"Kill the infidels... Count them in number and do not spare one." Blatant religious incitement of this sort feels like such a caricature of radical Islam that it borders on the implausible. Yet it is happening right under the noses of six prestigious American universities on their satellite campuses in Qatar.

Although this incitement violates aprominent pledge by Qatar's government to the U.S. administration, President Obama gave Qatar's Emir Tamim a free pass on the issue after they met in Riyadh on Thursday. Their one-on-one meeting was on the sidelines of a U.S.-Gulf summit, following which the President signed onto ajoint communique that said America "commended" the Gulf states for their efforts to combat terrorism. Among these, it praised "actions by Gulf partners to counter ISIL's hateful ideology and message, and more broadly to counter violent extremism."

Yet there can be no more pivotal component to the Islamic State's hateful ideology than its call to murder infidels. Thus, even if President Obama has chosen to give the Qatari regime an undeserved A+ report card on combating religious incitement, legislators who represent these public and private American schools must urgently speak out. Similarly, conscientious students, faculty, and other community members at these schools should spread the word and stand up in opposition to this dangerous new development on campus.

["Northwestern University in Qatar's Entrance located in Education City, Doha";Source: Wikipedia]

These particular hateful remarks about killing infidels weredelivered on March 18th by preacher Mudassir Ahmed at the main mosque in Education City - a project of thequasi-governmental Qatar Foundation. The sprawling Education City campus, located not far from downtown Doha, is also home to satellite programs for Virginia Commonwealth, Cornell, Georgetown, Northwestern, Carnegie Mellon, and Texas A&M Universities. Since the mosque was inaugurated last year, the Foundation haspromoted aslew ofappearances there byspeakerswith records ofreligious incitement.

The Foundation's newspaperregularly encouragesreaders to "join the QF community for prayer" at the Education City Mosque and to "avail the services of the Education City buses to and from the mosque." The Foundation's Housing and Residence Life officereportedly emailed students to inform them that the mosque's Friday sermons would be translated into English "to ensure that everyone is benefiting." As for hate preacher Mudassir Ahmed in particular, the Foundation promoted his sermon in advance on social media,posting andreposting a flier with its logo as well as that of Qatar's Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs.

That sermon, however, was not the first time incitement was uttered from the Education City Mosque. Last November, less than a week beforeMichelle Obama visited Doha to address a conference at the Foundation, Saudi preacher Tareq al-Hawasused its pulpit to condemn "the aggressor Zionists," urging God to "count them in number and kill them completely; do not spare one." And just this month, a different preacher with arecord of glorifying Hamas (including specifically itsmilitary wing)called at the campus's mosque for God to "render victorious our brothers the mujahideen... in every place" and even to "guide their shooting."

Such language should not have come as a surprise. Ahmed had deliveredsimilar remarks in a 2013 sermon at Qatar's state-controlled Grand Mosque, where another preachercalled just last year for Allah to "destroy" Christians, Alawites, Shi'ites and Jews. Also in 2013, Hawas reportedlylamented on air that Hitler had not "finished off" the Jews, thus "relieving humanity" of them. And in spite of Hawas's 2015 incitement at the Education City Mosque, he was just invited back, delivering additionalmilitaristic remarks there onMarch 11th, just one week before Ahmed's outrageous appearance.

In fact, every Friday preacher at the mosque this March has had a distinguished past record of religious incitement. Omar Abdelkafi, whoaddressed the mosque on March 25th, is an Egyptian fundamentalist who recentlydeclared that the Charlie Hebdo murders in Paris were "the sequel to the comedy film of 9/11," in which Muslims "played no part." He also seems to haveinstructed pious Muslims not to shake hands with Christians or even walk on the same sidewalk.

And on March 4th, the Education City Mosquehosted Mohammedal-Arefe, a prominent hardliner from Saudi Arabia withmore followers on Twitter thanBeyoncé. In the past, Arefe has reportedlydescribed Shi'ite Muslims as purveyors of "treachery" and "evil," and in2013 as "non-believers who must be killed" according to Human Rights Watch. He has allegedlyoffered tips on wife-beating,called Osama bin Laden a "sheikh," andproclaimed that "one's devotion to jihad for the sake of Allah and one's will to shed blood, smash skulls, and chop off body parts... constitute an honor for the believer."

This was not the first timeany of these fourpreachers was permitted todeliver a guest sermon at the Education City Mosque. Nor are they its only speakers with a record of hate speech. When the facility was inaugurated a year ago, the Foundation misleadinglyproclaimed that it reflected a "strong commitment" to pluralism.

Yet the mosque's guest preacher for that very event was Saudi cleric Saleh al-Moghamsy, who had previouslyopined on Qatari TV that bin Laden died with more dignity than any Christian, Jew, Zoroastrian, apostate, or atheist simply by virtue of being a Muslim. Moghamsy has also asserted that God created women as an "ornament" to men. Another guest preacher at the mosque has previouslydeclared that "the dumbest girl is that who judges her beauty with the number of those who molest her. This poor idiot girl does no [sic] know that flies fall only on stinking things."

["Skyline of Doha at Night";Source: Wikipedia]

Freedom of speech is a touchstone of the American academy, and freedom of religion is a fundamental American value enshrined in the Bill of Rights. But that doesn't mean these six U.S. universities should remain silent in the face of such blatant hate speech. President Obama missed a real opportunity to make clear that Qatar's embrace of such hate preachers violates its2014 pledge to aid the fight against the Islamic State by "repudiating their hateful ideology." Even the Emir himself hasembraced several such hate preachers in the past year. And providing prestigious platforms to those who advocate killing infidels would seem to be a rather blatant violation of that 2014 pledge.

Further, if these six American colleges turn a blind eye to the problem, they would convey the impression that they care more about Gulf petrodollars than creating a tolerant atmosphere for female students and religious minorities, for whom such incitement could pose even a physical danger on campus. The U.S. universities with programs in Qatarreportedly receive a combined $320 million a year from the Qatar Foundation to sustain their campuses in the energy-rich city state. Cornell alone reportedlyreceives an astonishing yearly outlay of $122 million.

Of course, such generous, recurring payments give school administrators a powerful incentive to remain silent about the revolving door of hate preachers at the Education City Mosque. But improving the selection of these guest preachers would actually make U.S.-Qatari education programming more sustainable by removing one of the biggest potential obstacles to continued cooperation.

Regardless, these schools may have no choice in the matter. Their students and faculty have alreadybegun to raiseconcerns about systematiclabor abuses in Qatar, as well aspotential risks to academic inquiry in a nation that throws people in jail for insultingreligion or theruler.

There are many more people of good conscience in student government, campus groups, faculty bodies, and university boards who would be shocked to learn about the appalling promotion of hate speech inside Qatar's glittering Education City. They can and should let their voices be heard.

-This article, originally scheduled for posting today, was incorrectly posted on Friday, April 29th. No changes have been made.