CMIP CENTER FOR MONITORING THE IMPACT OF PEACE www.edume.org THE ATTITUDE TO 'THE OTHER' AND TO PEACE IN IRANIAN SCHOOL BOOKS AND TEACHER’S GUIDES October 2006 © 2006 All rights reserved. No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the copyright owner, CMIP (R.A.) The Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace, POB 40049, 1 Mevaseret-Zion, Israel ■ [email protected] CMIP CENTER FOR MONITORING THE IMPACT OF PEACE www.edume.org THE ATTITUDE TO 'THE OTHER' AND TO PEACE IN IRANIAN SCHOOL BOOKS AND TEACHER’S GUIDES Research, Translation and Editing By Dr. Arnon Groiss and Nethanel (Navid) Toobian English Editor: Dr. Gabriel Beiner Produced by: CMIP Staff © 2006 All rights reserved. No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the copyright owner, CMIP (R.A.) 2 CMIP wishes to thank Prof. Eldad Pardo of the Hebrew University for his valuable comments on the first draft of this report. 3 Table of Contents Table of Contents…………………………………………………………….……p. 4 Overview…………..………………………………………………………….……p. 6 Introduction………………………………………..……………………………..p. 10 Chapter One: The Iranian Education System……………………………..…...p. 11 A. Structure and Figures……………………………………………………..…….p. 11 B. Subjects and Textbooks………………………………………………………...p. 12 C. Policy and Problems……………………………………………………….…...p. 14 Chapter Two: The Attitude to Other Religions……………………………..….p. 15 A. The Attitude to Non-Muslims in General…………………………………....p. 15 B. The Attitude to Non-Muslims within Iran……………………………………...p. 22 C. Zoroastrianism………………………………………………………………….p. 28 D. Judaism………………………………………………………………………....p. 31 E. Christianity……………………………………………………………………..p. 34 F. Other Non-Muslim Religions…………………………………………………..p. 43 G. Non-Shiite Islam……………………………………………………………….p. 47 H. Non-Twelver Shiites……………………………………………...……………p. 53 I. Bahaism…………………………………………………………………………p. 55 Chapter Three: The West……………………………………..…………………p. 56 A. The Crusades……………………………………………………….…………..p. 56 B. Attribution of the West's Progress to Islamic Medieval Civilization…………..p. 61 C. Western Colonialism…………………………………………………………...p. 65 I. Definition of Colonialism………………………………………...………………...p. 65 II. Modern Europe – The Source of Colonialism…………………………………….p. 66 III. Early Colonialism……………………………………………...…………………p. 67 IV. Modern Colonialism………………………………………...……………………p. 69 V. Western Colonialism and the Muslim World…………………..…………………p. 72 VI. Western Colonialism in Africa………………………………..….………………p. 74 VII. Western Colonialism in America……………………………..…………………p. 81 VIII. Western Colonialism in Asia…………………………….……..………………p. 85 IX. Western Colonialism in Australia………………………….…….………………p. 89 X. Western World Hegemony Today………………………………………………...p. 90 XI. The West is Harmful to the World and to the Environment…...…………………p. 91 XII. The Perception of the United States in World Affairs…………………………..p. 92 XIII. Criticism of the Communist Powers……………………………….…………...p. 94 XIV. The West's Attack against the Muslim World Today………...………………...p. 95 XV. Western (and Communist) Intellectual Danger………………..……………….p. 100 D. Western Encroachment on Iran………………………………….……………p. 104 I. Early Colonialist Attempts: 16th-18th Centuries…………………………………...p. 104 II. The 19th Century: Iran Loses Territory to Russia and Britain..…………………..p. 106 III. Russo-British Political-Economic Intervention, 19th-20th Century..…………….p. 114 IV. Britain Acts Alone: The Rise of Reza Shah Pahlavi…………..………………..p. 120 V. World War II: Soviet-British Occupation………………...…....………………...p. 125 VI. The Oil Nationalization Crisis and British-American Cooperation..…………...p. 127 VII. America and Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi……………..….………………..p. 130 VIII. Revolutionary Iran vs. America……………………….…….……………….…p. 135 4 IX. Western Cultural Plunder ………………………………..………………………p. 142 E. The Attitude to Western Culture and Civilization Today……….…………….p. 144 I. Positive and Neutral Attitudes……………………………………………………p. 144 II. Negative Attitude………………………………………………………………...p. 147 Chapter Four: The Jews and Israel………………………………….………...p. 158 A. The Jews………………………………………………………………………p. 158 I. The Jews in Ancient History…………………………………….………………...p. 159 II. Jewish Holy Places……………………………………………………………….p. 161 III. The Jews of Arabia and their Relations with Prophet Muhammad……………...p. 161 IV. The Jews in Modern Times……………………………………………………...p. 166 V. An Abusive Expression…………………………………………………………..p. 167 B. Zionism……………………………………………………….….……………p. 169 C. Israel………………………………………………………………………..…p. 172 I. Non-Recognition of Israel…………………………………..…………………….p. 172 II. Israel's Image……………………………………………...……………..………..p.180 a) Israel is Part of a Western Attack against the Muslim World……………………p. 180 b) Israel Has Created the Palestinian Refugee Problem……………………………p. 183 c) Israel Occupies Jerusalem and the al-Aqsa Mosque……………………………..p. 184 d) Israel Oppresses the Palestinians under Occupation…………………………….p. 188 e) Israel is Iran's Direct Enemy……………………………………………………..p. 193 III. The Struggle against Israel………………………………….…………………...p. 194 a) Getting acquainted with the Palestinian Problem………………………………..p. 194 b) Fostering Solidarity with the Palestinian People………………………………...p. 194 c) Advocating Struggle against Israel, Not Peace with It…………………………...p. 198 d) Ethnic Cleansing?………………………………………………………………...p. 199 e) Liberating Palestine is Part of the Islamic Revolution in Iran…………………...p. 201 Chapter Five: Other 'Others'…………………………………………….…….p. 202 A. Alexander the Great and the Ancient Greeks……………….………………...p. 203 B. The Arabs and Medieval Iran…………………………….……………………p.203 C. The Medieval Turks………………………………………….….……………p. 208 D. The Mongols and their Successors……………………………..……………..p. 211 E. Iran's Immediate Neighbors in Modern Times…………………..……………p. 220 I. Uzbek and Ottoman Invaders of the 16th and 17th Centuries……………………...p. 220 II. Afghanistan………………………………………………………………………p. 221 III. Iraq…………………………………………………………....…………………p. 222 IV. Saudi Arabia and Other Arab States……………………….….…………………p. 227 V. Pakistan…………………………………………………………….…………….p. 229 F. Ethnic 'Others' within Iran…………………………………...………………..p. 229 Chapter Six: Peace and War…………………………………………………...p. 232 A. Peace, Tolerance and Dialogue………………………………...……………..p. 232 B. War……………………………………………………………..……………..p. 240 Chapter Seven: Jihad……………………………………………………..…….p. 254 A. Military Jihad…………………………………………………..……………..p. 254 B. Non-Military Jihad……………………………………………………………p. 263 I. Spiritual Jihad………………………………………………………………..…....p. 263 II. Construction and Agricultural Jihad……………………………………………..p. 264 5 Chapter Eight: Martyrdom…………………………………………………….p. 265 A. Martyrdom in General……………………………………….………………..p. 266 B. The Martyrdom of the Shiite Imams and their Followers……….……………p. 270 C. Martyrdom in Modern Context………………………………….……………p. 276 I. Martyrdom for the Sake of Iran and the Revolution is an Ideal…...………………p. 276 II. Martyrs of Oppositionist Activity and of the Islamic Revolution………...……....p. 281 III. Martyrs of the Iran-Iraq War……………………………...……………………...p. 288 IV. Self Sacrifice……………………………………………...……………………...p. 295 V. Other Aspects of Martyrdom………………………………...……………………p. 298 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………….p. 301 List of Sources…………………………………………………………………...p. 305 6 Overview War Curriculum The Iranian school system prepares its students for war – World War III, to be precise – in the name of Islam against American world hegemony. This is the main observation CMIP arrived at following research it conducted on 115 Iranian school textbooks and teacher's guides of all grades. Although all the books and the vast majority of the teacher's guides were published under the apparently moderate former president Mohammad Khatami, they all reflect the teachings of Ayatollah Khomeini, founder of Revolutionary Iran. According to Khomeini's conviction, the Muslims, and the oppressed nations of the world in general, should wage a life-or-death global war against the infidel oppressors, America in particular. As vividly envisioned by Khomeini himself: "O Muslims of all countries of the world! Since under the foreigners' dominance gradual death has been inflicted on you, you should overcome the fear of death and make use of the existence of the passionate and the martyrdom-seeking youths, who are ready to smash the borders of unbelief. Do not think of keeping the status quo. Rather, think of escape from captivity, of deliverance from slavery, and of attack against the enemies of Islam. Glory and life are in fighting, and the first step of fighting is [the existence of] will. After that, there is the decision that you forbid yourselves to [submit to] the supremacy of world unbelief and polytheism, especially America. "I am decisively announcing to the whole world that, if the World Devourers [i.e., the United States and the Soviet Union] wish to stand against our religion, we will stand against their whole world and will not cease until the annihilation of all of them. Either we all become free, or we will go to the greater liberty which is martyrdom… Either we shake one another's hand in joy at the victory of Islam in the world, or all of us will turn to eternal life and martyrdom. In both cases, victory and success are ours. "We are the permanently oppressed in history, deprived