Lucy Bannerman
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A Saudi-funded Islamic school at the centre of a row over text-books that allegedly brand other faiths as “worthless” bowed to public pressure yesterday and pledged to remove the offensive pages from the books.
Although insisting that teachers did not use the extracts, in which an early Islamic scholar is quoted as saying “the monkeys are the Jews and the pigs are the Christian infidels at Jesus’s table”, Sumaya Alyusuf, the head teacher, said that the half-page of text would be cut from all 34 copies in the library of the King Fahd Academy in Acton, West London. She had said during an interview on Newsnight on BBC Two that the books were taught.
However, while King Fahd Academy sought to clear its reputation as a tolerant faith school yesterday, three people claiming to be former pupils accused it of being racist, on the website facebook.com
One contributor, who said that she was a former pupil now aged 21, said that she was taught that Jews were “monkeys”, while another, also 21, claimed that he was told that “people of other religions were not on a par as human beings with us”.

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In reading this I wondered how they react to schools in their home countries which might teach doctrine not accepatble to their own sensibiities. But, this is a silly question as no schools of alternative faiths would be allowed in Saudi or many other Islamic countries. Additionally, I have recently witnessed book sensorship last year in the Arabic country where i am residing involving a history text that was not favorable or in keeping with the Islamic view of historical events. If you teach alternative views, so be it. You should be ready for others to follow suit or be critical of your words. It is a long held and many students have been exposed to this absurd thought that Jews and Christians are pigs and monkeys. So, please do not act as though this is the first time anyone has heard it. It just hurts to hear it out loud and exposed for others to see.
Jane, Abu Dhabi,
As an ex-student of the King Fahad Academy, I was outraged to read the nonsense Mr. Cook has written as a cheap shot to receive money. I was taught at the school for 11 years and learnt many valuable life lessons there. We were constantly taught the Islamic teaching that Jews and Christians should be respected as "people of the book", and to follow Prophet Muhammad's kind treatment of the Christians and Jews living around him - a big contradiction to Mr. Cook's claims.
Furthermore, pupils would DEFINATELY not praise Osama Bin Laden-the man who is causing bloodshed not only in their country of residence, but also there home countries!
To conclude, I did not leave The King Fahad Academy with feelings of hate and bitterness, but instead it equipped me with an excellent education, respect for those around me and beautiful childhood memories that I will never forget.
Fatima Al-Kazzaz, London, United Kingdom
I was a student at the King Fahad Academy for 12 years, the school is in noway racist whatsoever. These three pupils are merely attention seekers who just want to stir up the issue. The majority of kfa students stand firmly by the school. I achieved excellent grades thanks to the teachers at this school and now work in an international company.
Sara, LONDON,
Why now?
Oh yes that's right, because they were caught out and exposed!
Why is such a school even in existence in the UK?
We still continue to feed the beast that bites us because this once great nation has become a politically correct joke.
Dave Brock, Staffs, UK
It s about time that the government put a stop to the 'religious' investment in this country by the Saudi Arabian authiorities. They are creating a breeding ground for extremist attitudes. All faith schools must be converted to non-demnominational. Religion does not have a place in current education, especially when a fascist ideology is being expressed.
Joshua, London, UK
I think this episode underpins the idea that religion should be removed from the public domain. There should no onger be faith based scholls of any kind - a school should be a school and that's it. And the idea that a foreign country can fund and and dictate what is taught in another country is quite extraordinary.
If we want integration then where better to start in school and have children from all faiths taught a sensible curriculum and mix with others without the bias of religion.
Stuart Murray, Amsterdam, Netherlands,