This is a pretty unsettling story. And, surprisingly, it has been going on for a while.
There is an Islamic cleric, Shiek Fuhran Kuhlyn Gharam, that you may have read about in the papers or seen on television. What you probably don’t know about him is that he and his Fundamentalist Islamic organization have essentially infiltrated our schools for the purpose of turning non-Muslim children (who he considers “infidels”) against the religions of their families. He is able to get away with it because he has been successful at disguising his work as a “charitable giving project,” but his own words give him away:
We will be a witness for Allah when we give away your shopping bags… We are to be a witness. We are to tell the truth… Let’s use a shopping bag…
The shopping bags that he’s talking about are those that have been filled with toys and candy and good will by Western children who have been told that the bags will go to ”children in need, all over the world.” What Western children don’t know is that, once the bags are received by Shiek Gharan’s organization, an attractive four-color copy of the Quran is added to the bags, before they are distributed to those children in need.
Brown paper shopping bag
Shiek Gharam:
Our outreach to these children may begin with a shopping bag gift, but our ultimate goal is to open doors to the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).
After we give the children their gifts, we ask them to enroll in a 10-lesson study of the Quran. Hundreds of thousands of children have participated in our program.”
Just last month, in an address to his followers, Shiek Gharam recalled one recent victory:
After receiving their bag gifts, three boys, all under the age of 10, confessed to being involved in Christianity, and pledged loyalty to Allah. One Christian cult leader, moved by the boys’ courage, renounced his own false religion and surrendered his life to Allah.
Praise be to Allah.
So, while he is very hostile to non-Islam religions, he harbors special contempt for the Christian religion. Here are more of Shiek Gharam’s actual words:
I believe that Christianity is a very evil and wicked religion.
I don’t believe Christianity is a wonderful, peaceful religion. When you read the Bible and you read the verses from the Bible, it teaches killing.
Maybe I’m just being “PC,” but I really don’t understand why, in pluralistic societies such as ours, religious bigotry such as this is allowed to breed under the guise of “charity.” For goodness’ sake, don’t you suppose that the children whose generosity and trusting natures are being exploited would be resentful if they were to find out what is being done in their names? I think so. It seems only right that we give children the unfiltered truth about this program and let them decide whether or not they’d like to participate.
