(Jerusalem Post) Zvi Mazel - The Islamic State is implementing sharia (Islamic law) to the letter - the same sharia which is taught in schools and academic institutions throughout the Muslim world. The harsh penalties inflicted on sinners, from stoning women to crucifying and beheading infidels, are part of that teaching. For example, sharia-based textbooks tell of the revered military commander Khaled Ben Walid, who killed the leader of a tribe which had renounced Islam, cut off his head, threw it in a boiling cauldron and ate it. Surveys in Saudi Arabia showed that 92% of Saudis approved the way of IS. This is what they were taught at school and this is what they hear in the Friday sermons from the mosques. In Egypt, President Sisi has declared that the more extreme expressions of the sharia should be amended. Acting upon his instructions, in June the Egyptian Education Ministry canceled the course of Islamic education being taught in schools; moral values were added to a new textbook. This important step did not receive the recognition it deserved in the West. The writer is a former Israeli Ambassador to Romania, Egypt and Sweden.
2014-12-25 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive