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30 Inside the Arab Mind!

chronic mental condition” (Hitti, History of the Arabs, quoted in Patai, The Arab Mind, p. 81).
What is it that feeds this barbarism and actually fuels the fires of cruelty? To find the answer to the
question, it is necessary to study Islam, works by eminent authorities on the Arab mind, Arab litera-
ture and statements made by Arab leaders and politicians. Almost all Arab cruelty is generated by
one or more of the following -- honor (face), hatred and sex.

Hatred

Hatred of anything non-Arab or Islamic is axiomatic in the Arab world. And to the Arab
mind, either Israel or the West (or both) is responsible for the stagnant conditions prevailing within
the Arab world -- for disease, for illiteracy, for the lack of Arabic literature, for maliciously falsify-
ing and distorting their glorious Arab history, etc. Just as the failing student will blame the exams
instead of himself, so will the Arab world lay the blame for its failures upon others. “Most West-
erners have simply no inkling of how deep and fierce is [that] hate” (Smith, Islam in Modern His-
tory. Cited in ibid., p. 296).

Arab children are first indoctrinated with hate in the
home, and for those fortunate enough to receive an education,
the school system and text books ensure its students will gradu-
ate in the subject. Hatred, especially toward Israel and the Jews,
is nurtured and developed in the minds of Arab children and oc-
cupies a great deal of space in Arabic text books. A former Syr-
ian Minister of Education, wrote: “The hatred which we
indoctrinate into the minds of our children from their birth
is sacred” (Suleiman Al-Khash in Al-Thaura, the Ba’ath party
newspaper, May 3, 1968). Throughout the Arab world school
children are constantly faced with the following type of exer-
cises: “Israel was born to die. Prove it” (Glances at Arab Soci-
ety, p. 117, an exercise for Jordanian first-year high school
students). “We shall expel all the Jews from the Arab coun-
tries” (Basic Syntax and Spelling, an exercise for Syrian
fifth-year elementary students). “The Arabs do not cease to act
for the extermination of Israel” (Grammar, p. 244, an exercise
for Egyptian first-year junior high school students). “Israel shall not live if the Arabs stand fast in
their hatred” (Zionist Imperialism, p. 249, for Egyptian ninth-grade secondary schools). And on the
back of a standard exercise book there is a map of Israel. “The Arab armies are shown encircling it,
and a missile is aimed at Tel Aviv” (Laffin, Fedayeen, p. 88).

A Jew, born and educated in Syria, but who later escaped to Israel recalls: “I remember that
the Moslem boys threw stones at me, and I remember, too, the education I received in school. The
Jewish school, but the majority is Moslem. I remember it is written that the Jews are evil, I don’t
know why. And their God is a God who wants to drink the blood of all the other peoples. This was in
the Arabic book at the education system. I was taught this in the Jewish school, because I am a stu-
dent and want to pass through these schools to graduate” (cited in Peters, From Time Immemorial,
p. 113). And an Arab boasted on Israeli television that his eight-year-old son is fed no breakfast be-
fore he throws his quota of rocks on Israeli vehicles (David Bar-Illan, Eye on the Media, p. 211).

The Berean Voice November-December 2002