Flagrantly violating the constitutional ban on state promotion of religion, the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, or TIZA, herds children into bathrooms to perform ritual Islamic cleansing before leading them into the school gym to pray to Allah each day.
In three visits to the K-8 school, the Minnesota Department of Education never noticed a problem, even though the tax-funded school is located at a mosque. And the ACLU didn’t bother until a Minneapolis columnist exposed the madrassa earlier this week.
“It appears the school may be impermissibly blurring the line between providing a secular education and endorsing and promoting religion and religious activities,” said Charles Samuelson, who heads the group’s Minnesota office.
Blurring the line? It has erased it. There’s overwhelming evidence the public school’s endorsing the Islamic faith, including:
• Daily scheduled prayer led by an imam.
• Classroom instruction in the Quran.
• Compulsory “after-school” Islamic Studies classes (buses don’t leave the school until after Islamic Studies is over).
• Halal cafeteria food.
• Observance of Islamic holidays.
• Early release for Friday mosque.
Forced conversion is a genuine concern at TIZA. How many of its 300 students have recited the shahada, or Islamic profession of faith, without their parents’ consent? Radicalization also is a worry. Are Muslim boys being indoctrinated into violent jihad?
The school, named after an 8th century jihadist who invaded Spain, shares the headquarters building of the Muslim American Society (MAS) of Minnesota, whose mission is “establishing Islam in Minnesota.” The FBI says MAS, based in Washington, D.C., was founded by members of the radical Muslim Brotherhood.
What’s more, the school is sponsored by Islamic Relief, a Muslim charity identified by the U.S. Treasury as an al-Qaida front group.
If this school instead had been found with so much as a copy of the Ten Commandments in its dumpster, lawsuits would have already flown, and it would be out of business.
But TIZA merges mosque and state, using tax dollars since 2003, when its Islamist sponsor took advantage of new charter-school rules. Last year it took in nearly $3 million in government grants.
The ACLU also was slow to respond to complaints from parents about similar Shariah creep at a public school in San Diego. Carver Elementary carved out a school within a school for Somali Muslims to bow and pray to Mecca, eat special meals and speak Arabic.
The disease of Islamofascism continues to spread across America, and liberal multiculturalists are its vector.
