Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > School for Shar'ia : Islamist School Wins Dept of Education Blue Ribbon for Excellence Award
School for Shar'ia : Islamist School Wins Dept of Education Blue Ribbon for Excellence Award
October 20, 2005
Islamist School Wins Dept of Education Award
By Beila Rabinowitz, Militant Islam Monitor
http://www.pipelinenews.org/index.cfm?page=rabinowitzschools%2Ehtm
October 20, 20005 - Philadelphia, PA - PipeLineNews.org - Jihad through Da'wa [conversion of non-Muslims] in the form of domestic Islamic education has gotten a boost from an unlikely source, the U.S. government.
The administration has just presented the New Horizons Islamic School in Pasadena, California the United States Department of Education's "Blue Ribbon for Excellence" award.
This first ever award to a Muslim school appears to validate the predictions which cleric Yusuf Qaradawi made a decade ago, at a Muslim Youth conference in Ohio.
"...Some countries will fall to the armed Islamic jihad, but in others, such as the United States, victory will come through Da'wa - the teaching of Islam to non-Muslims - which will trigger Westerners to convert to Islam 'in droves.' We will conquer America not by the sword but by Da'wa."
Qawadari has since been banned from the U.S. due to his terror connections, but his vision of Da'wa transforming America into a United States of Allah, is reflected in the curriculum used in schools like that of New Horizons and as developed by affiliates such as ISNA [The Islamic Society of North America]. the BIAE [The Board of Islamic and Arabic Education] and the UK based IBERR [International Board for Education Research and Resources].
The BIAE, based in Los Angeles - which plans the curriculum of the New Horizons School together with the Islamic Center of Southern California even offers an Islamized version of the Pledge of Alliance on their website. It begins with the phrase - "As an American Muslim I pledge alliance to ALLAH and his Prophet." http://www.biae.net/pledge.html
Another component of the Wahhabist funded domestic Islamic educational network is The Islamic Schools League, the mission of which reflects the role of Islamic education inculcating the fard [religious obligation] to convert non-Muslims to Islam.
"For the League, the success of Islamic schools is not an option; it is a must. Our vision is achievable. Our mission requires that we all work together in support of Islamic schools. Ultimately this service is to Allah (swt)."
The Da'wa agenda is also promoted by the Bureau for Islamic and Arabic Education (BIAE), which "aims to increase the impact of Islam on the daily life of both Muslims and non-Muslims everywhere."
As the curriculum provider for the Islamic School of Pasadena, the BIAE underscores the conflict of interests between Islamic education, and the goals of the US Department of Education. The latter insisting that, "schools singled out for national honors will now reflect the goals of our nation's new education reforms for high standards and accountability." This begs the question as to who will be held accountable for the decision to present an award to an Islamist school which aims to replace the Constitution with shari'a. http://www.ed.gov/programs/nclbbrs/index.html
The clash between the Islamo-fascist weltanschauung of the Islamic school enterprise in the U.S. and the ideals of American education is evident in the activities of Amina Al Sarraf [a consultant and author of textbooks and syllabi for Islamic schools] who serves as the interim principal of the Islamic School of Pasadena.
Most recently Al Sarraf spoke to ISNA [Islamic Society of North America] a Wahhabist Da'wa front.
ISNA is the foremost distributor of Islamist educational materials in North America. ISNA is the founder of the New Horizons schools – such as the one lead by Al Sarraf - both in North America and abroad.
A recent report by Freedom House - "Saudi Publications on Hate Ideology Fill American Mosques" highlighted the dangers posed by Wahhabist publications because they incite hatred and ultimately
promote violence in the United States. http://www.freedomhouse.org/religion/news/bn2005/bn-2005-01-28.htm
ISNA's lead role in this activity is beyond doubt.
Without challenging Freedom House's main finding, ISNA merely criticized the report as "misleading." ISNA's executive director Louay Safi, who runs their "Educational Leadership Program," is a founder and board member of several other Islamist organizations such as the IIIT, whose offices were raided during the Virginia based Operation Greenquest crackdown on terror funding . http://www.isna.net/index.php?id=35&backPID=1&tt_news=361
This year's ISNA speakers were predominantly radical Islamists, and included the North American spokesman of Al Muhajiroun - Kamran Bokhari.
Noted Middle East authority, Dr. Daniel Pipes called Al Muhajiroun, " the most extremist group operating in the West today." The group's leader and founder, Omar Bakri Mohammed recently fled the UK after being linked to the London bombings. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,22989-1693739,00.html
In addition to ISNA, New Horizons is affiliated with both the Board of Islamic and Arabic Education , and the Islamic Center of Southern California.
ISNA and the BIAE clothe their Da'wa aims in candy-coated aspirin - "to be a source of enlightenment [and] to increase the impact of Islam on the daily life of both Muslims and non- Muslims everywhere."
The New Horizons curriculum was developed in conjunction with the Islamic Center of Southern California , which then designated the BIAE to create the curriculum.
"The ICSC is lead by Imam Muzzamil Siddiqui, former ISNA president, and influential Islamic cleric. Siddiqui instructs Muslims to interact with non-Muslims on the premise that "every non Muslim is a potential Muslim", which is the quintessential expression of Da'wa."
Siddiqui's latest "conversion success story" involves former ICSC congregant Adam Gadahn who was last seen with his face covered in a kaffiyeh, on an Al Qaeda videotape threatening bloody attacks on the United States.
As a consultant New Horizons' principal Al Sarraf has helped write Islamic elementary schools textbooks which are published in the UAE and Saudi Arabia, under the supervision and financing, of IBERR, the International Board of Educational Research.
IBERR's treasurer and chairman is Yusuf Islam. IBERR plans Islamic syllabi and curriculum for Sharia schools.
Yusuf Islam [the former Cat Stevens] has been linked to terror funding and was denied entry into the US in 2004 on the grounds that he posed a threat to national security.
Islam's IBERR works closely with New Horizons Schools both in the US and abroad.
In 2001 Yusuf Islam attended a meeting together with the heads of several California Islamic Schools - including the New Horizon School.
Ameena Al Sarraf participated in a curriculum, syllabi, and textbook planning session in California together with Muzammil Siddiqui and other radical Islamists.
Plans to broadcast Islamic programs via satellite to the schools have been in discussion with funding provided by Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
A 2002 report on an IBERR meeting in the UK lists Amira Al Sarraf as part of their textbook editorial group .Another member of this writing group was Ameenah Bilal Philips.
Phillips is an unindicted co-conspirator in the 1993 World Trade Center bombings, who called "Saudi missionary" Gulshair Shukrijumah - the father of dirty bomber wannabe Adnan Shukrijumah - his mentor.
Phillips, himself a convert to Islam, is considered a leading Islamic educator. He also worked closely with former American Muslim Council [AMC] president Abdulrahman Alamoudi.
Almoudi was jailed for 23 years on terrorism charges.
Philips led a program - organized by Alamoudi - which was used as a "cultural information" course that distributed Wahhabist propaganda and resulted in the conversion of scores of American soldiers stationed in Saudi Arabia to Islam.
On his personal website Philips responded to a question about execution 'etiquette' according to the Koran. http://www.bilalphilips.com/qa/d_000003.htm
"We were instructed to carry out the cutting of hands or heads, stoning people to death, lashing, etc. in public and the greatest gathering of Muslims, excluding the two Eids and Hajj, is on Fridays…public executions do keep crime levels down (in Saudi Arabia), and that is a fact."
Of Amira Al Sarraf ISNA touts:
" will travel to Washington, D.C. in November to receive the award from the Secretary of Education, Margaret Spellings, at an awards ceremony attended by the other private schools recognized with this honor. At the ceremony New Horizon will receive a flag and a plaque signifying its Blue Ribbon status."
If the United States Department of Education's intent is to encourage schools to develop curricula which promotes the "goals of the nation's new educational reforms," we suggest that making awards to Islamist schools immediately cease.
Rather, the Dept. of Education must turn a critical eye towards Islamic schools in the United States, shutting those down who because of their fundamentalist teachings resemble madrassas.
To do otherwise could ultimately lead to violence against all non-Muslims.
Instead of presenting the ISNA backed Pasadena's New Horizons Islamic School with a Blue Ribbon award, the United States Department of Education should be asking the Senate Finance Committee - which listed ISNA as a group which "promotes and finances terrorism" - about the implications of this schools association with it.
A new generation of ISNA modeled students - indoctrinated from an early age in the importance of establishing an American caliphate - is emerging from schools like New Horizon, where previously one had to look to Pakistan for similar models.
Failure on the part of the Department of Education to exercise due diligence - rescinding New Horizon's award - will mean that Wahhabism has become legitimized as the template for future Islamic education in North America
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