The people of Saudi Arabia: Allies against terrorism

Report Cites 'Hate' Writings in U.S. Mosques

Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi Sect Literature 'Widely' Available, Freedom House Says

By John Mintz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 6, 2005; Page A18

The libraries of a number of American mosques feature Arabic-language writings published by the Saudi government or top clerics in the desert kingdom that virulently denounce Muslims from different traditions as well as Christians and Jews, and say devout Muslims should think of America as enemy territory, a new study said.

Freedom House, a conservative-leaning human rights organization based in New York, said in its report released last week that the books and publications in question say, among other things, that Muslims who employ a non-Muslim maid or cook "have to hate her for Allah's sake."

The 57 publications discussed in the report "state it is a religious obligation to hate Christians and Jews, and warn against imitating, befriending or helping such 'infidels' in any way," the study said. "They instill contempt for America" as well as "a Nazi-like hatred for Jews."

A fatwa issued by the Saudi government in 2000, and found in the Islamic Center of San Diego, said Muslims must maintain a "wall of resentment" against non-Muslims, who are all "enemies to Allah, his Prophet and believers."

A Saudi government-financed publication found at the al-Farouq Mosque in Houston said that celebrating birthdays and the "false holidays" of Americans is "forbidden and lewd."

Another Saudi pamphlet, called "Religious Edicts for the Immigrant Muslim" -- and found at the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (or ADAMS Center) in Sterling -- said "it is forbidden for a Muslim to become a citizen of a country (such as the United States) governed by infidels."

But a leader of the ADAMS Center said that even if such a publication was found on its shelves, the mosque itself rejects such views. Mukit Hossain, a member of the mosque's board of trustees, said that despite the publication that Freedom House said it found there, the mosque fervently embraces citizenship, and in the last two years it enrolled 5,000 Muslims to vote.