I'm the product of six years of a Catholic parochial grammar school. I was taught by the nuns during my formative years, where we said prayers several times a day, scooted over on our seats to make room for our guardian angels, and were publicly punished for throwing away any food at lunch ("There are children starving in Africa!"). We studied the Catholic catechism and the lives of the saints in addition to "regular" subjects. We learned right from wrong, how to avoid sin, and to take good care of our eternal souls. I'm a big fan of religious schools, they're needed more than ever in our materialistic, selfish, a-religous world. Yet I'm concerned about what's being taught at some Islamic schools. Are they educational institutions or are they madrassas?
Last month I wrote about Al Hamra, an Islamic school in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts which recently received accreditation from the state. Perusing their website (not available now, it's under reconstruction), I saw a few things which concerned me, including numerous links to Islamic fundamentalists. There was also a Powerpoint presentation with a largely exaggerated (if not fabricated) history of Muslims in America, which won an award in the 8th-grader religion fair. One wonders if Al-Hamra teaches Arabic simply as a langauge or as Islamic ideology. A number of commenters accused me of being paranoid and "spreading hatred" to even bring up questions about Al-Hamra. Well, I'm in excellent company there. Dr. Zhudi Jasser, a medical doctor and former U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander, published an article yesterday about how to distinguish Islamist schools from Islamic schools. He's concerned about what impressionable young people are being taught, and he calls for public accountability for Islamic educational institutions. Excerpts from Dr. Jasser's article:
"America's public attention to the curricula and texts of Islamic parochial schools should not only be limited to this single foreign school on our soil (Saudi Academy in Northern Virginia) but also more comprehensively to the curricula of all Islamic schools in the United States. This is not about profiling much as Islamists may try to say in their protestations to this debate. But rather it is about understanding the penetration of an ideology which consciously and subconsciously teaches the superiority of a political system of governance at odds with the American political and justice system. This is also centrally relevant in the conflict against militant Islamism. At odds with the American way of life is not only the more obvious militant ‘jihadist’ fringe component of political Islam but also the less obvious, more pervasive and more insidiously dangerous movement of political Islam as a way of life."
"For the Islamic educational institutions in America founded only with the purpose of teaching our Muslim children the love of God, righteousness, Islamic theology, pluralism, humanitarianism, character, humility, charity, and other personal religious principles as it applies to God, I see no threat to our freedom in the U.S. However, the more relevant questions are how these institutions of Islamic education handle topics of American government and law. As an anti-Islamist Muslim, I am waiting anxiously to hear a public debate about what is taught in their U.S. history and government classes as compared to the Islamic jurisprudence classes of these “Islamic” schools. The schools around the country are all relatively new and wasting no time in creating a generation of students which are more likely than not to be defenders of Islamism over anti-Islamist systems based in universal liberty. While only a minority of Muslims send their children to these schools, they are a growing and significant minority countered only by a silent majority of Muslims."
Please read the whole article. Jasser raises a series of questions that concerned communities could ask of local Islamic school in order "to understand whether the school has a political agenda in its teachings or not":
- How does the school teach American history and the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights? What is taught about the struggle of our founding fathers against theocracy? Is European Enlightenment ideology taught? Are students encouraged to learn from non-Muslim philosophers especially those who influenced our founding fathers and taught liberty and freedom?
2. Are students taught that sharia is only personal or that it also specifically guides governmental law? Does their answer change whether Muslims are a minority or a majority?
3. Do they view non-Islamic private and public schools as part of a culture of ‘immorality’ and decadence since they are not Islamicized or can non-Islamic schools be morally and equally virtuous?
4. Do they teach their children that ‘being American’ and being ‘free’ is about moral corruption or is being American and free about loving the nation in which they live and sharing equal status before the law regardless of faith tradition?
5. Is complete religious freedom a central part of faith and the practice of religion? In the Islamic school, how are children treated who refuse to participate in school faith practices?
6. Are the children taught Muslim exclusivism with regards to the attainment of paradise in the Hereafter? From that, are the children also taught that government and public institutions must thus be ‘Islamic’ in order for the community as a whole to be able to enter the gates of Heaven?
7. How are student discussions, debate, and intellectual discourses approached regarding American domestic and foreign policy? Do the teachers have a political agenda? Does that agenda demonstrate a dichotomy between Islamist interests and American interests?
8. Is the historical period of Muslim rule of Spain (Andalusia) taught in the context of the history of the world during the Middle Ages or is it looked upon as superior to current day American ideology even after the advances of the Enlightenment?
9. Is the pledge of allegiance administered every day at the beginning of the school day?
Jasser writes "It is not too much to expect schools operating on American soil to manifest an ideology which is not politically anathema to the founding ideals of our nation." Agreed. He concludes:
"While all Americans should be free to establish parochial schools, they should not be insulated from public scrutiny. While my personal belief is that Islamic schools contribute to the segregation and isolation of Muslims psychologically and physically, I will always endorse their right to exist especially as spiritual institutions. However, our national security interests demand that we not allow them to become incubators for political Islam where they can influence and control impressionable youth."
If you're interested about Islamic schools and how to monitor for Islamist teachings, please check out the Citizens for American Values in Public Education website here. This organization grew out of the investigation of the Khalil Gibran International Academy (KGIA) in New York City, and they've got some heavy hitters on their Advisory Board, including Daniel Pipes and Frank Gaffney. From their Mission Statement:
"As parents and teachers, many of us are confronting the challenge of Islamist propaganda imposed on our children in classrooms and homework each day. We do not support radical Islamist values of separatism, victimization, the supremacy of Islam and the teaching of Islam as a preferred religion and political ideology in our public schools. Citizens for American Values in Public Education will work to give children of all religions and ethnicities and national origins, a chance to learn American values of tolerance, integration, patriotism, unbiased love of learning, a respect for historical facts over political correctness, and individual achievement. "
"Islamist organizations have worked systematically for years, backed by Saudi wealth, to impose extremist, anti-American, intolerant values in our children's history textbooks, teacher training programs, and now charter schools and Arabic language programs. Citizens for American Values in Public Education, as a new non-profit corporation, will develop resources and educational materials to help parents and teachers investigate, expose and eliminate that Islamist influence on textbooks, curricula and courses. KGIA has taught us that we can fight back in this war of ideas - state by state, school by school."
The Citizens for American Values in Public Education also has a draft Citizen's Guide to Islamists Curricula in Our Public Schools, which you can download from here.
ooo hello again permalink. ive been following very closely your views on al-hamra academy lately. surprisingly no one ever wrote a comment to you. well..im your first comment. it gives me great pleasure in saying i..yes me..am an alumi of Al-Hamra academy. first off..i would like to say i was not born in saudia or jordan or an arab country. i was born here in massachusetts and have american blood running in my veins as well as turkish.
now..i mention that b/c i want you to understand im clearly american. now..it is not worth my time to write something so long if you..yes you..are not reading what i say . so..i keep this short and not so much as an essay.
first off all...i think it offends me of how you are greatly always using backup to call al-hamra an islamist school. i would like you to know...that my school that i grew up in was a very well environment. my mother btw..is a catholic and found no faults at all in my school. she in fact more faults of the catholic schools..who bluntly told her we have no uniform in some way we're like a public school.only discussing religion.
now..of stating that...i recall that when i was in 8th grade..during the time of bush vs. kerry elections..would you like to know how al-hamra showed its patriotism to america? we made our own votes and wrote papers on the candidate and what were their attributes. my class went around teh whole school making it as if we were doing our own elections.
...the school made their votes. it was fun .
now id like to say that my school provided American! American! textbooks by prentice hall. okay so..i siad that b/c you must be thinking that the school was funded by al-qaida.
but thats wandering away from my point. my point is that my books were american made books and i learned like I would in a public school..the same kind of education. the difference is that in the curriculum the teachers taught one grade up. so for instance if u were a 1st grader...u were taught 2nd grade material...which is highly smart in my belief.
now...i learned of the constituion and the bill of rights...the american revolutuion.. we learned of the background of it. how thomas jefferson borrowed ideas of thomas paynes work common sense to write the declaration. wel earned ourbill of rights.
there was no propaganda involved. the teacers taught us this information b/c it was what we were suppose to know . its the curriculum..and something a student must know.
now...i wil lsay something that you probably will prounce upon. we did NOT say pledge of allegance everyday. no ..im sorry we did not. instead our school would gather together and recite the first chapter in the quran. surah fatiha. please check the meaning on google and see how the translation of saying that is a good way to start our day.
just like how some catholics will say our father who eart in heaven thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as in heaven...holy mary mother of god pray for us at the hour of death. now i didnt want the write the complete prayer but that is an example to say that dont catholics say a prayer to God b4 going to sleep b/c you dont know if u will wake up the next day? well..my school recited the fatiha so..that our day wil be good. that God will make our day a good day..and protect us. b/c you never know anything can happen. in the world we live in..there are school shootings. ex:columbine..virginia tech.)
i think you mst understand that the students at al-hamra are NOT ROBOTS!. i have to admit the girls who wore hijab at school would take iit off right after school. they lived normal lives. i lived a normal life. i went to the mall..i hanged out with friends. im young..mind you..so i dont know ur personality but i hope you dont have the idea of like some presbyterians who condemn everything in life as a sin.
either way...we lived normal lives and had non muslim friends. after i finished al-hamra..i personally went to a public school. and i enjoy it. the only fault is that..there is not a homely feeling. see...in al-hamra..it was like family. since it was a small setting with tops 12 kids in a class everyone knew each other. everyone kind of had each others back if you understand me. at a public school.its the real world no ones there to help you. only yourself and its a bit lonely and you have friends true..but they come and go to fast. im sure you the reader know this yourself.
im growing up as a muslim and i do mind that you are accusing al-hamra of false things.
i see that you sit at your computer and give articles about OTHER SCHOOLS. im not from other islamic schools. i cant speak for them.
I CAN SPEAK FOR AL-HAMRA. and i say that what you say is false and blatently wrong.
personally im a bit saddened that the al-hamra website has changed. its turned out the way you would want it. bleak...a college looking web page website material. almost looks like a blatant brochure. there is no islamic or religious point to make you think that website is showing an islamic school. you on the other hand may give applause to the site . compare from what once was and now and you will find that the website now has no life in it...it has become what you have wanted it to be...to please you in doing so...it has become dreary..preppy as well. it reminds me of something coming from a tim burton movie ( a director who directs movies ..he adds an atmosphere in his movie that is very bleak and depressing.)
so..i end this comment to please try to understand that al-hamra and im hoping not all islamic schools are not all bad. it is something unknown to you probably. we all fear the unknown. i admit personally i was afraid of public school..not b/c of the people...b/c any psychologist will tell you..if u are brought up in an environment at a young age and must move on to a new one...ur brain will not be use to it and will be come anxious. i started in 1st g and left in 8th. after 8 years..things had to change. it was time for me to go to a different school. im happy to have gone to al-hamra tho. many people i saw dropped out...had problems in school...became pregant...had boyfriend/girlfriend relationship problems..drunken driving...a student dying of a car accident. i feel like al-hamra taught me islam and too help me keep away from the wrongs everyday kids come to in highschool.. drugs...girls...cigarettes..peer pressuure...etc.
i thank you for your time and i hope you the reader have something to reply too this. im sorry that how i wrote kind of is like not in the best format. but i hope i expressed my point clearly since i felt that this post of al-hamra was related somehow to me. it was like hearing my home was actually a bad place to be in. i defend my school. im a student of al-hamra academy and proud.
I wish you the best in life. Salam.
Posted by: Cengiz | April 08, 2008 at 10:01 PM