FPRI Response to CAIR Allegations

March 17, 2010

Regarding the Controversy over “The World of Islam” Series

The World of Islam is a ten-volume series of books for middle school and high school students published by Mason Crest Publishers, an educational publisher in Broomall, Pennsylvania. The Foreign Policy Research Institute’s Wachman Center, which seeks to promote civic and international literacy in the classroom, served as Editorial Consultant on the project. Some of the volumes were written by FPRI Fellows.

Titles in the series include “Divisions within Islam,” by John Calvert, “The History of Islam,” by Barry Rubin, “Islamic Festivals and Celebrations,” by Dorothy Kavanaugh; “Radical Islam,” by Alan Luxenberg, and six other volumes. Each volume is 64 pages in length, with photos, glossary, a chronology, and a small bibliography. (The complete list of volumes appears below.)

The books have been attacked as “anti-Islamic” by the Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). This assertion is without basis, and there is no better way to ascertain the truth than to read the books. As a result, the publisher has offered to send a complimentary set to any journalist upon request.

In the meantime, we provide below some quotations from the books that negate the view that the books have some kind of anti-Islamic agenda.

• “It is the mark of a great world religion to accommodate different outlooks and sensibilities … Islam is no exception to this rule.”
  —Divisions within Islam, p. 6
• “… the Western world must ally itself with the Muslim world in the war on radical Islam.”
  —Radical Islam, p53
• “Muslims make up only a small percentage of the U.S. population, but they are an integral part of the American mosaic.”
  —Islam in America, p. 6
• “… the great majority [of Muslims] reject the Islamist interpretation of their religion and are horrified by the idea of living under an extremist Muslim society.”
  —The History of Islam, p. 56

Notably, the April 2010 issue of VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates), a bimonthly journal addressing librarians, educators, and other professionals who work with young adults, rates the series highly, saying “This series is well-researched and clearly organized and should be a mandatory purchase for all public libraries that support middle and high school curriculum for a balanced and informative collection on Islam.”

To make their case, CAIR’s press release cites two items (out of 640 pages of text) but in both cases distort the intended meaning. In one case, CAIR cites this quote from the volume “Islam in America”:

“Muslims began immigrating to the United States in order to transform American society, sometimes through the use of terrorism.”

But the full quote reads, with the omitted words printed in caps below:

“ANOTHER TREND BEGAN IN THE 1980S, CORRESPONDING WITH A RISE IN ISLAMISM (AN IDEOLOGY THAT CALLS FOR THE STATE’S IMPLEMENTATION OF ISLAMIC LAW). FOR THE FIRST TIME, SOME Muslims began immigration to the United States in order to transform American society, sometimes through the use of terrorism.” (p. 14)

This quote follows five pages of description of the history of Muslim immigration to the United States.

In the second case, the CAIR press release says “Another book shows an image of two 7-year old girls wearing Islamic head scarves under the heading ‘Security Threats.’”

What CAIR omits is that the caption under the picture is about demography. It reads: “The average age of European Muslims is considerably lower than the average of the general population …” The subhead “Security Threats” is a heading for the text on that page but it is clear in looking at the page that the subhead has nothing to do with the picture. (Islam in Europe, p. 39)

Finally, the CAIR press release reads “Khawaja [the director of Pennsylvania CAIR] noted the publisher’s questionable sources, including Daniel Pipes,” whom Khawaja describes as an Islamophobe.

It is true the volume on Islam in America contains a bibliography that cites one of Pipes’s books but it also includes citations of books by authors with opposite points of view.

The press release also describes Pipes as a former director of the Foreign Policy Research Institute. It is true: he was director of FPRI – 17 years ago.

It appears that CAIR has misconstrued the intended meaning of the books. It is our hope that people will read the books and judge for themselves.

“The World of Islam” Series:

• The Muslim World: An Overview, by Dorothy Kavanaugh
• The History of Islam, by Barry Rubin
• Divisions within Islam, by John Calvert
• Islam in Europe, by Michael Radu
• Islam in America, by Anna Melman
• Islamic Festivals and Celebrations, by Dorothy Kavanaugh
• The Monotheistic Religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam, by Abe Cohen
• Islamic Jewish Relations before 1947, by Tanya Sklar
• Islam, Law and Human Rights, by Anna Melman
• Radical Islam, by Alan Luxenberg

For further information, contact Alan Luxenberg, Director of FPRI’s Wachman Center, al@fpri.org or (215) 732- 3774 ex. 105, or visit our website: www.fpri.org.

• For more information contact Alan Luxenberg, Tel: 215 732 3774, ext 105 or lux@fpri.org.
• FPRI News Archive.