As the caliph Umar is supposed to have said when ordering the library of Alexandria to be burned: “If the books agree with the Qur’an, they are superfluous. If they disagree with it, they are heretical.”
Sharia Alert from the Horn of Africa: “Somali Islamist rebels ban English, science lessons,” by Sahra Abdi for Reuters, March 5 (thanks to Twostellas):
NAIROBI (Reuters) – Somalia’s hardline Islamists have banned English and science studies in schools in the southern Afmadow town after the education centers there ignored the rebels’ call for fighters, residents and teachers say.
World
Residents of the town near the border with Kenya said three schools had been given one month to comply with the order by al Shabaab rebels and switch the curriculum to accommodate Arabic and Islamic studies.
“They asked us to contribute students to their militia so that they can fight for them, but we rejected their proposal,” said one teacher who wanted to remain anonymous.
Al Shabaab, which Washington says is al Qaeda’s proxy in the failed Horn of Africa state, wants to topple Somalia’s U.N.-backed government and impose its own strict version of sharia, Islamic law.
The heavily armed group controls much of the south and parts of the capital Mogadishu, and courts run by its clerics have ordered executions, floggings and amputations.
It has also banned movies, dancing at wedding ceremonies and playing or watching soccer in the areas under its control.
Elders said the al Shabaab militia shut down Waamo, Dhoobaale and Osman Mohamud schools briefly Sunday, before slapping the ban on English, which they called a “spy language.”
“The Islamic administration closed education centers and ordered them to stop teaching English which they said is a western language,” Ali Mowlid Mohamud, clan elder in Afmadow, told Reuters by phone.
“They told schools, ‘We know everyone who is going to be a spy for western governments learns this language.'”…