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BY OSMAN MOHAMUD
Mogadishu — Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa (ASWJ) has banned schools in Somalia's central regions from using a book entitled "Islamic Education", which contains chapters that justify the use of suicide bombers and promote the notion of apostasy.
ASWJ had implemented a similar ban on schools in the regions under its control five years ago and renewed it November 18th after it was discovered that various schools started using the book in question, ASWJ's Executive Committee Deputy Chairman Ahmed Abdullahi Mohamud told Sabahi.
ASWJ appointed a committee to look into the book's content and ordered schools to stop using it after they found text that used language that justified suicide bombing, Mohamud said.
The ban has affected more than 50 schools in the districts of Dhusamareb, Adado, Guriel, Harardhere, Hobyo and several other areas in central Somalia, he said.
"[The book] is from an educational curriculum that is said to have been prepared for all of Somalia by the Ministry of Development and Social Affairs," Mohamud said. "These books were brought to the regions controlled by Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa to be taught in elementary, middle and high schools."
Mohamud said ASWJ had not reported its findings to the federal government, but he said the government was aware of the issue "from the media or through other means".
He expressed concern that the book's extreme ideology has been spread to most of the provinces in Somalia.
"I would like to call on the top leaders of the government to pay attention to this matter and not trivialise it because it is incomprehensible to teach two million children that suicide bombing is a [religious] duty," he said.
However, schools contacted by Sabahi in the Benadir region said they were not using the book in question.
For his part, Mohamed Abdulkadir Nur, head of the education department at the Ministry of Development and Social Affairs, said the allegations against the government by ASWJ were baseless.
"So far there have been no books based on a new Somali education curriculum that [the department of education] has issued or delivered anywhere in Somalia. The accusations from ASWJ are unfounded," Nur told Sabahi.
Books used in schools around the country are chosen by various school associations that work independently, he said.
Any issues concerning education should be reported directly to the department of education, Nur added, noting that his office found out about the allegations through the media.
Combating al-Shabaab's distorted ideology:
Residents of the districts where the books were banned welcomed ASWJ's decision, but remain confused about who is supplying the book.
Farah Jama, a store owner in Dhusamareb, said he is not clear on who exactly provided the books but welcomed the fact that the extreme ideology espoused in the book is being rejected by Somalis.
"It is something to be happy about that books talking about terrorism are prohibited in schools," he said. "The important thing is that the public [continue] to work together to fight these types of dangers," he said, urging all communities in Somalia to monitor schoolbooks and reject anything that contains ideology that supports terrorism.
Asha Samatar, a 42-year-old mother of eight and Dhusamareb resident, said she was surprised when she heard that al-Shabaab's distorted ideology was incorporated into local school curriculums.
"I am happy that Ahlu Sunna wal Jamaa clerics, who have a deep understanding of the religion, are prohibiting our children from being taught al-Shabaab's wrong ideology about suicide bombing," she told Sabahi. "All praise is due to God for guiding our clerics to prevent such dangers."
"I have no idea what to do," said Sadia Mohamed, a 35-year-old mother of four who lives in Guriel district. "I would like to educate my children, but I was deeply shocked when I heard that the new curriculum [allegedly] prepared by the government includes lessons instructing children that suicide bombing is an obligation. Thank God they have banned [the book] from the schools."
"A child is not born believing in suicide bombing and viewing other Muslims as infidels," she told Sabahi. "This is an idea that is indoctrinated and it will cause many societal problems if it is not combated."
Source: Sabahionline.com
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