IV.  MORE Leading Suggestions to Children: 

   1.    “In what ways is Islam similar to Judaism and Christianity?”  (Pg 64)   

    1. Why is it never asked in what ways are they different?  I can give you PAGES, but that information is not offered anywhere that I can find in this book.
       
  1. “Interview your classmates or use the encyclopedia to find out what these rituals have in common:  Yom Kippur (among Jews), Lent (among Christians), and Ramadan (among Muslims).”
     
    1. WHY the repeated comparisons?  Especially to modern day traditions?  Fails to mention that if a Muslim converts to Christianity they are beaten, kidnapped, tortured, and openly pronounced the death sentence.  Apparently Islam does not feel beliefs are similar! 
       
  1. “Why are the Quran and Sunna important to Muslims?” 
     
    1. The answer leads children to focus on  Muslim faith.
       
  1. “Muhammad’s success in spreading Islam was due in large part to his strong character.  His followers were attracted to his morality, courage, and compassion, perhaps as much as they were attracted to his teaching.”  Pg 65
     
    1. Are we painting Muhammad as a hero here or what?  How do the writers of this book know that converts were attracted to Muhammad’s morality, courage and compassion?  Compassion?  He wrote to kill all infidels in the Quran!
       
  1. “Find details to support the statement, “Islam, like other religions, is not only a system of beliefs but also a way of life.”   (Pg 64)
     
    1. Do not tell my son to “find details to support,” i.e. prove, Islam is a way of life.  He does not know that way of life and no one has the right to force him to seek it.
       
  1. “The differences between Sunnis and Shiites have become public knowledge today, but all Muslims remain united by their common faith in Allah.  They also share a reverence for the Quran as Allah’s word and recognize Muhammad as Allah’s prophet.”  (Pg 68)
     
    1. These words paint a lovely picture of faith and reverence of Muslims.  The Muslims I see today are either claiming they are a peaceful religion or screaming for the Jihad, holy war against Americans.  The peaceful Muslims claim that the fundamental Muslims are terrorist fanatics and not true Islam.  Yet this textbook paints them all as “united by their common faith in Allah” and a shared reverence.
       
    1. Conversely, rather than whitewash the differences of Catholics and Protestants and present them as “united by their common faith in God and reverence”, the split is analyzed most coldly with reasons given of financial gain and readiness for a change.   No shared faith nor reverence for the Bible is afforded the Christian faith that I could find so far.
       
  1. “Most Muslim scholars agreed that creating images of living things like humans and animals, which have souls, is forbidden.” (does not say “which they believe have souls” rather states it as fact). Pg 89
     
  1. “Islam has close ties to Judaism and Christianity.” Pg 62“
     
  2. “Why were people first attracted to Mecca, and why do they still go there today?”  Pg 70
  1. They want our kids to answer with what they have been feeding them!  Do they expect our kids to remember to write “because Muslims believe…” when the text can’t seem to remember to do that?  “Why do they still go there today?”   hmmm, I wonder if its DEATH if a Muslim doesn’t go.  I am sure there are dire consequences that the text didn’t cover.
  1. (end of the medical section) …”Interest in treating illness went back to the earliest days of Muslim history.  It was the prophet Muhammad himself who stated that Allah had provided a cure for every illness.”  Pg 92
     
    1. Muhammad himself?  Are we supposed to take keen note?  Why is this sentence here?  To add an “all glory to Allah” at the end of the section that gives credit to medical contributions of Islam?  “Muhammad himself” implies his word carries more weight.  Calling Muhammad a prophet also states he actually heard from God. 
       
  1. “The unique style of Muslim art is unmistakable, because it so often uses Arabic script as its inspiration.  Arabic lettering had a special significance for Muslims, because it was used to write down God’s words as they had been given to Muhammad…”   (Page 88 and 89) 

    More is discussed of calligraphy in mosques and how scholars agreed they believed images of humans and animals were forbidden (because the book states that animals have souls).
     
    1. Twice in the review our children are referred to this section.  “Write your first name in the center of a sheet of paper.  Then work the letters into a design in the way that Muslims make Arabic letters become part of an intricate design.”  Pg 92   This section describes the inspiration and Islamic spiritual value of writing intricate designed letters, then instructs our children to do the same with their names, I object.
       
    1. “Reviewing Skills:  1.  Read the section headed Art and Design on page 88 of Lesson 2.” (same section)  “Where in the section does the main idea appear?  Write down this main idea.  Then list three details or facts that support the main idea.”  Page 103   (So much emphasis on Islamic beliefs and spirituality woven into art and design.  This is downright sneaky in my opinion).
       

V.  Textbook Claims that Contradict the Quran:

How can the textbook make these claims compared to the Quran?

Textbook

Quran/Koran

 “Christians and Jews are respected as ‘people of the book’ by Muslims, and all their prophets are revered.”  (Pg 62-63)

“The Quran and Sunna allow self-defense and participation in military conflict, but restrict it to the right to defend against aggression and persecution.”(Pg 64)

 “Many different peoples benefited from Muslim tolerance.” ( Pg 82)

 

“O you who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians as [friends, protectors, helpers, etc]”    (Surah 5:51)

 “Prophet, make war on the unbelievers and the hypocrites and deal rigorously with them. Hell shall be their home: an evil fate (Surah 9:73)

“Kill them wherever you find them. Drive them out of the places from which they drove you. Idolatry is worse than carnage. But do not fight them within the precincts of the Holy Mosque unless they attack you there”(Sura 2:190)

Further Quran Quotes:

“Mohammed is Allah's apostle. Those who follow him are ruthless to the unbelievers but merciful to one another.” (Sura 48:29)

“Let those who would exchange the life of this world for the hereafter, fight for the cause of Allah; whether they die or conquer, we shall richly reward them”. (Surah 4:74)

“O you who believe! Take not the Jews and the Christians as friends, they are but friends to one another. And if any amongst you takes them as friends, then surely he is one of them. Verily, Allâh guides not those people who are the Zâliműn (polytheists and wrong­doers and unjust)”  . (Surah 5:51)

To read more quotes of Islam's "holy book", CLICK HERE

OTHER UNITS:

I. VARIOUS OBJECTIONS:

As this book is thick, I skipped around to various sections.  These examples I stumbled on which leapt off the page:

Page 34:   States Christians were fleeing other Christians and escaped to Persia (around the 600s).   I challenge this.  I’ve studied Biblical history, there were no Christians persecuting other Christians at this time.  Christians were severely persecuted by non-Christians, yet that appears skipped over often.

“Rome maintained peace in its provinces by allowing individuals to continue living and working as usual.”  (page  27, regarding 27 BC to 117 AD) 

(What about the Roman ruler Nero and the intense persecution of Christians?)

“Because Rome was strong, the empire was peaceful and stable,
 which benefited everyone in it.” (page 28)

Nero put animal skins on Christians as they were fed to packs of wolves.  He used Christian bodies as human torches to light up Nero’s gardens.  Peaceful?   

I could not find any instance in this textbook where Christians were persecuted (except by other Christians, which I challenge.)  On page 315 there is a large 3-column block entitled: “Understanding Religious Persecution.”  It defines persecution, then states

“As Christianity in Europe grew stronger, it taught that
 members of other religions were to be converted, by force, if necessary.”

Segment also blames Christians for Jews persecution when actually everyone persecuted Jews (just as the Hebrew Torah/ OT Bible predicted they would be).  While segment repeatedly blames Christians exclusively for perpetrating persecution on others, there have been more Christian martyrs than any other belief!  It is amazing that only Joan of Arc is mentioned as a martyr (that I can find) and I believe she was the exception because it was an opportunity to criticize the Catholic Church.

“Christian” by definition means “Christ like.”  Nowhere in the Bible did Jesus say to convert people by force.  To blame “Christianity” is false.  Anyone can call themselves “Christian.” 

 Page 43:  Extremely misleading paragraph.  Begins with Byzantines (Christians) in 500 AD forcing Christianity.  Suddenly flashes back to 500 BC to list where Jews thrived.  Jumps forward to AD70 to when Romans destroyed Judea and “hundreds of thousands of Jews were shipped off as slaves.”  Many escaped, flourished in [various countries].”  (next paragraph)  “Justinian’s treatment of Jews and other non-Christians (there were no Muslims) was brutal.   

Unless a 7th grader watches the dates carefully as this paragraph jumps all over the place, one would get the impression that the Christians persecuted the Jews so terribly, when in fact, the Christians were being hunted down like animals in AD 70. 

Page 46:  Chapter Review: 

“Romans are remembered for the peace they maintained in their provinces
 by allowing people there to live as usual but under Roman law.”   

Didn’t they just say they destroyed Judea and sold hundreds of thousands of Jews off as slaves?  Though it was confusing and gave the impression the Christians did it.  Everyone is portrayed as good guys except the Christians! 

Page 319:  “During the Middle Ages, many Christians saw themselves as sinful creatures struggling to get into heaven.  But humanists did not see people as sinful.  They thought people had dignity, worth, and the ability to achieve almost anything.  Religion was important to humanists, but they stressed that life on earth was also meaningful.” 

What a TWISTED view of Christianity!  Christians believe that Jesus paid the price for our sins, and because of Him we are holy and pure!  The Bible teaches we are “fearfully and wonderfully made.”  There are MANY verses about how precious we are to God, He counts the numbers of hairs on our heads, our pictures are in the palms of His hands.  To be Christian is to REJOICE.  Clearly textbooks cannot be trusted to teach religious beliefs.   

Page 285: “The mission of the church was to save the soul of all members so that they would go to heaven after they died rather than hell.  This salvation, or saving, came through accepting the beliefs of the church, living a moral life, and performing good works.”   

Again, this is an unbelievably twisted version of the gospel.  Not one word that Christ died for our sins?  That God so loved the world that He gave His only Son?  Just, “believe as we do or burn in hell?” 

 

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