A Toronto Islamic school has apologized to the Jewish community after an investigation confirmed that it encourages students to hate Jews and prepare to combat them.
Friends of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies in Toronto had submitted a complaint that the curriculum for the East End Madrassah, a Muslim Sunday school conducted on public school grounds, included courses on preparing for jihad, and made inflammatory references to Jews.
According to a report in the Canadian daily National Post, the East End Madrassah Level 8 curriculum encouraged boys to engage in sports activities in order to care for their bodies, as well as “so that you may physically be ready for jihad whenever the time comes for it,” adding that “no doubt any wise, humanitarian person accepts such a combat and admires it [jihad] because there is no other way to achieve the sacred ends of the Prophets.”
The curriculum also villainized the Jews as “crafty” and “treacherous” enemies of founder of Islam, Mohammed. “End of Jewish Plots and Treacheries: Ever since the Prophet’s entry into Madina, the treacherous Jews had vehemently opposed him and his Islamic call …The crafty Jews entered into an alliance with the polytheist Quraish in a bid to stamp out Islam. They conspired to kill Prophet Muhammad despite the fact that he was lenient towards them and had treated them kindly, hoping to convince them of Islam’s truth. But eventually as Jewish plots and aggressions increased, he had no choice other than to take up arms against them, in order to protect Islam and the Muslims. At the battle of Khaiber … the Prophet defeated them ending Jewish intrigues and conspiracies in Arabia.”
The National Post made the Level 8 curriculum available for download on their website. After the complaint was issued, the Madrassah removed the curriculum from their website.
On Monday, the school issued a statement to “unreservedly apologizeto the local Jewish community for the unintentional offense,” and said the educational materials would be reviewed. In a press release posted on the school’s website, it stated that its “curriculum is not intended to promote hatred towards any individual or group of people, rather the children are taught to respect and value other faiths, beliefs and to uphold Canada’s basic values of decency and tolerance,” and said the offensive materials “should never have been a part of our curriculum.”
Canada’s Criminal Code outlaws the public and willful promotion of hatred against any identifiable group.