What does this primer say? AP doesn’t tell us. What does it teach about jihad and the subjugation of unbelievers? Do Spanish officials believe that simply teaching about Islam in Spanish will make the problem of jihad and Sharia supremacism disappear? If so, on what basis do they think that?
From The Associated Press:
MADRID, Spain Spain has devised a school textbook it calls unique in Europe “” a primer for Muslim first-graders to learn about Islam but do so in the local language and thus not feel like outsiders, officials said Wednesday.
A first run of 15,000 copies of the Spanish-language book “Discovering Islam” was printed as part of the project, said Jose Manuel Lopez, managing director of the Pluralism and Harmony Foundation, which is part of the Justice Ministry. The ministry oversees religious issues.
The book, written by a Spanish Muslim leader and financed by the foundation, was exhibited at the Frankfurt book fair this month and drew keen interest from people in other European countries. The same thing happened when it was formally unveiled in Spain on Tuesday, as representatives of the governments of Germany, France and Italy attended the ceremony, Lopez said.
“Europe has 40 million Muslims and governments don’t know what to do to assimilate them,” Lopez said in an interview. “This book is a hint.”
In other European Union countries with significant Muslim immigrant communities, primers on Islam are written in Arabic or French if they exist at all, Lopez said.
Indeed, in major EU countries such as Britain, France, Germany and Italy, there is nothing equivalent to the book now out in Spain, officials in those nations said.
The idea in Spain is to help Muslim children in public schools learn about their faith in Spanish and thus integrate better into society, Lopez said.