California Textbook: JIHAD IS GOOD

Only in California!

A history textbook used in Sacramento and other schools in California teaches that Jihad is a good thing, it only means doing good works for God. Gee I never thought of putting Jihad and walking an old lady across the street in the same category, unless you blew the old lady up.

The textbook in question is History Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond's lessons titled "Jihad" and "Shari'ah: Islamic Law" The passages below come from the student edition, copyright 2005, pages 101 through 103. At the very least, the passages are incomplete. More precisely, they are dishonest. Neither passage explains the essentially religious nature of the subject and more importantly they don't show how Jihad and Shari'ah Law are being used as an excuse for world wide terrorism:

Jihad The word jihad means "to strive." Jihad represents the human struggle to overcome difficulties and do things that would be pleasing to God. Muslims strive to respond positively to personal difficulties as well as worldly challenges. For instance, they might work to become better people, reform society, or correct injustice. Jihad has always been an important Islamic concept. One hadith, or account of Muhammad, tells about the prophet's return from a battle. He declared that he and his men had carried out the "lesser jihad," the external struggle against oppression. The "greater jihad," he said, was the fight against evil within oneself. Examples of the greater jihad include working hard for a goal, giving up a bad habit, getting an education, or obeying your parents when you may not want to.

Let's not forget about blowing up the Twin Towers or sending an average of 9 rockets a day into Sedrot. They missed all of that stuff that is done in the name of Jihad.

Sometimes, however, jihad becomes a physical struggle. The Qur'an tells Muslims to fight to protect themselves from those who would do them harm or to right a terrible wrong. Early Muslims considered their efforts to protect their territory and extend their rule over other regions to be a form of jihad. However, the Qur'an forbade Muslims to force others to convert to Islam. So, non-Muslims who came under Muslim rule were allowed to practice their faiths.

Muslims do force others to convert, am I splitting hairs? Maybe they got that phrase from Bill Clinton "it depends what force is?" They do allow some other people to practice their religion as long are dhimmified, but not in Saudi Arabia....or Gaza...or Darfur, etc.

Although the Qur'an allows war, it sets specific terms for fighting. Muhammad told his followers to honor agreements made with foes. Muslim fighters must not mutilate (remove or destroy) the dead bodies of enemies or harm women, children, old people, and civilians. Nor should they destroy property, orchards, crops, sacred objects, or houses of worship. (Source American Textbook Council)

Really now?Has anybody told that to the Palestinians? I seem to remember mutilated bodies, destroyed cemeteries. I know what they did to Joseph's Tomb, to the Temple Mount, to the Synagogues left in Gaza. How come the book doesn't talk about that?

Fighters can't harm women? How many THOUSANDS of rapes have there been in Darfur?

A WND Article today spoke to a parent who was concerned about the textbook:

"It makes an attempt to seem like an egalitarian world history book, but on closer inspection you find that seven (not all are titled so) of the chapters deal with Islam or Muslim subjects," wrote the parent, whose name was being withheld, in a letter to WND.

"The upsetting part is not only do they go into the history (which would be acceptable) but also the teaching of Islam," she said. "This book does not really go into Christianity or the teachings of Christ, nor does it address religious doctrine elsewhere to the degree it does Islam."

She said the book's one page referencing Jews "is only to convey that they were tortured by Crusaders to get them to convert to 'Christianity.' (It fails to mention that the biggest persecutors of Jews today are Arab Muslims). It gives four other one-liner references to the Jews being blamed for the plagues and problems in the land. It does not talk about the Jews as making a significant impact on the culture at large."

"How can the writers of this text get away with this?"

After seeing Al-Qazzaz as one of the main contributors I began to put two and two together … about the extra book coming home only in this class and I questioned where this book's money source came from – I still do not know," she said. (One of those experts who contributed to the text, according to the American Textbook Council, which released a scathing indictment of the project, is Ayad Al-Qazzaz."Al-Qazzaz is a Muslim apologist, a frequent speaker in Northern California school districts promoting Islam and Arab causes," the ATC review said. "Al-Qazzaz also co-wrote AWAIR's 'Arab World Notebook.' AWAIR stands for Arab World and Islamic Resources, an opaque, proselytizing 'non-profit organization' that conducts teacher workshops and sells supplementary materials to schools.")

"I am very troubled that in the name of tolerance and educating American children about the Muslim empire in history they get away with giving beginning Islamic teaching which may cause many to perhaps one day become Muslims," she said. "My son tells me that the students will even be using calligraphy to copy parts of the Quran in Arabic as an enrichment activity."

Folks here it is again. In the name of "kumbaya-everything is beautiful" we are creating an entire generation of Americans not prepared to face the realities of the world. In other words slowly creating a nation of Dhimmis.