ABU DHABI – Gulf Arab states have agreed to reform Islamic education.

But the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council has not agreed on a uniform curriculum that would discourage Al Qaida ideology.

GCC officials said GCC education ministers discussed plans to reform Islamic education as part of a drive to stop the Islamic insurgency campaign in the region. The officials said the GCC ministers agreed to conduct a review of religious education and introduce changes.

"It's time to develop the syllabus of Islamic education," GCC secretary-general Abdul Rahman Al Attiyah said during the GCC meeting in Kuwait on Feb. 9. "This must be carried out by specialists among clerics, scholars and experts. I insist they must be moderates."

Officials said the education ministers adopted a resolution to develop methods of teaching Islamic education. They said this would include a review of textbooks.

The United States has urged GCC and other Arab League states to reform the Islamic curriculum to avoid encouraging hatred of non-Muslims and the West. So far, several countries, including Kuwait, have sought to revise textbooks to eliminate teachings that would encourage support for Al Qaida.

Saudi Arabia has refused to revise or replace textbooks. Instead, Saudi Arabia has called for reform in the teaching of the Koran and Islamic teachings.

"There is nothing wrong in the general framework of the religious curriculum," Saudi Education Minister Mohammed Al Rashid said. "But we are working to improve methods of teaching it. I affirm that school textbooks have no relation to terrorism. If education and school were related to the terrorist attacks, we would have all become terrorists."

But other GCC states appear to have pressed for comprehensive reforms. Officials said they included Bahrain and Qatar.

"Reform is an urgent matter in all fields and reforming Islamic education is a prerequisite for developing education as a whole," Al Attiyah, a Qatari national, said. "From my viewpoint, Islamic education should be limited to teaching religious duties."