Islam and Arabic

[samuels at anthro.umass.edu]

Some context: what has essentially been a local New York City controversy around
the curriculum of a new Brooklyn-based "Arabic-themed" school in the NYC public
school system.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/10/under-fire-arabic-themed-school-
principal-resigns/

David


Quoting Robert Lawless <robert.lawless at wichita.edu>:

> The conflating of Islam with Arabic should be on interest to linguists.
> According to an article today in Counterpunch by Anthony DiMaggio:
>
> Daniel Pipes lays out his case in a number of editorials written in the NY
> Sun in the last few months. Pipes claims as "fact" that "Islamic
> institutions . . ., whether schools or mosques, have a pattern of extremism
> and even violence." He argues that "learning Arabic in-and-of-itself
> promotes an Islamic outlook," as "Arabic-language instruction is inevitably
> laden with pan-Arabist and Islamist baggage." Pipes feels that the teaching
> of Arabic may lead to "moral decay," since "Muslims tend to see non-Muslims
> learning Arabic as a step toward an eventual conversion to Islam."
>