According to the Times of London yesterday,

"MUSLIM students training to be imams at a British college with strong Iranian links have complained that they are being taught fundamentalist doctrines which describe nonMuslims as 'filth'.

The Times has obtained extracts from medieval texts taught to the students in which unbelievers are likened to pigs and dogs. The texts are taught at the Hawza Ilmiyya of London, a religious school, which has a sister institution, the Islamic College for Advanced Studies ... which offers a degree validated by Middlesex University."

The two schools " are in the same building at Willesden High Road, northwest London — a former Church of England primary school — and share many of the same teaching staff. They have a single fundraising arm, the Irshad Trust, one of the managing trustees of which is ... a personal representative of Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the Iranian supreme religious leader." [....]

The doctrine comes from Muhaqqiq al—Hilli, a 13th century scholar. The Hawza Ilmiyya website states that 'the module aims to familiarise the student with the basic rules of Islamic law as structured by al—Hilli'.

Al—Hilli writes that 'There are ten types of filth and impurities: urine, faeces, semen, carrion, blood of carrion, dogs, pigs, disbelievers' [....]

"The text is one of a number of books that some students say they find 'disturbing' and 'very worrying'. Their spokesman told The Times: 'They are being exposed to very literalist interpretations of the Koran.

These are interpretations that would not be recognised by 80 or 90 per cent of Muslims, but they are being taught in this school.[Italics added]

The last sentence is the most important one.  We are beginning to see moderate Muslims asserting themselves in Europe and the Middle East. Here is an important opportunity to hear from the "80 to 90 percent" who disagree. 

James Lewis   4 20 06