Iraqi Researcher Ghalib Al-Shahbandar: Our Teaching of Islamic History Is Delusional

Iraqi researcher Ghalib Al-Shahbandar said that "if there is a crime in the curricula of the primary and junior high schools, it lies in the teaching of Islamic history." According to Al-Shahbandar, the history curricula are "delusional and exaggerated." "We should present the massacres and the injustice alongside the victories and the good deeds," he said, in an interview with the Iraqi Dijlah TV channel, which was posted on YouTube on May 6.

Ghalib Al-Shahbandar: If there is a crime in the curricula of the primary and junior high schools, it lies in the teaching of Islamic history. Do you know why? Because Islamic history is presented as if it is a piece of the heavens. It is all about stories of bravery, victories, and compassion, as if there has never been any blood, any killing, any Muslim oppressor... The history curricula in our eastern Arab schools are delusional and exaggerated. They present the history of Islam as a ray of light. They should present the good as well as the bad. We should present the massacres and the injustice alongside the victories and the good deeds. We should be credited for the [development] of Europe. If not for Andalusia and Averroes, Europe would not be Europe.

Interviewer: Sir, sir...

Ghalib Al-Shahbandar: But there were also massacres. This history has been eliminated from the school [curricula].

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