Doc's Talk: The Real Perry/Aga Khan Curriculum Is Bad For Children

Saturday, September 10, 2011

The Real Perry/Aga Khan Curriculum Is Bad For Children

Pamela Geller

Last weekend the Thinker ran an article by Amil Imani and a blog by Andrew Bostom, both of which gave a stamp of approval to Rick Perry's public-school Islamic school curriculum. The only problem was that both Imani and Bostom were presenting a false argument. Neither Imani nor Bostom was actually evaluating the curriculum at all; rather, they were praising one individual teacher's lesson plan, not the actual curriculum. Thus Imani and Bostom were basing their entire argument about the curriculum upon an incorrect assumption. Stupefying.

The actual curriculum has been scrubbed entirely from the web after I first exposed it a couple of weeks back; not only has it been taken down, but the Google cache has been scrubbed as well. Clearly the Perry camp are embarrassed by the curriculum, or they wouldn't have resorted to this drastic measure to cover it up. They know what the real curriculum is, and they reveal that knowledge by this action. Here are some of the elements of the program that show it to be a whitewash of Islam:

Session One

The main reading is from Carl Ernst's Following Muhammad, the first three chapters. This book whitewashes Muhammad, saying that he "was, by all accounts, a charismatic person known for his integrity" (p. 85). Muhammad's exhortations to make war against unbelievers, his multiple marriages and child marriage, and other negative aspects of his biography are explained away or ignored entirely.
The curriculum directs participants to "consider Carl Ernst's statement, 'It is safe to say that no religion has such a negative image in Western eyes as Islam.'" Then it asks them: "Why is this so? How have political and economic relationships between the Middle East and Western Europe and the United States impacted perceptions of Islam, in the past and the present? How have they impacted perceptions of the 'West' among Muslims?" Note that participants are guided to see the "negative image" of Islam as the result of "political and economic relationships between the Middle East and Western Europe and the United States." No hint is given of the possibility that Islam might have a "negative image" in the West because of jihad conquests, institutionalized oppression of women and non-Muslims, and the like.
The curriculum quotes Edward Said, who ascribed all critical discussion of Islamic jihad and Islamic supremacism to racism and neo-colonialism, as warning that one should speak of "Islams rather than Islam," and warns that in dealing with Islam "one has entered an astoundingly complicated world." This invocation of Islam's complexity is frequently used to discourage those who point to the Qur'an's violent passages and Muhammad's exhortations to warfare as evidence of Islam's bellicose intentions. Yet Islamic jihadists routinely refer to this material with no hesitation based on Islam's "complexity."

Session Two

Readings for the session entitled "Muhammad through History" include Celebrating Muhammad: Images of the Prophet in Popular Muslim Poetry and The Miraculous Journey of Mahomet. It notes, correctly, that "for millions of Muslims around the world, the Prophet Muhammad has become the paradigm, or role model, who is worthy of being emulated." However, there is no hint whatsoever of how Muhammad, as a model to be emulated, has inspired jihad warriors and terrorists.
The common Islamic apologetic claim that Islam inspired all the greatest achievements of Western Judeo-Christian civilization appears in the assertion that "there is strong evidence to suggest that Muslim poetic accounts of the mi'raj, reaching Europe through the Arab courts in medieval Spain, inspired the Italian writer Dante to compose his famous work, The Divine Comedy." No mention is made of how Dante placed Muhammad in hell as a false prophet.

Session Three

This session on the Qur'an makes no mention whatsoever of the elements of the Qur'an that exhort Muslims to hate unbelievers and make war against them (98:6, 48:29, 47:4, 2:191, 4:89, 9:5, 9:29, 9:123, etc.). The text used is Michael Sells's Approaching the Qur'an: The Early Revelations, which doesn't even include the sections of the Qur'an that most directly and emphatically call for violence against non-Muslims.
The curriculum makes sure to point out that "believers point to this very perfection of the text as the proof of the prophethood of Muhammad," and that "for many, the notion that the Qur'an is inimitable, that is, no human could possibly have produced anything so perfect, proves that it had to be God who revealed this message to Muhammad." But it makes no mention of the text's designation of non-believers as "the most vile of created beings" (98:6), the warlike passages noted above, its call to beat disobedient women (4:34), and the like.

Session Four

This second session on the Qur'an tells participants to "discuss the role of the Qur'an in providing direction for an ethical life." Here again, no mention is made of the ways in which Islamic jihadists use the Qur'an's teachings to justify violence against and the subjugation of unbelievers.
The curriculum lists eight central themes of the Qur'an. Although there are well over 100 Qur'anic verses exhorting believers to jihad warfare, jihad does not make the list.

Session Five

This session on the Sunni/Shi'ite split and other sects in Islam fails to mention one salient point: Islamic law calls for the execution of heretics and apostates. This law has been the foundation for an extraordinary amount of bloodshed between adherents of various Muslim sects throughout history and today.

Session Six

This session dismisses as a "misconception" the idea that "Islam forbids music and representational art." It does not explain why so many Muslims, including the Taliban who destroyed the Bamiyan Buddhas, came to hold this "misconception."

Session Seven

Participants are asked, "What conditions in Baghdad encouraged such a vast array of discoveries and inventions?" But the readings give no hint of the fact that Jews and Christians in Baghdad actually accounted for the great majority of these inventions. See here for a full explanation.
Participants are also asked: "Why was there such an abundance of inventions and discoveries attributed to Muslims in Medieval times but not today?" This question guides students toward a discussion of the trumped-up and manipulative modern concept of "Islamophobia."
The curriculum states: "The religion that the Prophet Muhammad preached provided his followers an ethical and moral vision for leading a life of righteousness." Again, no mention is made of Muhammad's exhortations to hate and violence, his child marriage (which many Muslims consider exemplary behavior to imitate), and the like.
The curriculum states: "Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians, who were subjects of new Arab rulers, could maintain their religious practices provided they paid jizya, a tax in tribute in lieu of military service." It gives no hint of the institutionalized discrimination and humiliation that this dhimmi status involved.
The curriculum quotes Maria Rosa Menocal, the modern scholar most responsible for the myth of a tolerant, pluralistic Muslim Spain. It also discusses this tolerant Muslim Spain as a fact. In reality, however, Jews and Christians had a humiliating second-class status in Muslim Spain. When one Muslim ruler appointed a Jew as a local governor in Granada in 1066, the Muslims rioted and murdered four thousand Jews. The curriculum doesn't mention any of that.

Session Eight

The readings for this session again include Carl Ernst's Following Muhammad, as well as John Esposito's The Straight Path. Both are highly apologetic, one-sided works that give the reader little idea why Muslims would wage jihad or commit violence in the name of Islam. No works of other perspectives are included.
The curriculum blames the restriction of rights of Muslim women on European colonialism, ignoring the many Islamic texts and teachings that restrict women's rights.

Session Nine

The participants are again directed to read Carl Ernst and John Esposito, as well as another modern-day non-Muslim Islamic apologist, Charles Kurzman. No works of differing perspectives are presented.

When Imani first gave his blessing to the Perry curriculum, I wrote to him, asking him how he could sanction the Islamic whitewash. Imani replied:

To fight the enemy effectively you need to know everything you can about him. Universities, admittedly tend to be too liberal. Yet, as a whole they do their job of providing information. And universities such as Harvard and university of Texas are top universities. Their participation in providing balanced information about many aspects of Islam is bound to help in dealing with it.

How is Perry's whitewashed curriculum addressing Imani's concern about "knowing everything you can"? There is no mention of the 270 million victims of over a millennium of jihadi wars, land appropriations, cultural annihilations, and enslavements.

I disagree that such a curriculum can do any good. Disarming our children in what will be the struggle of their generation is the strategy of the enemy. We should not assist in our own destruction. And again, Imani never reviewed the actual curriculum, which was removed from the web after I exposed it. This is a disinformation campaign waged by our own people. But I took screenshots, and the whole thing can be found here. "Governor Perry," it says proudly, "was instrumental in getting this program off the ground." And also: "The curriculum for this project," it adds, "was developed at Harvard University and modified at the University of Texas at Austin"; the schoolteacher whose lesson plan Imani and Bostom relied on was just a participant in a teacher training program, not a developer of the curriculum.

Why is such an extensive curriculum about Islam being taught in our public schools at all? Is Christianity or Judaism being preached in Texas public schools as well?

The visceral reaction of the right-wing blogosphere to the exposure of the Aga Khan curriculum borders on Paulian madness. Imani and Bostom are just the latest exponents of the mad rush to anoint Perry without fully vetting him. Both Bostom and Imani were anxious to portray the Ismailis as peaceful. But in fact, Perry's Ismaili connection is more troubling for the Aga Khan's ties to terror state Syria than for the nature of the Ismailis as an obscure, tiny Muslim cult. As Robert Spencer said of Bostom's piece:

So let me get this straight: an obscure Ismaili intellectual decried "fanaticism," and therefore it is just fine that the Aga Khan invested $40 million in Syria, a state sponsor of terrorism? An obscure Ismaili intellectual decried "tyrannical government" in Islam, and therefore it is just fine that the Aga Khan curriculum for Texas schools, approved by Rick Perry, is a total whitewash of Islam and jihad, and relies on such compromised pseudo-academics as John Esposito and Carl Ernst?

The whitewash of Islam that the Aga Khan/Perry curriculum presents is pure Islamic supremacism. It is completely and utterly intellectually dishonest, and enormously harmful to our children. Ten years after the Japanese attacked us on December 7, 1941, the enemy was vanquished. Ten years after 9/11, it's almost as if we lost the war. They're writing the history books, they're whitewashing their evil deeds, and Perry and Co. are promoting it all. For Mr. Bostom to pass off such concerns about Rick Perry as "hysteria" eerily evokes the caterwauling opposition that Christopher Columbus suffered when he said that the world was not flat.

Would Amil Imani or Andrew Bostom enthusiastically support the actual Perry/Aga Khan curriculum being taught to their kids?

Page Printed from: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/../2011/09/the_real_perryaga_khan_curriculum_is_bad_for_children.html at September 10, 2011 - 03:58:40 AM CDT

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The IDF’s Minorities in Numbers and Pictures

In honor of IDF Diversity Week, we present diversity through numbers and pictures. Each year, more and more Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and immigrants from around the world take on the responsibility of defending Israel.

MUSLIMS:

Muslim Arab Israelis are not required to draft in the IDF, but there are many who volunteer. In 2013, there were over 200 Muslims serving in the IDF and over 300 in the reserves.

Bedouins:

Bedouins are nomadic Muslims who were in Israel when modern borders were set in place and are now considered Israeli citizens. They are not required to draft but a growing number choose to enlist. In 2012, there were over 1,400 Bedouin Muslim soldiers doing regular IDF service and almost 1,500 in the reserves.

Read more:http://www.idfblog.com/2014/02/27/truth-idf-numbers-pictures/#more-34027

Are you aware that in 2013, Middle class taxes go up-significantly?

In January of next year, the federal income tax rate for middle-class taxpayers is scheduled to rise from 25 percent to 28 percent, and the payroll tax is scheduled to rise from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent… This drives the marginal tax rate based on the aforementioned three taxes to 48.12 percent. Add in state and local property, corporate, excise, and other state and local taxes, and the percentage of each additional dollar that is taxed hovers around 50 percent… When half of each additional dollar earned is taxed away, taxpayers experience a disincentive to start businesses or expand existing ones. This leads to fewer jobs being created.

Why is HAMAS Inside Tampa Schools?

Clare Lopez

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendent, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker, Hassan Shibly, who is the Executive Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Tampa area.
More...

Did You Know... Ignoring the Call to Islam will Bring Jihad

‘Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing] that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword but through Da’wa.’
-- Yousef al-Qaradawi , Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader The Arabic word ‘Da’wa’ means the “call to Islam.” But do not think that Da’wa is the same thing as an invitation to an optional holiday event. The classical Islamic doctrine of jihad mandates that enemies must be given the opportunity to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax before it is permissible to attack them.
Clare M. Lopez

Who is being discriminated-facts tell the truth

Religious bias

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,409 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-bias offenses showed:

65.4 percent were anti-Jewish.
13.2 percent were anti-Islamic.
9.5 percent were anti-other religion, i.e., those not specified.
4.3 percent were anti-Catholic.
3.8 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
3.3 percent were anti-Protestant.
0.5 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2010/narratives/hate-crime-2010-incidents-and-offenses.

On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview

with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a PLO executive, said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

The Arab Apartheid

Ben-Dror Yemini
In 1948, the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition proposal and they launched a war of annihilation against the State of Israel which had barely been established. All precedents in this matter showed that the party that starts the war - and with a declaration of annihilation, yet - pays a price for it. Between 550,000 and 710,000 Arabs fled because of the war and a larger number of 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries (the "Jewish nakba").
Population exchanges and expulsions were the norm at that time, occurring in dozens of other conflict points and affecting about 52 million people. In all the population exchange precedents that occurred during or at the end of an armed conflict, there was no return of refugees to the previous region, which had turned into a new national state.
Only the Arab states acted completely differently from the rest of the world. Instead of assimilating the refugees, they crushed them despite the fact that they were their coreligionists and members of the Arab nation - instituting a regime of apartheid. So the "nakba" was not caused by the actual dispossession, which had also been experienced by tens of millions of others. The "nakba" is the story of the apartheid, oppression, abuse and denial of rights suffered by the Arab refugees at the hands of the Arab countries. (Maariv)

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp

"Islamist fighting groups study the international laws of armed conflict carefully and they understand it well. They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses. Their very modus operandi is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, while these insurgents employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. "

Lost Historical Moments

What Rabin’s last Knesset speech really said:repudiation of a Palestinian state

Rabin ruled out a fully sovereign Palestinian state :

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.”

Rabin ruled out a total withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and thus a return to the pre-June 1967 borders :

“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin ruled out withdrawing form the Jordan Valley:

“The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”

Rabin ruled out uprooting settlement blocs, like the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza (which was subsequently uprooted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon):

“The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

AND

Rabin ruled out removing any settlement before coming to a full peace agreement with the Palestinians:

“I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”

Rabin insisted on Israel retaining full security control of the borders with Egypt and Jordan, contrary to Israel’s relinquishment of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt:

“The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in our hands.”

Correcting Oslo Myths-Part 2

3) Kuttab laments that the post-1993 Oslo process resulted in a Palestinian Authority "whose ministers and legislators are not guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank ...."

Before free passage or other perquisites, PA leaders were obligated, among other things, to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement in schools, mosques, and communications media, and resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful negotiations. They met none of these commitments, sometimes bolstering terrorism and greatly increasing incitement.

4) Kuttab complains that under Oslo the PA got "lightly armed police ---- but no real sovereignty over the land or contiguity between our communities in Gaza and the West Bank."

Oslo agreements repeatedly were revised, regardless of Palestinian non-compliance, until the authorized number of police grew from 8,000 to 40,000. Though they were to be the only armed forces in the territories, Israeli estimates early in the second intifada put the number of gunmen - police, "security services," terrorists, and armed gangs - at 85,000. Their armament reportedly included not only heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Sovereignty was to be negotiated in the envisioned 1998 "final status" talks - after a five-year period of confidence-building. Palestinian leadership chronically undermined the process. Palestinian terrorism made the 1993 - 1998 Oslo period more deadly for Israelis than the 15 years preceding it.

The United States doesn't have contiguity between the lower 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii; territorial contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip - that is, through the 20 miles of Israeli territory between them - was never promised and would destroy Israeli contiguity.

5) "Palestinians have been made to endure hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank, an eight-foot wall deep in our territories, and tight Israeli control over borders."

The security barrier is not "deep in Palestinian territories," but rather encompasses less than 8 percent of Judea and Samaria, and is mostly a fence, rarely a wall; the land in question is not "our [Palestinian] territories" but disputed territory to which, according to the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, Jews as well as Arabs have claims; and there are no international borders, only the 1949 armistice lines with Jordan. Under 242, borders remain to be negotiated. As for checkpoints - like the security barrier and "tight Israeli control" - Palestinian Arabs precipitated these measures themselves. No terrorism and there would be no fence or tight Israeli control and few checkpoints - like before the first intifada.

Correcting Some Oslo Myths

1) In Oslo "Israeli, Palestinian and other world leaders promised that ... Palestinian sovereignty would be solidified."

No, they didn't. The 1993 Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo agreements outlined a process by which final status negotiations about the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be reached. The process required an end to anti-Israel terrorism and incitement and a commitment to peaceful negotiations. The PA, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups, sabotaged the process from the start.

2) "The reality is that, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to occupy land by force, Palestinian territories are still under foreign military occupation."
Wrong again. Resolution 242 (1967) does note "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war." It also affirms the right of every state in the area "to live in peace with secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." There were no "Palestinian territories." Jordan occupied the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza. Israel did not have "secure and recognized boundaries," so retention of some of those territories was possible under 242. Israel is not a "foreign" military occupier in the West Bank but, pending final negotiations, the lawful military administrator as a result of a successful war of self-defense.

Doc's Talk