Islamization: The same California college board that accredited Stanford and Berkeley has certified the nation’s first Muslim college in what the left is cheering as a breakthrough for diversity. In fact, it’s a breakthrough for jihadism.
The Western Association of Schools and Colleges last week officially — and naively — recognized Zaytuna College, making the Islamist school eligible to receive federal grants and accept foreign Muslim students on visas.
But before liberals celebrate too loudly, they should know that Zaytuna was founded by pro-jihadists who hate America and Jews and want to turn America into an Islamic state.
Located in Berkeley (where else?), Zaytuna was founded by three extremist Muslims: Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, Imam Zaid Shakir and Hatem (yes, that’s actually his name) Bazian.
At a 1996 Islamic conference, the Clarion Project notes, Zaytuna President Yusuf bashed America as “a country that has little to be proud of in its past. I reside in this country not by choice but by conviction to spread the message of Islam in this country. I became Muslim because I did not believe in the false gods of this society, whether we call them Jesus or democracy or the Bill of Rights.”
According to the Washington Post, the FBI investigated Yusuf after 9/11, because just two days before the attacks, he made an ominous prediction to a Muslim audience that America would soon suffer a severe — and deserved — punishment:
“This country is facing a terrible fate. The reason for that is that this country stands condemned like Europe stood condemned because of what it did. And lest people forget that Europe suffered two world wars after conquering the Muslim lands, Europe’s countries were devastated, they were completely destroyed. Their young people killed.”
Just last year, Hamza Yusuf signed a letter endorsing violent jihad, Shariah law and brutal “hudud” punishments, including beheadings, amputations, lashings and stonings.
Then there’s Yusuf’s partner, Shakir, who has lauded the “armed struggle” that brought about Taliban rule in Afghanistan. Shakir also once confided to the New York Times that he’d like to see the U.S. “become a Muslim country” ruled by Islamic law.
Zaytuna’s other co-founder, Bazian, who serves as the school’s academic affairs chair, also helped found Students for Justice in Palestine, which CampusReform.org calls “an anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli organization.”
At a 2004 Muslim rally in San Francisco, Clarion says, Bazian praised the bloody intifada against Israel and called for “an intifada in this country” too. “You haven’t seen radicalism yet!” he bellowed.
Zaytuna College is more madrassa than college, offering only two majors — Arabic Language and Islamic Law and Theology — and failing to provide a standard liberal arts education worthy of accreditation.
State leaders ought to pressure revocation of its license. Meanwhile, Washington should block any education grants for this jihadist diploma mill.
