Unconscionable jihadist posturing at UC-Irvine. From Roberta Leguizamon in Front Page:
The Muslim Student Union (MSU) of University of California-Irvine has asked graduating Muslim students to wear green sashes bearing the word “shahada,” the Arabic word for “martyrdom.” The Muslim world refers to a suicide bomber who kills innocent civilians in Israel as a “shahid.” Pilots and their cohorts who fly airplanes into skyscrapers are also celebrated for their “martyrdom.” Children in Palestinian schools are taught, “blessed with shahada and honour, his soul returns to its Creator to live a different life, content with the rewards and honour bestowed upon it, a life of grace thanks to Allah.” …
It is hard to believe that the UC-Irvine would silently endorse this culture of death at its graduation ceremony, yet to date, not a single member of its administration has spoken against the MSU”s promotion of the suicide sashes. The proposed sashes don’t just represent Palestinian “freedom fighters” and their crusade against Israel. They also glorify the actions of those 15 “martyrs” who brought the World Trade Center to the ground on top of American citizens. And this institution of higher learning has chosen to support pro-terrorist advocacy while this country is at war with terrorism (or rather, vice-versa). …
This isn’t the first time anti-Semitism and anti-Americanism have reared their ugly heads at UC-Irvine. Many Christian and Jewish students at UC-Irvine say that they have been threatened and harassed by members of the MSU. UC-Irvine allowed the MSU to bring Amir Abdemalik Ali to its campus to provide a racist, hate-laced presentation called “America Under Siege: The Zionist Hidden Agenda.” He has made the outrageous claim that Jews staged September 11 in order to promote a universal war against Muslims. Not coincidentally, Amir also praises Hamas and Hezbollah, which have both been named terrorist organizations by the United States. Hamas also offers financial rewards to the families of “shahid.”
Read it all.
CORRECTION: The entire premise of this article seems to have been an error. I have now seen photos of the stole in question (courtesy the last poster in this thread), and this LA Times article is correct in saying that all it said was “‘There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger,’ and on the other was a symbol meaning, ‘God, increase my knowledge.'” The confusion probably started because someone was told that the inscription was “Shahada,” that is, “witness.” In Islam this word refers to the Muslim confession of faith, quoted here. But it is the same word as “martyrdom,” which for Hamas and other groups has become virtually synonymous with suicide bombing.
In any case, I don’t see anything inherently wrong with these graduates wearing a stole bearing the Islamic confession of faith, as long as those of other faiths are also allowed to make a similar display.