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Islamic
Indoctrination in American Classrooms
Dear James,
By
Adrian Morgan
FamilySecurityMatters.org
The First Amendment to the US federal
constitution was written in 1789, and was ratified by the States in
1791. It states: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment
of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the
freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably
to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of
grievances." The interpretation of the First Amendment and in particular
its first clause, referred to as the "Establishment of Religion" or
"Establishment" clause, has a direct bearing on how federally- funded
public schools can teach religion. Alan Brownstein, a constitutional law
expert from the University of California at Davis' School of Law states:
"From a constitutional perspective, schools can't teach the truth or
falsity of religious belief, and atheism would fall in that parameter."
Public schools can teach about
religions, but can neither denigrate one religion nor promote another.
When 9/11 happened, children were confronted with the spectacle of
Muslim terrorism on their TV screens. Sadly, for children growing up in
America, their understanding of why Islamic terrorism takes place is not
likely to be explained at school. There are "problematic" verses in the
Koran, advocating violence against "unbelievers". These include Sura
8:12: "I am with you: give firmness to the Believers: I will instill
terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers: smite ye above their necks
and smite all their finger-tips off them."
Sura 3:151 states: "Soon shall We cast terror into the hearts of the
Unbelievers, for that they joined companions with Allah, for which He
had sent no authority: their abode will be the Fire: And evil is the
home of the wrong-doers!" Sura 9:25 declares: "But when the forbidden
months are past, then fight and slay the Pagans wherever ye find them,
and seize them, beleaguer them, and lie in wait for them in every
stratagem (of war); but if they repent, and establish regular prayers
and practice regular charity, then open the way for them: for Allah is
Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful."
Sura 9:29 states: "Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last
Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His
Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of
the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing
submission, and feel themselves subdued." (Jizya was a tax which
non-Muslims had to pay to their Muslim overlords).
The First Amendment was originally designed to prevent the conflicts
which (Christian) religion had caused in Europe. Now, it is being
employed by the politically correct to present an anodyne and inaccurate
portrayal of Islam in US public schools. Sura 4:34 specifically states
that a husband has the right to bea t his wife if she is not submissive.
Problematic Suras such as this are not likely to even be mentioned in
public schools, for fear of being seen to break the terms of the First
Amendment by "denigrating" Islam.
Already schools in America are being taken to task by Muslim activists
who perceive that their religion is not treated with enough "respect".
In December 2006 Baltimore County School Board in Maryland was accused
of inaccuracy in its teaching of Islam. The claim was made by Bash
Pharoan, who is president of the local American Arab Anti-Discrimination
Committee and head of Baltimore County Muslim Council.
Pharoan was complaining about resource sheets given to students in
seventh and tenth grade. He has been whining for three years that the
sheets do not show respect to Mohammed, founder of Islam, because they
merely call him "Mohammed." "Omitting the word prophet is
disrespectful", Pharoan claimed.
He also objected to the description in the resource sheets of "jihad".
He accepted that the sheets refer to its meaning as "struggle" but
objected to the statement: "Muhammad justified his attacks to his
followers by explaining that to weaken those who opposed the spread of
God's word was a virtue, and that those who fell in battle would be
rewarded in heaven. Thus the idea of the jihad became the holy war of
the Muslims against 'the unbelievers."
The issue of how Islam is taught in schools has become a political hot
potato. In California one school, the Excelsior Elementary, took its
teaching of Islam to seventh graders to extremes. School pupils were
made to dress up in Islamic clothing, to memorize Koranic verses and
even to fast during their lunch hour to mimic Muslim behavior during
Ramadan. The Five Pillars of Islam were to be learned, pupils were
encouraged to say "Allahu Ackbar" and using dice, the children played a
"jihad game". The materials employed at the school stated: "From the
beginning, you and you r classmates will become Muslims."
The games were neither new, nor exclusive to Excelsior. In 1994 the
Joseph Kerr Junior High School in Elk Grove, California displayed a
banner stating "There is one God, Allah, and Mohammed is his prophet"
while children ran around in Islamic garb. In summer of 2002, Byron
Union School District, which governs Excelsior, became subject of a
lawsuit. This suit was brought by the Thomas More Law Center (TMLC),
based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Richard Thompson, President and Chief Counsel of the Law Center said of
the Islamic sessions at Excelsior: "No federal court would have
permitted a class where public school students were taught to 'become
Catholics' for three weeks, selected a saint's name, wore identification
tags that displayed their new name and a Crucifix, and engaged in
Catholic religious practices. Here, however, students were subjected to
Islamic religious indoctrination and propaganda and the courts turned a
blind eye . The Supreme Court missed an opportunity to demonstrate that
the Establishment Clause is to be applied the same to all religions and
is not just a weapon to be used only against Christians."
On 10 December 2003 U.S. District Judge Phyllis Hamilton issued a 22
page ruling which claimed that Excelsior was not violating the
constitution as it was not indoctrinating students into Islam. TMLC
pointed out that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled the words
"under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance to be unconstitutional in 2002.
The simulations of Islam as practiced by Excelsior Elementary School
were recommended in a textbook published by Houghton Mifflin, entitled
"Across the Centuries". The publishers have defended this book, claiming
one major critic had not read the book. William J. Bennetta of the
Textbook League has read the book, and still condemns it. "Across the
Centuries" is one of several controversial text books available in US
schools.
The book "Across the Centuries" was republished after it was reviewed by
Susan L. Douglass, an American-born Muslim who works for the Council of
Islamic Education (CIE) which was founded in 1990. She is also
associated with the International Institute of Islamic Thought, whose
president declared that jihad was the only way to liberate Palestine.
CIE describes Douglass as "an American-born Muslim social studies
educator and author, with experience in teaching, curriculum and
instructional design. She has a Master's Degree in Arab Studies
(History) from Georgetown University and a B.A. in History from the
University of Rochester. Ms. Douglass is an independent consultant who
has served as CIE's principal researcher and writer, contributing to
projects involving textbook review, analysis of curriculum and
standards, teacher training, and development of supplementary
materials."
For nearly a decade, up until 2003, Douglass taught at the Saudi-funded
Islamic Saudi Academy in Alexandria, Virginia. In 1993 the Islamic
Assembly published "Answers to Common Questions to New Muslims." In this
a question was posed: "Now that I am Muslim, can I keep my non-Muslim
friends that I have known all my life?" The answer was given: "You
should try to remain away from mixing with non-Muslims because mixing
with them removes your religious zealousness and pride from your heart
and may lead you to having love and compassion in your heart for them.
...it is obligatory upon a Muslim to be free of the people of infidelity
and to hate them for the sake of Allah."
The agendas of those who maintain that religions are discriminated
against should always be examined. Bash Pharoan, who maintains that
Baltimore County School Board is not respectful of Islam, has demanded
that Jewish school holidays be banned. This move was made in June 2006
after his three-year campaigns to have the Muslim holidays of Eid
al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha introduced into school calenda rs was not
accepted. He described his vindictive proposal thus: "This issue is
about equality, about equity."
On June 13, 2006, the school board ruled that there would not be
official Muslim holidays. The reasons were purely financial. There are
very few Muslim students and teachers, and the Baltimore County School
Board already allows these to stay at home on their holidays. Only when
more teachers in the county were taking Muslim holidays (with substitute
teachers costing $59.66 to $103.05 per day) would these holidays become
universal. Bash Pharoan, unable to get his own way, then argued that
there should be no religious holidays for anyone.
A similar situation arose in 2005 in Hillsborough county in Florida.
Here the politicking was manipulated by Ahmed Bedier of the Council on
American Islamic Relations (CAIR). In October 2005, Hillsborough County
School Board approved a calendar for 2006 to 2007 which had removed
holidays for Yom Kippur and Good Friday. S ince December 2004, Bedier
had argued that Eid al-Fitr should be included as an official school
holiday. On November 8, the school board took another vote, and
religious holidays were reinstated, though with no Eid holiday. Bedier
said: "I'm disappointed but I'm satisfied. We're back at square one. If
others are getting their holidays, it gives us hope we'll get ours as
well someday."
Issues of holidays are trivial compared to the material which purports
to educate students about Islam. If such material is of itself biased,
then the primary duty of education is undermined. In 2004, Georgetown
University hosted a seminar for teachers, federally funded under Title
VI of the Higher Education Act. The university (already a recipient of
$20 million from Saudi Prince Alaweed Bin Talal to "educate" the West
about Islam) is one of 18 centers of learning that provide resources to
educationalists.
Among the study materials on offer is the "Arab World Studies Notebook",
wh ich makes some bizarre claims, such as Muslims arrived in the
Americas before Columbus and spread through the Caribbean and into
Canada. This preposterous claim was later removed, but other contentious
passages remained, including comments suggesting Jews have no claim to
Israel. The book is edited by Audrey Shabbas, who has hosted more than
268 seminars for teachers in 155 cities since 1987. A joint publisher of
the book is Dar al Islam, based in New Mexico. According to JTA, Susan
L. Douglass is an associate of Dar al Islam's Teachers Institute.
Books which promote Islamic radicalism have made their way into school
districts through donations. In 2001, the Omar Ibn Khatab Foundation
made a donation of 300 Korans, entitled "The Meaning of the Holy Quran",
to Los Angeles city school district. In 2002, these copies of the Koran
had to be removed, as it was found that they contained anti-Semitic
footnotes, such as: "The Jews in their arrogance claimed that all wisdom
and all knowledge of Allah was enclosed in their hearts. Their claim was
not only arrogance but blasphemy."
The public schools in America are partially protected from Islamist
indoctrination by the First Amendment. Though imperfectly applied and
interpreted, the Establishment Clause prohibits religious indoctrination
from entering the classroom. Through the efforts of Susan L Douglass and
the Council of Islamic Education, a biased assessment of Islam is
entering public schools via textbooks produced by mainstream publishers.
The extreme and uncompromising form of Islam known as Wahhabism is still
being taught in the numerous Saudi-funded schools that exist in North
America. Being independent of the US government, such establishments are
not subject to the terms of the Establishment Clause. The Saudi-funded
Islamic Academy in Virginia, where Susan L. Douglass formerly taught,
has already produced three graduates who were jailed in 2002 on
suspicion of planning a terro rist act.
Parents should make themselves aware of what their children are being
taught about Islam in school. Demand to see study sheets. Demand a list
of approved textbooks, and check these out in your local library. Talk
to teachers, principals, or write to your local school board. If you
think your child is being indoctrinated, write to your Congress
representative. You have a Constitution which prevents religious
indoctrination by government bodies. For this privilege you should feel
fortunate.
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