Updated 09.02.08
Pop quiz: Murder is permissible if the victim is:
(a) An apostate
(b) An adulteress
(c) A polytheist
(d) All of the above
If you answered (d), then you are either a hardened Islamist
hunkered down for a last stand in Mosul or a twelfth-grade student
at the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA) in Alexandria, Virginia. While
the above quiz is fictional, it reflects the actual teachings of
some of the textbooks used at the ISA.
As a result of the violent exhortations contained in ISA
textbooks, Fairfax County has appealed directly to the U.S.
Department of State for assistance in determining whether ISA's
curriculum is "offensive to the interests of the United States."[1] So
far, the State Department has refused to intervene, claiming it
lacks jurisdiction.[2]
Under the Foreign Missions Act (FMA), the State Department has
an obligation to review the ISA's textbooks and determine
whether such texts contain violent teachings which would run
"contrary to protection of the interests of the United States."[3]
A Violent Curriculum
In 2007, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
(USCIRF)-the independent, bipartisan federal agency mandated to
recommend policies promoting religious freedom in U.S. foreign
policy-launched an investigation into language contained in
official Saudi textbooks used at the ISA. Although Saudi officials
eventually provided the State Department with copies of ISA
textbooks, the State Department has so far refused to issue a
statement on the content of the materials, let alone make the texts
public.[4]
Nevertheless, USCIRF was able to independently obtain several
copies of ISA textbooks. The contents were troubling, as USCIRF's
June 11 report documented with the following two representative
examples:
- "In a twelfth-grade Tafsir ([Quranic] interpretation)
textbook, the authors state that it is permissible for a Muslim to
kill an apostate (a convert from Islam[to another religion]), an
adulterer, or someone who has murdered a believer intentionally:
'He (praised is He) prohibits killing the soul that God has
forbidden (to kill) unless for just cause…' Just cause is
defined as 'unbelief after belief, adultery, and killing an
inviolable believer intentionally.'"[5]
- "A twelfth-grade Tawhid (monotheism) textbook states
that '[m]ajor polytheism makes blood and wealth permissible,' which
in Islamic legal terms means that a Muslim can take the life and
property of someone believed to be guilty of this alleged
transgression with impunity."[6]
ISA officials charge that alarm over the contents of students'
textbooks is being fueled by mistranslation and
misinterpretation.[7] However, if the above-cited passages
contained non-violent nuances lost in translation, why don't the
ISA and the State Department publicize all Arabic language
textbooks currently in use at the ISA? Instead, neither
organization has complied with USCIRF's request for full public
disclosure.
USCIRF Recommendations
Noting that "significant concerns remain about whether what is
being taught at the ISA promotes religious intolerance and may
adversely affect the interests of the United States," USCIRF issued
several recommendations, including:[8]
If, at the conclusion of the 90-day period, [Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice] ha[s] failed to secure the release of the
textbooks, or receive texts whose pages are missing or ripped out,
then [Rice] should immediately commence action under the [FMA] on
the ground that non-diplomatic activities of the ISA cannot be
conducted by and through an embassy and because significant
concerns remain about whether what is being taught at the ISA
promotes religious intolerance and may adversely affect the
interests of the United States.[9]
The U.S. Congress has also taken action in support of USCIRF's
recommendations: Several U.S. senators sent a letter to Rice[10]
urging her to adopt many of USCIRF's recommendations, including the
need to take action under the FMA, and the House of Representatives
has introduced a resolution supporting USCIRF's findings.[11]
Request for Federal Intervention
Although initially opposed to USCIRF's proposed federal
intervention, Fairfax County is now seeking State Department
assistance in determining whether material contained in ISA
textbooks constitutes a violation of the school's lease. In a June
23 letter to Rice, Fairfax County chairman Gerry Connolly explained
that "as a local government entity, Fairfax County is not capable
of determining whether textbooks, written in Arabic, contain
language that promotes violence or religious intolerance, or is
otherwise offensive to the interests of the United States."[12]
Subsequently, citing directly from the FMA, Connolly formally
requested specific direction from the State Department, noting that
it is the secretary of state who "may require any foreign mission
to divest itself of, or forgo the use of, any real property
determined by the Secretary to be otherwise necessary to protect
the interests of the United States. 22 U.S.C.A. § 4305(b)
(2004)." Indeed, even the lease itself is "contingent to and
subject to the approval of the United States Department of
State."[13]
Yet, despite Fairfax Country's appeal, as well as repeated
requests from Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.), the State Department has
failed to pursue the case.
A Saudi Foreign Mission
A close examination of the ISA demonstrates that the school is
subject to the terms of the FMA. Precedential case law and
established rules of statutory interpretation mandate that the
secretary of state may declare that the ISA is a foreign mission of
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and, if operating against the interests
of the United States, may be closed. Although the secretary is not
obligated to make such a politically uncomfortable determination,
she retainsclear authority to do so. Previously, Secretary of State
George Shultz used the authority of the FMA to exercise
jurisdiction over the Palestine Information Organization,[14]
and Secretary of State Rice has similar authority. Indeed, the
authority of the secretary of state to apply to the FMA extends far
beyond traditional embassies and consulates to "entit[ies] in the
United States … [that are] substantially owned or
effectively controlled by … a foreign government."[15]
The evidence in favor of such a determination is
overwhelming:
- The Islamic Saudi Academy is the only school in the United
States that operates with the direct authority of the Royal Embassy
of Saudi Arabia;
- The ISA operates on two northern Virginia properties owned or
leased by the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, with property being
leased by "the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia d/b/a [doing business
as] the Islamic Saudi Academy";
- The ISA shares the Saudi embassy's IRS employer identification
number;
- Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the U.S. is the chairman of the
ISA's board of directors;
- ISA is funded by the government of Saudi Arabia; and
- ISA used the government of Saudi Arabia's curriculum, syllabus,
and materials for all classes taught in Arabic.[16]
Subsequently, based on the powers granted to the secretary of
state through the FMA, the State Department has jurisdiction to
regulate the ISA.
Having established the ISA's status as a foreign mission, under
the FMA the secretary retains the discretion to determine how to
engage the ISA:
The treatment to be accorded to a foreign mission in the United
States shall be determined by the Secretary after due consideration
of the benefits, privileges, and immunities provided to missions of
the United States in the country or territory represented by that
foreign mission, as well as matters relating to the protection
of the interests of the United States.[17]
The ISA's clear status as a foreign mission publishing and
distributing textbooks advocating violent attacks in direct
contravention to U.S. national security interests provides a clear
mandate for the State Department to respond proactively to Fairfax
County's request for assistance. Although there may be other
considerations that weigh in favor of inaction-such as potential
diplomatic retaliation or forced closure of American missions
overseas-the protection of Americans must remain the government's
paramount priority.
The State Department's assurance that it will "continue to work
with the Saudis on this issue"[18] is insufficient. The
problems should be corrected or the ISA should be closed down.
A Promise Is a Cloud; Fulfillment Is
Rain
Invoking the FMA as a means of holding the Saudi government
accountable represents the next logical step in a diplomatic
process begun by the State Department on July 19, 2006, when it
announced:
The Saudi Government is conducting a comprehensive revision of
textbooks and educational curricula to weed out disparaging remarks
towards religious groups, a process that will be completed in one
to two years.[19]
This public pledge was reinforced by assurances from
Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom John V.
Hanford III that the Saudi kingdom was committed to "halt[ing] the
dissemination of intolerant literature and extremist ideology
within Saudi Arabia and around the world."[20] A January 2008
letter from the State Department to Senator Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.)
confirmed that the process of revising Saudi textbooks was to be
completed by the start of the 2008-09 school year.[21]
Yet, the 2008-09 school year is about to begin, and the Saudis
have failed to remove all passages that incite intolerance and
violence from ISA textbooks.
Need for Immediate Action
Under the guise of providing private instruction, the ISA
indoctrinates its pupils, including many Americans, with the same
ideology of hatred and intolerance that fuels this nation's enemies
in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet as another school year is about to
begin, providing a fresh crop of impressionable young minds to the
ISA and its Saudi sponsors, the U.S. State Department continues to
do nothing.
Until the State Department displays a willingness to dispense
with diplomatic dhimmitude, the Saudi government will continue to
use its wealth and influence to export hateful and bigoted elements
of the Wahhabist ideology onto U.S. soil.
Therefore, in order to ensure that an intolerant, violent
ideology hostile to the United States is not allowed to establish a
beachhead in northern Virginia, the following steps must be
taken:
- Operating under the authority of the FMA, the State Department
should adhere to the recommendations contained in both the USCIRF's
October 19, 2007, missive regarding the ISA and House Concurrent
Resolution 262, including, but not limited to, closing the academy
if after 90 days the requested textbooks have not been received;
and
- The State Department should make public all texts received from
the ISA.
After all, how can our nation fight Islamist extremists abroad
if it appeases them or condones their ideas at home?
Ryan O'Donnell is Web Editor/Writer
and James Phillips is
Senior Research Fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs in the Douglas
and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies, a division of
the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International
Studies, at The Heritage Foundation.
The authors would like to thank Steve
Groves for his consultations regarding this paper.