Saudi Arabia has revised its national school textbooks, removing or moderating long-standing interpretations of hadith, Quranic verses and other passages that portrayed Jews and the LGBTQ+ community negatively. The changes also include revisions to maps in several textbooks, with the word “Palestine” removed from areas covering territory internationally recognized as part of Israel.
The curriculum changes are part of broader administrative and educational reforms under the kingdom’s Vision 2030 modernization strategy.
Among the material removed is a hadith concerning the end times that describes Muslims fighting and killing Jews.
The narration had previously appeared in Saudi educational materials but has now been dropped from the curriculum.
In social studies and history textbooks, terms such as “the Zionist enemy” have largely been replaced with more neutral descriptions, including “the Israeli occupation”.
The kingdom has also revised sections dealing with gender and sexual orientation, removing or moderating language that portrayed LGBTQ+ people negatively.
One notable change appears in a Grade 11 Islamic Studies textbook. Earlier editions asked students to explain why the Saudi government refused to legalese homosexuality. The lesson also described homosexuality as a “sexual perversion” and associated it with groups allegedly seeking to undermine Islam.
In the revised edition, the question and accompanying language have been removed, reflecting the broader changes being introduced to Saudi Arabia’s school curriculum.
