A voice recording of a talk given by a Wahhabi fundamentalist educator has revealed a secret program in Saudi government schools to convert Shi`ite students to Wahhabi doctrine. [Full Story in Arabic]



The recording, which was leaked to the internet, is in the voice of Ibrahim Al-Zayyat, a former teacher of religious education in the Ibn Al-Kathir Intermediate School in the Province City of Qatif. In the recording Al-Zayyat spews insults and obscenities against Shi`ite Muslims of the "Twelver" (or "Jaafari"), Isma`ili and Zaydi rites.

Al-Zayyat directed especially harsh invective against the judge of the ''Twelver'' Shi`ite Court in Qatif, Sheikh Abd Al-Rasul Al-Bayyabi, expressing his displeasure at working in the territories of ''the Rejectors" (Rafidis, a term of abuse directed against Shi`ites since the early years of the Shi`ite-Sunni split), and describing the Shi`ites as ''a society that does not know God, nor know the meaning of the testimony that 'there is no God but God.'"



And Al-Zayyat warned his listeners, who can be heard on the recording laughing from time to time in response to his continuous cursing and insulting of the Shi`ites, saying "I warn you against this people, that if one of them wants to approach you, he is a liar."



Al-Zayyat spoke sarcastically and mockingly of the students, teachers and director of the Ibn Kathir School in Qatif in which he previously worked, saying ''the people of Qatif are satisfied with putrid knowledge." And he claimed to be a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hasan, adding that he was not proud to have the Shi`ite Imam Hasan Al-Askari (the 11th imam of the 12 imams recognized by the Twelver Shi`ah) as one of his ancestors.



The most serious matter that he touched upon was the secret fundamentalist agenda being carried out with the agreement of the teachers of religion in the schools of the Shi`ite towns of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia with the goal of converting Shi`ite students to Sunnism. In this regard, he alleged that he succeeded in converting nine Shi`ite students to Sunnism after traveling with them to Mecca to perform the ''umrah'' (minor pilgrimage).



Zayyat extended his blessings to a number of senior Wahhabi clerics who are involved in this work in schools, and in particular to the most prominent of them, Sheikh Abdullah bin Jibreen and Sheikh Salman Al-Oadah, both of whom are notable and active anti-Shi`ite Wahhabi clerics.



It should be noted that Saudi Arabia does not permit non-Wahhabis to teach religion in government schools and universities.



It is not known precisely when the recording now circulating on the internet was made. To download the audio recording (in Arabic), follow this link.