“Establishing Islam in Minnesota”
Investigative columnist Katharine Kersten at the Minneapolis Star Tribune has been digging into Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA), a public charter school that’s fronting for the Muslim American Society. When she asked to visit the government-funded school, an official told her the schedule was too hectic to accommodate her because of statewide testing. When Kersten found out that testing wouldn’t begin for several weeks, the school refused to return her calls and e-mails. Fortunately, one teacher was willing to spill the beans:
TIZA’s executive director, Asad Zaman, is a Muslim imam, or religious leader, and its sponsor is an organization called Islamic Relief.
Students pray daily, the cafeteria serves halal food - permissible under Islamic law — and “Islamic Studies” is offered at the end of the school day.
Zaman maintains that TIZA is not a religious school. He declined, however, to allow me to visit the school to see for myself, “due to the hectic schedule for statewide testing.” But after I e-mailed him that the Minnesota Department of Education had told me that testing would not begin for several weeks, Zaman did not respond — even to urgent calls and e-mails seeking comment before my first column on TIZA.
Now, however, an eyewitness has stepped forward. Amanda Getz of Bloomington is a substitute teacher. She worked as a substitute in two fifth-grade classrooms at TIZA on Friday, March 14. Her experience suggests that school-sponsored religious activity plays an integral role at TIZA.
Arriving on a Friday, the Muslim holy day, she says she was told that the day’s schedule included a “school assembly” in the gym after lunch.
Before the assembly, she says she was told, her duties would include taking her fifth-grade students to the bathroom, four at a time, to perform “their ritual washing.”
Afterward, Getz said, “teachers led the kids into the gym, where a man dressed in white with a white cap, who had been at the school all day,” was preparing to lead prayer. Beside him, another man “was prostrating himself in prayer on a carpet as the students entered.”
“The prayer I saw was not voluntary,” Getz said. “The kids were corralled by adults and required to go to the assembly where prayer occurred.”
Where are the separation-of-church-and-state activists now?
TIZA’s operation as a public, taxpayer-funded school is troubling on several fronts. TIZA is skirting the law by operating what is essentially an Islamic school at taxpayer expense. The Department of Education has failed to provide the oversight necessary to catch these illegalities, and appears to lack the tools to do so. In addition, there’s a double standard at work here — if TIZA were a Christian school, it would likely be gone in a heartbeat.
TIZA is now being held up as a national model for a new kind of charter school. If it passes legal muster, Minnesota taxpayers may soon find themselves footing the bill for a separate system of education for Muslims.
Tip of the iceberg.
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- Does the ACLU Believe in the Seperation of Mosque and State? : Stop The ACLU
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Between the muslims and the illegals, the US is going to go in the tank if we don’t get elected off their rears and stop this crud. Can you imagine what would happen if after school there was a Christian or Jewish class for the kids?
L
I will guarantee you that the same people who argued that Christians should not be allowed to pray will argue that we MUST let Muslims pray.
This is going to end badly (probably in decades). And it isn’t going to end with the government doing the right thing. It is going to end when the people get fed up of being treated like Dhimmis and second class citizens.
Don’t need to imagine. It’s “proselytizing” and a violation of the First Amendment.
To these people, so much as mentioning the word “God” in public is an offense and violation of the First Amendment.
They won’t be happy until shari’a law replaces the Constitution.
Rather ironic that people who believe in a “living, breathing” Constitution take very literally a phrase that doesn’t even exist in the Constitution.
Indeed, it is only CHURCHES (read: Christian churches) they want separated. Everything else is okey-dokey.
Freefall.
Where’s the Anti-Christian Lawyers Union when we need them.
Oh, yeah. They’re too busy fighting Christians.
Is there a link for this so I can make an inquiry to the local ACLU chapter?
No doubt the legalistic hair-splitters of the ACLU will take the position that the US Constitution does not mandate ’separation of mosque and state’ and will defend the Islam’s right to do as they please at the madrassa in question
If I were a Minnesotan I would be up in arms that my tax dollars were going to pay for this school. If they want a Muslim school, they’ll have to find families who are willing to pay to send their children to their school. As Catholic and Christian schools do. No special privileges. We need to pull our heads out of the sand and address this problem now!
Rinoalert, you can find it over at drudge or jihadwatch.
All you have to do is enroll a blind student in the school and have him bring his guide dog everyday.When they flip out and refuse to let the dog in,then it will make the news.
If they are going to use our freedom against us then we have every right to use thier intolerance against them.
JLP
ThackerAgency is right. I live up here in the Peoples Republic of Minnesota. They bend over for the Somali retards they dragged in here. My wife has a spat with one every other week in the grocery store when the Somali takes two full baskets into the express lane and then shouts and screams when you try to get her to follow the rules. “Rules. Rules! We don’t need no stinkin’ rules!!” Except Sharia. The Somali taxi drivers started asking travelers at the airport if they had alcohol in their luggage and refused to drive them if they did! We finally fixed that issue, but many more remain. Now the airport authority is going to put foot baths in at the airport so they can wash their feet for prayer. But that’s not supporting a religion. Oh no. Just ask the airport commission. Yeah. Sure.
I knew this story would come out big.
The state of Minnesota won’t do a thing, they are afraid they may lose their heads if they speak up.
A charter school? That usually means they are exempt from a lot of the regulations and restrictions burdening the regular public schools.
In fact, that is the basis of many of the lawsuits against school choice – that many of the recipient schools have a religious agenda on top of the scholastic agenda.
I went to a Catholic grade school and IIRC we had a couple of Lutheran/Protestant students in the school. They were required to sit through catechism and daily mass along with the rest of us.
What is the definition of charter schools in Minnesota? Is it essentially a school choice thing or what?
I am sure this crowd is hiding under their desks in fear of upsetting the tolerant madmen of islam.
I agree with #1. What is going to become of the US? It is truly troubling. Slowly but surely they will take over while we sit back & watch it happen.
It is on Drudge.
As a taxpayer if I were in MN I’d be in front of the school with some signs in hand.
Here in Mn, there are a few who will not tolerate Sharia. They are beginning to unite to protest this disgusting charade of what a charter school is supposed to be. I will let people know what we plan on doing and when. For now, peaceful protest is going to be thought out but we will not hesitate to stand tall and not budge should any intimidation occur.
Response by Asad Zaman, director of TIZA.
I notice that he doesn’t address the mandatory washing rituals and prayer assembly.
#1 letget,
Don’t forget the entitlement crowd that’s killing us from within.
Between the deadbeats, the illegals, and the muslims, I just wonder which one will wipe us out first.
BTW, where the heck is Michael Newdow? If he had a hissy over the words “under God”, do you think he’ll feel the same about “under allah”?
I sent this a while ago. Here’s the link:
Yes is there a “real” link for this story? By real I mean a link the DC types will be willing to view. I would like to bring this to their attention.
Doh, all I had to do was wait a little bit.
Pull their funding NOW!!!
It’s crap like this that is chasing families like mine out of MN. I’m of a mindset at this point to let ‘em, have it, come June, me and mine are gone. They’ll have to find some other taxing paying rube to fund their caliphate.
TEEEEEJ
It’s OK, as long as they don’t support Christianity. (sarcasm, here)
Maybe now you understand why the second amendment to the constitution is so important. Sounds like it may be time for concerned citizens to form vigilance committees.
They cannot be exempt from the constitution. Charter schools receive direct funding from the state.
The school choice movement seeks to have “vouchers” or tax rebates in the amount spent on public ed given to parents to send their kids to the schools of their choice. By putting the money in the parents hands, it negates the separation clause (at least that is the pro school choice view, and mine too)
Old Tanker #26,
What you say makes sense at least as far as my objections based on school choice.
However, typically we argue the left goes too far with the exclusion of religion idea. Are we not aping their stance on separation of church and state here?
This is absurd.
What’s worse is that this school is sponsored by an Al-Qaeda/HAMAS charity.
And we’re not talking Chertoff and his lettuce either…
Whoops, that is Old Tanker #27
I don’t believe so, I don’t know any conservatives that believe a public school should force religious studies. We do get up in arms when schools try to ban students from forming voluntary bible study or in a recent story here, ban a student from drawing Christian based artwork. Separation means the schools can neither force a religion but they can’t ban it either.
You got me!! …#28
Good piece on religion in charter schools here. Key graph:
Its only a matter of time before the citizens of North and South Dakota as well as Iowa have to put up a fence to keep the Minnesota nuts out. I have had enough of islam and muslims to last me a thousand years I don’t want to hear about it anymore. It is making me sick to my stomach. We can thank Kennedy and his third world immigration plan for all of this. I hope the Kennedy name ends up as it should, Mudd. We are fighting them over there so they can bring their traditions over here… great. Until we see the authorities in a massive effort turn their attention to the local state and federal criminals in government this will only get worse.
I’m still trying to find the clause or amendment in the Constitution even supporting public education period. Quite frankly, I object to public funding of education period. What we get for the money is a pretty poor return.
Looks like the madrassa in NYC is still operating too. Link via stopthemadrassa.com.
I just pray everyone wakes up before it’s too late!
If that’s the case, I wouldn’t have a problem with it as long as it is being applied equally (other religions)and the parents know what is going on.
My big area of concern is WHY would they keep a reporter out? Seems like they have something to hide……
can’t argue with you there……..
It’s not Islamophobia: it’s Islamorealism.
You don’t have to be afraid of something to see it for the threat it is.
The Islamofascists seem to have taken a page from our liberal friends, and have succeeded in taking over some of our educational systems.
I guess we will just have to wait for the ACLU to swarm in and stop this “church state separation” violation from festering any more!!
Yeah, when monkeys fly out of my butt.
God knows that a Christian based school would be under attack with injunctions and court orders as we speak.
Maybe the Muslims have shown us a way to get back into our children’s lives.
Precedent is a double edged sword….
>>I went to a Catholic grade school and IIRC we had a couple of Lutheran/Protestant students in the school. They were required to sit through catechism and daily mass along with the rest of us.>>
That was a private school. A Charter school is a public school, and subject to limitations on teaching religion.
>>These rulings enabled Minnesota, the national leader in charter school legislation, with one of the more restrictive state charter laws, to find a way to charter and finance the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, bolstering Islamic history, language, and values.>>
So…Christians and Jews could do the same? Or not…? I can see the funds following the child to a private school, but it seems inconsistent for the state to be able to charter a public school that is in direct violation of the separation rules…
Left wing, socialist, democraps are killing off this once great country.
Spineless politicians…com on people pay attention when voting.
Thanks to, Lan Astaslem said:
Looks like the madrassa in NYC is still operating too. Link via stopthemadrassa.com.
Dimsdale, well said. I think the hope here is actually with the libs… I mean Achmed has 2 fathers might not go over so well with this crowd.
Please, just someone, please tell me that the FBI is monitoring what “supplies” the chemistry dept. is ordering…
News Flash Islam NOT the only ones using our money! MM is quoted here too!
Hispanic group boycotts
Disney ‘white supremacists’
Mexica Movement: ‘We are radical.
More radical than you can imagine’
——————————————————————————–
Posted: July 15, 2006
1:00 am Eastern
© 2008 WorldNetDaily.com
Mexica Movement activists protest in L.A.
A radical Hispanic group is promoting a boycott of the Walt Disney Company because, contends the Mexica Movement, the entertainment giant “has made a habit of hiring talk show hosts who spread the Minutemen white supremacist racist agenda.”
The boycott announcement specifically cites radio legend and Presidential Medal of Freedom winner Paul Harvey, as well as popular talker Doug McIntyre. Both Harvey and McIntyre are nationally syndicated by ABC, which is owned by Disney.
McIntyre was instrumental in exposing a taxpayer-funded Los Angeles school backed by radical groups that lay claim to the Southwestern U.S. As WND reported, the principal of the Academia Semillas del Pueblo Charter School, Marcos Aguilar, has said he believes in racial segregation and sees his school as part of a larger cultural “struggle.”
Among the school’s supporters are the National Council of La Raza Charter School Development Initiative; Raza Development Fund, Inc.; and the Pasadena City College chapter of MeCHA, or Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan.
“La Raza,” or “the Race,” is a designation by many Mexicans who see themselves as part of a transnational ethnic group they hope will one day reclaim Aztlan, the mythical birthplace of the Aztecs. In Chicano folklore, Aztlan includes California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico and parts of Colorado and Texas.
On its website, the Mexica Movement calls for “an immediate international boycott against The Walt Disney Company and all of its holdings. We are asking for this boycott because Disney has made a habit of hiring talk show hosts who spread the Minutemen white supremacist racist agenda against the Mexican and Central American communities in the United States.”
The organization will continue calling for the Disney boycott, it says, “until we are assured of the immediate firing of all of Disney’s ABC racist radio terrorists who are spreading racist hate against the Mexican and Central American community by inciting threats of violence against us.”
The Mexica Movement calls Harvey and McIntyre “the top racist Nazis in this campaign against our people” who, they say, “are promoting racist hate against our people and they are promoting an atmosphere of fear in our communities.”
Saying McIntyre has “incited bomb threats” against the MeCHA-supported school in Los Angeles, and that Harvey – “the other monster” – is “proud of the racist genocide that Europeans committed against the Indigenous people of this continent,” Mexica calls the almost universally loved elder statesman of talk radio “the KKK of the radio airwaves.”
“Yes, we are radical,” says the Mexica Movement on its website. “More radical than you can imagine.”
As WND has reported, a website documenting the statements and tactics of Hispanic activists says it is these radical groups themselves that are the ones guilty of racism and hate speech.
WeHateGringos.com begins with a warning that the site “contain graphic examples of hate and racism that has and is occurring in large cities and small towns across America.”
States the site: “The website WeHateGringos.com is dedicated to exposing the other side of illegal immigration … the side our president, many in Congress, the media and especially the racist hate groups do not want us to see.”
Indeed, earlier last week top presidential adviser Karl Rove traveled to Los Angeles to speak to La Raza in person. The Bush administration has contributed millions of dollars directly to “La Raza.”
WND Editor Joseph Farah wrote of Rove’s outreach: “The group sponsors and directs racist schools. It promotes the ‘reconquista’ movement that claims the American Southwest belongs to Mexico. In fact, its very name – which translates to ‘the race’ – exposes its agenda. … These people are Mexican Nazis.”
And columnist Michelle Malkin reported that La Raza “snapped up $15.2 million in federal grants last year alone and more than $30 million since 1996. Undisclosed amounts went to get-out-the-vote efforts supporting La Raza political positions. The U.S. Department of Education funneled nearly $8 million in taxpayer grants to the group for a nationwide charter-schools initiative.”
My son attends a charter school here in Phoenix and the students used to be allowed to pray during the “See you at the Pole” annual event each September.
I guess one parent complained and now it may be cancelled this September.
Charter schools receive some Federal funding so they have some leeway, but it is getting tighter and tighter since the teachers’ unions and Liberals want to destroy all charter schools.
We have one kid here whose hair is way too long and so the principal told his two mothers to cut his hair….and the two moms threatened to sue. So guess what?? Now more boys have longer hair.
It is so sad how our once Conservative school is being threatened by Liberals…both parents and teachers. This school was founded on the idea that no evolution would be taught in science (no creationism either…) and for the first time in its 12 yr. history a newly hired Liberal science teacher taught evolution for 8 weeks even though state standards here in AZ only require that Darwinism be mentioned. My son was so upset by this only because he was not allowed to mention Intelligent Design or to challenge Darwinism.
I am glad my son will be out of here next year. It is getting bad.
Preaching to the choir here, unfortunately.
Lighten up folks! Listen man, the separation is of CHURCH from State, NOT of MADRASSA and State, and NOT of MOSQUE and State, so shut up already!
Some people just can’t tolerate those who are different just because they aren’t infidels (Christians). That era ended long ago… let these people worship in peace. After all, it’s a Charter School, so you don’t have to go there if you don’t want to!
There isn’t any money in pushing for a change in that school. It isn’t Jefferson’s “separation” that is the issue; it’s how much money and interviews on camera that can be made. Lots of that against anything Christian. Nothing but sympathy for “persecuted” moslems. So the ACLU isn’t interested, nor the moonbats shouting for separation. No fame, money or cameras here, move along.
Doc Lead, I’m hoping you’re being satirical brah.
To fix this for real, someone must be a complainant.
For example, that they’ve either been rejected admission cause they’re not Muslim, or that they were discriminated against after refusing to comply with the religious indoctrination.
What people would want to subject their children to that much grief?
Dr, Lead Based Paint, hope you’re being sarcastic.
More on the school here:
http://www.wnd.com/index.php/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=58967
this could be interesting if I had the time to look through it all…
http://app.education.state.mn.us/MFRSystem/reports.do?timeFrame=all&districtNumber=4099&districtType=07&districtName=TAREK%20IBN%20ZIYAD%20ACADEMY
The slow creep of sharia sometime starts so slowly that fighting it feels impossible.
At our Canadian school, a mother is allowed to use an unused classroom for afternoon prayers with her children and others. The kids leave class before recess. Because there is no compulsion and no staff are involved, the board policy is to allow it. We were told that it’s not even up for discussion.
Part of the reason this is allowed is that religious ceremonies already take place in local schools under the guise of multicultural inclusion — circle dances and powwows (which are spiritual activities) for the native students. In that case, some schools end the day early to accommodate the festivities.
Can anyone say Dhimmi-sota?
The problem with the public school system in America is that it is dominated by the politically correct NEA and monitored by the left-wing ACLU. These organization turn away from confronting what they know is politically correct public education because they approve of Islamic religious propagandizing. The obvious double standard occurs when they condemn even the slightest supposed indiscretion by a Christian student who happens to mention Christianity in a commencement speech.
It’s all that and more, unfortunately. While everyone was focused on the 2006 national elections, the Dems picked up like 13 seats in the state house. They already had the state senate. So even with a decent GOP governor, the brakes are off. Massive tax increases, smoking bans, every transit boondoggle, and absolutely every public education subsidy that’s ever been devised.
Dr Lead Based
I will NOT shut up…. Sharia is real and a threat… get thee in front of me. Let YOU be the first to think they will spare you when they try to impose dhimmitude. Unless you’re Islamic already.
I actually have been to this school. I went there for some training in the summer of 2006. School was not in session, and I won’t pretend that I went around the whole school. I was in one section which included the staff lounge for the actual training and up and down one hallway looking around. I don’t speak Arabic, so I can’t tell you most of what was there. The people from the school sat one place, and the guests sat at another. Most of the women there were in full burqa. It certainly goes against the charter school movement, which is flowering in Minnesota. Public schools hate them because it is competition and charters try to promote education over warehousing. Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy was always a bad idea, as it will trigger a backlash in school choice as it it becomes the symbol of choice gone mad. I did get a nifty certificate for some clock hours that will remind me of the time when I saw everything that is wrong with our political elites importing those who dislike what we stand for.
http://kstp.com/article/stories/S407036.shtml?cat=1
I just read this article from one of our libmedia stations. It points out that state law requires a US flag to fly outside the school. The excutive director of the school claims it’s not there because “he didn’t know how to work the flagpole”
Is THIS guy one of the teachers??? sounds like a big dummy to me.
TEEEEEEJ
He is not a dummy. They don’t want to fly the flag, so they make up a stupid excuse so we make fun of him instead of asking the real questions.