New York City teachers were told that “jihad” means simply “struggle” — not holy war — in training sessions against “anti-Muslim bias” run by the Department of Education.
Educators even given the example that it could simply mean “my jihad to get fit” in a video seen by The Post, ignoring its history of being used to justify violence, including terrorism by groups such as Hamas, al Qaeda and ISIS.
A trainer from the DOE also told teachers that Sharia simply means religious observance and did not mention brutal punishment and persecution of women and minorities by Sharia regimes including the Taliban in Afghanistan.
One teacher said the webinar host ignored them when they messaged to say that the Encyclopedia Britannica definition of jihad included war.
Another compared the way it redefined language as “straight from the Joseph Goebbels handbook,” while a third said it was a brazen attempt to use semantics to avoid discussing Islamic extremism.
The webinar “Understanding Muslim Experiences and Combating Anti-Muslim Bias” was run by the city’s Commission on Human Rights for February 20, with teachers across the city invited to the voluntary event.
It was part of a series of anti-discrimination workshops launched in the wake of the October 7 Hamas massacre of hundreds of innocent Israelis.
One later this week will deal with antisemitism. The Post has reached out to the DOE for comment.
“The literal meaning of Jihad is ‘struggle’ or ‘great effort’. Jihad is the Muslim concept of striving in the path of God,” the host said.
Examples she gave included, “My jihad to never settle short”; “My jihad to not judge people”; “My jihad to build friendships”; and “My jihad is to stay fit despite my busy schedule.”
A Jewish teacher who attended told The Post: “They are trying to normalize jihad but we have to address the elephant in the room; that for many radical Muslims it means violence.
“It’s a form of subliminal messaging and brainwashing. By changing the terminology it becomes easier to say and repeat, especially for children. It’s like genocide doesn’t mean genocide anymore and terrorist means freedom fighter.
“When someone hears a word like jihad they now associate it with a struggle to go to the gym rather than violence.
“How will they be able to spot dangerous and violent ideologies? The Department of Education is promoting this twisting of terminology.”
Another Jewish attendee said: “Jihad may literally mean struggle but it’s disingenuous to omit that it is commonly used to mean holy war and then to say that the media outlets who use it that way just control the narrative.”
The DOE referred The Post to the city’s Commission on Human Rights.
The webinar went on to discuss Sharia law.
The host said: “Sharia literally translates to ‘path of the watering well’. Sharia is overwhelmingly concerned with personal religious observance such as prayer and fasting and not with national laws.
“There is no official document, such as the ten commandments, that encapsulates Sharia. Sharia is personal religious and moral guidance for the vast majority of Muslims.”
But again it ignored the use of Sharia law in parts of the Middle East to justify for example Saudi Arabia’s former ban on women driving and current punishments including amputating convicted thieves’ hands, or Iran’s public hangings of opponents.
Most notoriously ISIS’s reign of terror saw gay people thrown from tall buildings and Americans beheaded.
Human rights groups have criticized Sharia law for violating the most basic rights.
The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Sharia is “incompatible with the fundamental principles of democracy.”
John L. Esposito, professor of Middle Eastern and religious studies at Georgetown University, said: “Jihad is a concept with multiple meanings, used and abused throughout Islamic history.
“Although it has always been an important part of the Islamic tradition, in recent years some Muslims have maintained that jihad is a universal religious obligation for all true Muslims to join the jihad to promote a global Islamic revolution.”
The webinar also discussed how to support Muslim colleagues. It advised that there should be “Culturally competent training for staff and administration,” “Dedicated prayer space and breaks for prayer,” “Accommodation for religious attire/growing out beard’ and a “Halal food option.”