source: http://creepingsharia.wordpress.com/category/minnesota/

Minnesota Muslims, on the job & in the schools, the sharia way
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June 16, 2008

Somali Muslims in Minnesota, with vague hopes of returning to Somalia
some day, don’t consider assimilating. But if their hopes are vague,
then their efforts to avoid being Americanized and remain Islamic can
only mean more sharia for Minnesota. But of course, it’s not about
religion/culture, never is, it’s about economics.

Updated to include Katherine Kersten’s (who has been criticized for
doing what the ACLU should be doing) continuing analysis of the
Islamic charter school in Minnesota. Her blog here.

WSJ: At what point does a publicly funded charter school with strong
Islamic ties cross the line and inappropriately promote religion?

That’s a question now facing us in Minnesota. For the past five years,
the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, in Inver Grove Heights, Minn., has
operated in close connection with the Muslim American Society of
Minnesota. The school accepts public funds, and thus the broader
constitutional requirements placed on all public schools. Nonetheless,
in many ways it behaves like a religious school.

The school is named for the Muslim general who conquered Spain in the
eighth century. It shares a building with a mosque and the
headquarters of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota. The
cafeteria serves Halal food. Arabic is a required subject. There is a
break for midday prayers.

On Fridays, many students join with Muslim teachers and attend
religious services in the school’s gym. There are voluntary Islamic
Studies classes held “after” school, but before the buses leave to
take the school’s 400 students home. Most of the students are the
children of low-income Muslim immigrants. Read it all from the WSJ.
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On the job, their way - By CHRIS SERRES, Star Tribune
June 15, 2008

Fatuma Hassan has just enough rice in her near-empty cupboards to make
it through the month. The anger she felt when she lost her job in May
has given way to a dull, nagging hunger.

Yet this soft-spoken 22-year-old became an unlikely hero within the
Somali community when she and five of her Muslim co-workers were
dismissed last month from the Mission Foods tortilla factory in New
Brighton for refusing to wear a new company uniform — a shirt and
pants — they consider a violation of their Islamic beliefs.

“For me, wearing pants is the same as being naked,” Hassan said,
noting the prophet Mohammed taught that men and women should not dress
alike. “My culture, my religious beliefs, are more important than a
uniform.”

[that's like saying every muslim who wears a hijab is the same as a
terrorist]

Over the past century, Minnesota has seen waves of immigrants from
Germany, Sweden, Norway and Laos, among other nations, and each group
managed to move up the ladder of prosperity despite some initial
doubts about their ability to integrate.

Yet nearly two decades after a violent civil war brought thousands of
Somali refugees to the Twin Cities, their integration in the U.S.
workplace is becoming more contentious.

Their insistence on maintaining Muslim traditions, including prayer
times and modest clothing, have led to firings at several
manufacturers across the state and a sharp increase in religious
discrimination complaints.

[don't let us live under sharia law, we'll sue you]

The well-publicized clashes also have sparked legal and ethical
debates on whether efficiency-hungry workplaces are doing enough or
defiant workers are accommodating too little.

“For the average Minnesotan, this is entirely new,” said Bruce Corrie,
an economist at Concordia University in St. Paul who specializes in
immigration research. “The Somali community is highly assertive and
politically engaged. … It’s part of who they are as a people.”

But the root cause of the persistent tension is more about economics
than culture or religion, say some immigration experts.
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CAIR on the warpath yet again
May 30, 2008
CAIR continues its attempts to overthrow the U.S. government through a
tireless legal jihad.

This week, two new attempts at bolstering sharia law were brought
forth. Read both.

The first on behalf of Muslim Somali women at a tortilla factory in
Minnesota. Yes, the same Minnesota with a Muslim congressman, Muslim
cabbies who refuse to transport those with alcohol or dogs, schools
and airports turned into madrassas, and school leaders who refuse to
fly the American flag. (Read those stories here)

Claiming they were fired for not wearing standard uniforms, the Muslim
women claim religious discrimination for not be allowed to wear
Islamic garb in the factory. The women said they felt naked wearing
the tight fighting pants. Why did they take the job then? Let’s see
how long Mission Foods can fend off CAIR.

Gruma Corp., the Irving, Texas-based parent company of Mission Foods,
released a written statement Tuesday denying that any employees were
terminated or disciplined at the New Brighton plant. However, the
company made clear the six women have been relieved of their
responsibilities for the time being, and may ultimately lose their
jobs if they don’t wear uniforms. Read it all.

The second attempt by CAIR to tie up Congress and waste tax payer
money comes on the heels of a case that proves that Muslims are far
from being discriminated against. In fact, Muslims are given
preferential treatment by the U.S. legal system. Two Muslim women who
entered the U.S. illegally under false pretenses, then infiltrated the
CIA, FBI and Marine Corps to assist Islamic terrorists were hardly
punished at all and remain in country. At the same time, U.S. citizens
in the military attempted to assist law enforcement against Islamic
terrorists (albeit illegally) were given significantly more harsh
punishment, and one sits in jail.

CAIR is seeking to capitalize on the later breach calling for
Congressional investigations and possible civil rights violations -
despite its own terrorist links for which no hearings have been
called:

The California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations,
the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Southern California, the
ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties, and the Islamic Shura Council
of Southern California sent a joint letter to the Congressional
Committees on the Judiciary and Oversight and Government Reform
expressing concerns over the possible civil rights violations posed by
the alleged monitoring of U.S. citizens on the basis of religious
affiliation.

So while illegal Muslim immigrants infiltrate our highest security to
assist terrorists and are fined $750 - CAIR says and does nothing.
Their silence on such matters is deafening.
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Mosque in Hiding at Minneapolis community college
May 28, 2008
Another public school in Minnesota turned into an Islamic house of
worship - you would think the state is being led by a Muslim. Wait a
second, it is (although he has a formidable challenger now).

Katherine Kersten broke this story (more details in original story,
read it) several months ago but it was new to us and is also being
published at Touchstonemag.com so we thought it an opportune time to
share it with readers. The mosque/prayer room was complete with an
arrow pointing toward mecca, a gender barrier dividing the room, and
islamic propaganda. Refusing to submit to islam, citizens identified
and challenged creeping sharia at the school. Even in the face of
supreme dhimmi’s and apologists for Islam.

—John C. “Chuck” Chalberg on Mosque in Hiding - Making Room for Prayer
Rugs on a Secular Campus

It was somehow fitting that my suburban community college was
embroiled in a religious controversy at the height of our annual
“winter festival” season. Thanksgiving, of course, survives as
Thanksgiving on our campus, even though too many among us have no
deity to thank or neglect to thank the one we barely remember.
Christmas, to be fair, survives as well, but it has not survived in
the official parlance of a state school.

As a result, from sometime in early December until students finish
their final exams (in time to celebrate, dare it be said, Christmas),
our campus is home to an essentially secular winter festival, if one
celebrated with pagan rites.

A Place to Pray

Actually, the story begins in the late winter, when a small group of
students approached the college administration with a request: Could
they have a place to pray? Their petition was not entirely new and not
necessarily out of line. The school has long had an active
InterVarsity Fellowship which meets and prays weekly in a campus
classroom. But this particular request was different: Would the
administration set aside a permanent space for prayer?

The students in question were largely Somali Muslims. Their request
was understandable, given their need to pray five times daily. A
simple denial of their petition would have been equally
understandable, given innumerable Supreme Court decisions and
innumerable campus policies that have gone to great lengths to
separate church from state.

But instead of saying “no,” the administration compromised. The school
would not designate any space for a specific religion, but it would
permit a generic “meditation room.”

Such a “room” was created by closing off a portion of a hallway. The
decision itself reflected an administrative desire to close off any
debate on the subject as well. The administration acted, and that was
that. It did not offer even so much as an announcement to the effect
that the school now housed a “meditation room,” much less encourage a
discussion of its merits and demerits.

Just how generic was this room supposed to be? Officials are mum as to
their instructions to the students. But the transformation from quite
generic to quite specific, or from meditation room to mini-mosque, was
fairly rapid. First a sign went up admonishing anyone who entered this
makeshift “room” to remove his shoes, as is the “tradition” when
“meditating.”

Then came reports of wet and slippery floors in a nearby restroom. It
seems that Muslim students were washing their feet in sinks and
toilets as part of their pre-prayer ritual.

Soon stories began to circulate around campus that non-Muslim students
were being discouraged from entering the space, which at some point
also acquired a divider, the better to separate males from females. No
doubt this is also traditional in “meditation rooms.” (more…)
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Are taxpayers footing bill for Islamic school in Minnesota?
March 10, 2008
from the Star Tribune, March 9th, 2008 - 11:51 AM - Think Again -
Katherine Kersten

Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA) - named for the Muslim general who
conquered medieval Spain - is a K-8 charter school in Inver Grove
Heights. Its approximately 300 students are mostly the children of low-
income Muslim immigrant families, many of them Somalis.

The school is in huge demand, with a waiting list of 1,500. Last fall,
it opened a second campus in Blaine.

TIZA uses the language of culture rather than religion to describe its
program in public documents. According to its mission statement, the
school “recognizes and appreciates the traditions, histories,
civilizations and accomplishments of the eastern world (Africa, Asia
and Middle East).”

But the line between religion and culture is often blurry. There are
strong indications that religion plays a central role at TIZA, which
is a public school financed by Minnesota taxpayers. Under the U.S. and
state constitutions, a public school can accommodate students’
religious beliefs but cannot encourage or endorse religion.

TIZA raises troubling issues about taxpayer funding of schools that
cross that line.

Asad Zaman, TIZA’s principal, declined to allow me to visit the school
or grant me an interview. He did not respond to e-mails seeking
written replies.

TIZA’s strong religious connections date from its founding in 2003.
Its co-founders, Zaman and Hesham Hussein, were both imams, or Muslim
religious leaders, as well as leaders of the Muslim American Society
of Minnesota (MAS-MN).

Since then, they have played dual roles: Zaman as TIZA’s principal and
the current vice-president of MAS-MN, and Hussein as TIZA’s school
board chair and president of MAS-MN until his death in a car accident
in Saudi Arabia in January.

TIZA shares MAS-MN’s headquarters building, along with a mosque.

MAS-MN came to Minnesotans’ attention in 2006, when it issued a
“fatwa,” warning Muslim taxi drivers at the Minneapolis-St. Paul
International Airport that transporting passengers with alcohol in
their baggage is a violation of Islamic law.

Journalists whom Zaman has permitted to visit TIZA have described the
school’s Islamic atmosphere and practices.

“A visitor might well mistake Tarek ibn Ziyad for an Islamic school,”
reported Minnesota Monthly in 2007. “Head scarves are voluntary, but
virtually all the girls wear them.” The school has a central carpeted
prayer space, and “vaguely religious-sounding language” is used.

According to the Pioneer Press, TIZA’s student body prays daily and
the school’s cafeteria serves halal food (permissible under Islamic
law). During Ramadan, all students fast from dawn to dusk, according
to a parent quoted in the article.

In fact, TIZA was originally envisioned as a private Islamic school.
In 2001, MAS-MN negotiated to buy the current TIZA/MAS-MN building for
Al-Amal School, a private religious institution in Fridley, according
to Bruce Rimstad of the Inver Grove Heights School District. But many
immigrant families can’t afford Al-Amal. In 2002, Islamic Relief -
headquartered in California - agreed to sponsor a publicly funded
charter school, TIZA, at the same location.

TIZA claims to be non-sectarian, as Minnesota law requires charters to
be. But “after-school Islamic learning” takes place on weekdays in the
same building under MAS-MN’s auspices, according to the program for
MAS-MN’s 2007 convention. At that convention, a TIZA representative at
the school’s booth told me that students go directly to “Islamic
studies” classes at 3:30, when TIZA’s day ends. There, they learn
“Qur’anic recitation, the Sunnah of the Prophet” and other religious
subjects, he said.

TIZA’s 2006 Contract Performance Review Report states that students
engage in unspecified “electives” after school or do homework.

Publicly, TIZA emphasizes that it uses standard curricular materials
like those found in other public schools. But when addressing Muslim
audiences, school officials make the link to Islam clear. At MAS-MN’s
2007 convention, for example, the program featured an advertisement
for the “Muslim American Society of Minnesota,” superimposed on a
picture of a mosque. Under the motto “Establishing Islam in
Minnesota,” it asked: “Did you know that MAS-MN … houses a full-time
elementary school”? On the adjacent page was an application for TIZA.

In addition to the issues raised by TIZA’s religious elements, there
are reasons to be concerned about the organizations with which it is
connected.

Group linked to Hamas

Islamic Relief-USA, the school’s sponsor, is compared to the Red Cross
in several TIZA documents. In 2006, however, the Israeli government
announced that Islamic Relief Worldwide, the organization’s parent
group, “provides support and assistance” to Hamas, designated by the
U.S. government as a terrorist group.

Meanwhile, MAS-MN offers on its web site “beneficial and enlightening
information” about Islam, which includes statements like “Regularly
make the intention to go on jihad with the ambition to die as a
martyr.”

At its 2007 convention, MAS-MN featured the notorious Shayk Khalid
Yasin, who is well-known in Britain and Australia for teaching that
husbands can beat disobedient wives, that gays should be executed and
that the United States spreads the AIDS virus in Africa through
vaccines for tropical diseases.

Yasin’s topic? “Building a Successful Muslim Community in Minnesota.”

TIZA has improved the reading and math performance of its mostly low-
income students. That’s commendable, but should Minnesota taxpayers be
funding an Islamic public school?