Says the Koran mandates that Muslim women be treated well
Claims that jihad is a largely peaceful enterprise that focuses on internal, spiritual struggles rather than on violent warfare against external enemies
Has invited a number of rabidly anti-Israel, anti-American guest speakers to its events
The Muslim Students Association of Pennsylvania State University (MSA PSU) was founded in February 1964 by four students (who were natives of Iraq, Pakistan, Egypt, and Indonesia) "with a vision to create a haven for Muslims on campus and to spread awareness and tolerance for Islam." Today the Penn State student body includes more than 1,000 Muslims, many of whom are MSA members; as of December 2007, these MSA PSU members hailed from 47 different nations.
MSA PSU's mission is "to realize Islam through words, actions, and intentions to Muslims and non-Muslims on the Penn State campus and in the society at large for the love of God." In 2006 the organization was the recipient of the Paul Robeson Award -- named after the longtime dedicated Stalinist -- for its "commitment to creating a climate of racial harmony and social justice at Penn State."
The MSA PSU website addresses the issue of women's rights in Islam in a disingenuous fashion: "Under Islamic law, women have always had the right to own property, receive an education and otherwise take part in community life. Men and women are to be respected equally. . . . If a particular society oppresses women, it does so in spite of Islam, not because of it."
But MSA PSU's assertions are untrue. As Robert Spencer points out in his book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam, the Koran itself states that "[m]en have authority over women because God has made the one superior to the other" (Qur'an 4:34); that a woman is like a field (tilth) to be used by a man as he wills (2:223); that a woman's testimony is worth only half that of a man (2:282); that a son's inheritance should be twice the size of a daughter's (4:11); that a man may marry up to four wives and may have sex with slave girls also (4:3); and that husbands may beat disobedient wives (4:34).
The MSA PSU website also addresses the topic of jihad in a deceptive way, minimizing the militaristic implications of the term and wrongly characterizing jihad as a tradition with direct parallels in other faiths: "Like Christianity, Islam permits fighting in self-defense, in defense of religion, or on the part of those who have been expelled forcibly from their homes. … 'Jihad' does not mean 'holy war.' Literally, jihad means to strive, struggle, and exert effort. It is a central and broad concept that includes struggle against evil inclinations within oneself, struggle to improve the quality of life in society, struggle in the battlefield for self-defense …, or fighting against tyranny or oppression."
But Islam experts such as Daniel Pipes, Robert Spencer, and Bat Ye'or have explained that, contrary to MSA PSU's depiction of jihad, the form of jihad most central to Muslim life manifests itself as a boldly offensive, permanent war of conquest whose ultimate aim is to achieve Islam's dominion over the entire world.
Guest speakers who have appeared at MSA PSU events include:
Ingrid Mattson, President of the Islamic Society of North America's U.S. office. (ISNA is an arm of the Muslim Brotherhood, and part of the Brotherhood's stated plan to carry out "a kind of grand Jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western civilization from within and 'sabotaging' its miserable house by their hands ... so that ... God's religion [Islam] is made victorious over all other religions.") In a September 2002 interview with PBS, Mattson stated that she did not see "any difference between [certain Christian leaders' criticisms of Islam] and [of] al Qaeda, and Osama bin Laden [using] Islamic theology to justify violence against Americans."
Sheikh Khalid Yasin: This U.S.-born Muslim convert and Malcolm X disciple has candidly stated that "if you don't have a people that is governed by Sharia, then you have a lawless people"; that a secular Islamic state absolutely "cannot work"; that Sharia should become the law of the land in all nations because Allah "is the best lawgiver"; that "[t]here's no such thing as a Muslim having a non-Muslim friend; that "[t]here has been no evidence that has surfaced, no bona fide irrevocable, irrefutable evidence that had been surfaced that showed that there is a group called al-Qaeda that did the September 11 bombings" (he said this in July 2005); that "we now know" that the World Trade Center fell not as a result of the planes that crashed into the Twin Towers, but rather "from internal explosive charges, the same way it's done in a construction site"; and that homosexuals should be killed because the Koran mandates it. Yasin spoke at MSA PSU on October 11, 2006.
MSA PSU has participated several times in MSA National's "Ramadan Fast-a-Thon" along with as many as 280 fellow chapters of MSA. The purpose of this event is to raise, through temporary fasting, public awareness of hunger and homelessness in Muslim communities. Recent endorsers of the Fast-a-Thon include:
Imam Zaid Shakir, Yale University's former Muslim chaplain who has expressed his desire to see the United States eventually become "a Muslim country ruled by Islamic law"
In October 2007, MSA PSU organized a "Peace Not Prejudice" seminar series to counter the Terrorism Awareness Project's Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week (IFAW) activities of that same month; the latter's purpose was to educate American college students about the nature of the fanatical religious movement aiming to create a global Muslim empire.
MSA PSU falsely depicted IFAW as an "offensive" and "inappropriate" exercise in anti-Muslim bigotry, a campaign that "label[ed] an entire religion as fascist," and an attempt to "agitate and provoke students and community groups" by "promot[ing] hatred and division." Complaining that IFAW would give a forum to "controversial speakers" who "would likely stir hostility and division among students and student groups," MSA PSU stated: "This movement has been created by David Horowitz -- who is best known for his racist and xenophobic campaigns targeting African Americans and other minority groups." The organization claimed that any discussion centered on the term "Islamo-fascism" was unacceptable because it "trespasses the frontiers of freedom of speech that is bounded by the infringement of other people's rights with respect to freedom of belief and falsified attack on their personal integrity."
"The biggest fear among Muslim students, faculty, administrators, and community," said MSA PSU, "is that the [IFAW] event creates an environment of intolerance, fear, and prejudice. Faculty could be perceived by their students as fascists; students could view their colleagues as promoters of fascist agendas, and staff could be alienated by colleagues and superiors. Repercussions could lead to tension and divisiveness among students, hate crimes, and additional alienation of the Muslim community in general." In other words, any discussion of the topic of Islamic extremism was inherently insulting and thus off limits.
Simultaneously embracing and rejecting the concept of free speech rights, MSA PSU stated: "We believe Penn State University, as an institution of learning, should provide an opportunity for all to express opinions in a safe and rational way. We fear, however, that this Islamophobic program [IFAW] will have hazardous consequences on the Penn State community. It is important to distinguish between freedom of speech and hate speech."
Meanwhile, the featured speakers at MSA PSU's "Peace Not Prejudice" campaign included the following individuals:
Raeed Tayeh: In its publicity for Tayeh's appearance, MSA PSU described him as "an American-born Muslim andformer head of the public relations office of the Muslim American Society" who "also served as communications director for Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney." But the organization made no mention of Tayeh's prior connections to the Islamic Association for Palestine and the American Muslims for Jerusalem, both of which had ties to the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, the now-defunct American fundraising arm of Hamas. Nor did it mention that Tayeh was also a research fellow for another Hamas front group, the United Association for Studies and Research; nor that Rep. McKinney had fired Tayeh after the latter had written a letter to The Hill complaining about the "pro-Israeli lawmakers" whose "emotional attachments to Israel" constituted an "Israeli occupation of ... Congress"; nor that on another occasion, Tayeh had said: "Oh how I dream of that wonderful day, when our [Palestinian] flags are raised … [w]hen the refugees return, and when Zionism will die."
Dr. Mehdi Noorbaksh: In its publicity for Noorbaksh's appearance, MSA PSU described him as an "Associate Professor of International Affairs at Harrisburg University" who has "published extensively on the Middle East politics." But the organization made no mention of the fact that Noorbaksh had criticized the "cultural insensitivity" that supposedly had led a Danish newspaper in 2005 to publish some cartoons lampooning the Muslim Prophet Muhammad -- cartoons which set off raging protests and violent riots throughout the Muslim world; that Noorbaksh had accused the offending newspaper of practicing "selective targeting" against "the very sanctity of the Muslim faith"; and that he flatly rejects the Western notion that freedom of speech should be protected even in cases where someone might demonstrate what is perceived to be insufficient "respect for [the] belief held by 1.2 billion [Muslim] followers."
Lawrence Davidson: This Associate Professor of History at West Chester University in Pennsylvania occasionally writes for CounterPunch, the Internet newsletter edited by the longtime committed Stalinist Alexander Cockburn. Davidson, who actively participates with his colleagues in an academic boycott of Israel, has condemned Israel's "barbarism"; stated that Israel is guilty of "killing, robbing and ethnic cleansing" against Palestinian Arabs; derided Israel's "evolution … into a Jewish fascist state"; declared that "Zionists have always been well practiced at twisting the arms of the elites"; and asserted that Israeli Jews "will continue to steal other people's land, colonize it in violation of international law, and slowly but surely grind Palestinian culture into dust." "The boycott movement," Davidson explains, is intended "to bring the reality of this barbarism to the rest of the world and insist that as many people as possible shun Israel because of its behavior. Make it a pariah state as once was done to its apartheid cousin country South Africa."
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