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Following are excerpts from interview with Egyptian cleric Miqdam Al-Khadhari, which aired on Al-Rahma/Al-Rawdha TV, on December 23, 2010:
Miqdam Al-Khadhari: This is a very important book, a textbook reader, which is an important school subject at Al-Azhar. In the general education system, it is known as the reading subject. Through it, the student is educated, he reads, and listens to the sheik. Let's see what Al-Azhar is teaching our sons in this subject...
Interviewer: Let's take, for example, the 11th grade...
Miqdam Al-Khadhari: We'll take 11th grade because it is the most important grade, in which the youths are at a crucial stage of their lives. Let's see what they are being taught at A-Azhar. This is the 2007-2008 reader for the 11th grade.
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After four or five chapters, the book moves to a topic with a large title, as clear as day: "The Treachery of the Jews."
Interviewer: Let's show it to the viewers.
Miqdam Al-Khadhari: It's the main title, not just a subhead – "The Treachery of the Jews." This title shows what the student is about to learn. It is not talking about something marginal. It's an important topic. I haven't seen any curriculum that presents this subject so explicitly. This is the curriculum of 2008. I'm not talking about something ancient. This is now! It's a textbook from this year or last year. It reads: "The Jews thought that they were the Chosen People..." It presents things very clearly.
Interviewer: That's the reader...
Miqdam Al-Khadhari: Right after "The Treachery of the Jews" – which takes up many pages, not just a word or two... It takes up six pages... The next title, right after "The Treachery of the Jews" – I think that the camera can show the title... I'd like you to read it, dear brothers... "Islamic Jihad and Its Various Forms." Right after "The Treachery of the Jews"... You should know that the textbook of jurisprudence also teaches these topics, and so does the textbook on the Hadith.
They teach these topics so that the student will be militarized when he graduates. After the 11th grade, he can move from Al-Azhar to a military academy. The young man graduates with this in his blood. "Islamic Jihad and Its Various Forms." I hope the camera can show it clearly.
Interviewer: Yes, it's clear. It's in the reader...
Miqdam Al-Khadhari: Look, when people want to know what their children are studying... This is Al-Azhar... The same Al-Azhar that opposed the British, fought the French, stood against the Tatars, and opposed the Crusader wars.
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