Saudi Arabia Revises Controversial Textbooks

Today's Yemen Times reports that Saudi Arabia has reacted to widespread criticism of the textbooks used in its schools. After 9-11, critics contended that Saudi textbooks furthered a militant Islamist approach and glorified violence against Jews. Now the Saudi education ministry has issued new books, and made them fully available on the Internet. They still focus heavily on Islam and teach children they must reject all other religions. They reject secular pan-Arabism and promote global Muslim solidarity. The curriculum contains almost no world history other than the history of Islam. However the new books are significantly more modern than the older ones. There is no incitement against Shiites and a significant reduction in the anti-Jewish, anti-Zionist content.