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Islam Quote by Robert Spencer

“Although Saudi authorities promised after the September 11 attacks to revise textbooks that taught hatred against Jews and Christians, as late as 2006 Saudi texts still referred to Jews as “apes” and Christians as “swine.”27 And in April 2008 a British employment tribunal awarded 70,000 pounds…” quote by Robert Spencer
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““Although Saudi authorities promised after the September 11 attacks to revise textbooks that taught hatred against Jews and Christians, as late as 2006 Saudi texts still referred to Jews as “apes” and Christians as “swine.”27 And in April 2008 a British employment tribunal awarded 70,000 pounds ($115,000) to a teacher who had been fired from a Saudi-funded Islamic school for exposing that the school’s textbooks spoke of “the repugnant characteristics of the Jews” and asserted, “Those whom God has cursed and with whom he is angry, he has turned into monkeys and pigs. They worship Satan.”28 There is an endless parade of similar examples. In March 2004 Sheikh Ibrahim Mudayris, speaking on official Palestinian Authority television, railed against “the Jews today taking revenge for their grandfathers and ancestors, the sons of apes and pigs.”29 And during the swine flu scare in May 2009, Sheikh Ahmad ‘Ali ‘Othman, the superintendent of da’wa [Islamic proselytizing] affairs at the Egyptian Ministry of Religious Endowments, declared that “all pigs are descended from the Jews whom Allah transformed into apes, swine and worshippers of Satan, and must therefore be slaughtered.” Othman based his argument on Koran 5:60, one of the Koran’s notorious “apes and pigs” passages.30 In his televised sermon denouncing the Jews regardless of their actions in Israel or elsewhere, Muhammad Hussein Ya’qoub also invoked this theme: “As for you Jews—the curse of Allah upon you. The curse of Allah upon you, whose ancestors were apes and pigs. . . . Allah, we pray that you transform them again, and make the Muslims rejoice again in seeing them as apes and pigs. You pigs of the earth! You pigs of the earth! You kill the Muslims with that cold pig [blood] of yours.”31 Jews as apes and pigs: it’s in the Koran, holy book of the religion of peace.””

Robert Spencer

About This Quote

Source Report: Human Rights Watch, “Saudi Textbooks and Hate,” 2006

The passage documents ongoing anti‑Jewish and anti‑Christian slurs in Saudi‑funded educational and religious materials, despite promises of reform after 9/11.

In simple terms: Saudi texts still use dehumanizing language toward Jews and Christians.

Key Takeaway

Recognize and challenge hate speech in curricula.

Themes

religious intolerance education propaganda human rights

Mood

ou concerned

Type

political educational

When to use this quote

  • school curricula review
  • interfaith dialogue
  • policy advocacy
  • media monitoring

Key Concepts

dehumanization scriptural interpretation political rhetoric

Questions to Reflect On

  • How can international pressure effectively reform educational content?
  • What role do local scholars play in countering hate narratives?
A Different Perspective

Efforts to revise textbooks may be superficial without systemic change.

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