"One of the Selfs' biggest concerns, though, is that such detailed explanation of Islam is a violation of the separation of church and state."

Sounds more like a subtle attempt to indoctrinate innocent minds.

Posted by: Elric66 at November 1, 2007 8:40 AM

In depth? Does it mentions the slaughters? The booty raids? The slaves? His nine year old bride?

Check the credits and look for the muslim author. Or maybe Armstrong.

Posted by: Borg at November 1, 2007 8:40 AM

Who paid for the textbooks?

Creeping sharia is the most dangerous kind. Will we have to fight another war for the hearts and minds of our own children?

Posted by: ImNoDhimmi at November 1, 2007 8:42 AM

"When Jim Self asked his son last week what he was learning in school, he was surprised to hear his 12-year-old boy say that he was learning about the Prophet Muhammad."

That is the scariest line. Calling Mo a prophet means you accept him as a prophet of God and therefore accept that Islam is superior to Christianity

Posted by: Elric66 at November 1, 2007 8:51 AM

ImNoDhimmi ,

Fighting the socialists and the Islamists at the same time. Its a tough battle.

Posted by: Elric66 at November 1, 2007 8:54 AM

We have enemies from within and without. Apparently too many Americans refuse to recognize the true threat posed to us by the spread of this dangerous ideology. The current conflict level is higher than it was in the decade preceding World War II and Islam is at the heart of most of it. "1938 Alert"

Posted by: Infidel One at November 1, 2007 9:00 AM

This would be a pretty good idea if those chapters on Islamania would reveal the whole truth-after all, educating people on the mindset of those seeking to destroy them is the first line of defense. But one can assume that those three chapters present the usual BS about the cult of death. In other words, let the brainwashing begin.

Posted by: ISLAMSFORLOSERS at November 1, 2007 9:10 AM

islam is the glue to a one world government. it's so obvious that you would need to be an average joe on the street not to see this.

Posted by: leonthepigfarmer at November 1, 2007 9:14 AM

leonthepigfarmer,

Its the average joe's on the street that see it. Its the elites in their ivory towers that dont.

Posted by: Elric66 at November 1, 2007 9:19 AM

This is Texas. The Saudis OWN everything Texan. Texans may be arrogant, wealthy pigs and believe that they are superior but saudis OWN Texas. I believe every politician there has been videoed with young boys in the middle east. IF not then explain how the president can be so afraid of the Sauds? The most powerful man in the world is on his knees to the Sauds.

Get real Texas. You are already enslaved. Remember that the smartest thing the devil ever did was to convince the world that he did not exist.

Posted by: vulcan at November 1, 2007 9:54 AM

"If I owned both Hell and Texas I would live in Hell and rent out Texas".

General Sherman

Posted by: Fred at November 1, 2007 10:09 AM

It's PC California, not Texas. But yes, there is the stench of saudi petrodollars aloft.

Posted by: Infidel33 at November 1, 2007 10:47 AM

Yeah - in my library in NJ I saw a Public School Teacher's Lesson Aid text - like a pamphlet, about it. How to teach islam.

It's not theory or a consideration, but a done deal. I got the chills. Oh, how I LOATHE islam.

Posted by: allat at November 1, 2007 11:00 AM

Lodi, CA!

Isn't that where the ice cream truck drivers (father and son) were implicated in some terrorism related case?

Posted by: eve_anne_gelical at November 1, 2007 12:14 PM

http://www.historytextbooks.org/islam.htm

The latest evidence of Islamist influence is California's adoption of History Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond. The publisher is Teachers' Curriculum Institute, a privately held company trying to gain part of the lucrative California textbook market. Based in Palo Alto and Sacramento, TCI's greatest advantage is being local. The student edition is an ill-written product printed on the cheap. Accompanying instructional materials are simply amateurish. By comparison, the Council on Islamic Education-inspired and often criticized Houghton Mifflin textbook for seventh graders, Across the Centuries, is a solid and sometimes rich introduction to world history from Islam to the Enlightenment.

According to the History Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond front matter,the chief author-advisor on Islam is Ayad Al-Qazzaz, professor of sociology at California State University, Sacramento. Al Quazzaz is a Muslim apologist, a frequent speaker in Northern California school districts promoting Islam and Arab causes. 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.

With History Alive! The Medieval World and Beyond, TCI is trying to sell a textbook to California schools that takes dictation from Islamist sources. The proximate question is whether the state's department of education and state school board will let this happen.

Posted by: justamomof4 at November 1, 2007 1:00 PM

THIS CAN BE FOUGHT SUCCESSFULLY- IT HAS BEEN BEFORE

Sorry for the caps, but this isn't the first time that this book has provoked controversy.

Back in 2005, an article on Daniel Pipes website about Islamic indoctrination in the public school system received a comment from Janie White, a mother in Scottsdale, Arizona.

http://www.danielpipes.org/comments/20546

She was concerned at the Islamic bias present in History Alive!, which had replaced the previous textbook that her child had been issued for social studies.

Pipes was so impressed with her reasoned and well-written comment that he urged her to publish it. She did, and it made an immediate impact.

It received thousands of hits, more in fact than any previous item on Pipes' site. Frontpage and LGF ran with it, and the local press picked it up. (see story below)

http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/439

Pamela's old blog even featured an ass-kicking letter template from Solomon at Solomonia.com for parents wishing to complain over its anti-Israel bias.

Result? Just over a month after Janie White's posting, Scottsdale Unified School District pulled History Alive! (see story below)

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/39120

This shows that proactive parents, with a little help from the blogging community, CAN put a stop to the spreading of pro-Islamic propaganda in schools. I wish Jim luck (and I’ll mail this to Pamela too).

Posted by: Matamoros at November 1, 2007 1:56 PM

By way of a PS, justamomof4's above posting features a quote from the American Textbook Council, describing the author-advisor of History Alive! , CSU Professor Ayad Al-Qazzaz, as a "Muslim apologist".

I wonder if they mean this take on 9/11, from the Sacramento News & Review 9/5/02:

“The magnitude of the event itself made many of us believe that this incident is not the product of people of Middle East or Muslim origin,” said Al-Qazzaz. “They don’t have the technical know-how; they don’t have the skills.”

As a sociologist, Al-Qazzaz relies on facts and figures to make his point, comparing bin Laden, “a guy who probably has 300 million dollars” with the U.S. intelligence agencies he had to outsmart, and finding him lacking. “He’s rich, but it doesn’t mean much when you talk of the CIA, which has 40 billion dollars.”

Though one might expect skepticism in the academic community, other Muslims echoed Al-Qazzaz’s sentiments.

“The argument,” said Al-Qazzaz, “is that you are going to find in any religion, every society and every faith, bad apples. They are extremists. Some of them are criminals. Some of them are deviant. But you cannot project [the beliefs of] this small group on the majority of the people.”

This same group may go on to insist that we still don’t know the truth behind the attacks, and that other groups or governments may have been involved, only using Muslim extremists to do their dirty work.

Al-Qazzaz would probably fit into this category.

“Don’t you wonder,” he asked, “why we haven’t had an open hearing?”

http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/Content?oid=13024

Posted by: Matamoros at November 1, 2007 2:32 PM

Teaching about islam is essential propganda and indoctrination is a serious problem.
Are they teaching this or are they distorting it?

Noble Qur’an 2:190 Footnote: “Jihad is holy fighting in Allah’s Cause with full force of numbers and weaponry. It is given the utmost importance in Islam and is one of its pillars. By Jihad Islam is established, Allah’s Word is made superior (which means only Allah has the right to be worshiped), and Islam is propagated. By abandoning Jihad Islam is destroyed and Muslims fall into an inferior position; their honor is lost, their lands are stolen, their rule and authority vanish. Jihad is an obligatory duty in Islam on every Muslim. He who tries to escape from this duty, or does not fulfill this duty, dies as a hypocrite.”

The passage itself can be found in two places. It is on page 39 of the Noble Qur’an translation by Muhammad Khan and distributed by “King Fahd Complex for the Printing of the Holy Qur’an—The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. It is a footnote to Qur’an 2.190 and is designed to explain Jihad according to Allah as this is the first time the word is used.
And it can be found on page 580 of the Islamic University of Medina’s translation of Sahih al-Bukhari’s Hadith. There it opens Bukhari’s Book of Jihad.

In both cases, the Islamic scholars are condensing Allah’s and Muhammad’s teachings on Jihad to a single paragraph.

Posted by: GrennBeck at November 1, 2007 2:37 PM

Don't puff up thinking this is just "PC California". This is happening in YOUR backyard, too. I've skimmed several grade school and middle school books the last few years and it is not insidious, it is flagrant, obsessive and totally ridiculous how much curriculum time the public schools are spending on religion, specifically apologizing for Islam. I challenge everyone here to look through your child's, grandchild's or friend's child's "history" book and see for yourself. This is not an isolated incident.

Posted by: Concerned Citizen at November 1, 2007 3:42 PM

This is incredible. Who, what is behind this foolishness? Is it Arab oil sheiks? Incredibly foolish, left-wing types among educators? I just don't understand.

Posted by: usapatriot at November 1, 2007 7:28 PM

And you know that if a school had 3 chapters to Christianity and paragraphs for the other religions the left would go batshit.

That said, it is imparative that concerned citizens attend school board meetings so as to nip this sort of crap in the bud and get their voices heard. Usually school board meetings are so poorly attended that the board will pass all sorts of non-sense. Hell a good turn out in some districts is 2 or 3 attendees.

Posted by: waltc at November 1, 2007 8:16 PM

Great Information. Thank you Matamoros.

Posted by: alexon at November 1, 2007 11:06 PM

So, no teachers ever read the book first?

Or, if they did, they raised NO objections?

Is this all Saudi-funded?

Something EXTRAORDINARILY rotten here.

And deserving of an EXTREMELY serious investigative-journalism expose.

Like finding a severed finger in your Happy Meal.

It indicates something VERY troubling going on in the kitchen.

Posted by: profitsbeard at November 1, 2007 11:59 PM

I'm sorry another parent is having to go through this to protect his child from the liberal establishment that is controlling the education of our children. 2 years later at my school district and not much has changed. I have had 2 sons in this type of environment but even more. I have fought the school board, gone to the press, wrote letters to the editors, sat in on classes to correct the teachers, taught my children the truth so they could also combat the lies. It just makes me sad to see the state of public education in this truely Judeo-Christian country. This year they taught 2 days out of the Christianity unit just so I could not say they teach no Christianity in this school. The teacher never uttered the word Jesus though in fact she passed out two worksheets and that was the extent of teaching of Christ, but Mohammad recieved a whole entire week and Islam 6 weeks. Before things will change we need more informative parents who actually care about what is being taught to their children.

Posted by: MadMom at November 2, 2007 1:09 AM

People: in the interests of accurate history for your kids, if you have high-schoolers, do your darndest to get Robert Spencer, "The Truth About Muhammad" and "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam and the Crusades" into your kid's high school library. Both are eminently digestible and accessible in style, but are not 'dumbed down' or condescending to the reader, and rest on solidly accurate gold-standard old-fashioned scholarship, with excellent bibliography. I think any good history teacher or teacher charged with 'religious studies' would be able to use them as a teaching text.

You could try getting the above two books into the 'seventh-grader advanced reader history/culture/religion' section of the primary school library as well.

If your kid goes to a Catholic school, make sure you point out to the PTA or the P & C (that's what we Aussies call a PTA), that Robert Spencer is a pious practising Catholic.

If your kid attends a Jewish school or college, make sure their library has multiple copies of everything by Bat Yeor! Throw Spencer's works in as well. Mention that he and Bat Yeor are friends.

I am absolutely convinced that any intelligent and literate teenager would be able to comprehend Spencer's writing. Indeed, I think a smart seventh-grader would have no difficulty with selected portions, given a bit of parental or teacherly guidance.

Posted by: dumbledoresarmy at November 2, 2007 6:22 AM

Unit 1: Europe During Medieval Times

Lesson 1 The Legacy of the Roman Empire
Students participate in a Response Group activity to learn the reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire and how ancient Roman culture continues to affect modern life today.

Lesson 2 The Development of Feudalism
In an Experiential Exercise, students learn about the development of feudalism in western Europe by re-creating the vassal-lord relationships that defined European feudal society.

Lesson 3 The Role of the Church in Medieval Europe
In a Writing for Understanding activity, students learn about the Roman Catholic Church’s influence on life in medieval Europe.

Lesson 4 Life in Medieval Towns
In a Problem Solving Groupwork activity, students learn about life in medieval Europe.

Lesson 5 The Decline of Feudalism
In an Experiential Exercise, students explore how key events from the 12th through the 15th centuries contributed to the decline of feudalism in western Europe.

Lesson 6 The Byzantine Empire
Students participate in a Visual Discovery activity to learn about the rise of the Byzantine Empire and how it developed a separate religious tradition from western Europe.

Unit 2: The Rise of Islam

Lesson 7 The Geography of the Arabian Peninsula
In a Response Group activity, students examine four environments—the desert, oases, the coastal plain, and mountains—to discover how they affected ways of life on the Arabian Peninsula.

Lesson 8 The Prophet Muhammad
In this lesson, students learn about the life of Muhammad and the rise and expansion of Muslim rule. In a Writing for Understanding activity, students create an illustrated manuscript that retells the story of Muhammad’s life in their own words.

Lesson 9 The Teachings of Islam
In a Problem Solving Groupwork activity, students learn about the beliefs and practices of Islam.

Lesson 10 Contributions of Muslims to World Civilizations
In a Social Studies Skill Builder, students read and learn about the contributions of Muslims to world civilization in such areas as science, geography, mathematics, philosophy, medicine, art, and literature.

Lesson 11 From the Crusades to the Rise of New Muslim Empires
In a Problem Solving Groupwork activity, students learn about the causes and effects of the crusades through role playing and class discussions.

Unit 3: The Culture and Kingdoms of West Africa

Lesson 12 Early Societies in West Africa
In an Experiential Exercise, students experience and explore four different types of societies—extended-family communities, villages, cities, and kingdoms.

Lesson 13 Ghana: A West African Trading Empire
In this Experiential Exercise, students participate in a trading game to explore the salt trade and why it resulted in the growth of the kingdoms of Ghana and Mali.

Lesson 14 The Influence of Islam on West Africa
In a Social Studies Skill Builder, students learn about the influences of Islam on West Africa.

Lesson 15 The Cultural Legacy of West Africa
In a Writing for Understanding activity, students learn about West Africa’s oral, written, musical, and artistic culture and its impact today.

Unit 4: Imperial China

Lesson 16 The Political Development of Imperial China
In an Experiential Exercise, students learn about the difficulties of ruling China and the systems of government used by successive dynasties from 220 to 1644 C.E.

Lesson 17 China Develops a New Economy
In a Visual Discovery activity, students learn about the growth of China’s economy from the 10th to the 13th centuries.

Lesson 18 Chinese Inventions and Discoveries
In a Social Studies Skill Builder, students learn about Chinese discoveries and achievements made from about 200 to 1400 C.E. and their effects on China and the West.

Lesson 19 China’s Contacts with the Outside World
Students participate in a Response Group activity to learn about China’s contact with the outside world during the rule of three dynasties: the Tang, the Yuan, and the Ming.

Unit 5: Japan During Medieval Times

Lesson 20 The Influence of Neighboring Cultures on Japan
In a Social Studies Skill Builder, students study the influence of India, China, and Korea on the development of Japanese culture.

Lesson 21 Heian-kyo: The Heart of Japan’s Golden Age
In a Writing for Understanding activity, students learn about court life and the cultural accomplishments of Japan during the Heian period, which lasted from 794 to 1185 C.E.

Lesson 22 The Rise of the Warrior Class in Japan
In an Experiential Exercise, students learn about the rise of a warrior class in Japan and the pivotal role the samurai played from the end of the 12th to the 19th centuries.

Unit 6: Civilizations of the Americas

Lesson 23 The Maya
In an Experiential Exercise, students “visit” four ancient sites to learn about important aspects of Mayan life and culture.

Lesson 24 The Aztecs
In a Visual Discovery activity, students learn about the rise of the Aztecs and the key stages in the development of the Aztec Empire.

Lesson 25 Daily Life in Tenochtitlan
Students complete a Writing for Understanding activity to explore daily life in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan.

Lesson 26 The Incas
In an Experiential Exercise, students learn about the Inca civilization and role-play to communicate information about aspects of Inca culture.

Lesson 27 Achievements of the Maya, Aztecs, and Incas
In a Social Studies Skill Builder, students learn about important achievements of the Maya, Aztecs, and Incas.

Unit 7: Europe’s Renaissance and Reformation

Lesson 28 The Renaissance Begins
In a Visual Discovery activity, students trace the changes in European life that led to the birth of the Renaissance.

Lesson 29 Florence: The Cradle of the Renaissance
In a Writing for Understanding activity, students explore life in Renaissance Florence by taking a “walking tour” of the city.

Lesson 30 Leading Figures of the Renaissance
Students participate in a Response Group activity to learn about ten prominent Renaissance figures and their achievements.

Lesson 31 The Reformation Begins
In a Visual Discovery activity, students explore the causes and spread of the Protestant Reformation in Europe.

Lesson 32 The Spread and Impact of the Reformation
In a Problem Solving Groupwork activity, students learn about three groups that broke from the Catholic Church during the Reformation and how the church tried to stop the spread of Protestantism.

Unit 8: Europe Enters the Modern Age

Lesson 33 The Age of Exploration
In an Experiential Exercise, students work in teams to “explore” uncharted territory, just as European explorers did during this period. Along the way students discover some of the challenges, dangers, and rewards encountered by Europeans.

Lesson 34 The Scientific Revolution
In a Visual Discovery activity, students analyze a series of images that represent the key discoveries, scientists, and inventions of the Scientific Revolution.

Lesson 35 The Age of Enlightenment
In a Response Group activity, students visit a Enlightenment-era salon, or gathering, where they meet five important thinkers of the Enlightenment and learn about their ideas.

Notice how they don't delve into Catholic History and its influences/contributions, nor the Protestant Reformation's influences/contributions to art, medicine, etc.??? If they really wanted to delve into these issues deeply, they really must do so equally with regards to religion. Otherwise, Houston ISD, it's not separation here, people!!!

It is definitely indocrination, from what I can see. There's this assumption that children know "everything" about Christianity, although that's certainly not true.

Posted by: Miss_Anthrope at November 2, 2007 10:26 AM

http://www.historytextbooks.org/islamreport.pdf

AND

http://www.historytextbooks.org/islamandthetextbooks.pdf

Great reports regarding how Islam's being given a pass in textbooks. Recommeded if you have kids in 7th through 12th grade.

Posted by: Miss_Anthrope at November 2, 2007 10:40 AM

Recommeded=Recommended

Posted by: Miss_Anthrope at November 2, 2007 10:42 AM

A bit off topic. Get a gander at this. More claims by islamics:

Egyptology : the missing millennium by Okasha El Daly at a tune of US$79.00

Why is it so expensive I wonder? Is he cashing in on the money also?

He's also cashing in on the series of Zecharia Sitchin about the Sumerian Tablets

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/104-5464569-1969515?%5Fencoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=Okasha%20El%20Daly

Posted by: allat at November 2, 2007 11:21 PM

In the book, "Egyptology: '"The Missing Millennium," El Daly claims the Arabs deciphered the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs before Champollion.

And Egyptologists and other scholars are accepting the premise.

Posted by: allat at November 2, 2007 11:25 PM