Sudan’s school curriculum propagates Shi’ite ideology: says cleric

October 14, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – The Imam (prayer leader) of Khartoum’s Grand Mosque Kamal Rizq on Friday has criticized the Sudan’s school curriculum saying it glorifies Shi’ite Islam.

In September 2014, Sudan ordered the closure of Iranian cultural centre in the capital Khartoum, and its branches in other states. Also the Iranian cultural attaché and the staff of the centre were asked to leave the country within 72 hours.

At the time the government didn’t issue any official explanation for the abrupt decision.

However, the Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir later said they realized that government of the Islamic Republic of Iran sought actively through its diplomatic mission to spread its religious ideology.

During his Friday cermon, Rizq vehemently attacked Sudan’s Ministry of Education, saying “it doesn’t exist in reality”.

He stressed that schools books propagate the Shi’ite ideology, wondering why the Iranian cultural centres were shut down while “grade tenth curriculum glorifies the Shi’ite poetry and hails it as original and a product of strong creed”.

Following the closure of the Iranian cultural centres, a number of Imams demanded the government to take further measures against Shi’ism.

At the time, the head of the Fiqh (jurisprudence) Academy Isam Ahmed al-Bashir, vowed to review the curriculum of private schools which are believed to be propagating Shi’ite ideology, saying any school that doesn’t adhere to the government’s official curriculum would be shut down.

In January 2016, Sudan severed ties with Iran after an attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran amid a row over the execution of a Shi’ite Muslim cleric.

Sudanese troops are deployed in Yemen since October 2014 within an Arab coalition against the Iran-backed Shi’ite Houthi militants.

(ST)