JEDDAH, 1 November 2004 — Reaction to one of television’s boldest episodes continues to reverberate in social gatherings in the Kingdom. In the episode, aired on Thursday, the Saudi satirical serial “Tash Ma Tash” exposed the reality of the spread of Islamic extremist thought and provocation in our schools and the entire education administration.
The episode presented a boy’s high school where a science teacher rather than teaching his subject is on the rampage about the duty of every Muslim to kill all non-believers and not to show them sympathy or have any relationship with them. This teacher, who is bearded and has a malicious look, is also shown badgering another moderate teacher for not agreeing with his views and going to the extent of reporting this other teacher to the principal, who shares his views and in turn report him to a committee at the Education Administration for having “deviant ideas that destroy our youth’s minds and religion”. When the moderate teacher goes to the administration to report to higher authorities on the spread of this extremist, intolerant attitude, he is faced with people there having the same attitude. The message is clear — the dangerous consequences of allowing these kinds of people to poison the minds of youth.
“Everything in the episode is true, unfortunately,” said a source at the Girls’ Education Administration. “It is one of the reasons for the spread of intolerance in our society and even terrorism. Even though the Ministry of Education has warned teachers against teaching things not in the curriculum or not part of their subject and especially not to give any edicts, some teachers continue to do so but schools usually take action against the teacher if she is reported on,” she said. She also said that changes were made in some books because for years they included some biased and unsubstantiated teachings that were unnoticed or ignored. But, Morooj Ibrahim, a student in high school said that her religion teacher insists on sneaking in some of these removed teachings in her lecture and no one says anything to her as long as it is not in the exam.
A male source at the Education Administration also said what was shown in the Tash Ma Tash episode was a reflection of what the situation is at the administration especially for those considered moderate. “Having a beard is almost an unwritten law and is expected of all employees as part of our look,” he said. Parents are particularly disturbed by what their children learn in school from these extremist teachers. Abu Rami transferred his 10-year-old son from his public school to a private school because he kept asking him about whether non-Muslims and even Muslims of different sects will go to heaven or hell and how he should react to them. “I found out that his teacher was feeding them all this extremist thought and it scared me,” he told Arab News.
On the other hand, those who are conservative were completely offended and angry about the episode’s portrayal of them. “I don’t like this stereotypical portrayal of religious people as being narrow minded and intolerant,” said Umm Ahmad. “Not all of us who conform to a strict attire or all men with beards are fanatics or potential terrorists. There are deviants among all sections of society,” she said.
The actors of Tash Ma Tash have received death threats after the episode on terrorism was aired last week.
