Anti-Islam flyers on campus
Kendall Alvarez Eskew
Issue date: 4/10/07 Section: News
Stacks of pamphlets left lying about the Campus Center caused a stir on Thursday, as many thought they represented anti-Islam ideas.
Distributed by an unknown party, the pamphlet cites the Quran and other Islamic teachings to prove points about democracy, human rights, sex and marriage, and violence.
The pamphlet, which urges readers to make copies and distribute to others, makes claims that, according to Islam, "Woman's mind is deficient," and that "Ethnic cleansing is practiced."
Some students thought the booklets were intended to insult those celebrating Islam Awareness Week. One Muslim student though, said the pamphlets hadn't fazed her.
"Typically something like this would upset someone," she said, "but it didn't upset me because I know it's not true."
She went on to say that "because English isn't Arabic, things that are translated lose their meaning."
Many who saw the pamphlets agreed that much of the information was taken out of context to highlight negative points of Islam, and a few pointed out that similar things could be done with other texts like the Bible.
To some, the flyers appeared to be nothing more than a prank pulled by students to upset Muslim students.
"True, true, and …only four?" said senior Ben Angeli, after reading in the pamphlet that Islam allows a man to marry up to four wives.
Sally Peterson and Sade Boone were more concerned with deciphering what "unnatural sex is allowed" meant. "Is it buttsex? Or doggy-style?" they pondered.
The booklet, titled "What Muslims Don't Tell You," was originally produced by The Pen Vs The Sword, a Los Angeles-based Christian organization. The author of the booklet, Abdullah al Araby, is actually a pen name, used by the organization for security reasons.
But the group does say that "he is a Christian who was born and lived a considerable part of his life in the Islamic world," and that he has extensive knowledge of Christian and Islamic theology.
Distributed by an unknown party, the pamphlet cites the Quran and other Islamic teachings to prove points about democracy, human rights, sex and marriage, and violence.
The pamphlet, which urges readers to make copies and distribute to others, makes claims that, according to Islam, "Woman's mind is deficient," and that "Ethnic cleansing is practiced."
Some students thought the booklets were intended to insult those celebrating Islam Awareness Week. One Muslim student though, said the pamphlets hadn't fazed her.
"Typically something like this would upset someone," she said, "but it didn't upset me because I know it's not true."
She went on to say that "because English isn't Arabic, things that are translated lose their meaning."
Many who saw the pamphlets agreed that much of the information was taken out of context to highlight negative points of Islam, and a few pointed out that similar things could be done with other texts like the Bible.
To some, the flyers appeared to be nothing more than a prank pulled by students to upset Muslim students.
"True, true, and …only four?" said senior Ben Angeli, after reading in the pamphlet that Islam allows a man to marry up to four wives.
Sally Peterson and Sade Boone were more concerned with deciphering what "unnatural sex is allowed" meant. "Is it buttsex? Or doggy-style?" they pondered.
The booklet, titled "What Muslims Don't Tell You," was originally produced by The Pen Vs The Sword, a Los Angeles-based Christian organization. The author of the booklet, Abdullah al Araby, is actually a pen name, used by the organization for security reasons.
But the group does say that "he is a Christian who was born and lived a considerable part of his life in the Islamic world," and that he has extensive knowledge of Christian and Islamic theology.
Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 4
Jim
posted 4/12/07 @ 1:47 AM EST
I think all this does is show the frustration that many Americans are feeling recently. Many in the Muslim community will refuse to denounce the atrocities that are committed against innocent men women and children throughout the world. (Continued…)
sam
posted 12/20/07 @ 6:40 PM EST
The Muslim community has repeatedly dissociated itself with acts of terrorism. I think the reason most of us don't see it that way has alot to do with the media covering the extreme right, so all references to Islam in the media are about turbaned extremists plotting to bomb trains or something to that degree. (Continued…)
Amanee Mustafa
posted 4/24/08 @ 7:36 PM EST
I believe the fact that Anti-Islamic flyers are being distributed throughtout this campus is unfortunate, however, not surprising at all. People in modern day society fail to recognize the true essence of Islam, and instead, fall victim to the deceptive tactics of todays media. (Continued…)
anonymous
posted 4/29/08 @ 2:21 AM EST
Religion in general is ludicrous nonsense. Great if they denounce religion! Just don't encourage some other one like Christianity.
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