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This is copied from the American Center for Law & Justice. I thought there was very interesting insight here.
There is a course there that requires students to do the following:
· To pray in the name of Allah, the compassionate the merciful
· To chant praise to Allah, lord of creation
· To pretend they are Muslims, wearing Muslim clothing in class
· To select a Muslim name from a list to replace their own name.
· To stage their own jihad
You can visit the ACLJ at American Center For Law & Justice
They have a great email news letter to keep you up to date on these kinds of issues
Expert on Islam Speaks about ‘Forced Islam Course’ in Byron, CA
In this exclusive interview with Joe Kickasola, Ph.D., Professor of Int'l Policy, learn how students may actually have been required to profess faith in Allah and other Muslim tenets of faith as part of the mandatory Islam curriculum
in a 7th grade class.
Gene Kapp: Welcome back to the broadcast, Gene Kapp along with Jay Sekulow chief counsel at American Center for Law and Justice. As we put the finishing touches of our campaign about this course on Islam, this mandatory course on Islam, we want to introduce a very special guest with us today, Professor Joe Kickasola, a professor of international policy, Regent University.
Jay Sekulow: At a very important course that he's teaching right now, dealing with kind of Islamic geo-politics, if you will, world politics. I've actually been auditing the course, found it fascinating, so I thought as we conclude this broadcast and this topic of the teaching of Islam in school, the way it's been done not just in California, but kind of globally. It would be good to put a capstone on this. Welcome professor, to the program.
Professor Kickasola: Thank you very much, Jay.
Jay Sekulow: Dr. Kickasola, the first question I think, in kind of a nutshell is, a lot of talk about the whole Muslim expression of faith and the Islamic worship. The President mentioning it in his "State of the Union" message just the other day, let's talk about the fundamental difference, though, between Christianity and what Muslims believe.
Professor Kickasola: Let's just start with the name Allah, for example. You know I have a doctorate in linguistics and people often ask me, Is Allah the same God as the Christian God? And I always give the answer that depends on denotation versus connotation. The denotation of Allah, "Al-ilah" in Arabic, simply means "the God." Therefore, any Arabic speaking Jew, Arabic speaking Christian, Arabic speaking Muslim, can refer to "Allah." But the connotation of Allah is that it is the Muslim God, and certainly in the Western context when we speak of a Muslim God, you're speaking of how the Koran contrasts with the Old and New Testaments.
Jay Sekulow: And that's the biggest issue because of the phrase itself, as you said. See denotation and connotation are very different and how it's utilized, but the Koran and its basic framework of Islamic teaching versus what we see in the Old and New Testaments are very contrary, very different.
Professor Kickasola: Islam claims, sort of like Mormons claim, to have the third testament. That is to say, it corrects the Old and the New testament. There's a word in Arabic, "muharraf" which means the Old Testament has been "changed" by Jews to fit their own fancy, for example, that they stuck in Isaac instead of Ishmael. That Christians are accused of "muharraf," of "changing" the text, that is. We say that Jesus died, where, of course, he didn't, say Muslims, a perfect man can't die. So there's no atonement and in actual fact the Koran not only adds to the Old and New Testament, it actually contradicts.
Jay Sekulow: And let's talk about that for a moment because what people will say, and in dialogue that goes on in ecumenical dialogues as they're called between Jews, Christians, and Muslims, you'll see this, we're all believing in the same God. But it's a very different God within the context of Islam.
Professor Kickasola: It's very different. We believe that God is transcendent and that he is immanent. But what God actually does for human beings differs in Islam. For example, in Islam they do not define sin as a moral transgression of God's moral nature, but rather they see it as ignorance of what Allah has actually revealed. So if you actually had a non-moral definition of what sin is, that gets into all kinds of moral complications, and another big difference is Islam is globalistic. They do not believe in nation-states. They have nation-states, but they are mostly failures, totalitarian failures, and for this reason we find that Muslims generally are not loyal to their own governments and have a greater loyalty, which is global. And you certainly see that in Osama bin Laden.
Jay Sekulow: And we saw that also, I think, in the president's State of the Union Message we talked about. The nature of this jihad being a global battle and that it knows no boundaries, it knows no borders.
Gene Kapp: Yes, professor, the question I have, it's clear that the religion of Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in the world today. Is it an evangelistic religion in the sense that part of the mission of the religion is to convert other people to that faith?
Professor Kickasola: Definitely. In Islam, Gene, they have a word called, "da'wah". And "da'wah" means the "invitation." Just like a pastor would give an invitation to receive Christ, for you go to a mosque, and you receive a lecture. It's not a sermon, it's a lecture, and you are "invited" to consider the claims of Islam. And the way to become a Muslim is not to repent, there's nothing to be repented of, it is to profess, "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is His apostle" (Arabic, "la ilaha illallah, wa-muhammadu rasulullah"). If you were to say that, "There's no God but Allah and Muhammad is His apostle," then you are Muslim.
Gene Kapp: So it's making your declaration, your allegiance if you will.
Professor Kickasola: That's right, it is the profession, that is correct.
Jay Sekulow: So when the students in California have been required to chant Allah the magnificent, Allah the comforter, there is no God but Allah, all praise to Allah, this is a worship service for them. That is worship, in Islam's context.
Professor Kickasola: Definitely, it comes right out of the Koran. I have a copy of the Koran right here in front of me. It opens up in Arabic: "bismillahi r-rahmani r-rahim," "In the name of God the merciful, the compassionate." "Al-hamdu lillah rabbi l-'alamin," "Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the world." And then it goes on to say, "maliku yawmi d-din," "Lord of the day of judgment." And then says, "iyya-ka na'budu wa-iyya-ka nasta'inu," that says, "It is Thee that we worship, and it is Thee that we seek for aid." And that ends with the most interesting contrast with Judaism and Christianity, and I'm ending now. I'm quoting the first chapter of the Qur'an. It then says, "ihdi-na sirata l-mustaqim," "Show us the straight path," "sirata l-la-dhina 'anamta 'alayhim," the path of those on whom you have had mercy (i.e., Muslims)," and then it says, "ghari l-maghdubi 'alayhim," "not (the path of those) against whom you are angry" (which they refer to Jews) -- Allah is angry with Jews -- then goes on to say, "wa-la d-dollina," "nor (the path) of those who have gone astray" (which are Christians). And in California students recite this most important first chapter of the Koran, and what it is actually teaching is that Allah is angry with Jews and that he is saying that Christians, in a lesser sense, have gone astray.
Gene Kapp: Well, based on the reports we have added, that California School District there encouraged or required to pray, quote, "in the name of Allah the compassionate, the merciful," as you just read.
Professor Kickasola: The opening lines, bismillahi r-rahmani r-rahim."
Gene Kapp: Also required to chant "praise to Allah, Lord of creation."
Professor Kickasola: Al-hamdu lillah rabbi l-'alamin," that's the second line.
Gene Kapp: My question to you is this, we don't think there are constitutional grounds for this to occur in the school district and we've made that clear. Is it not offensive to the Muslims that really want to practice their faith for a classroom scenario, if you will, students that are not the faith?
Jay Sekulow: To pretend.
Gene Kapp: To pretend that they are Muslims and to chant these, what they would consider to be sacred phrases.
Professor Kickasola: I would say, I have a right to play Halloween, or anything else I want to play, I have a right to pretend that I am a Muslim. But if I'm required to pretend that I'm a Muslim, it seems to me, that you have transgressed not only human nature, you transgressed the First Amendment which allows us to the human.
Jay Sekulow: Which is exactly what has happened here, and, professor, you have just the last few minutes shown what students went through with those verses out of the Koran, showing clearly what we've been talking about the last two weeks on this program. This is a serious affront. Last question, we're running close on time here. How significant is the growth of Islam and its impact on individuals and what is the Christian response?
Professor Kickasola: The 1400 years, Islam begins, of course, with Muhammad and his journey from Meccah to Madinah, which is in Western Arabia, 622 AD. We're now 1400 years later and it is a global religion, the fastest growing religion on the world, second only to Christianity. And the reason that it is such a threat is not just because of the immediate threat with militants who are just plain murderers, and the President's right on this, we're going after murderers whether they are Muslims, Christians, or whatever. It's because the gradualists in Islam are the most numerous, that is they behave like a Fabian in approach to God, like Fabius the famous Roman general. They do it gradually, they do it with capacity, they do it by legal means but once they come to political power, then they apply shari'ah law, and impose shari'ah law upon those who are not Muslims. Jay, for example, in Northern Nigeria, this is exactly what is happening.
Jay Sekulow: Very good, we appreciate the updates in that report, professor, we could not have gotten a better guest to end this segment and this program in dealing with this issue of Islam. This has been an important issue for us, we appreciate your insights and your knowledge on this. It's been very, very helpful.
Gene Kapp: Dr. Joe Kickasola, professor of international policy at Regent University. As we say goodbye today, we urge you to sign onto our letter that is going to California right now. Still time to do it, here's the toll-free number, 877-989-2255. This is the last day, have your voice heard, call now 877-989-2255, or you can go right to the web site add your name on line at www.ACLJ.org. That's going to do it for today's broadcast, we'll talk to next time. Have a great day.
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