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ANDREI RUBLEV PAGE 3

ISLAMIST ORGANIZATIONS USE PUBLIC TELEVISION TO MARKET SHARIA LAW TO AMERICAN YOUTH
ANDREI RUBLEV PAGE 3

For Most Americans who regularly watch the news, the term “Sharia law” evokes gruesome images of beheadings, punitive amputations, and women being stoned to death. Muslims who do not approve of the cruelty and misogyny that is often associated with Sharia have two legitimate options for dissociating these practices from Islam. They can either reject Sharia law altogether (much like modern day Judaism no longer proscribes Mosiac law), or they can at least demand that the egregious human rights violations that are currently associated with Sharia be declared forever obsolete.
A high school teaching module prepared by the Council on Islamic Education titled “What is Sharia?” rejects the first option by describing Sharia as the "centerpiece and backbone” of Islam 1. It ignores the second option by failing to make any reference whatsoever to the barbarism and misogyny that is currently associated with Sharia law. Despite this appalling oversight, students are expected to explain significance of the five major schools of Islamic law, list the fields of knowledge required for a qualified Muslim jurist, and learn a total of no less than 21 legal terms. In an era when college professors are lamenting the lack of basic knowledge of modern-day high school graduates, it is amazing that anyone should remotely consider supplementing their social studies curricula with so much arcane minutia.
This particular module comprises only 1 out of 29 that the CIE has presented under the auspices of “The Islam Project,” which the Boston Herald describes as an educational and interfaith initiative designed to dovetail with the PBS documentary "Muhammad: The Legacy of a Prophet" 2, 3. Since the Sharia module avoids the issue of Sharia-related human rights abuses, one might expect these issues to be addressed in other modules like “Human Rights and Religious Tolerance in Islam and in the French and American Enlightenment Traditions.” Don’t hold your breath.
The “Human Rights” module draws “analogies” between Islam and the Enlightenment 4. Quotes from the Jefferson Memorial and the “Rights of Man” are chosen to represent the American and French traditions (Handouts 2 and 3). Quotes from the Quran and Hadith are used to represent the Islamic tradition (Handout 1). The Islamic quotes in Handout 1 are organized under three sections. They include “universal human rights, social justice, and religious tolerance.” The first two categories include passages that stress the importance of moderation, the weighing of good and bad deeds, charity, honesty, honoring one’s parents, respecting property rights, and repressing jealousy. The Enlightenment quotes from Handouts 2 and 3 address freedom of religion, freedom of the press, equality before the law, separation of powers, fair taxation, government accountability, and the government’s duty to respect the general will of the people.
In effect, the quotes in Handout 1 consist almost exclusively of guidelines for improving personal and social behavior. In contrast, the quotes in Handouts 2 and 3 outline safeguards for preventing tyranny (what most Americans recognize as “human rights”). This stark contrast should be obvious to any thoughtful adult. How will this register on the mind of a high school student? How will these students define human rights after being required to compare apples and oranges?
Most relevant to the issue of human rights in Islam is the section in Handout 1 containing Quranic quotes that promote religious tolerance. Foremost is the quote “There is no compulsion in religion” Q 2:256. This section also includes passages that acknowledge the legitimacy of Christianity and Judaism such as the following:
"Those who believe (in the Qur'an) those who follow the Jewish (Scriptures) and the Sabians and the Christians any who believe in Allah and the Last Day and work righteousness on them shall be no fear nor shall they grieve." Q 5:69
But other verses from the same chapter denounce some of Christianity’s core beliefs 5. These verses are not in the handout:
“They do blaspheme who say: ‘Allah is Christ the son of Mary.’ But said Christ: ‘O Children of Israel! worship Allah, my Lord and your Lord.’ Whoever joins other gods with Allah,- Allah will forbid him the garden, and the Fire will be his abode. There will for the wrong-doers be no one to help.” Q 5:72
“They do blaspheme who say: Allah is one of three in a Trinity: for there is no god except One Allah. If they desist not from their word (of blasphemy), verily a grievous penalty will befall the blasphemers among them.” Q 5:73
Later, in this chapter condemnation is re-directed towards Jews:
“Curses were pronounced on those among the Children of Israel who rejected Faith, by the tongue of David and of Jesus the son of Mary: because they disobeyed and persisted in excesses.” Q 5:78
“Strongest among men in enmity to the believers wilt thou find the Jews and Pagans; and nearest among them in love to the believers wilt thou find those who say, ‘We are Christians’: because amongst these are men devoted to learning and men who have renounced the world, and they are not arrogant.” Q 5:82
Earlier in the chapter, Muslims are advised not to befriend Christians and Jews:
“O ye who believe! take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors: They are but friends and protectors to each other. And he amongst you that turns to them (for friendship) is of them. Verily Allah guideth not a people unjust.” Q 5:51
Numerous quotes to this effect can be found in Q 3:28, Q 4:144, and Q 48:29. At best, the Quran offers mixed messages with regards to Christians and Jews, but for those leaving Islam the promise of Hellfire in the Koran is unwaivering Q 2:217, Q 3:86, Q 4:137, Q 9:67, Q 16:106. Although to its credit, the Quran does not proscribe earthly punishment for those who leave Islam, the Hadiths compiled by Sahih Bukhari contain a whole section titled “Dealing with Apostates” 6. Here is a key sample:
"Whoever changed his Islamic religion, then kill him." Bukhari vol. 9 #57
In a letter by Thomas Jefferson titled “"A Summary View of the Rights of British America" (available in Handout 2) he states, “I am certainly not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions. But laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind.” Fortunately for the CIE, most high school students are not sophisticated enough to see the irony in reading this statement as part of a lesson plan that places early medieval scriptures for overcoming tribal animosities on the same level with laws and ideals that represent the culmination of centuries of reasoning and painful soul-searching following the Renaissance and the Reformation. Nor are they likely to know that even today, apostasy is a capital offense in Saudi Arabia, and that vigilante attacks on apostates throughout the world compel many ex-Muslims to hide their change of heart, even in America.
Finally, another module titled “Women’s Rights and Marriage in Islam” does touch upon the issue of human rights violations specific to the Muslim world 7. These next two passages from articles written by Lois Lamya' al-Faruqi and Azizah Yahia al-Hibri in Handout 2 address the issue of misogyny. Predictably, the West gets much of the blame:
“As far as Muslim women are concerned, the source of any difficulties experienced today is not Islam and its traditions, but certain alien ideological intrusions on our societies, ignorance, and distortion of the true Islam, or exploitation by individuals within the society.”Here is Q 4:34 in its entirety 5:
"Men are the protectors and maintainers of women because Allah has given the one more (strength) than the other and because they support them from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient and guard in absence what Allah would have them guard. As to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (Next), refuse to share their beds, (And last) beat them (lightly); but if they return to obedience, seek not against them Means (of annoyance): For Allah is Most High, great (above you all) ."
Other translations do not usually include the word “lightly,” but that is beside the point. Subjection to any kind of beating is degrading to any adult, and extirpating this portion of Q 4:34 goes way beyond conventional forms of cherry picking.
Taken together, these modules prepared by the CIE represent a despicable shell game, where the issue of Sharia-related human rights abuses is dissociated completely from the “Sharia” module, turning up only as a “ideological intrusions” in the “Women’s Rights” module. Furthermore, the definition of human rights is expanded in the “Human Rights” module to the point where it is rendered almost meaningless.
Were this the work of an obscure organization whose work goes unacknowledged in the public sector, these lesson plans would be little more than a source of amusement. Unfortunately, the influence of the CIE is felt in middle and high school social studies textbooks across America 10, 11. Its staff also offers workshops for training public school teachers in America and the CIE’s principle writer, Susan Douglass also works for the “Dar al Islam Teacher’s Institute,” a New Mexico-based organization that provides free 12-day summer training sessions for secondary school teachers 12, 13, 14.
Eight other modules on the Islam Project website (out of a total of 37) were prepared by individuals not necessarily associated with the CIE. A module titled “Shari'ah: An Islamic Law Simulation” by Joan Brodsky Schur is perhaps more malignant than any product the CIE ever made available to the American public. In this simulation, students play the roles of judges, claimants, and defendants. Those playing judges are expected to “pass judgment” after consulting a variety of Islamic sources. According to the teacher’s guide that accompanies “American Muslim Teens Talk,” Ms. Schur’s online lessons appear on the Web sites of the National Archives and PBS. Given that her interest in Islam began after she attended the aforementioned “Dar al Islam Teacher’s Institute” in 1998, the pernicious influence of these teacher workshops should not be underestimated 15, 16.
It should be clear to any competent educator that the Islam Project has overstepped its stated agenda of merely clearing up “fear and misunderstandings” about Islam in the wake of 9/11. They are using his as an excuse for marketing Sharia to America’s most vulnerable citizens, thereby making America safe for Sharia. Those of you who don’t believe it can happen here should look up the “Arbitration Act of Ontario,” 1991 which now permits Muslims to set up Sharia courts in order to settle family disputes. Elka Enola of the Humanist Association of Toronto has rightfully pointed out that “If family law decisions agreed to under Shari’a reached the civil courts, most of those decisions would be thrown out. The intent, it seems, is to keep decisions detrimental to women, children, apostates and homosexuals, tightly within the Muslim community, and unchallenged” 17.
In the final analysis, Sharia law should not be tolerated in the free world in any shape or form whatsoever. A quick glance at all of the modules available on the Islam Project lesson plans shows that nearly all of them were designed to be used in conjunction with either "Muhammad: The Legacy of a Prophet" or Frontline’s “Muslims.” Both aired on PBS within two days of each other in December 2002 and comprise “the heart of the Islam Project” 18. By serving as a platform for Islamist organizations trying to indoctrinate American youth, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has defrauded not only the trust of its honorable contributors, but American taxpayers as well. Shame on PBS for its cavalier disregard of the first amendment!
1 http://www.theislamproject.org/education/D01_IslamicLaw.htm
2 Christopher Cox “Leap of faith; Consultant puts career on hold to become spokesman for Islamic society” The Boston Herald (11/6/02)
3 http://www.theislamproject.org/
4 http://www.theislamproject.org/education/D02_HumanRights.htm.
5 http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/quran/
6http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/fundamentals/hadithsunnah/bukhari/
7 http://www.theislamproject.org/education/D03_WomeninIslam_Marriage_topic2.htm
8 Lois Lamya' al-Faruqi Islamic Traditions and the feminist movement: confrontation or cooperation? From Women, Muslim Society and Islam American Trust Publications, 1988 http://www.salaam.co.uk/knowledge/faruqi.php
9 Azizah Yahia al-Hibri From "Muslim Women’s Rights in the Global Village: Challenges and Opportunities," first presented at the Hannibal Club Event (9/28/99) http://www.karamah.org

10 William Bennetta “Examining the treatment of religion in schoolbooks: Houghton Mifflin's Islamic Connection,” The Textbook Letter (July-August 2000) http://www.textbookleague.org/113centu.htm
11 Gilbert T. Sewall “Islam and the Textbooks” (2003) http://www.historytextbooks.org/islam.htm
12 Paul Sperry “Look who's teaching Johnny about Islam,” WorldNetDaily.com (5/03/04) http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=38304
13 http://www.cie.org/teachers.asp
14 Dar al Islam http://www.daralislam.org/about/
15 http://www.theislamproject.org/education/lawsimulation.html
16 American Muslim Teens Talk: Overview http://www.theislamproject.org/education/AMTT.htm
17 Elka Enola “Shari’a, A Threat to the Canadian Society” (4/22/04)
http://www.straightgoods.ca/ViewLetter.cfm?REF=1351
http://www.theislamproject.org/muslims/muslims_overview.htm