Posted on 10/31/2005 2:45:20 PM PST by AmericaUnite
Jihad Comes to Small Town USA: Part 6 by Laura Mansfield
I first made contact with Sandy back in April, when the first Jihad Comes to Small Town USA article was published.
Sandy had emailed me, and she was not happy. She took me to task for implying that duplicity exited in mosques, and insisted that the kind of scene I witnessed in the mosque in Atlanta was an anomaly, rather than a regular occurrence.
She was quite clear in her opinion: “All of this Muslim-bashing is ridiculous. You don’t know what you’re talking about. Either you’re making up this, or you found one bad mosque.”
I emailed Sandy back, and we began a dialog.
We had a lot in common. Like Sandy, I had been married to a Muslim man, and over the course of a decade I had been exposed to some rather serious attempts to convert me to Islam, especially while I was in Cairo. And like Sandy, I had resisted all of the attempts at conversion, and had clung to my Christian faith. (I divorced my Egyptian husband a decade and a half ago when it became apparent he was sinking deep into the depths of radical Islam.)
Sandy told me that she is a registered nurse, working in a critical care unit at a large research hospital. She had been married to her Palestinian Muslim husband for 12 years, and when the marriage broke up four years ago she continued to visit the mosque regularly, for holidays and family life programs.
Their two children, Hussein, 16, and Sarah, 6, attended the Islamic day school affiliated with the mosque, and attended special religious classes on weekends. Although Sandy had never converted to Islam, she felt as if she were a part of the local Islamic community, and encouraged Hussein and Sarah to participate in mosque activities whenever she could.
Sandy was not willing to even consider that Hussein was being exposed to anti-American viewpoints at his school. In fact, one reason Sandy had enrolled Hussein in the Islamic school was to counter the growing anti-American sentiment that had become more and more evident in his father since the two had divorced.
“Because I’m not Muslim, I pretty much leave the religious instruction to my ex-husband and the men at the mosque,” explained Sandy in one of our first emails. “But the men at the mosque are good, God fearing men. I am not really worried about what they are teaching him.”
I emailed Sandy back and asked her to talk to her son about what he was learning in the Islamic school. I suggested that she take a look at the textbooks, and at some of the essays that he was almost certainly writing.
I also suggested that she go spend a day in Sarah’s classroom. I had done a little research, and made a few phone calls, and knew that the first graders in the school Sarah attended were following a curriculum from the Bureau of Islamic and Arabic Education. The BIAE curriculum recommends that the students recite the following pledge each day in classes:
As an American Muslim, I pledge allegiance to ALLAH 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.
It was several weeks before I heard from Sandy again. Sarah’s teacher was reluctant to let Sandy visit in the classroom, because she was concerned about disrupting the students. But she provided Sandy with a copy of the curriculum that she was following in teaching the class.
Sandy emailed the curriculum to me, commented “See, I told you they weren’t like you thought.” Sure enough, the curriculum Sandy emailed to me exuded sweetness and light. What mother wouldn’t want their small child learning such universal virtues such as “responsibility, honesty, thankfulness, fairness and justice, generosity, respect, kindness and care, appreciation of beauty, patience & compassion, courage and determination, citizenship”? It sounds almost Utopian.
Sandy was concerned about the unwillingness of the teacher to have her visit the classroom unannounced, and she took the request to the principal of the school. But the principal backed up the teacher, and said that Sandy’s presence in the classroom would be disruptive to the kids. Since for all practical purposes the school year was over, Sandy reluctantly acquiesced, thinking that in the fall she would pursue it further.
Sandy told me later that in thinking back, her first true real concerns about what her kids were being taught came at a wedding for one of Sandy’s college friends. Her friend, like Sandy, had chosen a husband from a different religion. Sandy’s friend was Episcopalian; she was married a Jewish man. They planned a wedding that incorporated elements from both religions at a nearby hotel.
Sandy and the kids were all excited about the wedding, especially since Sarah was going to be the flower girl. But at the wedding rehearsal, Sarah had run away in tears when she saw the rabbi standing with the minister.
Sandy found Sarah hiding underneath a table in the reception hall, hidden from view by the long tablecloth.
Sandy climbed under the table and sat with Sarah. She tried to persuade Sarah to come out, but Sarah refused. She kept insisting “that man will kill me and mix my blood with his bread”.
Sandy was dumbfounded. She couldn’t imagine where Sarah had gotten that idea. After all, the only two strangers in the room were the minister and the rabbi.
No amount of persuasion could convince Sarah to rejoin the wedding party, and Sandy ended up leaving Sarah with a babysitter going to the wedding alone the following night.
Sandy chalked up the incident to shyness, thinking that perhaps Sarah just had cold feet.
But then something happened that put everything in perspective for Sandy.
A few weeks later, I got a panicked email from Sandy, asking if there was any way she could speak to me by phone. She had included her phone number, so I called her, thinking I was just going to get chewed out again for what Sandy described as Muslim bashing.
But that wasn’t what Sandy wanted to talk about. There had been a decided change in her attitude, and she was seriously concerned about her children.
Sandy described the events of the summer.
Between her job, and the end of the year activities at the school Sandy had pretty much put her concerns about what was going on in Sarah’s classroom out of her mind.
But that only lasted until she took Sarah clothes shopping for summer clothes. In the southern portions of the United States, kids often wear shorts to school during April and May. But in the states surrounding the Great Lakes, it is much cooler, and since Sarah and Hussein were required to wear uniforms to school, Sandy had put off summer clothes shopping until after school was out.
Sandy was really looking forward to shopping. Every year she made it a special day - she would take Hussein and Sarah shopping one on one, and they would have a special day together. The entire family referred to it as “Mommy Time”.
Sandy explained to me how she went through the racks of little girl’s clothing at Gymboree, picking out a couple of sundresses, several pairs of shorts and summer tops, and a three cute little two piece swimsuits for Sarah.
Each year, Sarah was always especially excited about picking out her swimsuit. But this year, as Sandy went through the swimsuit rack, Sarah seemed completely uninterested. Sandy was a little puzzled, but wasn’t concerned. After all, she reasoned, maybe Sarah just didn’t like these swimsuits. She wondered if Sarah had perhaps gotten too old for Gymboree.
But when Sandy took Sarah into the dressing room, she was completely unprepared for the reaction she got from the child. Sarah completely refused to try on any of the clothing Sandy had selected for her.
Sandy at first thought that Sarah might not be feeling well, or might be hungry so she asked the clerk at Gymboree to hold the clothing behind the counter. She and Sarah headed for the food court. Sandy figured that after a kid’s meal from Sarah’s favorite fast food chain, Sarah would be ready to shop again.
But when they went back into Gymboree, as Sandy retrieved the clothing that the clerk was holding, Sarah started to have a temper tantrum. Sandy was more than a little embarrassed. She quickly selected one of the bathing suits, a sundress, and two shorts sets that looked like they would fit Sarah, and handed the clerk her American Express card.
Sandy was totally unprepared for the outburst that exploded from Sarah at that point. Sandy was in tears as she told me what her daughter had screamed in the store: “Mommy I’m not going to wear that. I’m not going to be a whore like you.”
Sandy explained that she got down on the floor, at eye level with her daughter to try and calm her down, but Sarah was hysterical. She kept insisting that she was not going to wear the clothes.
The clerk was standing there, with an look of embarrassment on her face - she wasn’t sure whether to void the sale or not. Sandy signed the credit card slip, picked up Sarah, and went back to the minivan.
Sandy told me later that she wasn’t sure which of them was crying harder.
When they got home, Sandy put Sarah down for a nap. Both mom and daughter needed some time to compose themselves.
Later than evening, over cookies and milk, Sandy asked Sarah where she had learned the word “whore”. But Sarah wasn’t willing to talk about it. “Never mind Mommy” was the only reaction Sandy could get.
Hussein had been at a friend’s house while the girls were out shopping. He got back home while Sarah and Sandy were locking horns over the kitchen table.
As soon as Hussein walked through the door, Sarah jumped up out of the chair and ran into his arms crying. Hussein dropped the baseball gear he was carrying and lifted his little sister in a hug. Sandy watched while Sarah, in tears, whispered frantically into her big brother’s ear.
Sandy told me later she was imagining all sorts of horrible scenarios. Her first thought was that somehow, somewhere, her daughter had been sexually abused, and it was being kept secret from her. As a nurse, Sandy knew that the worst thing she could do at that point was panic. So she sent Sarah up to watch a video.
She decided to try and get answers from Hussein.
But when she approached Hussein, he kept insisting that Sarah was ok. Sandy told him that she was afraid someone had hurt his sister and that if he knew anything he needed to tell her.
After a few minutes, Hussein exploded. “Look, mom. You know where she’s learning this. You’re the one who takes us there. Why are you surprised? You let it happen!”
Wednesday: Hussein’s Story
Note: This is a true story. I have deliberately left out the name of the city where this family lives, and have changed the names of the children at the request of Sandy to protect them from fears that she has regarding her ex-husband and his family. I have verified the facts told to me by Sandy to the best of my ability, and was able to verify the curriculum of the school. I spoke with her college friend, who verified the events that occured at the wedding. I have also spoken with both Sarah and Hussein, and they have verified their mom's story. I have also verified court documents that Sandy provided that also corroborate her account.
Islam is, as Islam does..
>>>The author's actions remain, however, fundamentally in violation of her faith and that is the central point of my original post.
Over 20 years ago, outside the knowledge we have now, would marrying a Muslim be considered marrying outside the faith since the 'nonextreme' translations embraced Christians as People of the Book.
Second Corinthians is not in the Old Testament.
You are comparing religions. The question was:
Over 20 years ago, outside the knowledge we have now, would marrying a Muslim beconsidered marrying outside the faith since the 'nonextreme' translations embraced Christians as People of the Book.
Because if we are quoting from the Old Testament, and the Old testament is shared, that is not outside of faith based on the Old Testament.
The Quran is the "Bizarro" version of the Old and New Testaments. It's that simple.
Excellent article. Though I personally am having a hard time understanding why some of you insist on "shooting the messenger".
We ALL did stupid things in our youth.
What we SHOULD be thankful for is the FACT that we have a Christian woman who can speak their language because of her experiences AND is willing to stick her neck out to bring us all this info.
Everything happens for a reason.
I don't remember the Iranian Hostage Crisis covering the Islamic Religion, Shariah, and Jihad.
Then again, I was VERY young. So was Laura.
>>>>and I blame the weakness of Carter for a lot of their boldness today.
Laura wrote something very compelling about that crisis. I will see if I can find it and post it here.
Amen!
Here are your multiple subject questions:
What probing questions about Christianity?
Where in the world does it state a Christian cannot marry outside their faith?
And what religions constitute marrying outside the faith?
What are NT injunctions?
How much did you know about Islam over 20 years ago?
You may have had the goal of asking this question: [So, over 20 years ago, how was marrying a Muslim marrying outside the faith?] but you have been purposely vague trying to set the stage for your notion.
To answer you as directly as I can, yes, Christians are warned not to marry outside of the faith. No amount of revisionism is going to erase that - unless, of course, one creates a new set of internal assumptions about 'extreme' versions and the like.
Pardon me! I apologize for that mistake.
I never said it wasn't.
bttt!
You are gagging on a gnat and swallowing a camel.
How so?
For those old enough to remember "Superman" and "Bizarro" comics, it was for clarification of the matter.
Yes or no.
The answer answers your repeated question.
(BTW, I did.)
We should and I am. On the other hand, I cannot let go Calpernia's ridiculous assertion that 20 years ago, marrying a muslim was considered marrying within the faith of a Christian.
Yes, it was.
While there is some commonality of texts and prophets, the core and irreconcileable split between the religions occurred way back with Abraham's first two offspring. Abraham, being promised by God that his heir would sire the Chosen People, let slip his faith when his wife Sarah remained barren, and had Ishmael by his wife's servant Hagar; Sarah subsequently conceived Issac. The controversy & split is centered on whether Ishmael or Issac was the true heir. Judaism (and by extention, Christianity) holds that Issac is the true heir of Abraham, and thus of God's promise, being legitimately born of Abraham's wife. Islam holds that Ishmael is the true heir of Abraham, being his first offspring.
The religions diverge upon the question of who is the legitimate heir of Abraham. While they may legitimately share involvement of the subsequent family trees, they differ on the importance of descendants and subsequent relative importance of prophets et al.
Deciding legitimate heirs thousands of years ago may seem petty, but is not: the upshot (which enters your question regarding "over 20 years ago") is that the faiths are outside each other, as one concludes Israel is the Chosen People and Christ is the messiah, while the other views Israel as the usurper and Christ is a minor prophet - these are, even considered 20+ years ago and based on nonextreme translations, irreconcileable differences in faiths.
BTW: 20+ years has not produced anything new re: Islam vs. Christianity. They've been pretty much at each others' throats for the last thousand years.
To your question directly: yes, that was marrying outside of faith - and was well understood as such 20+ years ago. There is nothing new in the issue, save the level of understanding of a few individuals.
You are ignoring the story in favor of some Pharisitical rant.
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