Distortion of Islam in French school syllabi can be seen as a reflection of the mutual misunderstanding between Islam and the West, yet a reflection with its own significance, which can also be viewed in the light of the American attempts to change the religious curricula in some Islamic countries. Dr. Mustafa Al-Halwaji, a professor in the Faculty of Languages and Translation, Al-Azhar University , Egypt , explains the motives and reasons that have incited him to study this issue:

It was sheer accident that threw this project into my way. Five years ago, while I was browsing a French fifth-grade school book in a public French library, I came across flagrant mistakes in the chapter on Islam. I continued searching for other similar books and found out glaring mistakes that starkly pervert the meaning of some Qur’anic verses. The following verse is but an example: [Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture as believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, and forbid not that which Allah hath forbidden by His messenger, and follow not the religion of truth, until they pay the tribute readily, being brought low] (At-Tawbah 9:29).

The verse explicitly refers to the Makkan disbelievers who expelled the Muslims and fought against them in an attempt to exterminate them. The verse also refers to the Jews (People of the Scripture) who had lived in Madinah but had breached their pact with the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) and fought against the Muslims in the Battle of Al-Ahzab.

In the French books, however, the verse is plucked out of its real context. The notion of Islamic jihad is erroneously defined as a “holy war to spread and defend Islam,” while the truth is that the term “holy war” had only been brought to Muslims by the European medieval crusaders.

Dr. Al-Halwaji asserts that the concept of Islamic marriage has similarly been distorted. Marriage in Islam has been introduced as a tradition through which a Muslim male gets married to two, three, or four women at a time. A Qur’anic verse on the matter in the French school books begins in the middle, [marry of the women, who seem good to you], never from the beginning: [And if ye fear that ye will not deal fairly by the orphans, marry of the women, who seem good to you, two or three or four; and if ye fear that ye cannot do justice (to so many) then one (only) or (the captives) that your right hands possess. Thus it is more likely that ye will not do injustice] (An-Nisaa’ 4:3).

Dr. Al-Halwaji adds:

Dr. Mustafa Al-Halwaji

I also found that such books refer to the Muslim caliph as representing both the religious and political authorities, whilst the truth is that there is no religious authority in Islam and that the four caliphs had been elected according to the principle of recommendation.

The books also narrate the story of revelation through some myths, defined by Muslim scholars as “Israelite Myths,” which themselves conflict with the Western rational logic itself.

The pupils see pictures of the Angel Gabriel bearing the Prophet within his wings the moment the first Qur’anic verses are delivered.

The false accounts in French books have not only been related to the Islamic concepts of jihad, marriage, the caliphate, but have also been drawn on other concepts such as hijab, the Islamic attitude toward extremism, and the female share of inheritance. It is even appalling to read in the fifth-grade history book that “the Black Stone placed in the Ka`bah is but God’s right hand in Muslim belief”!

The Journey of Correction

Professor Al-Halwaji describes his research methodology as follows:

In the beginning, I picked up 13 school books, studied them, and then addressed officials in the French Ministry of Education. After a period of deliberate delay on their part, I finally met with them and discussed the matter. I drew the conclusion that it was necessary to hold a seminar with officials in the French Ministry of Education and publishing houses and with authors.

I thereupon called upon the Egyptian Embassy in Paris to adopt the seminar, made contacts with the French Association of History Teachers, asked their help to organize the forum, and sent invitations to professors of Islamic history at the Sorbonne University .

The seminar, entitled “The Stained Image of Islam in French History Books,” was held in 2002 at the Egyptian Cultural Center . Once I displayed my findings, all the attendees fully agreed that there had been mistakes and that they should be corrected.

The French Ministry of Education stated that it was not responsible for the content of such books because it only specifies the curriculum, and it is the school’s job to select one of the books released from school publishing houses and make it obligatory for the student to buy it. I replied that if there had been errors libeling the Islamic culture; the ministry was responsible for them because they conflicted with the ministry’s aims. The minister then replied that French law forbade interference in authoring affairs and that the ministry only prepared teachers and called upon educationists to review the religious texts in school books.

Satisfactory Reactions

Dr. Al-Halwaji affirms that, two months after the seminar, the French minister of education issued a decree to establish the European Institute for Religious Sciences under the supervision of professors of Islamic, Christian, and Jewish History at the Sorbonne University . The job of the institute is to review religious texts in school books and hold training courses for teachers in order to acquaint them with different religions.

“The conclusion I drew from the French experience,” Prof. Al-Halwaji proceeds

is that there should always be periodic follow-up. It is ironic that after the French Ministry of Education had dropped some mistakes, it produced other mistakes in the syllabi because only seven publishing houses responded to the call while the rest did not. I had to ask help of UNESCO in Paris to hold a conference under the title of “Conference for Correcting the Image of Islam in School Books in Western Countries,” to be attended by officials in the ministries of education in European, American, Asian, and African countries to submit studies on the image of Islam in their school books.

UNESCO initially agreed, and contacted the ministries of higher education and of foreign affairs and requested that they provide us with school history books taught in several different countries in the world. Books from about 25 countries—some of which are Islamic countries in Asia Minor —covering most of the world’s continents, were submitted. Professors from the University of Al-Azhar , `Ain Shams and Cairo universities have cooperated with me in reviewing these books.

The study has been carried out in the official language of each country. As we currently work to organize the conference, certain financial support problems face us, especially as the UNESCO budget will not permit the conference to be held this year. Since the study has been done on the currently taught books, it is feared that certain book contents will change in subsequent editions. For this reason, we work diligently to collect enough financial support by addressing the Arab League, the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), and some Arab countries. 

Since October 2003, only US $10,000 and a handful of promises have been collected. My colleagues and I are still waiting for the remaining US $40,000 to be donated so that we can accomplish this important project. Children worldwide are being erroneously taught in their schools that Islam is synonymous to terrorism and that it is the reason behind the Arab and Muslim countries’ backwardness. Those little pupils will in the future be responsible for decision making in their countries; therefore, we make efforts to wipe such a deformed image of Islam from their minds.

Another problem that faces the professor is that it is difficult to obtain the books from some countries due to the books’ high prices. No organization or entity, until now, has devoted a budget for buying such expensive books. Most of the books collected are but an aid from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry and the Ministry of Higher Education. Some of Al-Halwaji’s colleagues have managed individually to collect history books from Kenya , Venezuela , Switzerland , and Canada .

Dr. Mustafa Al-Halwaji asserts that his research would produce many benefits. “At least,” he affirms, “we would directly discuss the matter with the people responsible for education in foreign countries, convince them that mistakes actually exist, and provide them with copies of the studies achieved in their native languages. Those education officials, accordingly, would not find any difficulty spotting such errors, which would be a step forward to correct them.”

Dr. Al-Halwaji has his own view on dealing with the passive consequences of September 11. “It is strange that after September 11 we held conferences and seminars in our Arab and Muslim countries to clarify the image of Islam in the West! Nobody thought that such forums should be held in Europe and America because they are the target audience of these symposiums, not us. The West, as I believe, is very willing to listen to the truth but, at the same time, is in need of someone to highlight it.”

American Demands

Dr. Al-Halwaji also asserts that the American demands that curricula in Muslim countries be forcibly changed will never be listened to. “If any Western entity has something to correct, but not modify, we will not say no. This cannot be carried out but through cooperation between American experts and educationists in Islamic countries . . . I do believe that the West would praise the religious tolerance preached in our school history books.”

Dr. Al-Halwaji concludes, “Some of my colleagues and I have spent all we own to finance this noble aim. And I will diligently pursue it until it is fulfilled, God willing.”

* The Arabic original of this article, appeared on islamonline.net (Arabic Section) on April 14, 2004 .

** Mohammed Dunia is a journalist based in Cairo , Egypt .

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