

I conducted a study of key selections from those 2016-2017 books, looking primarily at those 

textbooks in which religious incitement had previously been a major problem (especially high 

school books on religious matters) 29 I published the results of that study as an article for the 

Hujjington Post, from which I have drawn extensively here3 ° For each passage from those 

textbooks that I reference here, I have included at the end of this testimony a copy of that book's 

cover page, copyright page, and the page(s) on which that passage occurred. At two other points 

in this section, I cite textbook studies by other authors; in those instances, I reference and footnote 

their studies explicitly. 

'"David Andrew Weinberg. '·Textbook Diplonmey: Why the State Department Shelved a Study on Incitement in 

Saudi Education Materials." Foundation/or Defense ofDemocracies. March 2014. page 7. 

(http://w\Y\Y .defeltddemocrac..-.org/c01m.mUuploads/docmucntstrextbook J)iplomacv .pdf) 

""The State of Tolerance in the Curriculum of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia." Tntcmational Center for Religion and 

Diplomacy, 2012, page 10-l. ~s:/hv\:r'\Y.ll'.-timc~ com/intet:acti"ve/20l0/0R/l7/internatiomi-ho!nf'/docwnent-§11ttl: 

dept-stm:lY-on-saudi-textbooks.html) 

'

6 U.S. Commission on International Religious Frcedonl "Policy Focus: Saudi Arabia," Fall2007. pages 2. 6. 13-1~. 

and 22. (h!.fQ.;i!T\'\'nr.\l§_citt'.gm:/sites/def3ulj/files/resou.rccs/stories/PDFs/PolicvFocu" Saudi Ambia FaH£!)07.pdf): 

U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. ·'Alumal Report for 2010, .. May 2010, page 130. 

QJttp:l/\-..-,-...-·,-...-.uscirf,EQl:L~s/df'J!!ult!files/re~Qurces~lf..lliJ.B9ndiarabi32010.p5lf); U.S. Commission on International 

Religious Freedom ·'Ammal Report for 2011," May 2011. page 150. 

(http:/;, v ,.,. '' . u scirf. gov Jsitcs/dcfaulUfilcs/rcsourc..-:s/book %2lh't itll'Y01ncovcrS.'020 fm~·O~Ov" cb .pcll) 

~~Nina Shen, Ten rear:;· On: Saudi /lrahia 's Texthook.<1 S'till Promote Religiou.•• Violence (Hudson Institute, 2011 ), 

page G. (https://-..-.,"i,Y'v Jmdson or.z/content/researclmttachmcnts/attaclmtent/9] l/sauditextbooh.20 1 J fiiJalpdf); 

U.S. Commission onlntem1tional Religious Freedom "Aruma! Report 2013," April2013, page 1~2. 

(h!~.W\YYt-.!J2cirC goy/s ircs:fl_~f:mlt/fi lcs/rg;_Q]nccs/20 I J %f_QU:SfTRF~-Q_2_Q8, nnual'\620!S.£.Qo rt%20J 2 l, pdf) 

"iEn National Education Portal, "~WI ,.,wJI .. accessed July 14. 2017. (htti"://ien.edu.sa/#/llome/5142) 9 1 recehed invaluable advice in this regard from David Daoud. who \vas serving as an Arabic-language research 

analyst at FDD and now works for United Against a Nuclear Iran. 30 David A11drew Weinberg, "Trump's Counter-Extremism Effort Should Address Saudi Textbooks: The President 

Will Have to Address Incitement Govenunent-Published Tex1books." 1he Hujjington l'ost. May 20. 

2017. Cb1l!lli3J'll}Illllffillgtill.!r'Q§1'mmiillJt!llil!I!lii!lt1!:t!'_::lli~llillill\C:lilllllP2:';.Qm~ 

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David Andrew Weinberg July 19, 2017 

(A) Recommending Lhe TJeath Penaliy.fbr Personal Ufe Choices 

The latest editions of several Saudi textbooks call for the killing of any individual who engages in 

certain acts that we in the United States would treat as personal life choices. The lessons in these 

books are even harsher than how the Saudi state tends to approach such issues: Whereas judges 

often apply a strict evidentiary standard to reduce the likelihood of executing a defendant for such 

acts, no such mitigating context is provided in these lessons. 

A 2016-2017 high school textbook on Islamic jurisprudence teaches that the punishment for 

adultery is being stoned to death. It adds that the penalty for premarital sex is one hundred lashes 

and a year of exile. 

That same book defines anal sex as a "crime" and says that the majority of jurists have determined 

that the penalty for it is "like the penalty for adultery," meaning death. The book dehumanizes 

anybody who engages in such an act, teaching that it "creates depravity and lowliness in the soul 

of whoever commits it, since it extinguishes life." The book adds that societies in which anal sex 

spreads are swiftly punished by God, incurring disasters, plagues, iniquity, and corruption. 

Additionally, the book teaches that adultery, premarital, and anal sex each bring shame upon one's 

family and tribe. This is a key element of the belief system that can lead to tragic honor killings in 

some communities. 

This introductory book on religious law also mandates the death penalty for what is calls 

"apostasy," meaning abandoning or renouncing Islam. The book teaches that anybody who does 

not "return to his religion" after three days must be killed and will then spend an "eternity in fire." 

The lesson teaches that there are three main kinds of apostasy: (1) "mocking Allah or his prophet 

or his religion" and praying to an entity other than Allah, (2) drawing closer to an entity other than 

Allah in ritual acts, or (3) belief in something known to be forbidden in Islam, such as permitting 

the consumption of alcohol. 

Lastly, the 2016-2017 Saudi curriculum teaches that the death penalty should be applied for certain 

perceived acts of sorcery, according to an introductory high school book on monotheism. For those 

involved in what it calls devil magic, the penalty given is execution by the state. For acts of magical 

sleight of hand, the instructed penalty is a rebuke that it says can also go up to the level of 

execution. 

It is also worth noting that this is the only one of the four directives listed here that specifies that 

the killing of such people must be carried out by an authority appointed by the ruler. Tn all other 

instances, that assessment is left up to interpretation by the reader, which could leave open the 

possibility of vigilante violence by non-state groups. 

(R) Anti-Semitic and Anti-Christian Messages 

A 2016-2017 Saudi textbook for high school students on Hadith- the traditional corpus of actions 

attributed to the Prophet Muhammad -teaches some rather problematic messages about presentFoundation for Defense of Democracies 6 www.defenddemocracy.org 
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David Andrew Weinberg July 19, 2017 

day Christianity. The book alleges that "Christianity in its current state is an invalid, perverted 

religion" whose promoters seek to dominate Muslim nations using the "weapon" of "intellectual 

invasion." The book falsely alleges that the American Universities in Cairo and Beirut are two of 

"the institutions leading Christianization all over the world" today. 

That same textbook also teaches some misleading lessons about Zionism, the movement to 

establish a national home for the Jewish people. It baselessly alleges that Zionism aspires to world 

domination and a "global Jewish government." It falsely argues that - as a prelude to world 

domination- the aim of present-day Zionism and the Israeli government is to establish a Greater 

Israel that stretches from the Nile to the Euphrates. 

Similarly, a 2016-2017 high school social studies book from Saudi Arabia calls Zionism an 

"octopus" that it falsely accuses of seeking to destroy the al-Aqsa Mosque and the entire "Islamic 

creed." It should be noted that imagery of global Jewry as an octopus is a common trope used in 

other anti-Semitic hoaxes, including some editions of the Pro!Ocols oft he Elders ofZion, 31 Henry 

Ford's The International Jew, 32 and Nazi propaganda33 

These books single out Zionism among all other self-determination movements as inherently racist 

and expansionist, inexplicably accusing it of spreading drugs and sexually-transmitted diseases in 

Islamic countries. The books also present Zionism as inherently "hostile" and a "threat" to the 

Arab and Muslim world. 

In a lesson entitled "the Intifada and the Zionist threat," one of them also falsely asserts that the 

first Palestinian intifada caused roughly a million Jews to emigrate from Israel. Tt praises the 

intifada as "a war sapping the wave of the Zionists" and as "a preparation for liberation, Allah 

permitting." 

A twelfth-grade textbook on monotheism from 2016-2017 teaches that God "forbade befriending 

the infidels," in part based on a Quranic verse it includes that says not to take Jews or Christians 

as allies. The book alleges three reasons for this prohibition, asserting that such infidels are 

"enemies of God," "enemies of Islam" and its adherents, and that befriending them would show 

support for disbelief 

That lesson also teaches that a key part of Islam and Muslim relations with non-believers is a 

requirement to "abhor the enemies of Allah and their hostilities." 

(C) Messages against Sufi and Shiite Rituals and Non-Monotheistic Religions 

1 ·'Egyptian Television Rc-Airs Anti-Semitic Miniseries ·Horseman tvithout a Horse .. ,. ·lnti-TJefamation T,eague, 

April 5, 2012. (https .I /tv,-.,-.~.-v .adl.org_tblo g/eL'YDtian-tekYision-re-airs-anti -semitic -milli~eries~horsernaJF'i'i··ithout -al!ors_e) 

""Filc:200 I cd The International Jew by Henry Ford.jpg:· Wikipedia. accessed July 14, 2017. 

{]ill;ru;JL<;J.L'liJ!:modiaj)_rgiwiki;Fi.!?,;,ZQQUQ_The lJ.lternational Jew bv Henrv Fm:QJng) 3

' ·"Seppb' !Josef Plankj. Churchill as an Octopus. betweenl935 and 1943." in Churchill and the Great Republic. 

accessed July 14. 2017 via Libnuy of Congress. 

( ltttp:/ /i.l/\V\V Joe. goY/exhihits/c h11rc hiJ 1/inter:-JctiYe/ htmL';:vc0213 .htrnl) 

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David Andrew Weinberg July 19, 2017 

Saudi Arabia's strict brand of Salafist Sunni Islam, commonly referred to in the West as 

Wahhabism, maintains a strong emphasis on eschewing any religious practices that could be 

perceived as deviations from monotheism. As a result, the kingdom's curriculum includes 

numerous books on monotheism that admonish against acts of polytheism ("shirk") and its 

practitioners ("mushrikeen"). As such, these lessons are inherently critical toward adherents of 

non-monotheistic religions. They also single out for criticism many of the rituals that are 

commonly associated in the local context with Shiite or Sufi Islam. 

For example, an eighth-grade Saudi textbook on monotheism from 20 I6-20 17 that I found defines 

such rituals- such as praying while walking around a grave or shrine- as an act of polytheism. 

Alongside that passage in the text, the book presents a picture with a big "X" of what appears to 

be a mock-up of a shrine with names of several Shiite imams behind it 

In this regard, I would like to recommend to you an important forthcoming study by Human Rights 

Watch on systematic discrimination against Shiite citizens of Saudi Arabia. 34 In it, the organization 

examines how Saudi primary school textbooks on monotheism from 2016-2017 present relations 

with non-Sunni Muslims. Generally speaking, it finds that while the curriculum does not address 

Shiite Islam explicitly or employ a common local slur for its practitioners as "rejectionists," the 

books are still deeply problematic. 

They discovered that the 2016-2017 books clearly endorsed Sunni Islam over other religions and 

repeatedly referred to well-known stereotypes of Shiite or Sufi rituals as horrendous examples of 

polytheism. Key examples of such rituals included swearing by or showing reverence for early 

figures in Shiite Islam, praying for these or other saintly figures to "intercede" with Allah on one's 

behalf, wailing over the dead as some Shiite Muslims do during the holy day of Ashura, and 

making pilgrimages to religious sites in addition to those in Mecca and Medina. 

(!))Other Fncouragement of Violence 

The language in 2016-2017 Saudi textbooks that calls for killing people who engage in adultery, 

anal sex, apostasy, or certain supposed acts of sorcery are not the only passages that encourage 

violence against those who act in a manner inconsistent with the state's vision ofislam. 

A 2016-2017 Saudi textbook on monotheism for the twelfth grade teaches that there are four kinds 

of infidels. The first three of them include envoys who have diplomatic immunity, peoples who 

have a non-aggression pact with the Muslim world, and Jhimmis, a term for non-Muslims forced 

to pay a special tax that is commonly associated with second-class status. According to this book, 

the remainder of infidels, who comprise the fourth class, are defined as "combatants," whom it 

says Allah has commanded must be fought until they submit to Islam or agree to become dhimmis. 

That book also calls for "fighting the infidels and the polytheists" except under a handful of 

extenuating circumstances. Those include:(!) if such non-Muslims have not been given a chance 

yet to convert to Islam or become dhimmis, (2) if Muslims are not strong enough to win such a 

fight, (3) if the ruler does not support it, or (4) if such non-Muslims have a non-aggression pact 

with the Muslim world. 

31 Human Rights Watch, lhev""ire Not Our Brothers: Hate Speech by Saudi Officials, (forthcoming). 

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David Andrew Weinberg July 19, 2017 

According to a February 2017 Wall Street Journal article, a current eighth-grade Saudi textbook 

on Islamic law instructed readers to support people who are waging jihad, including by anning 

them. The passage was translated by the Journal as follows: "the mujahideen who are doing good 

deeds for the sake of Allah ... should be given transportation, weapons, food and anything else they 

may need to continue their jihad."35 

III. Full Reform is Never Around the Corner 

I recently was told by a credible source that Saudi officials now privately claim to have completed 

the wholesale removal of religious incitement from their curriculum for the upcoming (20 17-20 18) 

school year. Such claims would have to be viewed with great skepticism due to the kingdom's past 

track record. 

In addition to tmssmg several stated deadlines for textbook reform, Saudi authorities have 

routinely oversold the extent of these initiatives to date. As State Department officials have 

reportedly conceded in private, the real pace of Saudi textbook reform has been "glacial."36 Three 

times in the last decade, newly-appointed Saudi education ministers were hailed by the West as 

reformers only to leave office without making meaningful strides toward resolving this issue37 

In 2003, A del ai-Jubeir- then an advisor to Saudi Arabia's crown prince and now the kingdom's 

foreign minister- told Tim Russert that the textbooks issue was "overblown," since the kingdom's 

books had already been "changed." 3g 

In 2005, Saudi Arabia's then-foreign mtmster, Prince Saud ai-Faisal, inaccurately assured an 

audience at the Council on Foreign Relations that "we have gone through a whole program of 

going into the educational system from top to bottom, from schools, teachers, books, and we have 

taken everything out of them that does not call for cooperation [and] coexistence."39 

"Marghcrita Stancati and Ahmed AI Ornran. "Saudis Ready Digital Push to Get Islamic Extremism out of Schools: 

Textbooks were Critici7ed after 9/11 for Tendentious Content Pitting Muslims against Other Religions:· The Wall 

Street Journal, Febmary 15, 2017. (https:/h..Y\T>X \Ysj.com/artJcles/sandls-readv-die-itll-push-to-e-et-islmmcc.\.lrcurism-oul-of-schooJs-l-t.8715-l60.l); This newspaper article also included several other wonisomc passages 

from Saudi texibooks, but there is some inconsistency in the piece as to vvhether those other passages w·ere from the 

most recent school year or from previous editions. 

'

6 Cited in Nina Shea, Ten Tears On: Saudi Arahia 's Texthooks Still Promote Religious Violence (Hudson Institute, 

2011 ). page 12. (https://\Y\'i'\Y.lmdson.org/col!teut/researchattadunents/attaclunent/9 31/sauditc~tbooks?O 1 tfinal.p@ 3' ·'Editorial: A Promise of Reform in Saudi Ambia." 'i'he Snr York limes. February 25. 2009. 

lhtm.;.!.{o;,v\VYY:_!)Ytimt=s.conll2:109/02/26/opinion/26tl.m2.html); Ellen Knickmeyer and Ahmed Omran. ""Some Saudis 

See New Appointments as Challenge to Kingdom's Fundamentalists ... The Wall Street Journal. December 23, 2013. 

( https :/tl1logs. v'·si. co ml mjddleeasi/20 lJ/ll/2.1/some-saudis-see-nevv-appoinlments-a s-dmHenge-l o-1"-ingdomsfundmncJJlalist§D; "A Nc'v King's Duty to Young Saudis," Clwtstian Science kfonitor, Feb mat} 4, 2015. 

(https :1 hV"'~i'r;,v .csm~mtur.co m/C ommentary/the-mo llitors-·vie"\Y /20 15/020-~/ A -Ht:\Y -king-s-dun--to-;;mmg:_Saudis) 38 Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia. Press Release. "Adel al-Jubeir, Foreign Policy Advisor to Crovm Prince 

Abdullah on NBC's 'Meet the Press'." May 18, 2003, archived June 12. 2015. 

C!l!mJ!Jieb.ardliw .Qfg/}Ycb/2 0 l 506 t2094ll§'!1.J)ID;LLsaudiembassv .nctlardlive/2002[trmrscrJmlnm:.<:2l. aspx) 39 ·'The Fight against Exiremism and the Search for Peace, .. Council on Foreign Relations, September 20, 2005. 

arcllived April 19, 2017. Ql!ill://web.archive.org/weh/20170~190 ll34lill1!Jls:i/W\nY.cfr.orgiradicalization-andexiremisn JJflgl1t -against -extremi <:>ln-sGuch-peace-msh-lratJ.scripl-federal-Jtel.v~-servi ce-inc/p8 90X) 

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David Andrew Weinberg July 19, 2017 

He was echoed by King Abdullah, who told Barbara Walters that fall that the kingdom had "toned 

... down" its textbooks to limit their possible contribution to extremism 40 

In the spring of2006, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States, Prince Turki ai-Faisal, told 

a town hall in Los Angeles that "we eliminated what might be perceived as intolerance from old 

text books that were in our system," and he made similar remarks to an audience in Chicago as 

well 41 

In July 2006, Saudi Arabia pledged to the U.S. government to "remove remaining intolerant 

references that disparage Muslims or non-Muslims or that promote hatred toward other religions 

or religious groups," and that it "expect[ed] to complete this process in one to two years." 42 Of 

course, that deadline was missed entirely, and the U.S. did little to chastise the Saudis for falling 

short. 

In March 2008, Saudi Arabia's deputy minister of education in charge of textbook updates is 

reported to have incorrectly claimed to the U.S. Embassy that "most intolerant language had been 

removed" already from the kingdom's school books43 

This reported assertion is particularly surprising because the State Department later reported that 

his Education Ministry had just embarked in 2007 on a multi-yearprocess of revising its textbooks, 

starting with some of the lower grades and planning to work their way up. 44 In effect, this involved 

focusing on what Douglas Johnston ofTCRD once characterized as "low-hanging fruit," 45 revising 

less controversial textbooks for the lower grades while saving the books with the most problematic 

materials, which were always at the high school level, for some point down the road. 

According to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, Saudi officials claimed 

several years into this process that they had "thoroughly revised" the textbooks for these lower 

grades 46 According to the State Department, Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Education said that 

10 ·'Transcript: Saudi King Abdullah Talks to Bmbara Walters, .. ABC News. October 1~. 2015. 

(http://abcncv.-s.go.cmn/2020/Tntcmational/s!crv?id= 12! 4 706&pngc= J) 

'

11 Royal Embassy of Sandi Arabia. Press Release, "Sandi Ambassador Addresses Tmvn Ha11 Los Angeles, Mmch 

21. 2006. archived September 9, 2015. 

(bttp://\\·Cb. arc hi ,·c.o rg/\-" cb/2 0 1 ~090922 262:\1lttps ://saud icmbassv . net/archive/:: OOCJ/spccc hcs/pagc52 .:1sp x ) ; Royal 

Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Press Release, "Prince Turki's Address to the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations:· 

April20. 2006. archived September 10. 2015. 

(http:/h.y_eb.archh·e,_Q[~Q/.li~Li09 !0090fl29/https:/ls_m~diemb<lli5.YJ1et/!JJ2hh·e/2i)06/~~hesip;Jge41.{!51IT) 

·1: Nina Shea. "Saudi Refonn Pledge Publicly Distributed in July 2006 by U.S. State Department Officials," Ten 

Years On: S'audi Arabia's Textbooks Still Promote Religious J ~iolence (Hudson Institute. 20 11), page -t-7. 

(https://r,-.."fiyy_.hlld~OllQ!&£QntemL!~searchffitlchinentsiattnchmemi9l1/sauditexil.moks20 l ! fin~c:> 

'

13 Cited in David Andrew Weinberg, .. Texibook Diplomacy: Why the State Deparonent Shelved a Stndy on 

Incitement in Saudi Education Materials:' Foundation flw Defense of Democracies . . March 20 1-t. page 7. 

(bjJJ2)/vnY\Y.dcfcnddcmosm.org/contcJ!fLliDllli~/docnq~tsiTcxtboQ1:_Qill.lomacY.pdf) 

44 U.S. Department of State. "Saudi Arabia:· 2009 Country Reports on Humaa Rights Practices. March I I, 2010. 

Ch1lp_s_:i/tvnJv2sl<:1te_.gQti]i§;h.:V£l~{br.rr~V.;QQ_9}1l~~l3J!ll79_.J_]tm) 

., Quoled in David Andrew Weinberg. "Textbook Diplomacy: Why the State Dcpanmcnt Shelved a S!udy on 

Incitement in Saudi Education Materials." Foundationfor Defense ofDemocracies, March 20 1~, page 8. 

( http://"':rf\V\V .defenddemocracv orglcoutcnt'nploads.:docnJlJentstl 'e'.:tbook_DiplmnacY .pdf) 46 U.S. Conunission on International Religious Freedom. "A1mual Report 2012," March 2012, page 167. 

(http:/ /Y'I"\V\V _ 11 '-'Cirf uu\-/sites/dcfaultlfiles!resourccs/ AmllJal~·;)20Report~ o20o£%~20 l J SClRF%202() 12 (2) .pdt) 

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David Andrew Weinberg July 19, 2017 

reforming the textbooks for grades one through nine had been fully completed by the end of20 1247 

However, ICRD reported that even these textbooks still contained some deeply problematic 

passages. For example, an eighth-grade textbook that has supposedly been already fixed still 

literally taught hatred, admonishing students to hate non-believers, as well as calling for the 

execution of sorcerers 4 s 

Other problematic passages noted by lCRD in these elementary and middle school books that were 

supposedly fixed included: passages that promoted or glorified "aggressive jihad," encouraged 

"extreme bias toward non-Muslims" and were "very hannful" for Saudi religious minorities, 

"gratuitous negative references to Jews and Christians," and "sweeping indictments" of them as 

polytheists49 According to Hannah Rosenthal, when she was serving as the State Department's 

Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism, a Saudi official asserted to her in 2011 that 

a passage calling Jews the spawn of monkeys or pigs was no longer in use, 50 even though it actually 

continued to be taught for at least several more years 51 

If this is what qualifies as a thoroughly revised textbook in Saudi Arabia, then claims that this 

process may have finally been extended up through the twelfth grade require renewed scrutiny, 

not the termination of it 

The Saudis also missed several deadlines after that In 2011, the kingdom's deputy education 

minister reportedly told the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom that the books 

would be completely revised by 2013 52 The Commission then reported in 2013 that Saudi officials 

told them that the process of revising these books, including for grades 10 through 12, would be 

completed by 201453 

·-1' U.S. Department of State. "Saudi Arabia," 2012 Jmernafiunal Religious .Freedom Report. May 20. 2013. page 1-k 

(hi tps :/ /w\' \V .&!a~ c. gov /documcnts/organiJ:ltlon/2086 22. pd-0 

~ ·'The State of Tolerance in the Curriculum of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," International Centerfor Religion 

and D1plomac.v, 2012, page 21. (https:/h,n--r"i.:<:.nvtimes.com.hnter;_Jctive/20] 6!U8t 17/intcmatimtal-home/documentS!IIlc-d;::p t -sl udv -on-sn udi -tc:xibooh&. ht ml) 

'

19 ·'The State of Tolerance in the Curriculum of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia:· Jnternatwnal Centerf(Jr Rel1gwn 

and D1plomac.v, 2012, pages 21-25. (https://\HY\v.nvtimes.comlinteractive/2016/0':!./t7/intemational-

]Jomc/documcnt-sta Lc-dcpt -st udv -on-saudi -lC.\.tbook~.html) 

5

() Ron Kampeas, '·U.S. State Dept. to Study Saudi TeA1s:· Je~ri.·1h Telegraphic Agency, July 7, 2011. 

(http:! h;r-:.V\Y _jta.org/? 0 ll/0 710 7 /llevvs-opiltioitiunited-states/n-s-state-dept -to-stud;; -saudi -texts) 

"'1 Nina Shea, Ten rears On: Saudi Arahia 's Texthook.<1 S'till Promote Religiou.•• Violence (Hudson Institute, 2011 ), 

page 15. (h:ttns:I/\V\V\li lmdson.org/content/researchJttaclunents/attachmeut/93 Usaudite:-..1books20llfiual.pdi)~ "The 

State of Tolerance in the Curriculum of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,'' lnlernalional Center flw Religion and 

TJiplomacy, 20 12, page 40. ll!tt!lf~//vvJ.Y\Y. nvti mes.com!Lmeractive/20 Ui~S/17/intemational-l}o me~docnmerrt:S1iJ.!£:. 

lkm:;;tndY-on-saudi-te:\1books.html); Margherita Stancati and Alnned Al Omran. ·'Saudis Ready Digital Push to Get 

Islamic Extremism out of Schools: Textbooks were CriticiLed after 9/11 for Tendentious Content Pitting Muslims 

against Other Religions," The TVa!! Street Journal, Feb mary 15, 2017. (h!!~"''"'''~-'"''"·'"~i.com/a_rrif!~~fs:mdlli:rcnd-,;­

digital-push-to-g;et -islamic-extremism-out --of-schoo!s-1487154603) 52 U.S. Commission on International Religious FreedonL "Annual Report 20 12:· March 2012. page 16 7. 

(http://n v, w. uscirf. gov/sll~s/dcfaulUfilcs/rcsourcc"i/Anmml~~"020RcportS~"020of'>020USCTRP%2020 12(2 ).pdQ: Nina 

Shea, Ten Years On: Saudi Arabia's Textbooks Still Promote Religious Violence (Hudson Institute. 20 II). page 12. 

( https ://-,;z.,,...r,,:,_-..,-.lmdsmt ore:/conteJtt/researchattachme11ts/attac 1JJnentJ9 31/s.midite~tbooks2t) ll final. p~lf); 

"U.S. Conunission on International Religious Freedom. "Atmual Report 2013:· April2013, page 136. 

(http://\V\Y\v.uscirf.t!O\·f..,iles/defmilt/files/resonrces/2U13%20USCDtP~1<t20A.Iunml X~20Report%?.0(2).pdt) 

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David Andrew Weinberg July 19, 2017 

In February 2017, Saudi Arabia's education minister said that the kingdom had made strides in 

reforming its education system to meet the nation's needs and "get rid of extremism," but that "I 

think we still have to do a lot in that direction." 5-l According to the Wall Street Journal, he 

anticipated a "broader curriculum overhaul" after completing a project to shift Saudi classrooms 

from using printed materials to electronic tablets, which was expected to take up to three years. 55 

IV. Have the Books Improved at All? 

Absolutely, and this is important to recognize while at the same time not treating it as an excuse 

to avoid raising the issue urgently with Riyadh. 

Some particularly egregious passages evident in past editions have not been spotted in the 

textbooks of! ate. For example, 1 found the Protocols oft he Elders of Zion, a notorious anti-Semitic 

hoax, 5

6 being taught in Saudi textbooks as recently as 2015-2016 but have not yet seen it in those 

books 1 have been able to examine for 2016-2017. Whereas previous Saudi books frequently 

instructed students to "hate" non-believers, 5

7 1 have seen less of this language in the latest edition. 

More often, such language is instead framed somewhat less harshly, as a directive not to befriend 

non-believers because it says they are enemies of Muslims and Allah. As noted above, 

encouragements of violence are still in the curriculum as well, but they are also less common. 

Simultaneously, some passages recommending tolerance have been added to the curriculum over 

the last sixteen years. Examples noted this year by the Wall Street Journal included: "terrorism is 

a fonn of corruption that God has forbidden" and terrorism "cannot be considered a fonn of Islamic 

jihad," "the prayer of the oppressed, whether from a Muslim or a non-Muslim, is answered," and 

"Islam is eager to strengthen bonds of love and brotherhood." ~ 

The ICRD's 2012 report on Saudi textbooks also found a number of positive passages that had 

been added to the curriculum, even though extensive incitement still remained. Positive examples 

cited by ICRD included: two passages describing some or all "people of the book" (meaning 

Christians, Jews, and Muslims) as "believers," a passage about human rights under Islam that 

declares "an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab," a passage that says the Quran "commands 

us to treat parents well and with respect, regardless of whether they are Muslims or non-Muslims," 

5'1 Margherita Stancati and Ahmed AI Omran, "Saudis Ready Digital Push to Get Islamic Extremism out of Schools: 

Texibooks were Criticized after 9/11 for Tendentious Content Pitting Muslims against Other Reli[,~ons," The Wall 

Street .Journal, Febmary 15,2017. (hll!?&(/vvwlv.1vsj.cQD1.;:1rticl~fsaudis-r~<ldv.:Qlgtf!~Slami5£: 

e::-..iremism-ont -of-schools-l-!-8715-i603) 5' Marghcrita Stancali and Ahmed AI OmrarL "Saudis Ready Digital Push to Gctlslamic Extremism out of Schools: 

Textbooks were Criticized after 9/11 for Tendentious Content Pitting Muslims against Other Religions." The Wall 

,)'treet Journal, Febmary 15, 2017. (https:(h;p,,-.;'~i.\Ysj com/artjcles/saudis-rcadv-dij!ital-push-to-get"islmuicexlremism-out i)f-scliools-l48715...J.60:;) 

"

6 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, "Protocols of the Elders of Zion:· TJolocaust F.nc_vclopedia, accessed 

July 16, 2017. (https/imnv.r"lmmrondwlc/en/article.php·1

Mmlulclu-l0007058) 

~ U.S. Deparlmenl ofSlale. "Saudi Arabia," 20lllmernafiunal Religious .Freedom Report. Jul} 30.2012, p. 13. 

(h1tps:/.\n\·tv.stalcd;,ov/documcn1s/org;:nd/ation/193l17.txl-D 

58 Slides associated withMargherita Stancati and Alnned AI Omran. -saudis Ready Digital Push to Get Islamic 

Extremism out of Schools: Textbooks \Vere Criticized after 9/11 for Tendentious Content Pitting Muslims against 

Other Religions, .. The Wall Street Journal, February 15. 2017. QJ.t!ns://"]vw.~om/articles0anqis-re~dv-illgital·· 

p11sll-to -e:d -i slamic-e:\:tremism.-ont -of-schools-1--l-8"'l:>i-J.(i03) 

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David Andrew Weinberg July 19, 2017 

and a passage specifying that "treating a peaceful kafer [infidel or non-believer] kindly ... is not 

considered to be forbidden loyalty." 59 

Saudi Arabia has also spent lavishly on teacher training and expanded the teaching of STEM 

subjects (science, technology, engineering, and math), for which it receives frequent U.S. praise60 

But critics rightly point out that these projects often are used as a distraction from the main problem 

for U.S. interests: the continued re-publication of incitement year after year by a U.S. ally in its 

public school curriculum61 

V. Why U.S. Policy Needs to Change 

The default American approach to this issue is basically to wait and see, what former State 

Department official Thomas Farr decried as "no particular sense of urgency" back in 2008. And 

although working-level bureaucrats sporadically try to look at this issue, they lack the resources, 

authorization, and mandate to do so in-depth and regularly enough to have enough impact. They 

also lack the support necessary from American leaders, who almost never raise the books in a 

serious, detailed, and sustained manner with their Saudi counterparts. 

This approach is a formula for failure. 

Over a decade-and-a-half has passed since 9/11, and yet millions of Saudi school children have 

continued to be subjected to these inhumane lessons. Undoubtedly, such incitement has made 

America and our allies less secure, making it easier for the terrorist groups that we are fightingand that target the kingdom itself- to attract potential new recruits. 

Saudi Arabia has not been given a sufficient incentive to undertake the necessary changes to its 

textbooks in an urgent enough timeframe. Failing to launch a concerted effort to address Saudi 

textbooks now would also mean missing a moment of unusual U.S. leverage with Riyadh. 

The Saudi leadership is so eager to see the Trump team follow through on its tough rhetoric 

regarding Iran that they are willing to go to great lengths to stay in America's good graces. 

Furthermore, the kingdom's campaign to mobilize international pressure against Qatar's reckless 

policies means that Saudi Arabia now has extra motivation to respond to public or private concerns 

about its own record. 

VI. Common Counterarguments 

I have encountered several main counterarguments to the perspective that America should be 

pressing Riyadh more actively to eliminate incitement from its textbooks. 

"

9 ·'The State of Tolerance in the Curriculum of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia," International Center for Religion 

and Dtplomacy, 2012, pages 93-96. (htLps:/hnY'i.Y.nvtimes.com/iutewctive/2016/08/l7/in:temationalllQ_l~(d_oG_Wll~lll~~~Qt~:ct~gt-sJtJr!y-oD::'P£JlJ_Clt-1©~lb_9QA~--l!tm-D 

"" Royal Saudi Embassy in Washington. DC, "Saudi Arabia and Counterterrorism:· April 2017. page ~9. 

(]11tps:i/mnL[;ill_ldiem]lassutet!sites/defanltifj.lesl\':{!)ite%20Paper <&ml!.e!terrorism ARril20 17 0 O.pdO 61 David Andren' Weinberg, ··Te;..."tbook Diplomacy: Why the State Department Shelved a Study on Incitement in 

Saudi Education Materials:· Foundatwn for Defense ofDemocracws. March 2014. pages 7-8. 

(http./ /'Vf\V\V .defenddemocr;Jcv on!!content/nploads/docu ments/' 1 'extbook DiplmnacY .pdf) 

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David Andrew Weinberg July 19, 2017 

The most reasonable one - with which I still do not agree -is that making a priority out of the 

textbooks issue cannot be done without sacrificing other important American interests that pertain 

to the Saudis. Policy-makers can and should debate how best to raise this issue without jettisoning 

other critical priorities with Riyadh. 

But more often, the counterarguments that I encounter assert something else: that America 

bringing up the books would either be unfair or hurt reformers more that it would help. I find these 

arguments unpersuasive for the following reasons. 

First, some argue that it would be hypocritical for the United States, which was founded on 

religious liberty, to tell another nation what to believe. But raising this issue is not the same thing 

as dictating to Saudi citizens what private beliefs they should hold. It is beseeching a U.S.-allied 

government to stop publishing passages in state documents that threaten the religious liberties and 

tight to life of others, especially when Saudi officials themselves have acknowledged that some 

passages in their curriculum do encourage extremism or sow discord62 

Others argue that outside pressure makes it harder for Saudi Arabia to reform its textbooks because 

it encourages hardliners to dig in their heels. Conservatives and preachers undoubtedly care about 

this issue; but sadly, addressing the incitement in textbooks has never been a top priority for the 

kingdom's rulers. Otherwise, they should have been able to resolve the problem by now without 

external engagement, as they repeatedly assured us would happen. 

Instead, the most explicit Saudi government commitment to address this issue occurred in 2006, 

just two weeks after Nina Shea's report on Saudi textbooks revealed that kingdom's claims to have 

already resolved the issue of incitement in its textbooks were inaccurate 63 Whereas Saudi Shiites 

I encounter- the victims of such incitement- tend to argue for U.S. pressure over the textbooks 

issue,64 it is usually Sunnis close to the regime or Americans focused on eliciting Saudi cooperation 

on other issues- who argue that pressuring the Saudis would hurt rather than help Saudi textbook 

reform. 

Another frequent counterargument is the claim that observant Muslim rulers like the Saudis are 

simply religiously unable to remove holy directives from state texts. But there are many Muslimmajority nations with Muslim rulers that choose not to write such egregious forms of incitement 

in their state curriculum. There is no religious stricture unambiguously mandating that the textbook 

of a Muslim state must emphasize particular lines or lessons from scripture. And there are plenty 

oflines from which to draw in the Quran and its commentaries that favor coexistence, compassion, 

"Abdallah Yahya al-MouallimL -~)1 ;.,._,JI :,..~ .. i)i.>ll,'. a/-Madina (Saudi Arabia). November 10. 2014. 

(htlp:/f\., \\ n .al-madina.comianlcle/341 901/): M.argherita Stancati and Ahmed AI Omrall "Saudis Ready Digital 

Push to Get Islamic Extremism out of Schools: Textbooks were Criticized after 9/11 for Tendentious Content Pitting 

Muslims against Other Religions." The Wall Street Journal. Feb mary 15, 2017. 

(ltl_lJI_S_:[/ j:\'\~_lY ,}:)_~_._CQJ_lJ{gJ1 i_~]~~/~~Wdi~!:_~lli;tt:<hgi t<ll_:.p_u~h:_1Q_-_ge_t_-i;;Jq_glj~;:-~-~tr~IH~S1J1:-_01!ljJ f -:~1; @Ql ~-:_l38_7l_~:f9_Q}) 

"'David Andrew Weinberg. '·Textbook Diplonmcy: Why the State Department Shelved a Study on Incitement in 

Saudi Education Materials,'' Foundation/or Defense ofDemocracies. March 2014. pages 6 and 9. 

(llttp:l/lY\Vl.v.defenddemocrJcY.org/content!nploads!docnmem:~JT~xtbook Diplmnacv pd.1} 04 See also Thomas F. Farr_ World ofFwth and Freedom: Wh_v InternatJOnal ReltgJOus Liberty ts Vttal to Amencan 

National Security (Oxford, 2008), page 238. 

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David Andrew Weinberg July 19, 2017 

tolerance, and peace. For example, King Salman and his predecessor Abdullah have both 

admirably emphasized the Quranic dictum that "there is no compulsion in religion." 65 It has also 

been persuasively argued by ICRD that on balance, the Quran is considerably less negative toward 

Christians and Jews that the Saudi curriculum66 Further, some of the lessons in these books- such 

as those calling for killing people for acts considered immoral -are even more extreme than Saudi 

policy, since they fail to make clear that such killing must only be conducted by the state and that 

the bar for such executions should be prohibitively high. 

Finally, some argue that Saudi rulers are simply incapable of moving textbook reform forward 

more quickly because they are abjectly dependent upon the kingdom's conservative clerical 

establishment. And while Saudi rulers do look to senior clerics for regime support, they are also 

capable of making textbook reform a greater relative priority among other culturally contentious 

topics that the Saudi government is seeking to advance- over, say, hosting the first Saudi "Comic 

Con" convention last year and working to open a new Six Flags amusement park67 The clerical 

establishment was wary of these moves, but the government pushed forward successfully 

nonetheless. Indeed, Saudi rulers have historically been able to implement important reforms 

despite reluctance from the clergy when it suits the needs of the state, such as with the abolition of 

slavery, the introduction of television, the hosting American troops during the first Gulf War, and 

passing limitations on the austere religious police last year. 

VII. Policy Recommendations 

More than fifteen years after 9/11, it is unfortunate that we still need to be here today to discuss 

continued religious incitement in the government-published textbooks of a pivotal American ally. 

But the good news is there is plenty that members of Congress can do to make a difference if they 

choose to act. 

1. Require Timely, Detailed, and Annual U.S. Public Reviews 

Tn its most recent annual report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom called 

for the executive branch to "undertake and make public an annual assessment of the relevant 

Ministry of Education religious textbooks to determine if passages that teach religious intolerance 

have been removed." 68 Congress should pass legislation requiring the executive branch to do 

exactly that, and should allocate appropriate funding to do so. Legislation of this sort should 

require such a public reporting to be as detailed as possible, including full quotations of all 

passages that could be seen as encouraging violence or being derogatory toward adherents of other 

religions. It should require that the U.S. government complete its review within 90 days from the 

start of the new Saudi school year each September to ensure its results are valid long enough that 

(J5 U.S. Department of State, Saudi Arabia 2013 Report on lnlernalional Religious Freedom, July 28. 201-1-. page 16. 

G~ttQ.5.;!bvlv\v.hl.~'"'/documcnts/organi7.ation/:22_252J~ 

66 ·'The State of Tolerance in the Curriculum of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia." International C'enterfOr Religion 

and D1plomac:v. 2012. pages 83-91. (l_1HQ~:/!_1yw_y._.!1_}:'Jllnes_,_QQ!ll/inl~_mgH~·~aPJ~{~!_~/1ldJll~D41Jj_Q~1Lo: 

llomc/documcJlt-statc-dcpt-sttldv-on-saudl-lcxtbook&.html) 

6 • Katie Paul and William Maclemt .. Saudi Entertaimnent Chief Sees Cinemas Returning. Eventually.' Reuters. 

April27, 2017. (Jtttp://wH'\Y.reHters.com/article/us-~:>:mdi-entertdjnrnent -idl1 SKBN] IT! WP) 

'~U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. "2017 Ammal Report ... April2017, page 76. 

(http:/ IYF\V\Y. w;;:iif. gov ;,., ites/de fanlt/filcs/20 17. U SClRFArmual Repon .pdf) 

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David Andrew Weinberg July 19, 2017 

U.S. o±1icials can engage extensively with Riyadh while books are still current and before drafting 

of the next edition is finalized. If Saudi officials do not make the books available in time for such 

an assessment, the U.S. should revisit Saudi Arabia's longstanding waiver under the International 

Religious Freedom Act, first granted in 2006 in part based on assurances that its textbooks would 

be fully revised long ago. 69 Legislation should also require that copies of these books be made 

available in the Library of Congress for private researchers and Congressional staff. 

2. Require an Assessment of Saudi Exportation oflncitement 

Direct the U.S. intelligence community to monitor for instances in which Saudi Arabia's 

government-backed exportation of religious messages involves propagating incitement, and 

allocate appropriate resources for it to do so. Mandate one-time or ongoing governmental reporting 

to Congress on the matter, primarily in an unclassified fonnat and with a classified annex if 

appropriate, but only to the extent necessary to protect sources and methods. 

3. Insist on the Nomination of Relevant U.S. Envoys 

Roughly half a year has passed, and yet at the time of writing this, the new U.S. administration 

still has not picked a nominee for ambassador to Saudi Arabia. It also has not nominated an 

ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, a special representative to Muslim 

communities, a special envoy to monitor and combat anti-Semitism, or a special envoy to promote 

religious freedom of religious minorities in the Near East and South and Central Asia with the rank 

of ambassador, even though three of these four positions are mandated by act of Congress70 

Members of Congress should raise this with the administration in public and in private until 

nominees for all five positions have been named. 

4. Call on Saudi Arabia to Replace Old Textbooks Overseas 

In its most recent annual report, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom called 

on the U.S. to "press the Saudi government to denounce publicly the continued use around the 

world of older versions of Saudi textbooks and other materials that promote hatred and intolerance, 

and to make every attempt to retrieve, or buy back, previously distributed materials that contain 

intolerance."71 Members of Congress should add their voice to this call, both in public and in 

private, and use letters or legislation to urge the administration to do so as well. 

5. Encourage Rebooting the lJ.S.-Saudi Strategic Dialogue 

The George W Bush administration launched an annual strategic dialogue with Saudi Arabia in 

2005 to ensure that issues of concern to either side would get a full hearing even when top leaders 

"U.S. Department of State. Press Release. "Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom Briefs 

Congress on U.S. -Saudi Discussions on Religious Pmctice and Tolemnce,- July 19, 2006. C.h!!Jl.:Uf290 1-

tracker/da!fibase/) 

Positions Trump Has Filled So Far,- The Washing/on Posl, updated July I~. 2017. 

(lmJ1.s..Jbn\'1L..IDlShingtQJ~.com/grap~N.litic~tturrm.:admlnistrg.t_ign:appointee-

'

1 U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedont "2017 Ammal Report.- April2017, page 76. 

(llttp.//Yr\Y\Y.uscilf. gm.-Jsites/dcfmlltifiles/20 17. U SCJ Rf Arm11alH.eport.pdD 

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David Andrew Weinberg July 19, 2017 

are preoccupied with other matters. That dialogue lapsed during the Obama administration, but it 

should be restarted. The new crown prince of Saudi Arabia is said to support such an idea as well 72 

One of the working groups should be expressly designed to address the U.S. concerns about 

incitement (in textbooks and other venues) as well as human rights, while also giving Saudi Arabia 

an opportunity to advocate for the rights and dignity of Muslims in America. 

6. Raise Saudi Textbooks, Publicly and Privately, as a Priority Issue 

Members of Congress should raise the issue of incitement in Saudi textbooks both privately and 

publicly. They should encourage the president and secretary of state to address it as well, and urge 

President Trump to issue a fonnal directive to cabinet members and U.S. agencies to mal<e the 

issue a priority in U.S.-Saudi relations. 

While in Saudi Arabia this May, President Trump participated in the inauguration of a Global 

Center for Combating Extremist Ideology, which he predicted "will make history." 73 Reflecting 

on his visit to the kingdom several weeks later, he urged all nations to "stop teaching people to kill 

other people. Stop filling their minds with hate and intolerance." 74 Trump said he would not "name 

other countries" besides Qatar, 75 but without addressing the issue of Saudi textbooks more directly, 

our Saudi allies will simply continue doing what they have been doing: reprinting incitement year 

after year while whittling away at the edges. In the meantime, these deeply problematic books will 

be delivered to another generation of school children. 

-;2 Bilal Y. Saab, ··can Mohmned bin Salmnn Reshape Saudi Arabin? The Treacherous Pnth to Reform:' Foreign 

January 5. 2017. 

"President Tnunp's Speech to the Amb Islamic American Summit." Mav 21. 2017. 

(llttps./h.nY\V.'i.Yhitehouse.gov/tht~-press-uffice/2017/05/21/mesident-tnmms-spcech-arah-islamic-americaJl-srunmit) 

'"7-1- White House. Press Release, ·'Remarks by President Trump and President lolk1rnris of Romania in a Joint Press 

Conference, .. June 9, 2017. (https:/1\v\vw. \\hllcho1.tsc~h..£::Prcss-omcc/20 17/06/09/rcmarks-prcsidcnt-lmnlp-aild-

~dcnt-jQ11Q!.lJ1is-rom.aill.f!::.i.ill!lt:.tlr~.f~S) 

-; 5 White House. Press Release. ·'Remarks by President Tnnnp :md President lohannis of Romania in a Joint Press 

Conference:· Jtme 9. 2017. (https://www.whjtehouse. govithe-press-offke/20 17 106/09/retmrks:::]lresident -tmmp-andpresjdeut-io ham~is-rom;mb-j ojnt -press) 

Foundation for Defense of Democracies 17 www.defenddemocracy.org 
34

Mr. POE. Thank you, Dr. Weinberg. 

The Chair will now recognize Congressman Wolf. 

STATEMENT OF THE HONORABLE FRANK WOLF, DISTINGUISHED SENIOR FELLOW, 21ST CENTURY WILBERFORCE 

INITIATIVE (FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE) 

Mr. WOLF. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. 

The issue of Saudi educational curriculum as a means of promoting intolerance and inspiring terrorism is not a new one. This 

topic hit close to home in 2003, when Ahmed Omar Abu Ali was 

arrested while in class at the Islamic University of Medina for an 

attempted plot to assassinate President Bush. Before attending the 

University of Medina, Mr. Abu Ali attended and was a valedictorian at a high school which was located here in northern Virginia, the Islamic Saudi Academy. Mr. Abu Ali was ultimately sentenced to life in prison and is currently serving out his sentence in 

a supermax in Colorado. 

The reason I would like to highlight this particular case in particular is due to the fact that concerns were raised regarding the 

educational material being used by the Islamic Saudi Academy 

over and over. Not only was the school funded by the Saudi Arabian Embassy, which meant it fell under the Saudi Ministry of 

Education, but the Saudi Ambassador to Washington led the board 

of directors. He literally led the school. 

In 2007 when asked by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom to make textbooks publicly available, 

the school refused to comply. We got copies from a professor that 

gave us one on the side. One letter from USCIRF on the issue stated, ‘‘Based on past documentation, significant concerns remain 

about whether the Saudi textbooks used at the ISA Academy explicitly . . . hate, intolerance and human rights violations, and in 

some cases violence, which may adversely affect the interests of the 

United States.’’

In 2008, I wrote Secretary Rice on five different occasions regarding the concerns held by the Commission regarding the content of 

the textbooks. At that time I requested a meeting be convened between relevant State Department officials, USCIRF representatives, and expert analysts commissioned by USCIRF to translate 

the textbooks in order to determine what was being taught by the 

Academy. Such meeting never took place. 

Generally, the State Department has been weak on this issue in 

both Republican and in Democratic administrations. 

During this time, USCIRF was finally able to obtain copies of 

some of the textbooks being used by the Islamic Saudi Academy. 

After a thorough analysis, the Commission concluded that the textbooks contained very troubling passages that did not conform to 

international human rights standards, including vilification of 

those who adhere to Christianity, Judaism, Baha’i’ism, Ahmadism, 

and Shia Islam and others. I have submitted for the record some 

of those statements. 

And in 2009 I sent a letter, again, to Secretary of State Clinton, 

urging the State Department monitor and report on the textbooks 

published by the Saudi Government. In that letter I acknowledged, 

35

‘‘To date, we have had only vague assurances on the part of the 

State Department and the school that the curriculum has been reformed. But these assurances are insufficient, particularly when 

they are utterly at odds with USCIRF’s findings, and may be indicative of wider problems, namely, the status of Saudi commitments 

made in 2006 to conduct a comprehensive revision of textbooks and 

educational curricula to weed out . . .’’

While it is impossible to say that Mr. Abu Ali was directly 

radicalized by the textbooks used at the Islamic Saudi Academy, 

the use of the books that promote religious discrimination and the 

justification of violence toward non-believers cannot be tolerated, 

certainly not in Fairfax County, not in Virginia, not in America, 

but quite frankly, anywhere around the world. 

Consider that if this is the academy’s curriculum in the United 

States, just imagine how prolific the problem has been across 

Saudi-affiliated academies, funded programs in other countries 

around the world, especially in some countries in the Middle East. 

While the Ahmed Omar Abu Ali case is now almost a decade old, 

Saudi Arabia has continued to promote and export radical 

Wahhabism. In the wake of the Orlando shooting just last year, 

Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton stated, ‘‘It is long 

past the time for the Saudis, the Qataris and the Kuwaitis and others to stop their citizens from funding extremist organizations. And 

they should stop,’’ she said, ‘‘supporting radical schools and 

mosques around the world that have set too many young people on 

the path toward extremism.’’

And, unfortunately, by funding top American university research 

centers, the Saudi Government has been able to minimize voices of 

those in academia who you would have thought otherwise would 

have had the best means for researching the effects of radical 

Wahhabism. 

While there are many concerns regarding the influence of Saudi 

Arabia, more specifically radical Wahhabism, on countries around 

the world, it would be remiss not to acknowledge that very recently 

some small improvements have been made to the educational material. In the latest report by USCIRF they said, ‘‘In February 2017 

Saudi officials stated that the final stage of revisions to high school 

texts was underway. During its visit, USCIRF obtained some textbooks currently in use and found some intolerant content remained 

in high school texts, though at a reduced level.’’

They go on to explain while there has been progress in terms, 

there is still concern that some of the teachers may be promoting 

a more radicalized version of Islam. 

Some recommendations: One, the USCIRF has some very good 

recommendations. Undertake and make public and annual assessment. 

I believe you have to put this in the legislation. If you just let 

the State Department or the American Embassy in Saudi Arabia, 

they will always find a reason not to do it. So I think it needs to 

be mandated that the relevant Ministry of Education textbooks determine the passages that teach religious intolerance have been removed. 

Secondly, press the Saudi Government to denounce publicly the 

continued use around the world of older versions of Saudi textbooks 

36

and other materials that promote hatred and intolerance. And 

make every attempt to retrieve and buy back previously distributed 

textbooks that contain intolerance. 

You know, even in America’s schools sometimes you’re in a class 

there will be a textbook that is 10, 15 years old. These are still in 

schools around, around the world. 

And keep in mind, lastly, the Saudis funded almost all of the 

madrasas that were up on the Afghan-Pakistan border that helped 

lead to what took place in the Taliban. Mullah Omar, the head of 

the Taliban, was a graduate of a Saudi-funded academy. The issue 

needs more work. 

And I want to thank the subcommittee and the members because 

I kind of thought for a while this issue was kind of forgotten about. 

Mandate it and put it in. If you take the pressure off the Saudis 

they will slip back in and this will come in. You keep the pressure 

on and you can make a tremendous difference. 

I thank you for the hearing. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Wolf follows:]

37


26312c-1.eps

Committee on Foreign Affairs 

Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade 

"Saudi Arabia's Troubling Educational Curriculum" 

Hon. Frank Wolf- Written Testimony 

July 19, 2017 

Mr. Chairman, Members of the Committee, thank you for having this hearing regarding concerns 

about Saudi Arabia's educational curriculum and the rise of radicalization. l have shared these 

same concerns for many years when I served in the House and since joining the 

Wilberforce Initiative in 2015, and it is my hope that the U.S. government will continue to 

monitor and assess the educational materials that the government of Saudi Arabia publishes in 

order to ensure that they do not incite further violence, hatred and radicalism in the United States 

as well as abroad. We should also consider solutions that ensure other countries that 

may produce similar intolerant and extreme content is addressed. 

The issue of Saudi Arabia's educational curriculum as a means of promoting intolerance and 

inspiring terrorism is not a new one. This topic hit close to home in 2003, when Ahmed Omar 

Abu Ali was arrested while in class at the Islamic University of Medina, for an attempted plot to 

assassinate President Bush. Before attending university in Medina, Mr. Abu Ali attended and 

was the valedictorian at a high school which was located here in northern Virginia, the Islamic 

Saudi Academy. Mr. Abu Ali was ultimately sentenced to life in prison and is currently serving 

out his sentence in the supermax in Colorado. 

The reason I would like to highlight this particular case in particular is due to the fact that 

concerns were then raised regarding the educational material being used by the Islamic Saudi 

Academy. Not only was the school funded by the Saudi Arabian Embassy, which meant it fell 

under the Saudi ministry of education, but the Saudi Ambassador to Washington led the Board of 

Directors for the school. 

In 2007, when asked by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom to 

make the textbooks publicly available, the school retused to comply. One letter from USCIRF on 

the issue stated, "Based on past documentation, significant concerns remain about whether the 

Saudi textbooks used at the !SA explicitly promote hate, intolerance and human rights violations, 

and in some cases violence, which may adversely atiect the interests of the United States." 

Tn 2008, T wrote then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on five separate occasions regarding 

the concerns held by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom 

regarding the content of the textbooks being used by the Islamic Saudi Academy. At that time I 

requested that a meeting be convened between relevant State Department officials, USCIRF 

representatives and expert analysts commissioned by USCIRF to translate the textbooks in order 

to determine what was being taught by the !SA. Such a meeting never took place. 

During this time, USCIRF was tlnally able to obtain copies of some of the textbooks being used 
38


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2 

by the Islamic Saudi Academy. After a thorough analysis, the Commission concluded that the 

textbooks contained some very troubling passages that did not conform to international human 

rights standards- including the vilification of those who adhere to Christianity, Judaism, 

Baha"ism, Ahmadism, Shia Islam and others. T have submitted for the record a letter that the 

Commission released on June 11, 2008 which contains examples of some of the statements made 

in the textbooks. 

Again, in 2009, I sent a letter to then Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, urging that the State 

Department monitor and report on the textbooks published by the Saudi government In that 

letter, I acknowledged that, "To date, we have only had vague assurances on the part of the State 

Department and the school that the curriculum has been reformed. But these assurances are 

insufficient, particularly when they are utterly at odds with USCIRF's findings, and may be 

indicative of a wider problem- namely the status of Saudi commitments made in 2006 to conduct 

'a comprehensive revision of textbooks and educational curricula to weed out disparaging 

remarks."' 

While it is impossible to say whether Mr. Abu Ali was directly radicalized by the textbooks used 

at the Islamic Saudi Academy, the use of books that promote religious discrimination and the 

justification of violence toward non-believers cannot be tolerated. Consider that if this is the 

Academy's curriculum in the United States, just imagine how prolific this problem has been 

across Saudi-affiliated academies and funded programs in other countries around the world, 

especially in countries in the Middle East, that are struggling with radicalization and terrorism. 

While the Ahmed Omar Abu Ali case is now almost a decade old, Saudi Arabia has continued to 

promote and export radical Wahhabism. In the wake of the Orlando shooting just last year, 

Democratic Presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, stated, "It is long past time for the Saudis, the 

Qataris and the Kuwaitis and others to stop their citizens from funding extremist organization. 

And they should stop supporting radical schools and mosques around the world that have set too 

many young people on a path towards extremism." 

By funding top American university research centers, the Saudi government has been able to 

minimize the voices of those in academia who would otherwise have the best means of 

researching the effects of radical Wahhabism. In other countries, such as Bosnia, Albania, 

Kosovo and Indonesia they have continued to promote radicalism. In an op-ed by Nicholas 

Kristoff entitled, "The Terrorists the Saudis Cultivate in Peaceful Countries," he states, "Kosovo 

and Albania have been models of religious moderation and tolerance. Yet Saudi Arabia and 

other Gulf countries poured money into the new nation over the last 17 years and nurtured 

religious extremism in a land where originally there was little." Tn an article that appeared in the 

New York Times last year, entitled, "Saudis and Extremism: 'Both the Arsonists and the 

Firefighters,"' the author details that since the mid-60's, "in non-Muslim-majority countries 

alone, Saudi Arabia would build 1,359 mosques, 210 Islamic centers, 202 colleges and 2,000 

schools. Saudi money helped tinance 16 American mosques; four in Canada; and others in 

London, Madrid, Brussels and Geneva, according to a report in an official Saudi weekly, A in 

al-Yaqeen. The total spending including supplying or training imams and teachers, was 'many 

billions' of Saudi riyals." 
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3 

While there are many concerns regarding the influence of Saudi Arabia, and more specifically 

radical Wahhabism, on countries around the world, it would be remiss to not acknowledge that 

very recently, some improvements have been made to their educational material. Tn the latest 

report by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom it states, "In 

February 2017, Saudi officials stated that the final stage of revisions to high school textbooks 

was underway ... During its visit, USCIRF obtained some textbooks currently in use and found 

some intolerant content remained in high school texts, though at a much-reduced level." They go 

on to explain that while there has been progress in terms of the textbooks, there is still a concern 

that some of the teachers may be promoting a more radicalized version of Islam. However, the 

Ministry of Education has undertaken an initiative through which teachers are encouraged to 

participate in teacher training in both Europe and the U.S. 

There are certainly many improvements that must be made, but in closing I would like to echo 

the recommendations set forward by USCIRF that the United States government 1) Undertake 

and make public an annual assessment of the relevant Ministry of Education religious textbooks 

to determine if passages that teach religious intolerance have been removed and 2) Press the 

Saudi government to denounce publicly the continued use around the world of older versions of 

Saudi textbooks and other materials that promote hatred and intolerance, and to make every 

attempt to retrieve, or buy back, previously distributed materials that contain intolerance. 

Thank you. 
40

Mr. POE. Thank you, Congressman Wolf. 

Dr. Johnston. 

STATEMENT OF DOUGLAS JOHNSTON, PH.D., PRESIDENT 

EMERITUS, INTERNATIONAL CENTER FOR RELIGION AND 

DIPLOMACY 

Mr. JOHNSTON. Yes, Mr. Chairman, I would like to thank you for 

the honor of presenting to your committee some of the work our 

center has been doing to try to help facilitate educational reform 

in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We have a written testimony that 

covers that comprehensively. I will just touch on some of the highlights. 

Before I do, though, I would like to just take 1 second to honor 

the other witnesses here. Each is a champion of human rights and 

religious freedom in their own right, and it is an honor to be with 

them. 

Our task, which I consider complementary to their own, has been 

to take action to address the problem. And in 2011, we received a 

grant from the State Department to develop recommendations that 

would help facilitate reform efforts that were already underway in 

the Kingdom. Toward this end, we assessed all the textbooks for 

discriminatory content. And we also tried to determine global dispersion of those textbooks. 

It was a—from the start our approach was one of seeking to be 

balanced, giving them credit for whatever progress had been made, 

not only in that but in their deradicalization program, but to be 

very unsparing in our detail of what yet remained to be done. And 

there we completed a report, very comprehensive, included 99 textbooks. I could go into great length on that, but just suffice it to say 

that this report is just replete with examples of the kinds of problems that have been cited here with the other witnesses. 

There is, at that point in time, this is 2011, sprinkled throughout 

you would find direct license given for violent behavior toward others who do not subscribe to that similar brand of Islam. You would 

also find direct license for such things as desecrating the tombs of 

the Sufi saints in Timbuktu, which the extremists did before the 

French kicked them out. So, lots of problems. 

There were not only problems in the textbooks as a whole, but 

even in the six grades that had already been thoroughly revised we 

did find problems. 

So, one of the things I would just point out, though, in terms of 

looking at these things, I think it is important to try to avoid using 

a western lens as we do so. By that I mean what we try to do is 

hold their feet to the fire by comparing what is in those textbooks 

to what is in the Holy Quran with respect to that same subject 

area, what is in the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights in Islam 

with respect to that. In all cases, the Saudi textbooks were much 

more conservative than the sources I just mentioned. 

So, that is, that is a very important piece is just understanding 

exactly where, how much freedom the Government of Saudi Arabia 

has to really maneuver. There are so many wild cards in the mix. 

There are charities through which textbooks are distributed. There 

are maverick members of the royal family. There are deep-pocketed 

41

Saudis who are not members of the royal family. Lots of people 

with lots of agendas. 

And one of the things that is also a bit of a constraint is the fact 

that the original pact between the monarchy and the Salafi Ulema 

called for education belongs to the religious establishment. So one 

of the things that the Saudis were having to do is to finesse that 

aspect, that obligation. They also need to worry about the credibility that they maintain within Islam itself as custodian of the two 

holiest sites. So this is, this is not to forgive any of the textbook 

content, this is to just explain why sometimes it may take a little 

bit longer than we would like. 

We established a comprehensive baseline for future analysis. And 

we felt that the progress that the Saudis were making was credible 

enough that we should probably keep the report private, not release it to the public. Our concern was that western critics seizing 

upon the offensive passages that still remain might just shut down 

the whole process as a defensive backlash sets in and the conservatives move in. We have seen this time and again in different situations in the Islamic world. 

So, we spent the next 3 years implementing some of the recommendations that we had come forward with. 

Now, just to bring it right up to the present, we are in another 

month we are going to be starting a new effort to look at the textbooks of the high school grades which had not been revised the last 

time we looked at them. We are also going to take an in-depth look 

at three countries on how the Saudi educational materials are affecting the religious and social. What is that impact? 

And I will say this, right now the Saudis claim to have just completed that process, reform process that started way back in 2007. 

And they realize, however, that they still have problems. Many of 

those have been mentioned here right now. And what they are 

planning to do is tackle it from two aspects. 

One, is by 2020 to have developed a set of curriculum standards. 

They have never had curriculum standards before. And this is part 

of their national plan on educational reform which was articulated 

in 2014, $22 billion behind it. It is very serious money. That money 

has stayed protected even during their budget shortfalls. And by 

these curriculum standards they will then revise wholesale the content in all of the textbooks. 

In the meantime, on a more urgent basis, they are going to be 

looking at the current revised textbooks and within—starting within 3 months they will start making changes on a priority basis. 

And they will have these completed, according to them, by the next 

school year, 2018 to 2019. And there is so much going on right now. 

They are going to—in 3 years they will have converted from textbooks to tablet computers. So there is a lot of change underway. 

I believe that the commitment is real. And they certainly do understand the problem. 

Thank you. 

[The prepared statement of Mr. Johnston follows:]

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Written Testimony 

Dr. Douglas M. Johnston 

President Emeritus, ICRD 

before the 

HFAC Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade 

Hearing on 

"Saudi Arabia's Troubling Educational Curriculum" 

July 19, 2017 

Mr. Chairman, thank you for the opportunity to share with your Subcommittee the work 

that the International Center for Religion & Diplomacy (ICRD) has been doing in support of the 

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's efforts to facilitate educational reform. Before doing so, though, I 

would like to express my personal gratitude to the other witnesses who are testifying today for 

their highly effective efforts in identifying and calling to public attention the discriminatory 

content in the Kingdom's public school text books, which at its worst, can lead to extremist 

behavior or, short of that, to violations of religious freedom and other human rights. Our Center's 

mandate, which I consider complementary to their own, is to talce corrective action to address the 

problem. Although we are by no means apologists for the Saudis, my purpose here today, as I 

understand it, is to report on the progress that is being made to address this issue. 

Background 

First, a bit of background. Following the attacks of9-11 (in which 15 of the 19 hijackers 

were identified as Saudi nationals), the Kingdom faced strong external pressure to curb the 

spread ofWahhabism, especially through its public school textbooks, which had made their way 

across the globe and were inspiring terrorist groups like al-Qaeda Two years later, after the 

Kingdom itself was rocked by a wave of al-Qaeda-led attacks, the first meaningful steps were 

taken toward educational reform (in concert with a strong de-radicalization program). However, 

it wasn't until 2007, soon after King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud ascended to the throne, that 

the Tatweer Education Reforrn project was launched to promote curriculum reforrn that would 

graduate "capable and open-minded" young Saudis. 

ICRD Study 

To support the Kingdom's educational reforrn efforts, the State Department awarded our 

Center a grant (Cooperative Agreement) in 2011 to develop recommendations for promoting 

educational reform in the Kingdom. Toward that end, we were to examine the discriminatory 

content in Saudi Arabia's public school textbooks, and to provide a basic overview of their 

global dispersion. In undertaking this assignment, we opted to take a balanced approach, giving 
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full credit for any refonns that had already taken place (including those associated with the 

Kingdom's de-radicalization program), while being unsparing in our detail of what yet remained 

to be done. 

This was consistent with a similar approach we had taken over an eight-year period in 

reforming the curriculums and pedagogy of more than 1,500 madrasas (religious schools) in the 

radical areas of Pakistan. Our success there was attributable to three factors: (1) sharing 

ownership in the change process (by conducting the project in such a way that the madrasa 

leaders felt it to be their reform effort and not something imposed from the outside); (2) 

appealing to their own heritage, not only of their schools, which in the Middle Ages were 

unrivaled as institutions of higher learning, but of Islam itself, which in its early years was 

responsible for a number of breakthroughs in the arts and sciences, including religious tolerance 

(at a time when Christianity was woefully intolerant); and (3) grounding all suggested change in 

Islamic principles (so they could feel they were becoming better Muslims in the process). We 

call this approach "organic suasion", i.e. promoting peace from within through respectful 

engagement. 

As we began to understand the scope and seeming commitment of the Kingdom's 

educational refonn effort, we concluded that the study should not be made public, lest Western 

critics use offensive passages that yet remained to chastise the Saudis and risk provoking a 

defensive backlash that could jeopardize the refonn process. We felt that it would make more 

sense to help move things in a positive direction through quiet diplomacy rather than attempting 

to force change through further criticism. 

1n a similar vein, it is important to recognize certain sensitivities unique to the Saudi 

government, i.e. the need to maintain credibility with (1) its own religious establishment (under 

which "education" rightfully resides, according to the Kingdom's historic compact between the 

monarchy and the Salafist Ulema) and (2) Islam more generally (as Custodian of its two holiest 

sites) 

Our review of the texts, which was the most comprehensive conducted to date, revealed 

that the Kingdom was making credible progress toward refonn, but that much more was needed 

to complete the process. 1n short, the report provided an analysis of: 

• The textbook changes that had taken place over the previous decade. 

The remaining areas of bias and intolerance that still existed in the textbooks, especially 

at the high school leveL 

How the Wahhabist content of the textbooks compared to Quranic admonitions on the 

same topics (unfavorably, in almost every instance) and to the provisions of the Cairo 

Declaration on Human Rights in Islam (again almost universally unfavorable). 

2 
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More specifically, the textbooks were examined for instances of religious intolerance, including 

misrepresentation of religious beliefs or identity, collective blame, pejorative historical 

narratives, and content that promoted or excused violence and aggression on the basis on 

religion. 

As shown in the table below, the scope of the curriculum review covered a total of 99 

textbooks from the national curriculum, of which the majority were from religious studies 

subjects, followed by history and social sciences, and finally, the language arts. We were also 

able to obtain textbooks on science, math, and technology, but they were not found to contain 

any objectionable content. 

Publication Year Subject 

Total Religious Social Language 

Level (Grade) Books 2011-2012 1996-2010 Studies Science Arts 

Primary (1-6) 17 13 4 13 3 I 

lntem1ediate (7-9) 27 11 16 22 5 0 

High School (10-12) 55 35 20 34 15 6 

99 59 40 69 23 7 

According to official statements from the Saudi Ministry of Education, the textbooks we 

examined included six grade levels from the primary and intermediate levels that had already 

undergone "thorough revisions." Of the primary and intermediate levels (grades 1-9), only three 

had not been revised, including grades three, six, and nine. It was reported that all of the 

secondary grade levels were undergoing revision, a process that was to be completed by 2013. 

With notable exceptions, few examples of pejorative content were found in the revised 

textbooks from the primary grade levels. Although encouraging, these grades were not expected 

to contain much in the way of egregious content. Regarding the intennediate levels, the results of 

the revision process were inconsistent. Some intennediate level textbooks, such as the 81

h grade 

text on Hadith, were almost completely free of intolerant content and even included positive 

messages such as the following: 

"1i1e prayer of the oppressed, be he Muslim or non-Muslim is answered and not rejected " 

Hadith, Grade Jiight (l'erm 11), p.57 

This progress, however, was not reflected in other eighth grade textbooks. For example, 

the Monotheism textbook contained a direct call for violence against "sorcerers", the 

Jurisprudence textbook advocated donating zakat (charitable) contributions to the Mujahideen, 

and the lcrfsir textbook promoted violent jihad and contained anti-Semitic narratives. 

Textbooks in the secondary grade levels, of which none had been revised, contained 

intolerant content as documented in earlier studies conducted by Nina Shea and others. 

Problematic material in these grade levels included direct and gratuitous criticism of the beliefs 
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and practices of non-Muslims and non-Salafi Muslims, lessons that glorified an aggressive and 

violent concept of jihad; and inaccurate and pejorative historical narratives that cast Jews and 

Christians as eternal threats to Islam and Muslims everywhere. 

Beyond the details, the study provided a comprehensive baseline for future analysis and 

offered helpful recommendations for immediate improvement. 

In 2013, we began working to implement some of the study's key recommendations. Our 

first step during this phase was to brief a contingent of Saudi educational experts in Riyadh on 

the findings of the 2012 study. It was a highly successful encounter, and we proposed a followup meeting between American and Saudi scholars and education experts in the United States. 

With the approval of the Minister of Education and the King, the proposed meeting of American 

and Saudi educators took place at Georgetown University in November 2015. 

The purpose of this meeting was to facilitate an atmosphere of shared problem-solving, 

while avoiding any specter of paternalism by bringing the two sides together as equals to address 

a problem they shared in common (i.e. the problem of bias and intolerance in national education 

systems). As backdrop for the discussion, we shared the results of a study that we (ICRD) had 

conducted on how a dozen other countries had dealt with similar problems. The meeting, which 

included officials from the Saudi Ministry of Education and from the U.S. Departments of State 

and Education, also addressed a number of key principles for advancing educational reform in 

the Muslim world. 

After extensive discussion on various aspects of our respective educational systems, the 

head of the Saudi delegation gave a detailed presentation on his country's new National Strategy 

for Educational Reform, which was promulgated a year after ICRD's study first made its way to 

the Kingdom through diplomatic channels. This new strategy, funded at a level of $22 billion 

over four years, focuses on (1) curriculum development, (2) teacher training, (3) institutional 

capacity-building, and ( 4) development of 21 '

1 century skills, including those relating to crosscultural communications. The ultimate goal is to enable Saudi youth to compete effectively in 

the globalized market place. Happily, this coincides with our own goals of instilling (1) a keen 

appreciation for diversity, (2) tolerance for other faiths and sects, (3) increased respect for human 

rights, and ( 4) a strong, ongoing commitment to critical thinking. Although the National Plan 

was undoubtedly driven more by national self-interest than by Western criticism, with continued 

etiort, it seems likely that the int1arnmatory content in the public school textbooks will soon 

become a thing of the past 

The November meeting concluded with the Saudi and American delegations agreeing on 

a range of topics to be researched prior to a second meeting of the delegates in Riyadh, in May of 

2016. Based on a later discussion of these topics at the Riyadh meeting, recommendations were 

developed for the consideration of both governments. In August of 2016, ICRD presented the 

recommendations for the Saudi government to Dr. Ahmed Aleisa, the Saudi Minister of 

Education, at a round-table discussion on educational reform, which he chaired in our 

4 
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Washington otlice. Others in attendance included senior representatives from the U.S. 

Departments of State and Education. 

Global Impact 

To determine the degree to which Saudi texts have been dispersed throughout the Muslim 

and developing worlds, we based our tin dings on ( 1) extensive interviews and correspondence 

with experts from Africa, Eastern Europe, and Central and South Asia; (2) comprehensive desk 

research based on written reports, journal articles, and transcripts; and (3) field research in three 

countries. From what we could ascertain, the principal conduits through which most of these 

books have been distributed are Saudi Arabian humanitarian charities like the Muslim World 

League (MWL), the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO), the World Assembly (or 

Association) of Muslim Youth, the UK-based Al-Muqtada Organization, and the now-defunct 

Al-Haramain Fund (AHF). Most of the activity related to this distribution has taken the fonn of 

constructing new mosques, madrasas, and libraries throughout the developing world. Based on 

this research, we developed briefprotiles of35 countries where Saudi sources have been actively 

funding the construction and operation of religious schools. 

The presence of Saudi textbooks and educational materials appeared to be most prevalent 

in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the Kingdom has been heavily involved in the construction and 

financing of mosques and madrasas since the 1960s. In countries like Burkina Faso, Mali, 

Nigeria, Somalia, and Tanzania, it was reported that Saudi funders maintained close oversight of 

the teacher training and educational materials used in the religious schools they had built. As 

might be expected, in countries like Kenya, with its more sophisticated restrictions on foreign 

financing of religious institutions, the Kingdom had noticeably less influence over education. 

In Southeast Asia, Indonesia stood apart as a country where Saudi textbooks were widely 

distributed and used in Salafi madrasas in different parts of the country. However, as best we 

could determine, in those schools operated by Indonesia's (indeed, the world's) two largest 

Muslim organizations, Nahdlatul Ulema and Muhamadiyah (50 million and 40 million members 

respectively), Saudi textbooks were apparently not in use. In Central Asia and Eastern Europe, 

there was a significant effort by the Kingdom to gain influence following the collapse of the 

Soviet Union and the former Republic of Yugoslavia. With few exceptions, this effort has largely 

failed, owing to the tight control that most countries in these regions hold over educational 

curriculum. 

Although direct observation by ICRD and its partnering organizations in Pakistan did not 

uncover the use of Saudi textbooks in the Ahle Hadith (Wahhabi) madrasas funded by Saudi 

Arabia, these schools were found to be using textbooks that contained similarly pejorative 

content, albeit of local origin. 
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While this study focused on the spread of Saudi textbooks, which clearly play a role in 

the advance of W ahhabist Salafism around the world, evidence suggests that the textbooks 

actually play a relatively minor role in comparison to the influence of the imams and teachers 

and, by direct extension, the training they receive. 

The Road Ahead 

Next month, we will take another look at the textbooks, this time assessing the content of 

the high school grades, which had not yet been revised at the time of our earlier look in 2012. 

We will also conduct an in-depth examination of the religious and social impact of Saudi 

educational materials in three countries of strategic consequence. The viability of conducting 

these studies in selected countries from the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Western Europe is 

current! y being assessed. 

Although we have not examined Saudi textbook content in the last five years, the U.S. 

Commission on International Religious Freedom examined an incomplete set of textbooks 

several years ago and deterrnined that the reform process was continuing. However, we have no 

reason to doubt the validity of any of the more recent examples of intolerant content cited by 

other scholars. 

The pace of change in reforrning the Kingdom's public school textbooks has been glacial 

at best. A process that was to have been completed in 2008, took until now to complete. Even 

with the additional time, though, significant problems remain. The Saudis are aware of these 

problems and are planning to address them on two levels. First, and consistent with the Crown 

Prince's 2030 Vision, a set of curriculum standards will be developed that will precipitate a 

wholesale revision of all textbook content. Toward this end, the first draft of a Curriculum 

Framework has been developed to provide a basis for crafting the standards. This process is 

scheduled to be completed in 2020, and it will represent the first time in the Kingdom's history 

that such standards have existed. Without curriculum standards that specify what students should 

learn and be able to do, it becomes exceedingly dit1icult to hold teachers and textbook authors 

accountable. 

On a more urgent basis, the Ministry of Education will be assessing the revised textbooks 

for oppressive content and begin making changes on a real-time, priority basis, allegedly within 

the next three months. The Ministry's timetable calls for having this process completed in time 

for the 2018-2019 academic year. 

As for the global impact of existing textbooks, in response to ICRD' s earlier study on this 

subject, a request went out in May 2016 to all Saudi embassies around the world, urging them to 

retrieve any older textbooks that might be in use within their respective geographic areas and to 

replace them with the newer, revised editions. Extensive follow-up is taking place, and there has 

6 
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apparently been an encouraging response. An important caveat here is that the Saudi government 

doesn't know all of the locations in which its textbooks are being used, since it has not had total 

control of their distribution. 

A Sobering Challenge 

With a perfect storm descending on Saudi Arabia in the form of low oil prices, two costly 

wars in Yemen and Syria, and a demographic tidal wave (youth bulge), the Kingdom finds itself 

at a crossroads. Fundamental to its future success will be effective implementation of the 2030 

Vision and an education system to support it that provides the necessary professional and crosscultural skills to succeed in an increasingly integrated and competitive world. 

7 
49

Mr. POE. Thank you, Dr. Johnston. The Chair recognizes himself 

for some questions. 

I want to be clear that when we are dealing with Saudi Arabia 

it is not all or nothing. Like I said earlier, they are the arsonists 

but they are also the firefighters when it comes to terrorism. That 

is what makes this very troubling, this whole issue. 

And, Ms. Shea, let me start with you. If I understand correctly, 

Saudi Arabia agreed in 2006 that they would fix this problem and 

they would have it all fixed by 2008. Is that correct? 

Ms. SHEA. Yes, Mr. Chairman. They——

Mr. POE. Okay. Reclaiming my time because I only have a few 

minutes. 

So here it is now 9 years later and it is still not fixed, maybe 

some progress, but it is the issue that they promised in 2006 to fix 

the textbooks has not come about. Is that right? 

Ms. SHEA. Yes, that is correct. 

Mr. POE. So that is nine grades. That is almost a generation of 

students that they furnished the textbooks to that are still receiving this, in my opinion, violation of human rights. 

Saudi Arabian schools teach religion and it is mandatory that all 

students go to these religious classes. Is that correct? 

Ms. SHEA. Yes. 

Mr. POE. And that is where these textbooks are used? 

Ms. SHEA. Yes. 

Mr. POE. And they are not only used in Saudi Arabia but they 

are used in other places in the world, including in the United 

States, as Congressman Wolf has stated; is that right? 

Ms. SHEA. They have about 20 schools that they directly run. 

And then they are spread—for example, Dr. Johnston’s report said 

that there were 150 schools that Saudi Arabia has established in 

Burkina Faso alone. So that gives you some, you know, some idea 

of the scale. It is all over the world, all continents and where there 

are people, where there are Muslim communities. And they are—

not every one is receiving Saudi textbooks, but many, many are. 

Mr. POE. And some say that the radicalization in Kosovo and Indonesia are a result of these textbooks being in these schools. Are 

you aware of that? 

Ms. SHEA. Yes, I am. I hear it all the time. 

Mr. POE. Congressman Wolf. 

Mr. WOLF. Yes. 

Mr. POE. Dr. Johnston, I know the State Department contracted 

with your group to study this issue, gave a grant, American taxpayer money, a grant for you all to study the issue. You studied 

it. You have got a report there in your hand. But the State Department still to this day refuses to release to the public that report. 

Is that correct? 

Mr. JOHNSTON. No, that is not true, sir. 

Mr. POE. So they have, they have released the report? 

Mr. JOHNSTON. They have. But not, not on their own doing. 

Mr. POE. It has been released because somebody leaked the report. 

Mr. JOHNSTON. No. It was because the New York Times used the 

Freedom of Information Act to get a copy of the report. 

50

Mr. POE. So it has been. The public does have access to your entire report? 

Mr. JOHNSTON. Absolutely. 

Mr. POE. All right. Thank you. I did not know that. 

So, Congressman Wolf, let me ask you. You mentioned a few 

things that must be done. This has been going on for a good number of years. And where we are today, I think the United States—

this is my opinion—doesn’t want to endanger the sensitivities of 

our relationship with our Saudi allies. What would—how would 

you characterize this relationship and the demanding that we—

that they change their textbooks? 

Mr. WOLF. Well, it goes up and down. And during the area of oil 

crisis nobody wanted to offend the Saudis. America is fast becoming basically energy independent. 

I think what you are doing with the hearing today by bringing 

the attention. 

Two, there ought to be the new U.S. Ambassador for Religious 

Freedom, the person whose name I have heard is a very outstanding person who will be very good on this issue, the subcommittee should meet with that person. 

Thirdly, you ought to have questions going over to the Senate 

Foreign Affairs Committee. When they send the name up of the 

new Ambassador there will be very tough questions from both sides 

of the aisle—this is not a political issue, if you will—aggressively 

putting him on record or her on record, whoever it is, that they will 

speak out. 

Lastly, when he or she is confirmed this subcommittee ought, 

ought to meet with them. 

And I think the more you pressure and do it publicly, in a very 

respectful way, you have to be careful, though, because the Saudis 

put a lot of money in different universities. They also hire prominent law firms in town. I couldn’t believe, 3 weeks ago a prominent 

law firm was hired to represent Bashir, an indicted war criminal, 

indicted for genocide, responsible for the death of 200,000 to 

300,000 people in Darfur, bombing people in the Nuba Mountains, 

and yet a law firm, prominent law firm working for him. So you 

have to be careful that there isn’t pressure. 

But what you have done today following up with it, I don’t think 

the State Department will aggressively do it unless the Congress 

pushes them. 

Mr. POE. Last question. Dr. Weinberg, you mentioned that 17 

minutes into this hearing, that was a public notice that we were 

having this hearing, the Saudi Arabians did something. What did 

they do? 

Mr. WEINBERG. They, they announced on social media that a new 

round of curriculum revisions had been completed which, again, 

needs to be not a justification for letting scrutiny off but a justification for added scrutiny to see if they have actually delivered on 

what they pledged. 

If I could just add my voice to what the Honorable Mr. Wolf said 

about envoys. In addition to encouraging the administration to 

nominate a qualified individual for the congressionally-mandated 

post of Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, 

51

there are four other important positions that are laying vacant on 

this issue right now. 

There is currently no nominee, at least as of last I checked 2 

days ago, for a U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia. It should be 

somebody with real experience in the relationship and not just 

business experience. 

Additionally, there is no nominee for the Special Representative 

of the State Department to Muslim Communities Abroad, a crucial 

vacancy. 

Additionally, there is still no nominee, no nominee for the AntiSemitism Envoy at the State Department. And the Secretary of 

State even suggested that such a nominee might be counterproductive for addressing anti-Semitism by taking it out of the priorities of the State Department, which I think is a deeply counterproductive perspective. 

And then, lastly, there is the position of Ambassador for—or Special Envoy for Religious Freedom of Minorities in the Broader Middle East, a position that is mandated by Congress. There is somebody serving in this capacity but not with the level of seniority that 

Congress has mandated. 

So those are all areas where you all can have an important voice. 

Mr. POE. Four positions, four witnesses, I think maybe we can 

solve that problem right here. 

I yield to the gentleman from Massachusetts, the ranking member Mr. Keating. 

Mr. KEATING. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Dr. Johnston, you mentioned that the Center is moving forward 

and they are looking at three countries to see what the effect, do 

an in-depth examination of the religious and social impact of Saudi 

educational materials in those countries. Can you tell us and expand on what countries were chosen and what reason were those 

countries included in this study? 

Mr. JOHNSTON. They have not been chosen. We are currently examining the feasibility of securing a memorandum of understanding with selected governments that would pass this test. 

These are going to be three countries of strategic consequence. 

They will be drawn from Southeast Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. 

Mr. KEATING. Could you share any timetable that you might 

have? 

Mr. JOHNSTON. I would say that we would, we would have this 

firmly underway within 2 months. 

I would say, too, and I am sorry that time didn’t permit this earlier, but in response to our study on the global impact, the Saudis 

actually put out a request to the Cultural Attaches of every one of 

their Embassies around the world encouraging them to, directing 

them to retrieve any old textbooks that might be in use within 

their respective geographic areas and to replace them with new. 

The problem with that, of course, is the new still have problems. 

But this is to just show you that they are not deaf to the issue of 

this stuff going worldwide. And one of the things we are trying to 

do is just to impart a sense of ownership on all of that. And I think 

they are stepping up to the plate. 

52

Mr. KEATING. Well, 9 years, they might be not be deaf but they 

are slow of hearing I would say in a sense. 

Mr. JOHNSTON. It is glacial. 

Mr. KEATING. Certainly. 

And one of the concerns, too, when we are looking at this overall 

problem and the expansion of these materials, I think a lot rests 

on the control that the home country has on its education curriculum. I think Ms. Shea mentioned Burkina Faso and Mali. 

And how much are countries like that reliant on these Saudi materials? Financially, what is the control? And this should seem to 

me an opportunity for the United States to try and deal with this 

directly. What opportunities could we have in those countries if 

they are reliant on money and resources for curriculum from Saudi 

Arabia, which we are learning today still contains material that is 

not, not appropriate, to say the least? 

So, tell us about what your views are of the impact of those 

home-controlled countries on the curriculum? 

Ms. SHEA. Yes, it is very determinant. I even spoke to an imam 

from a mosque in the United States about—who had Saudi textbooks in his library that he made available in the school. And he 

has since removed it he said. But he, he said that the reason why 

is that he didn’t—he was working with an immigrant community 

that was impoverished, and that they do not have a school, they 

do not have textbooks, they do not have religious textbooks. So they 

turn to the country in the world with the deep pockets for such 

things. So they——

Mr. KEATING. Could I interrupt to say that given the U.S. interest here, isn’t that a priority for our country perhaps? Is there an 

opportunity? Or would they not be receptive to the United States? 

Ms. SHEA. Well, it is going to be very tricky. The United States 

cannot be funding religious things like that. 

Mr. KEATING. How about through NGOs or funding through 

NGOs or anything like this? 

Ms. SHEA. Well, I think the solution, again, is to force the—or 

press the Saudis to clean up their textbooks because they are going 

to be online. And——

Mr. KEATING. Well, if they are, if the Saudis are so sincere about 

this, what are they doing currently to the current generation and 

the prior generations that have been so indoctrinated in this material? Have they done anything in a remedial nature to deal with 

this whatsoever? 

Mr. JOHNSTON. Well, one of the things they did in their 

deradicalization program is that they fired 3,000 imams. They retrained 20,000 others out of a total pool of 75,000 imams. So that 

is, that is taking care of it within their own borders. 

Beyond that, the question that you asked where they have paid 

for the mosques and all the rest of it, you find in most countries 

they have significant control over what is taking place in the 

schools. 

Again, I would just point out there is an important caveat here. 

That may not be the Government of Saudi Arabia very easily it 

seems. You know, peel back the onion, it is very difficult to follow. 

Mr. KEATING. If I could——

Mr. JOHNSTON. But, but a more——

53

Mr. KEATING [continuing]. Just because my time is about to expire, if I could just—then you can have your chance with the committee to address that, a little bit of an expansion here. 

Congressman Wolf mentioned some of the things directly he 

thought. He gave specifics about what the U.S. could do. Just in 

a very short summary, if any of you have specific, specific ideas I 

would like to hear them. 

Mr. WEINBERG. So on the topic of exportation that we were just 

discussing, one thing that has always plagued this issue, and this 

was a challenge for that New York Times investigation that the 

chairman was discussing, I spoke with some of the reporters who 

were involved in that and related efforts at the Times, and one of 

the challenges when it comes to studying this exportation issue is 

there is often only anecdotal data or it is, you know, very, very 

vague and impressionistic. 

So, one of the things that the U.S. Government can do to really 

play an important role here is to use all the assets of the U.S. Government on this, and in particular, the intelligence community. The 

easiest thing, or the most important thing that can be done in 

terms of informing this debate would simply be a directive from 

Congress to the intelligence community to monitor the exportation 

of incitement from Saudi Arabia, including but not limited to textbooks, and to direct them to report on this. 

Additionally, Congress can call for rebooting the U.S.-Saudi strategic dialogue with a track to include issues related to incitement. 

And that rebooting, in a general sense, is something that the new 

crown prince of Saudi Arabia is reported to support. 

And then, additionally, Congress can publicly and privately raise 

this issue, as well as urging the President to do so, and to issue 

a formal directive to U.S. agencies and cabinet members to do so 

as well. 

Mr. KEATING. Thank you, Mr. Weinberg. In respect to my other 

committee members, if you can do that in writing——

Mr. JOHNSTON. Do you want any more ideas? 

Mr. KEATING [continuing]. I think that would be helpful. 

We might, but I have to be respectful of the other committee 

members, unless we have a second round. But anything like that 

I think the committee would appreciate in writing. 

And, also, you know the committee is aware perhaps that there 

is classified material along the lines that Dr. Weinberg suggested 

that they may want to review, something that I think the committee might be interested in doing. 

And I yield back, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. POE. I thank the gentleman. 

The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania, Mr. 

Perry. 

Mr. PERRY. Thanks, Mr. Chairman. Thanks to the panel here. 

Mr. Weinberg, you mentioned a report in your testimony, or 

maybe in questions, I can’t remember, but what is the report going 

to do? What is it going to do to Saudi Arabia and what is it—said 

report, so to speak, what would it do to the United States? 

Mr. WEINBERG. So, one of the challenges of this issue to date is 

something that Ms. Shea addresses in her written testimony, which 

is the tendency of the State Department, because its priority is 

54

maintaining constructive relations with Saudi Arabia and advancing a range of other issues in the bilateral relationship such that 

they usually don’t want to rock the boat, that a long-term strategic 

priority for the United States like textbooks doesn’t get raised in 

the immediate term when it needs to get raised, and it gets kicked 

down the road indefinitely. 

So as a result, State Department language on this issue every 

year in their International Religious Freedom Report, in their 

Human Rights Report, as well as in their country reports on terrorism such as the one that came out today, basically have a 

throw-away line or two about some incitement still remaining, 

without providing any specific examples typically, or at least without providing direct quotations. And so, and well——

Mr. PERRY. Is this not like widely known? Like, doesn’t the whole 

world, like, we all know this; right? Everybody knows, everybody 

in the room knows this. With all due respect, I just, look, the report 

might be nice but I don’t, I don’t see it moving the ball quite honestly. 

Mr. WEINBERG. Yes. 

Mr. PERRY. I mean, maybe in the panoply of everything you are 

going to do that, you have to add that. 

Mr. WEINBERG. If I could play devil’s advocate for a moment. So, 

part of the challenge with this issue has been the absence of current data when people actually have their conversations with Saudi 

officials. 

So, for example, the important study that Mr. Johnston’s institute did, its results were not raised with Saudi officials by them 

or by the U.S. Government to the best of our knowledge——

Mr. PERRY. But that is the, that is——

Mr. WEINBERG [continuing]. Until the books were already obsolete. 

Mr. PERRY. That is an issue of will, not of information. I mean, 

I have got textbook experts right in front—excerpts right in front 

of me here, so. 

Mr. WEINBERG. But the reason those excerpts were done, until 

May most of those excerpts were not actually in the public sphere 

because nobody had gotten access to the books and sat down and 

read them and transcribed them. 

Mr. PERRY. You are telling me that we legitimately——

Mr. WEINBERG. So for several years we didn’t know. 

Mr. PERRY. And I am not trying to be bellicose or difficult——

Mr. WEINBERG. Yeah. 

Mr. PERRY [continuing]. But you are telling me we had no physical evidence like this——

Mr. WEINBERG. Right. 

Mr. PERRY [continuing]. Until May 2017? 

Mr. WEINBERG. For this academic year, yes. 

Mr. PERRY. Oh, for this academic year. But we have for every 

other academic year back to 1970, 1980 or something. 

Mr. WEINBERG. But just, just like that tweet from the Saudi Embassy that we were discussing, the Saudi Government every year 

claims that this has, this has been seriously worked over and so 

the stuff that people are concerned about is old news. And so it is 

important for the United States Government——

55

Mr. PERRY. Well, of course there is propaganda. I mean, you can 

listen to Russia T.V. and Al Jazeera as well if you want to believe 

all that stuff. But I mean, I hope that Americans are a little brighter than that. 

Let me ask anybody this: Regarding incitement, because I just 

don’t feel like we ever go far enough, and I am not sure even the 

suggestions I have heard go far enough to suit me—that is just 

me—but does anybody know whether incitement, you know, when 

you talk about the penalty for the adulterer who has previously 

consummated a marriage is stoning to death, that is in the book; 

or apostasy, you know, the penalty for apostasy is killing, that is, 

you know, that is in the textbook; you know, I don’t know if this 

is incitement in the classic example or case. And I don’t know if 

it meets the Brandenburg test. 

Does anybody know if it does? Have we ever tried to? I mean, 

nobody wants to get into the suppression of free speech, but at 

some point free speech crosses over the line into incitement. Now, 

I guess the test is intended, likely, and imminent, and which the 

courts at some point decided what imminent was. Does anybody 

know whether that has ever been challenged? Have we ever taken 

a shot at it? Does the government have an interest? 

Okay. Yes, ma’am. 

Ms. SHEA. Well, I think, I think we have done that in the case 

of Americans who have posted such death threats against, like for 

example, the South Park cartoonist who did an irreverent cartoon 

of——

Mr. PERRY. But I am talking about the textbooks. Is this, is 

this,——

Ms. SHEA. But no, I mean I don’t see how that——

Mr. PERRY [continuing]. Is this considered incitement? 

Ms. SHEA. I don’t see how that could be, I don’t see how there 

is—there is diplomatic immunity—I don’t see how the Saudi textbook. 

Mr. PERRY. The textbook has diplomatic immunity? 

Ms. SHEA. Well, they are published by the Government of Saudi 

Arabia who would be held responsible. The Ministry of Education 

of Saudi Arabia is the, the printer. And the Government of Saudi 

Arabia is the sponsor. 

Mr. PERRY. So if the Government of Saudi Arabia publishes information that says that every, every citizen that has an affiliation 

with Saudi Arabia living in the United States should kill the next 

American they see, there is nothing we can do about that? Like we 

can’t, we can’t have that removed from the shelf because it is the 

Government of Saudi Arabia? 

Ms. SHEA. Well, that is the—I mean, we have pressed people who 

actually carried out the crime. But it, you know——

Mr. PERRY. But incitement, there have been prosecutions for incitement in advance of the crime based on incitement; right? The 

question is has, to anybody’s knowledge has anybody in the United 

States on behalf of the United States pursued that avenue regarding the textbooks and the passages therein as incitement? 

Ms. SHEA. Some of the 9/11 victims’ families may have been 

suing Saudi Arabia for reparations. But, but I don’t know what the 

theory of their case was, whether it was the incitement. 

56

Mr. PERRY. It seems like maybe either the answer is no or unknown. So maybe that is a place we can go into further. 

Mr. Chairman, I yield back. 

Mr. POE. I thank the gentleman from Pennsylvania. 

The Chair will have one more round of 2 minutes per member. 

I will yield my time initially to the ranking member Mr. Keating 

from Massachusetts for his questions. 

Mr. KEATING. Mr. Weinberg, you said one of the things that we 

can all do is speak up more and be consistent in doing it at every 

level. Taking into consideration what Congressman Wolf said, you 

know, there are generations of leaders before this, both sides of the 

aisle, that haven’t been aggressive enough, as he testified. 

However, President Trump was just in Saudi Arabia. President 

Trump was talking about extremism and the need to band together 

to do it. Yet there is no report that he brought this issue up in the 

course of that. 

What is the danger in not bringing this up, particularly at that 

level, particularly under that thing? 

Mr. WEINBERG. Yes. So this is, this is, this is the challenge is 

that the President almost never raises the issue. This was the case 

with President George W. Bush, this was the case with President 

Obama. This was the—appears to be the case with President 

Trump. Which is part of why the strategic dialogue was inaugurated between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia under the Bush administration so that senior officials could still raise priority concerns 

when it didn’t rise to a level of the Commander-in-Chief as their 

number one, or two, or three priority but still needed to be addressed because of U.S. interests. 

But that having been said, that is not an excuse for the President not to address it. It is not an excuse for the President not to 

direct cabinet members to do so as well. 

President Trump, when he participated in the inauguration of a 

global center for combating extremist ideology in Saudi, while he 

was in Saudi Arabia—which by the way was in the works for 2 

years and then they repackaged it to be a deliverable during this 

summit—he predicted it would make history. 

Reflecting on his visit to the Kingdom several weeks later, he 

urged all nations to stop teaching people to kill other people, stop 

filling their minds with hate and intolerance. And he said he would 

not name other countries besides Qatar. 

Now, I actually have an article draft forthcoming which explains 

why Qatar’s record on counterterrorism issues is actually worse 

than all of its other neighbors in the Gulf monarchies. But that 

having been said, the books need to be addressed directly, with 

knowledge, on a regular basis with current information about the 

current school year, or else it is not going to have any impact with 

the Saudi Government. Otherwise, the Saudi Government is going 

to keep doing what it is doing, which is reprinting these books year 

after year with incitement, and indoctrinating, you know, at least 

several more years of students with this problematic information. 

Mr. JOHNSTON. May I correct the record on something? This report was in fact—I briefed the Saudis in Riyadh on this report. It 

was sent over through diplomatic channels as well. And out of that 

came one ray of hope. 

57

We worked for several years on one of the recommendations 

which was to bring Saudi educators together with American educators to deal with the problem of bias and intolerance in national 

education systems. Out of this came a series of recommendations 

to their government, and our own, but to their government which 

I delivered to their Minister of Education. 

One of the things I feel is so important, and it hasn’t been mentioned here, but far more important than these textbooks, far more 

important is the teacher training. And we have opportunities now 

to be able to go over there and in the context of this national plan 

for educational reform, which was crafted mostly by McKinsey & 

Company, it is a dynamite plan, and if they fully implement it it 

will actually leapfrog some of our own habits. But I think there the 

door is open that we could go and help them implement this and 

particularly get at the teacher training, which is, as I say, far more 

important. 

Mr. KEATING. I yield back. 

Mr. POE. I thank the gentleman. 

The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Pennsylvania, Mr. 

Perry. 

Mr. PERRY. Thanks, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. Johnston, Dr. Johnston, I understand one of the problems for 

the United States is how the actions, the statements versus actions 

coming from Saudi Arabia are determined. And I indeed asked the 

Secretary about the metrics to determine efficacy of the Saudi’s actions and how we are measuring their progress. 

I will tell you now—well, the man’s been on the job for 4 or 5 

months, right, so we have to give him some leeway—but I didn’t 

get a lot of confidence that anything meaningful was there. And I 

actually wonder, some of the officials who may be determining 

whether what the efficacy is, literally that might be, I hate to say 

it, but so to speak working for the other side. 

So, in your work with the, the ICRD how would you characterize 

the metrics we use and who is determining? Is it, it is appropriate 

or is that problematic that—that needs to be addressed? And where 

is that addressed? 

Mr. JOHNSTON. No, I, I think one of the metrics is the baseline 

that we established here back in 2011. To be sure, we haven’t 

looked at those books in 5 years. But the U.S. Commission on 

International Religious Freedom did several years ago. We provided them the baseline. 

They determined that further reform was taking place. And in 

this year’s annual report they even talk about a visit there in February of this year where they determined that more reform was 

taking place. So this is a metric. 

We are going to be looking very hard at it starting in another 

month on the high school grades. That is where most of the onerous content exists. 

And one of the other things in terms about why this is so slow 

is they took a full year to field test their revisions to the 10th 

grade, which was, as far as we were concerned, was the one grade 

where it was the worst. And they did those revisions. I don’t know 

what has come of that. We will find out. But they did take a full 

year to test it. 

58

And the other thing we have to remember is that a lot of this 

is getting in on religious grounds. And some of that is pretty——

Mr. PERRY. But I think they use that. And good for them, I suppose. 

Mr. JOHNSTON. Sometimes yes. Yes. 

Mr. PERRY. But it is an Achilles heel for the United States. And 

we can’t allow that to be used against us, especially for what many 

consider to be seditious activity. 

And I also would question what progress means or what, you 

know, reforms are taking place at what level. I mean, reform, you 

know, they might change one word in that sentence and of course 

they reformed the sentence, I guess in this classic, very strict constructionist sense. But from the greater sense and the spirit of it, 

it is not getting the job done and it is not getting done quickly 

enough for us. 

And what they do in their country, quite honestly and quite 

frankly from my opinion, that is their business, but what they do 

in our country is our business. 

Mr. JOHNSTON. Yes. No, your points are very valid. 

One thing I would say is in addition to eliminating negative content, one of the things we have found, and we just took a quick 

glance, there is the addition of very positive content that sort of 

works in the other direction. 

I don’t know to what extent they are constrained by this needing 

to keep their religious establishment on board, because that is 

where they get their, their authority from is from the religious establishment. That is part of the package. So it is a difficult walk 

that they are making. The people that I have worked with I am 

1,000 percent convinced are very sincere. And, in fact, one of 

them——

Mr. PERRY. With the chairman’s indulgence, I agree, in their 

country it is inexorably linked since they came to power, the House 

of Saud. And I get all that and why the need to keep, to do all the 

things they need to do. I don’t agree with it but I understand it. 

However, in this country none of it is appropriate, none of it is 

appropriate and we should take action. 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Mr. POE. I thank the gentleman. 

Congressman Wolf, I have a question for you first and then I will 

let you make a comment because I know you want to keep, you 

want to talk about the last question. 

ISIS used Saudi Arabian textbooks up until 2015. That was 2 

years ago. And now they use their own textbooks. Would you like 

to comment on where ISIS gets—got their textbooks to begin with? 

Mr. WOLF. Well, you are right. In the New York Times piece they 

say, ‘‘In a huge embarrassment to the Saudi authorities, the Islamic State adopted official Saudi textbooks for its schools until the 

extremist group could publish its own textbooks in 2015.’’

Secondly, when I was in 2 years ago we went up into the 

Nineveh Plains. We went into meetings with all the different people. At every meeting I said, Tell me, who is helping the Saudis—

rather, who is helping ISIS? And every meeting, every meeting two 

came up, some three, but two came up: The Saudis, not always the 

Saudi Government but Saudi individuals, and he sort of alluded to 

59

the renegade guy; secondly, Qatar. They were aiding and abetting 

ISIS. And there was another country, Turkey, who was for the 

longest period of time was allowing people, they go to Istanbul, 

they call a telephone number, they go south and they join. 

They may have changed. But don’t forget, 15 of the 19 hijackers 

were from Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden was from Saudi Arabia. The 

number of people from my area who were killed in the attack on 

the Pentagon, the guys who did it, Saudi Arabia. 

And so I think what this committee has done today with the 

hearing, the textbooks are important, but all these issues, and you 

push and you push and you push. And I urge you to meet with the 

new ambassador, and I urge you to sit down with him or her, whoever it is, and pressure them, and the new religious freedom ambassador. I think you may have started something here. 

And the real danger is you even recall last year—I read the 28 

pages—you remember last year the issue came up, the Saudis 

hired law firms and PR firms in this town to do everything. Fortunately the Congress, to its good credit, passed it and was not influenced. But you know what is going on, so by this hearing you can 

cover all the textbooks are important but terrorism is important. 

All these things are very, very important. And, hopefully, this can 

be the genesis if you guys, men and women, continue to really 

make a difference and stop what Saudi Arabia has been doing for 

a long period of time. 

Mr. POE. Thank you. And the ranking member and I will request 

a meeting with the Ambassador and we will go from there. Maybe 

have a hearing in the future on Qatar, have all of you back. 

And I want to have one last question for all four of you. Since 

we are talking about textbooks and schools, how would you rank 

the—at this time—the goal of changing the textbooks so that they 

don’t preach hate, intolerance, and violence? And it is real simple, 

it is not pass or fail, it is A, B, C, D, or F. 

You understand the question, Ms. Shea? How would you rank 

what Saudi Arabia is doing right now? 

Ms. SHEA. F. 

Mr. POE. All right. Dr. Weinberg? 

Mr. WEINBERG. F with credit for effort. 

Mr. POE. F with credit for effort. Okay. 

Congressman Wolf? 

Mr. WOLF. F plus instead of F. 

Mr. POE. Dr. Johnston? 

Mr. JOHNSTON. I would give it a D. 

And one of the things I would point out is that as long as we are, 

you know, buying 150 billion—selling $150 billion worth of arms to 

the Saudis, they are not going to pay a whole lot of attention to 

western criticism. When you couple that reality with the line they 

are walking with the religious establishment, I think that they are 

making as much progress as one could hope for at this point in 

time. 

They need to do a lot better, but there is, there is sincere desire 

to do better on their part, the government’s part. I don’t know 

about the religious. 

Mr. POE. And without belaboring the point, if we take Ms. Shea’s 

recommendation, we tie defense contracts to Saudi Arabia with the 

60

repairing of their textbooks, that may get somebody’s attention. I 

don’t know. We will see. 

Anyway, I want to thank all of you for being here. I want to 

thank all of the people in the audience for being here as well. 

And this subcommittee is adjourned. 

[Whereupon, at 3:56 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.] 

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SUBCOMMITTEE HEARING NOTICE 

COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

WASHINGTON. DC 20515-6128 

Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade 

Ted Poe (R-TX), Chairman 

TO: MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

You are respectfully requested to attend an OPEN hearing of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, to be held 

jointly by the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade in Room 2200 of the Rayburn House Otllce 

Building (and available live on the CommiUee website at h~tp:/t.\\'\Hv.ForeignAJra1rs.hmlse.Qo·v): 

DATE: 

TIME: 

SUBJECT: 

WITNESSES: 

Wednesday. Julv 19.2017 

2:15p.m. 

Saudi Arabia's Troubling Educational Curriculum 

Ms. Nina Shea 

Director 

Center for Religious Freedom 

Hudson Institute 

David A W cinbcrg. Ph.D. 

Senior Fellow 

Foundation for Defense of Democracies 

The Honorable Frank Wolf 

Distinguished Senior Fellow 

21 sr Century Wilberforce lniliali\e 

(Former [1.,\'. Representative) 

Douglas Johnston, Ph.D. 

President Emerilus 

International Center for Religion and Diplomacy 

By Direction of the Chairman 

plf'<ISe wJ/ 202'225-5021 <II 

nvmlohJlm' of Commdtee 
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COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS 

MINUTES OF SUBCOJvltvlfTTEE ON _____ r._e_n_·arlsm, Nonwolifemtion, aud'rtolle HEARING 

Day Wetlnestlay Date. ____ 7119/17 __ Room. ___ 2=c2=-0cc0 __ _ 

Starting Time --~2~:4"'5~ __ Emling Time _ _,J~:~5~6 __ 

Recesses ( __ to __ ) L_to __ ) L_to __ )( __ to __ ) L_lo __ )L_to __ ) 

Cfwiruum Ted P(}e. 

Check all of tile jo/lowiag I !rut apply: 

Open Session I1J 

Executive i£!.9scd) Session 0 

Televised U 

TITLE OF HEARING: 

Electronically Record!&{ taped) 11J 

Stenographic Record LLI 

"Scmili Ambirt's Trou!J/iug Educalioual Cil'l'iculum" 

SUBCOMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT: 

Reps. Poe, Keating, Wilson, Tittts, Cook, Torres, Peny, Schneiile1; Ze/diu .. Mast, Gurrett 

NON-SUBCOMMITTEE-MEMBERS PRESENT: (Mark with an* if/hey are not members qffidl committee) 

HEARING WITNESSES: Same as meeting notice attacbed? Yes [ZJ NoD 

ar "no", please list below and include Iitle, agmcy, department, or organiza@ll.) 

STATEMENTS FOR THE RECORD: (List any slatemeJit., submilledfor the record) 

IFR submitted b)' Mt: Wolf 

IFR submitted by Mr. IVeiuberg 

TIME SCHEDULED TO RECONVENE ___ _ 

or 

TIMEADJOURNED __ 3_:_56 ___ 
64

MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD BY DAVID A. WEINBERG, PH.D., SENIOR

FELLOW, FOUNDATION FOR DEFENSE OF DEMOCRACIES


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Note: All pages of this material are not reprinted here but may be found in its entirety at http://docs.house.gov/Committee/Calendar/ByEvent.aspx?EventID=106289

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MATERIAL SUBMITTED FOR THE RECORD BY THE HONORABLE FRANK WOLF, DISTINGUISHED SENIOR FELLOW, 21ST CENTURY WILBERFORCE INITIATIVE (FORMER U.S. 

REPRESENTATIVE)


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7/17/2017 Saudi Arabia. USCIRF Confirms Materiallnc1ting Violence, Intolerance Remains in Textbooks Used at Saudi Government's Islamic Saudi Acade ... 

·cnaissai<Ce." (';Aspects of Muslirr Poiltie<!l and Cultural 

Other prob1ematk passages employ ambiguous language, and the textbook aurhors do nochitg to cl:arity rhE> meaning. 

anrl who claim infallibility 

Mvsiirns, :or whom the 

textbook autbors to put more context into some sectlons of the- textbooks to avoid any pcrceotiotl tnat th<>y 

of the ''Re~por:d tc 

Although this Koran it passage does not It: itself invoke che terrr jihad, th0 Saud~ textbook authors write: 

ills of the JIAuslim world that is offered in the ISA tt:xtbook~-thzt it was strong when united 

and a -;ingle: creed it has grown WE'ak b!;tausc cf foreig.0 

arguments used by extremists w justify act~ of terror. 

In the Comrnisshn"s view, t:hese troubling passages should bl? 

o~der to bri~g t'"le books. at this S;;udi governmem school into 

tong-term Commission Com:em over Content of SauCi Government Texttmoks 

l.an:guage lsl;:~mic ~tud;!•S r:urricvlum 1'fs based on In th12 

( omrwssicn' s report, the Saudi government has also posted copirs of the offiCial 2.007-2008 )al!di t('Xrbooks on the 

http://www.uscirf.gov/news-room/press-refeases/saudi-arabia-uscirf-confillTis-material-incitlng-vioferice-intolerance-remalns 215 
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7/17/2017 Saudi Arabia: USCIRF Confirms Material Inciting Violence, Intolerance Remains in Textbooks Used at Saudi Government's Islamic Saudi Acade ... 

. 'VierT'bers of Congress, ~orne of whorn hdtl 

H.C.on.H.es. 267, 

lmolem'i'.ntmion 

Ct1Mle~ St·humer 

dosing rhe rSA 

State:.. 

The Revisions 

Bilateral and lnt~rnational Ccmmitments the Saudi Gcvemrnent 

http:flwww.uscirf.gov/news-room/press-releases/saudi-arabia-uscirt-conflrms-material-inciting-violence-intolerance-remains 315 
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7/17/2017 Saudi Arabia. USCIRF Confirms Material Inciting Violence, Intolerance tzemains in Textbooks Used at Saudi Govemmenfs Islamic Saudi Acade ... 

APPEND!Xls!amk Saud( A-cademy Arahic-l-anguage Textbooks Review~d by the Commission 

~1anotheim1 (Tawhid}, Grade, Administrative, Social, and Tr.thnic;o! Scwnces ffack 

i\1onarheism (1owbid), Twelfth G~ade, Shari a and Arabic Sciences frdck 

!nterpmtrJtiorJ (Ta{;ir), Twelfth Grade, and Arao;c Sciences Trnck 

interpretation (7af>'ir), Twelfth G~ade, Administrative, Social, l'i:atural, andTecl;nk;,l Sciences Track 

liodith and Jsl!:rnic Cu!fure, Twelfth Grade, Administrative, So,ial, Natural, anc! Technical Sciern:e~ Trzck 

Ha:Jith ond rsiomrc C<J!h .. re, Twelfth Sh<1na and Arabic Science~ Track 

)ur!sorudeno: (tiqh), l we!fth Srade, NdtLJn! 

Juris,r:rudenre {Fiqk), Twe1hh Grnde, Shari? dnd Arabic Sciences 1 r;::rk 

The History of the Kingdom afSaud1 Arabia, Tw~lfth Grade, Natural SCiences rrack 

Soc::io!ogy, Twelfth Grilde, Shad3 and J\rabir Sriences Trnck 

Studies (rom t/K: 1

s!amir: War/a, TwE'Ifth Grade, Administrative, Soda!, N.amri'l!, and Techr.ie<;l Sciences 1r<Jtk 

1-tarl!'h, Si'venth Grade 

Uadith, 

)uri>prudence (Fiqh), Nimh Gradt= 

iurispruaence (Ftqh), Ti?nth Grade 

Aspects of Mvslim ?olitJcal and Cultural H1story, Elev?nth Gr:tde, Administrat:vc .and Soddl Tracit, Sharia and Arabi'C Track 

History of tf>e Prophets, rhe P:uf-!,et"~ Biography, and the Spread ofisicm, 'f<'nth Grade 

r~gs: 

http:l/www.uscirf,gov/news-room/press-releases/saudi-arabia-uscirt-confirms~material-inciting-violence-intolerance-remalnS 4/5