Don't miss "Corruption in our children's
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'Become a Muslim Warrior'
Posted with permission by Daniel Pipes, PhD
You must obtain permission from Dr. Pipes to repost
by Daniel Pipes
Jerusalem Post
July 2, 2002
http://www.danielpipes.org/article/430
"Become a Muslim warrior during the crusades or during an ancient jihad."
Thus read the instructions for seventh graders in Islam: A Simulation of
Islamic History and Culture, 610-1100, a three-week curriculum produced by
Interaction Publishers, Inc. In classrooms across the United States,
students who follow its directions find themselves fighting mock battles
of
jihad against "Christian crusaders" and other assorted "infidels." Upon
gaining victory, our mock-Muslim warriors "Praise Allah."
Is this a legal activity in American public schools? Interaction says it
merely urges students to "respect Islamic culture" through identification
with Islam. But the Thomas More Law Center, a public-interest law firm
based in Michigan, disagrees and last week filed a federal lawsuit to
prohibit one school district, in Byron, California, from further using the
Interaction
materials on Islam.
The Interaction unit contains many other controversial elements. It has
students adopt a Muslim name ("Abdallah," "Karima," etc.). It has them
wear
Islamic clothing: For girls this means a long-sleeved dress and the head
covered by a scarf. Students unwilling to wear Islamic clothes must sit
mutely in the back of the class, seemingly punished for remaining
Westerners. Interaction calls for many Islamic activities: taking off
shoes, washing hands, sitting on prayer rugs, and practicing Arabic
calligraphy.
Students study the Koran, recite from it, design a title page for it, and
write verses of it on a banner. They act out Islam's Five Pillars of
Faith,
including giving zakat (Islamic alms) and going on the pilgrimage to
Mecca.
They also build a replica of the "sacred Kaaba" in Mecca or another holy
building.
It goes on. Seventh graders adopt the speech of pious believers, greeting
each other with "assalam aleikoom, fellow Muslims" and using phrases such
as "God willing" and "Allah has power over all things." They
pronounce the militant Islamic war-cry, Allahu akbar ("God is great.")
They must even adopt Muslim mannerisms: "Try a typical Muslim gesture
where the right hand moves solemnly... across the heart to express
sincerity."
In the same pious spirit, the curriculum presents matters of Islamic faith
as historical fact. The Kaaba, "originally built by Adam," it announces,
"was later rebuilt by Abraham and his son Ismail." Really? That is Islamic
belief, not verifiable history. In the year 610, Interaction goes on,
"while
Prophet Muhammad meditated in a cave ... the angel Gabriel visited him"
and revealed to him God's Message" (yes, that's Message with a capital
"M.") The curriculum sometimes lapses into referring to "we" Muslims and
even prompts students to ask if they should "worship Prophet Muhammad,
God, or both."
The Thomas More Law Center is absolutely correct: This simulation
blatantly
contradicts Supreme Court rulings which permit public schools to teach
about religion on condition that they do not promote it. Interaction
openly
promotes the Islamic faith, contrary to what a public school should do. As
Richard Thompson of the center notes, the Byron school district "crossed
way over the constitutional line when it coerced impressionable
12-year-olds to engage in particular religious rituals and worship,
simulated or not."
Islam: A Simulation serves as a recruitment tool for Islam, for children
adopting a Muslim persona during several weeks amounts to an invitation to
them to convert to Islam. (One can't but wonder did John Walker Lindh take
this course?) The educational establishment permits this infraction due to
an impulse to privilege non-Western cultures over Western ones. It never,
for example, would permit Christianity to be promoted in like fashion
("Become a Christian warrior during the crusades," for example.)
Militant Islamic lobbying groups want Islam taught as the true religion,
not
as an academic subject. They take advantage of this indulgence, exerting
pressure on school systems and on textbook writers. Not surprisingly,
Interaction Publishers thanks two militant Islamic organizations by name
(the Islamic Education and Information Center and the Council of Islamic
Education) for their "many suggestions."
Americans and other Westerners face a choice: They can insist that Islam,
like other religions, be taught in schools objectively. Or, as is
increasingly the case, they can permit true believers to design
instruction materials about Islam that serve as a mechanism for
proselytizing. The answer will substantially affect the future course of
militant Islam in the West.
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Read the outrageous
Court ruling by Judge Phyllis Hamilton [a Clinton appointee] authorizing
public schools to REQUIRE students to get on their hands and knees and pray
to Allah by memory along with any other practices of faith "in
demonstration." This ruling was upheld by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals
and the US Supreme Court refused to hear it, thus allowing it as setting
precedent, a tool used to uphold the decision in other states.
In
my opinion, this reduces our children to slaves, for only slaves are
reduced to "not believe" as they are forced to take the position and
pray to foreign gods. - Jen Shroder 11/27/2010
