Education & Clothing
From the Washington Post comes this interesting piece about education in Saudi Arabia.
This is a Saudi textbook. (After the intolerance was removed.)
A review of a sample of official Saudi textbooks for Islamic studies used during the current academic year reveals that, despite the Saudi government's statements to the contrary, an ideology of hatred toward Christians and Jews and Muslims who do not follow Wahhabi doctrine remains in this area of the public school system. The texts teach a dualistic vision, dividing the world into true believers of Islam (the "monotheists") and unbelievers (the "polytheists" and "infidels").
This indoctrination begins in a first-grade text and is reinforced and expanded each year, culminating in a 12th-grade text instructing students that their religious obligation includes waging jihad against the infidel to "spread the faith."
There is a nice bunch of examples - but nothing about neckties in the Saudi educational curriculum - yet.
Meanwhile BlogSpace has been agog at the latest reports about Islamic Clothing and the possibility that:
Religious minorities would have their own color schemes. They will also have to wear special insignia, known as zonnar, to indicate their non-Islamic faiths. Jews would be marked out with a yellow strip of cloth sewn in front of their clothes, while Christians will be assigned the color red. Zoroastrians end up with Persian blue as the color of their zonnar.
The debate seems to be about possible smear tactics on one side:
Hormoz Ghahremani, a spokesman for the Iranian Embassy in Ottawa, said in an e-mail to the Post yesterday that, “We wish to categorically reject the news item.
“These kinds of slanderous accusations are part of a smear campaign against Iran by vested interests, which needs to be denounced at every step.”
Or possible anti-semitism on the other:
the selection of yellow for Iran's 25,000 Jews is especially odious: One of the earliest pieces of anti-Jewish legislation in Nazi Germany required all Jews to wear a yellow Star of David on the front of their clothes. Intended as a mark of shame, this patch also helped single out Jews for persecution.
Soon the Jews were more than stigmatized; they were shipped to death camps.
The new Iranian law actually dates back to 2004, but was blocked within the Majlis. Now that Ahmadinejad has lifted roadblock - who has also threatened to obliterate Israel. Which is why the echoes from Nazi Germany are so ominous.
of the reports.
But while the chattering classes argue about whether it is - or isn't true - nobody seems to be paying attention to what the Islamic faction are saying themselves.
I found this quote interesting:
The new law imposes a total ban on wearing neckties and bow ties, which are regarded as "symbols of the Cross." Will Iranian Christians be allowed to wear them, nevertheless? No one knows.
I first noted that neckties had been deemed un-Islamic back in April - and I got my information directly from the source, the website of the Office of the Supreme Leader Sayyid Ali Khamenei, based in Qom in Iran.
Q1370: What is the view on wearing a necktie?
A: Generally speaking, it is not permissible to wear a tie, or other kinds of clothes that are considered as the attire of non-Muslims, in such a way that their wearing will promote vile Western culture. The ruling is not confined to people of the Islamic Republic.
I asked at the time - what is it that makes neckties a means of promoting "vile western culture" - and now I know.
It is a "symbol of the cross"
What??
Have these guys ever had to tie a necktie? Is it a cross or a knot?
I am sorry to say this - but a necktie reminds me more of a noose than a cross.
It looks like neckties are going to be forbidden for some and compulsory for others in modern Iran - especially if you wear the wrong kind of clothing.
Tags: iran, new cold war, islam, islamic clothing, neckties, ahmadinejad, khamenei