Sweet Home Allah Bamya: Appropriating Native American History for Islamofascism
Eleanor: Did you rehearse all this or are you improvising?
Henry: Good God, woman, face the facts
Eleanor: Which ones? We've got so many.
The Lion in Winter
James Goldman
In April 2004 the Washington Times reported on a quarrel between Canada's Algonquin Nation and the producers of a textbook titled Arab World Studies Notebook.
Arab World Studies Notebook claimed that early Muslim explorers had married into the Algonquins, producing chiefs with names like Abdul Rahim and Abdallah Ibn Malik by the 17th century.
Peter DiGangi, then director of Canada's Algonquin Nation Secretariat, called these assertions "preposterous" and "outlandish." He said there was nothing in Algonquin written or oral history to support such statements. DiGangi contacted the textbook's editor, Audrey Shabbas, and the Middle Eastern Policy Council, an advocacy group promoting the book, to protest. Although DiGangi said he was never contacted by Ms. Shabbas or MEPC regarding his complaint, the Washington Times article carried the following quote from Ms. Shabbas:
"As the editor of the 'Notebook' when I heard from Mr. DiGangi that a citation in the work was not borne out by either Native American written records or by oral traditions, I was grateful that the statement could be so easily removed."
The article then reported that a two-page chapter entitled "Early Muslim Exploration Worldwide: Evidence of Muslims in the New World before Columbus" had been excised. However, it also indicated that up to 1200 teachers had already received erroneous copies over the past five years and it was not clear how Ms. Shabbas intended to contact them.
I had read about this incident at the time it occurred, and recently I decided to revisit the subject to see how it had been resolved. The official website for the Algonquin Nation Secretariat is "down" for temporary remodeling and will not be available until May, so I was unable to find an official Algonquin Nation statement on the incident. I began looking at the other people and organizations involved.
Google the name Audrey Shabbas' and sooner or later you will be led the the homepage of AWAIR- Arab World and Islamic Resources. The website states that AWAIR
"...represents the long-term efforts by Audrey Shabbas and colleagues who share commitment to quality materials and services for educators teaching about the Arab world and about Islam at the pre-college level."
The site sells the Arab World Studies Notebook for $49.95 and describes it as being intended for grades 7-12. AWAIR identifies itself as a 501 (c)(3) charity and says it is funded by private donations and sales of books such as the Arab World Studies Notebook.
The AWAIR site makes no mention of any alteration of the text of the Arab World Studies Notebook and cites the same number of readings as before the alleged two-page deletion. No textual excerpts are provided on the site.
This neither proves nor disproves anything, so I went to the Middle East Policy Council website. The Middle East Policy Council (MEPC) describes itself as
"founded in 1981 to expand public discussion and understanding of issues affecting U.S. policy in the Middle East."
The 'About' section of MEPC's website lists the names and titles of those connected to the organization, divided into groups like "Editorial Advisory Committee" and "National Advisory Committee." The lists read like a Who's Who of business and academia- or a conspiracy theorist's dream:
- The Hon. Chas. W. Freeman, Jr., Ambassador and former Assistant Secretary of Defense, is President of MEPC's board of directors. He is joined on the board by:
- The Hon. Frank C. Carlucci, Chairman of the Carlyle Group, and:
- Dr. Fuad A. Rihani, director, Research and Development, Saudi Binladin Group.
The National Advisory Committee includes:
- Dr. John L. Esposito, Director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, and his colleague:
- Dr. Yvonne Haddad, who also teaches at the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.
Ms. Audrey Shabbas is listed on the National Advisory Committee, and described as the founder of AWAIR and a staff development consultant.
The 'Educational Links' section of the MEPC website appears to offer 2 links to the Arab World Studies Notebook, but both links are broken. Frustrated, I backed out of the MEPC site and began searching for 'Arab World Studies Notebook table of contents.' Eventually I found an old MEPC link listing the entire table of contents of at least one edition of Arab World Studies Notebook. This table of contents lists a chapter titled "Early Muslim Exploration Worldwide: Evidence of Muslims in the New World before Columbus." This was the chapter to which DiGangi objected, the chapter allegedly removed after 1200 copies had been sold.
The table of contents attributed two authors to the chapter- Audrey Shabbas and Abdallah Hakim Quick. I went looking for more about Abdallah Hakim Quick.
The biography on Sheikh Abdullah Hakim Quick's website says that he has "served as Imam, teacher and counselor in the USA." He has studied at the Islamic University of Madinah, Saudi Arabia and currently works as a lecturer at an Islamic Institute in Cape Town, South Africa. His website promotes many books on Islamic topics but does not mention Arab World Studies Notebook. It does feature lectures written by Sheikh Quick. I browsed and read, finding the following statements in a 1997 composition titled "Seeking the Inner Muslim":
"In Canada, women have been given the legal right to walk around topless in public places. Already, women can be seen mowing their lawns, sunbathing, or strolling down the street without any blouse, bra or shirt."
And:
"Recently, the Yahud in Israel have drawn pictures of the prophet Muhammed (pbuh) as a pig and posted them on Muslim homes and businesses."
My confidence in the honesty of the Sheikh's scholarship was challenged, to say the least.
I experienced a similar sensation when I scanned the 'Workshops' section of the AWAIR website. Audrey Shabbas gives workshops on Islamic and Arab culture. The workshops are at minimum 5 hours long and can take a much as 2 days to complete. The content of these workshops in not described. A few topics and titles are listed, and the website emphasizes that they are given for free, but there are no further details. The 'Workshop' section finishes with 'Teachers Talk about Workshops,' which lists more that 10 glowing endorsements from education professionals across the country, calling the presentations "awesome," "great," and "a smashing success."
There is only one problem: all the endorsements are anonymous. They are attributed to "Teacher, Las Vegas," and "Teacher, Olean, NY."
I was reading a non-description of a workshop based on a textbook that nobody wanted to openly discuss. Frustrated once again, I back out of the AWAIR website and returned to MEPC.
MEPC profiles Audrey Shabbas as the Council's Teacher Workshop Leader. They detail her many awards and honors, including a listing in the Who's Who in American Education. MEPC titles their workshop program "Teaching About the Arab World and Islam" and the website says the program is currently being updated for Spring 2007. Once again, no content is described. MEPC says that their workshop program has been given in 186 cities in 45 states, attended by 18,000 educators.
Fine, but what is currently being taught about Native American History and Islam? I gave up on MEPC, AWAIR and the Arab World Studies Notebook for the time being and began searching the rest of the Web.
I was about to fall down a Scholastic rabbit hole and tumble out into an alternate academic universe, but I didn't know it yet...
(Stay tuned for the next installment of 'Sweet Home Allah Bamya' on or about April 18th)
References
Table of Contents, Unidentified Edition of Arab World Studies Notebook
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