Move along, nothing to see here… except that according to Fox News, “the school’s other co-founder, Hatem Bazian, who serves as the school’s chairman of academic affairs, has been accused of whipping up anti-Semitism on campuses across the nation through another organization he helped establish, the anti-Israel Students for Justice in Palestine.”

Perry Chiaramonte reports for Fox News:

Muslim college co-founded by anti-Israel firebrand receives accreditation

A California school co-founded by a firebrand who once called for an “intifada” in the U.S. has become the nation’s first accredited Muslim college.

Zaytuna College, which operates out of two rented buildings in Berkeley, Calif., and had an enrollment of 30 in 2013, was officially accredited earlier this week by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges—one of the six academic organizations responsible for authorizing public and private colleges and universities in the United States. The certification means the school can apply for various federal and private grants, issue visas to international students and allow students to transfer credits to or from other accredited schools.

“Five years ago, we introduced an undergraduate liberal arts program inspired by the idea of restoring the holistic education that had been offered in the great teaching centers of Islamic civilization,” co-founder and President Hamza Yusuf stated in an open letter on the school’s website on Monday. “Today, Zaytuna’s accreditation roots this vision in a reality recognized within American higher education. It gives our community its first accredited academic address in the United States. And we hope, God willing, that there will be more such Muslim colleges and universities to come.”

The school offers one Bachelor of Arts, in Islamic Law and Theology. Course offerings include various courses on Islamic law, Introduction to the Koran, Ethics, Mathematics and History of the United States.

Yusuf, an Islamic Studies advisor at both Stanford University and University of California Berkeley, is known for being an outspoken critic of extremism. He drew a death decree from ISIS earlier this year for condemning the Charlie Hebdo massacre, in which workers at a French satirical magazine were killed by Islamist fanatics for publishing caricatures of Prophet Mohammad.

“Are you angry?” Bazian shouted to protesters. “Well, we’ve been watching intifada in Palestine, we’ve been watching an uprising in Iraq, and the question is that what are we doing? How come we don’t have an intifada in this country? …and it’s about time that we have an intifada in this country that change[s] fundamentally the political dynamics in here. And we know every — they’re gonna say some Palestinian being too radical — well, you haven’t seen radicalism yet!”

Critics say any school associated with Bazian, who is a senior lecturer at University of California Berkeley, is suspect.


 
 0 
 
 0