An Islamakazi Pledge Of Allegiance

Denis Schulz

2005/11/07 

“As an American Muslim, I pledge allegiance to God and his prophet. I respect and love my family and my community, and I dedicate my life to serving the cause of truth and justice. As an American citizen with rights and responsibilities, I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America , and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and  justice for all.”  

This is the pledge of allegiance recited by children attending the New Horizons Elementary School in Pasadena , California . It’s not something one would hear in a Catholic or Christian school. The closest thing to it would be a diehard Red Sox fan keeping a picture of A-Rod on his dresser. And it’s not a benign pledge. There is nothing benign about pledging oneself to Islam, the prophet, and Islamic Law. 

The bureaucrats in the Department of Education must have been asleep on this one—or maybe they don’t read the fine print. Anyway the Department of Educations awarded its Blue Ribbon for Excellence Award to New Horizons Elementary. Did anyone bother to inform Lynne Cheney? Was Jerry Falwell asked his opinion? Does Shmuley Boteach think it was kosher? What would Thomas Jefferson and James Madison have thought of this? Would they have looked with disfavor at a pledge that would have put, not all religions but just one particular religion, on a par with the US Constitution? It would have been time for another Kentucky Resolution. Jefferson fought a war against the expositors of this particular religion for seizing US merchant ships on the High Seas, for enslaving American seamen, for turning preteen cabin boys into sex toys to sate the sexual appetites of assorted emirs and Mullahs. This particular religion never apologized for any of those crimes and never intends to. 

And what about this ‘under God’ stuff? Do Michael Newdow and the American Civil Liberties Union intend to do anything about it? 

In all fairness, the Blue Ribbon Award is part of the No Child Left Behind scheme and doesn’t really amount to much. Any school that can demonstrate academic superiority or display dramatic increases in student achievement can receive an award—especially if the school is a minority or non-white institution. Bob Jones Grammar Schools need not apply. 

Students at New Horizons spend an hour and a half each school day on Koranic and Islamic studies and Arabic language instruction. “And on Friday,” says principal Judy Khaloui, “all of our students come together to pray. It is important that our students understand their faith, and to be proud of their religion and cultural heritage.” 

Cultural heritage? This is where it gets tricky. This is where the diehard Red Sox fan sticks A-Rod’s picture in the bottom drawer of the dresser—face down. Is anybody going to tell the students at New Horizons about Jefferson and his war against the Barbary pirates; about the separation of Church and State; about how Islam stole Israel from the Jews; about the extermination of the Zoroastrians and the Assyrians; about the murder of millions of Christians and animists in Sudan ? Of course not, that would not make them feel proud of their religion, but they will be told about Habib who was detained for ten minutes at the airport by racist security guards and about the Golden Age of Islam when anything worth thinking had been thought and anything worth doing had been done. 

Sahar Jahani, New Horizons class of 2005, says, “Not only do the students at this school learn Islamic principles and values, but they also have the opportunity to grow and have fun in a safe and welcoming environment.” 

Here are some Islamic principles—or maybe they are values. It is difficult to tell. 

Qur’an 5:51: “Believers, take not Jews or Christians for your friends. They are but friends and protectors to each other.” (Is that an outright rejection of cultural diversity?) 

Qur’an 3:56: “As for those disbelieving infidels I will punish them with a terrible agony in this world and in the next. They have no one to help or save them.”  (That sounds like out-and-out Islamic Jihad!) 

Tabari IX: 113: “Allah permits you to shut them in separate rooms and to beat them, but not severely…Treat women well for they are like domestic animals and they possess nothing in themselves.”  (Shocking! Hillary Clinton and Patty Murray please take note) 

Qur’an 9:29: “Fight those who do not believe until they all surrender paying the protective tax in submission.” (George III tried that principle—taxation without representation. That was another thing Jefferson didn’t like) 

Qur’an 5:73: “They are surely disbelieving who blaspheme and say: ‘God is one of Three in the Trinity’ for there is no Illah (God) except One, Allah. If they desist not from saying this (blasphemy), verily a grievous penalty will befall them—the disbelievers will suffer a painful doom.’” (Okay, all you believers in the Holy Ghost—take the down elevator to Beelzebub’s waiting room)