Did East End Madrassah In Toronto Get Antisemitic Material From Iran?

I blogged last week about the East End Madrassah in Toronto that last week was found to have antisemitic material on its website, featuring material such as this:

• “Islam has allowed boys to engage in sports for one specific reason and that is to always keep them healthy and strong. But why should a Muslim be healthy and strong? Firstly, it is necessary to take care of the body because it is a gift from Allah. Secondly, so that you may physically be ready for jihad whenever the time comes for it.”
  
  
• “Islam is a dynamic, comprehensive school that aims at the rectification of the social and economic systems of the world in a special manner. Unlike the beliefs of the ancient Romans, the Jews, and the Nazis, Islam is not restricted to a certain community of a certain race, but is for all human beings…”
  
  
• “No doubt any wise, humanitarian person accepts such a combat and admires it [jihad] because there is no other way to achieve the sacred ends of the Prophets.”
  
  
• “End of Jewish Plots and Treacheries: Ever since the Prophet’s entry into Madina, the treacherous Jews had vehemently opposed him and his Islamic call, evoking memories of their hostility to the previous Prophet, Jesus Christ, half a millennium ago. The crafty Jews entered into an alliance with the polytheist Quraish in a bid to stamp out Islam. They conspired to kill Prophet Muhammad despite the fact that he was lenient towards them and had treated them kindly, hoping to convince them of Islam’s truth. But eventually as Jewish plots and aggressions increased, he had no choice other than to take up arms against them, in order to protect Islam and the Muslims. At the battle of Khaiber which is famous for Imam Ali’s heroic exploits, the Prophet defeated them ending Jewish intrigues and conspiracies in Arabia.” [emphasis added]

Now comes word that the issue was taken seriously: Board suspends Toronto Islamic school’s operating permit after row over anti-Jewish curriculum:

An Islamic school that had been using teaching materials that disparaged Jews and encouraged boys to keep fit for jihad has lost its license to use Toronto District School Board property.

The board suspended a permit issued to the Islamic Shia Study Centre, which operated the East End Madrassah out of a Toronto high school until an outcry last week over the content of its curriculum booklets.

“The Islamic Shia Study Centre will not be able to permit TDSB property until the police investigation is complete and they are able to demonstrate that they comply with board policies and procedures,” Ryan Bird, a TDSB spokesman, said Wednesday.

So far so good--but there is another question: Imam Syed Muhammad Rizvi claimed that the antisemitic passages had been wrongly copied from two websites--

But they are actually excerpts from two books published by the Al Balagh Foundation in Tehran and the Mostazafan Foundation of New York, which the FBI alleges was a front organization controlled by the Iranian regime — whose president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is widely known for his antisemitism, Holocaust denial and threats to wipe out Israel.

“As we have said before, the excerpted material at issue should never have been a part of our curriculum,” said the statement, signed “Principal, East End Madrassah.” In a video posted online, Imam Rizvi dismissed as “absolutely baseless” concerns that school teaching materials were written in Iran.

Obviously, the material actually is from Iran.

Till now there has been an ongoing concern about the extent that Saudi Arabian money has made it possible for pro-Islam material to be introduced into universities. Now we are faced with the possibility that Iran might be importing its brand of radical Islam into Canada--and the US--as well.

Technorati Tag: East End Madrassah and Iran and Antisemitism and Islam.