Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld, in a speech she gave at the conference on “The Middle East and Academic Integrity on the American Campus,” held at Columbia University on March 6, 2005 and reprinted in FrontPage (thanks to EPG and RB), elucidates Saudi funding and indoctrination in American Universities:
The religious and philosophical justifications for promoting Jihad -which means holy war – around the world, is found in the Quran, says Dr. Hussein Shehata, a professor at al-Azhar University in Cairo. According to Dr. Shehata, the following terms in the Quran combine to justify the spreading of Jihad: in Arabic- Al-Jihad bi-al-Lisan – which means – Jihad of the Tongue, and al-Jihad bi-al-Qalam – Jihad of the Pen. Both combine for preaching and writing to promote Jihad.
This command is complemented by Al-Jihad bi-al-Mal – the Financial Jihad; namely, raising money for needy Muslims and supporting the Jihad warriors – known as the Mujahideen. These are the commands that form the justification to spread the Jihad.
On his website, on March 3, 2004, the same Dr. Shehata explained the uniqueness and the reason for the financial Jihad commandment as being, quote: “a trial of strength of Muslim faith” and “a means to purify the soul from stinginess”. It is through the financial Jihad, he says, that Allah gives the wealthy Muslims the opportunity to allocate some of their money for the Da’awa (literally – the call for Islam), which is the Islamic effort to teach or convert people to Islam.
Funny. When I explain all that, I get called an “Islamophobe.” I wonder if Ibrahim Hooper has contacted Dr. Shehata to call him an “Islamophobe.”
In view of the fact that these commandments are interpreted as an integral part of Jihad, it is not surprising that Saudi Arabia, according to various Saudi official publications, have spent somewhere between $70-87 billion on the spread of Wahhabism around the world since the oil boom began in the mid- 1970’s. This money was not only spent in Muslim/Arab countries. Large amounts were and are still being spent in the West, including in the US.
The Saudis have established endowments for American universities, have set up centers for Islamic and Arab studies, and have distributed generous scholarships, which often include visits to Saudi universities in programs similar to the one attended by Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, who was indicted last week for joining Al-Qaeda and for plots to assassinate President Bush and King Abdullah of Jordan. Abu Ali, by the way, graduated from the Saudi Academy in Alexandria, Virginia, in the USA, which is sponsored by the Saudi embassy in Washington, and IN which many other young
Americans are being indoctrinated in Wahhabi Islam….It is important to note that the many millions of dollars that the Saudis are spending here to establish Islamic centers to increase their influence are indeed subverting our academic institutions through indoctrination. Moreover, once established, these centers receive budgetary assistance from the US government under Title IV of the Education Act. In 2004, Congress allocated $86.2 million of our tax money to support these programs.
By giving our money to Islamic Centers and programs endowed by Islamist, we are helping the Saudis and their likes to acquire the foot soldiers to use the knives with which they intend to slit our throats.
Indeed. I trust that Dr. Ehrenfeld received warm and appreciative applause.