Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Protest at Islamic Saudi Academy in Virginia demanding investigation into violent teachings
Protest at Islamic Saudi Academy in Virginia demanding investigation into violent teachings
June 17, 2008
Traditional Values Groups Organizes Protest At Virginia's Islamic Saudi Academy
June 17, 2008 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org – A Fairfax, Virginia school, the Islamic Saudi Academy [ISA] which is operating as a religious indoctrination center - a madrassah - was today the scene of a spirited demonstration by a coalition of traditional values groups.
The protest was held to call attention to the nature of the school's educational methodology, its ties to Saudi Wahhabists and its use of bigoted teaching materials.
A federal commission recently reported the academy uses textbooks which advocate violence against and intolerance of non-Muslims and the U.S. Justice Department has been asked to investigate activities at the academy as well as the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors' role in leasing the county-owned building to the Saudi Embassy in Washington.
The ISA has been at the center of controversy for many years. A 2007 United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) report recommended to the State Department to call for the closure of the school.
Despite these concerns, during the May 19 Fairfax County Board of Supervisors hearing, County Supervisors dismissed such concerns as slanderous, bigoted, and unfounded. During the proceedings of the hearing, Gerald Connolly, Fairfax County Chairman and Democratic Candidate for the 11th Congressional District, actually apologized to the school's General Director, Mr. Al-Shabnan for what he deemed slanderous accusations that impugned the integrity of the Islamic Saudi Academy.
Al-Shabnan was arrested last week and charged with Obstruction of Justice without Force (VA Code 18.2-460) in connecting with the Academy's failure to deal with child abuse at the institution.
The US Treasury Department considers Saudi Arabia as one of the leading financiers of terrorism, and combined with the USCIRF report which identifies Saudi Arabia's education as filled with incitements to murder as a religious freedom [the school's website directly links to the Saudi Ministry of Education] it stands to reason that the Islamic Saudi Academy has no place in American education.
http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=saudiid=61708%2Ehtm
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