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The curriculum documents not only referred to Jews in crude terms but also said “good Muslims” could not listen to music, that girls should limit their involvement in sports and that Islam was “the best and most perfect of all religions.”

In addition, the books said boys should exercise to be ready for jihad, which they said “sometimes also involves fighting a war against an unjust ruler” and quoted Muslim scripture that said “fighting (in the cause of Allah) is ordained unto you.”

The Level 3 curriculum asked students to color 10 boxes, each representing a branch of Islam. One of the boxes was labeled: Jihad. Another explained that jihad could be a personal struggle or “the physical defending of Islam in a war.”

But police traced the most contentious passages to books published by the Al Balagh Foundation in Iran and the Mostazafan Foundation of New York, an alleged front for the Iranian regime.

“The Iranian question was raised by investigators with Imam Rizvi to which he responded that it is not unreasonable for some of the literature sourced by the Shia community to have its origins in Iran,” the police report said, adding the city of Qom was like the Vatican for Shia Muslims.

“Although Imam Rizvi’s statement has some merit, further investigation reveals that while the Iranian connection is ancillary as mentioned earlier in the introduction it cannot be dismissed, as The Islamic Republic of Iran is a theocratic Islamic State with the current leader, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on public record stating, ‘Death to Israel,’” police wrote.

York police said the hate crimes investigation had forced them to stray beyond their traditional law enforcement function “into an educator’s role to determine what is acceptable to teach young Canadians from a religious perspective,” the report said.

“What needs clarification is the degree to which we tolerate the exposure of young impressionable minds to the promotion of a belief or ideology while it denigrates other communities or faiths.”

National Post

sbell@nationalpost.com