Terror In Saudi Schools
For as long as I can remember, I was bullied into being “a good Muslim.”
I am not renouncing my faith or anything, but I have to say that as early as the third grade, I was told stories of a “jinni” (demon) that wore a black veil and stalked those who did not (or forgot to) pray.
But what did it for me, what really scared me into praying regularly (or mechanically going through the motions of prayer, anyway) was the story of a giant snake that slithered into the graves of sinners and crushed their bones into dust. One Islamic studies teacher even swore that there were eye-witness accounts of this snake appearing in open graves out of thin air.
Ofcourse now that I am an adult, I have realized that none of these stories are true. I know now that religion is somewhat subjective, that it is sometimes manipulated to suit some people’s needs (political or otherwise.) I know that these teachers are not to blame, because this is what they were taught by their teachers, and so on.
But the thing is; I’m not quite sure what is to be gained from scaring 10 year olds to the point of insomnia. Perhaps this was someone’s idea of a joke? Or maybe a hundred years ago some sheikhs were sitting around thinking of ways to poison Islam with violent ideologies and pure lies, just because they are crazy evil-doers.
I have been told that children are scared into praying because nothing else will work, and because this is a sure-fire way to get them used to doing it.
At the age of 13, I started praying 5 times a day, everyday, regularly. Sometimes my heart wasn’t in it, but I did follow through with my prayers for five years.
At 18, the jig was up. I did a little bit of research and found that most of what I had been taught was complete bull shit.
At first I was shocked. And then I was agry and confused, and I was also convinced that when it came to my faith, I had been lied to about everything. Everything was a lie, and when it came to my faith, no-one deserved my trust anymore, as far as I was concerned.
A little dramatic, I admit, but still, I think how I felt and what I thought was not out of line. It is a miracle that I am not one of those depressed atheists who will end up killing herself. (Note, I do not in any way mean all atheists are depressed. On the contrary, some of them are delightful. Anyway.)
My point is, scaring me into Islam almost made me quit it.
There are many ways to make children want to pray (other than terrorizing or forcing them.) They can be told about the rewards that await those who pray in the afterlife, or how much of an accomplishment it is to even be a believer in anything in this day and age..
Faith is a beautiful thing. It is a shame to poison it with craziness and evil fanatacism. Afterall, Islam is a religion of peace.
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This sounds similar to the experience I had in an Islamic school I studied in for one semester. Needless to say, I changed school.
The way they taught Islam was disgusting.
Luckily I had parents who taught me about praying without instilling fear into me as a child.
When I was in school, love of God or God’s love for us was NEVER the topic of discussion. Hatred and fear was all I was ever taught by my Islam teachers which strongly accounts for my not being a practicing Muslim today. It was more important to tell a 2nd grader that her parents were going to hell, her Christian friends were going to hell (?), and she was going to hell because she didn’t cut her nails regularly enough (Shaytan will get under my nails, apparently), because she played with her Christian friends, and she couldn’t read the Arabic Quran well enough. I wish it was just one woman, but it wasn’t.
Of course there are other factors that contribute to my agnostic nature, but those preachers of hate certainly helped me feel excluded from their club.
Great article Sarah.
I got kicked out of my Islamic Studies class for voicing my opinion against stoning. I later began asking others about doubts and disagreements I had in the Qur’aan, and I got horrible, intolerant reactions. This experience kind of traumatized me, and made me distance myself as much as possible from Islam. For years I was this way, until I really began studying and reading about the faith.
I meet so many atheists who lost their faith because of this.
Kareem Amer also lost his faith because of the way it has been taught to him in Egypt’s most prominent religious institution (guilty of burning books and poetry claiming that it’s “un-Islamic” and thus impure.)
LOL! That says a lot about your personality. We are rebellious aren’t we? You don’t even want to know the number of times I got kicked out of my classes. Once I almost got into an actual physical fight with the Islamic teacher. He was an asshole. Apparently he doesn’t like getting called stupid Santa Claus.
And I don’t like retarded bearded donkeys telling me I will burn in hell for all eternity simply because I play guitar.
I think it’s the responsibility of eveyrone who goes through these things to be fighters. Freedom of speech and freedom of religion are not privileges, they are rights. We deserve them.
In Islam, the Qur’aan acknowledges these rights which have consequences in the afterlife. People refuse to understand this concept: In the words of our Prophet (saw) “I have my religion and you have yours.” Islam is all about good deeds, the violent consequences that it mentions is in reference to the afterlife and Judgment Day which is strictly between a person and God. No human has a right to impose these sets of beliefs or consequences onto any other human for it goes against our principles.
When we first got cable, the only music channel I had was MSM which featured a lot of hard rock French music. I later developed an addiction for this, and I started listening to a political rock group called “Noir Desir.” My family and some friends would say “what is this DEVIL TUNE?” and my mother would always associate this with devil worshippers and Western imperialism. So on her birthday, I got her a copy of their greatest hits album. She didn’t talk to me for like a month. Man, those were good times. Fortunately she learned how to accept this, and she herself began realizing the hypocrisy of people who preach this kind of shit.
Terrorizing children and putting them through emotional and psychological trauma should be banned in all school systems. This is not what Islam is all about.
Right on.
And Sarah, great topic. I can really relate to it.
Wow, it looks Islam is being taught to Muslim kids pretty much the same way all over the world!
Believe me, this doesn’t just happen in the Middle East.
I can totally relate too. At least the lucky ones like us dared to use our minds and discovered that there’s so much more to Islam underneath all that bullshit.
Unfortunately there are a lot more people who are happy to swallow that bullshit whole!
We may notice some odd phenomena and classify them as wills of divine, the reason for not thinking logically. It is of course a part of religious heritage to be like that. This simple classification can span a wide gamut from ethnic, racial, fear, disgust, contempt, boredom, or a simple difference in mood.
Whatever the reason may be, we may not be able to drop our yes or no to the wills of divine, but we may be able to drop the barrier of dogma.
I personally do not believe in non-proveble divinity of any religion; religion is a human product, but I am not in a literal sense atheist. To diminish this wall that separates all religions from reality, we may actively work within our mind, not only our heart.
If there is a certain degree of divinity to prove, we better off find it out through the modern natural sciences, not through the old dusty religious books.
I thought I might share this…I know some people may get turned off when I or anybody else mentions their religion as the basis for their opinion, but I do feel that truth is truth, from whatever religion it may originate.
This aspect of consciousness is just a simplist wish through which we can hopefully tolerate each other despite our different religions, faiths, or atheism. We focus on pure morality, which is not alwyas realisable, rather than on the qualities or manifestations of religion itself.
We allow ourselves somehow to ignore another consciousness which means today awareness. If awareness is above religious morality it has an objective foundation, if not remains a wish.
Religion cannot be banned, but at least should finally let people contempt without layering on its pre-judgments, compulsorily or implicitly, while personhood needs to rise the foreground of our awareness, religion is a barrier.
Agha, Can you elaborate on that. I’m having a little trouble gathering your meaning.
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And Muslims wonder why some people consider leaving Islam. Well if you shove religion down their throats, wtf do you expect?
Great thread. Very insightful post. And that’s coming from a Muslim-turned-Agnostic-turned-Atheist-turned-Muslim. What a painful journey that was!
I went to school in Dubai and we were told similar things in Islamic Studies, but our teachers were quite nice, I guess thats why it didnt have too much of a negative impact on me.
But what has to be remembered is that this is not just typical to Islamic schools, but to many religious schools. I know of people who went to Catholic schools that experienced the same forced belief through threats of hell and punishment.
That’s true, Tamara. I went to Catholic school in Bahrain as a very young child for a couple of years, it was a pretty hellish experience! Anyone with short skirts and really tight clothes was not allowed in class, even though they were CHILDREN, so they can’t possibly dress this way to be “slutty.” They separated the Muslims from the Christians during bible school and when it was singing time we weren’t allowed to hum with them, however they were able to pray with us as long as they dressed appropriately.
Then I left that school for another one where Islam was a mandatory course for all 12 years of schooling.
Here’s an idea. We don’t we all write some short bios about the sociopolitical experiences that have had an impact on us while growing up?
Thank you for the feedback, guys
I have to say I am very surprised that this is going on almost everywhere. I thought it was only the original Wahabbis (TM) who got carried away.
SudaneseDrima, that’s an interesting idea. Why don’t you go first?
It’s the same in Malaysia too! Jinns and syaitans follow you everywhere, if you so much as show a bit of skin or hair you’re in hell, your non-Muslim friends are going to hell, gay people are evil, women’s rights groups in Western universities hold meetings where they take their tops off and lick each other’s breasts (no kidding, I had one teacher tell us this)…my God. it was crazy.
No wonder I’m more of a Universist than a Muslim. If only Malaysia didn’t make it such a pain and legal battle to undeclare your religion on your ID!
Thank you all for speaking out on education in Islamic nations. I’ve seen Westerners with teaching experience in the ME try to say the same things, but be shouted down with accusations of racism.
So how did we all end up being such decent people?
It seems some people have the sense/ability to rise above attempts at brainwashing!
Trust me, it was years before I learned how to be somewhat decent. In my earlier years I was so unbelievably brainwashed and an ultra pan-Arabist it wasn’t even funny.
What was it that changed, anything in particular or was it a series of events that opened it all up?
I guess one day I realized that I really hate the box I was forced and pressured to live in. It began with the level of intolerance I was experiencing. I gave in completely; never said a word of disagreement, loved the idea of being part of something, a group, a tightly-knit community. So I did and said whatever everyone else was doing/saying or what I was told to believe. But one day I just said “however this one thing is wrong” (stoning) and ever since I’ve been a completely different person with a completely different outlook due to the horrid reactions I received.
I really wish that more people would do things like that because it’s little things that wake us up in the end. I think if it wasn’t for that comment I’d still be misguided, ignorant, blind, and intolerant… all valid descriptions of an “extremist.” In many ways I am still like that but definitely not in the same degree that I freakishly was in the past. This site has really changed me, and the writers here inspire me to be a better person.
It is SO easy to give in and be part of the “masses.” And so tempting when it makes you feel like you belong somewhere, even if it’s somewhere you don’t want to be, it’d still be “home.” But it’s really damned wrong to live like that and I hope this site inspires other young people to change from that kind of lifestyle.
Interesting topic: Here’s some old Canadian experience: As a child I grew up in a small, rural town, 1200 people with 8 churches. My folks, from a decidedly non-religious family, gave in to pressure from their friends, and I went to 4 different churches (catholic, anglican, baptist, and united) before they gave up. About all I can remember from those encounters was that everyone was very serious, well dressed, glared at me, and expected me to know enough about their faith to stumble through a service. Hell and punishment were rarely mentioned, but after awhile I understood from all my friends that I was going to Hell but they didn’t hold it against me. TV held much more lurid religious terror, particularly the “Davy and Goliath” kids show. I can still remember one episode where Davy (the kid protagonist) gets all pissy and wrecks a picnic area, then gets tired and falls asleep, and dreams that a deer comes and tells him that “God doesn’t like sinners” or something. Still gives me the shivers today. Now, as kids our seasons revolved around Christmas, Easter, summer vacation, Thanksgiving and Halloween. Religion was publicly emphasized during Christmas and Easter, somewhat during Thanksgiving, and that was about it. (No, we don’t worship Satan at Halloween, he just lets us dress up and extort candy from people MUHAHAHAHA) Since the closest thing to “non-Christians” in town was a Jehovah’s Witness family, hating the “other” was reserved for Soviets (and, being kids, being “gay”). There was certainly no personal enforcement of hating other religions like I have read here. Now that religion in the West seems to be making a comeback (most of the families in my neighborhood are going to church or mosque), and the Muslim world seems to be becoming the new Soviets for the average folk here, I wonder how kids here are being taught….