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Friday, August 03, 2018
SPECIAL REPORT: OUSD uses Islamic slogan
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| "Embrace, Engage, Empower" |
The "21st Century collaborative environment " slogan, while seemingly catchy for a school district, is actually the methodology slogan of the modern proselytizing movements of Islam known as Da'wah. While the concept of preaching Islam is universally part of the religion, the practice of Da'wah varies according to geography, politics, sect and Islamic movement.
The literal translation of the Arabic word Da'wan in English means "issuing a summons" or "making an invitation" or simply to summon or to invite. Numerous modern Islamic movements including international groups like the Muslim Brotherhood and the American based Black Islamic group the Nation of Islam teach members to actively preach Islam. The English translation of the three stages of one-on-one Da'wah taught by Islamic teachers are Embrace, Engage, Empower. The stages represent guiding the journey of non-Muslims into seeing the world through Islam.
The use of the slogan by Orange Unified appears to be done without knowing the phrase is a well-known Muslim preaching slogan. A mistake made by other small organizations that usually quickly drop the slogan when they find out the phrase has a religious connection.
The OUSD mistake takes on greater importance since OUSD Administrators and Trustees have been caught in the nationwide concerns from ultra-conservatives who believe ultra-conservative Christian theories that current middle school history textbooks favor Islam or that the history texts are part of Islamic indoctrination.
The OUSD mistake takes on greater importance since OUSD Administrators and Trustees have been caught in the nationwide concerns from ultra-conservatives who believe ultra-conservative Christian theories that current middle school history textbooks favor Islam or that the history texts are part of Islamic indoctrination. Using an Islamic slogan for your school district would not ease those fears. Compounding the issue, students this school year in California middle and high school will receive new history textbooks.
The new slogan comes just months after OUSD hired an outside professional public relations firm for $219,000.
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Da' wah is something that good Muslims are expected to do as part of their faith. The Facebook teaching video (linked below) by American-born Amjad Tarsin explains Da' wah. In the English portion of the video, Tarsin explains how the English words Embrace, Engage, Empower matches the Arabic Da'wah concepts. Now the official University of Toronto Muslim Chaplain, Tarsin teaches Islam on the Toronto based internet site SeekersHub Global Islamic Seminary.
(Timestamp on the video's Da' wah content starts at 12:45 ).
For more information click on:
Tarsin explains Embrace, Engage, Empower (starts at 12:45)
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| Amjad Tarsin |
Many modern Da'wah practices trace their inspiration to Ahmed Deedat who during the 20th Century became a revolutionary Muslim figure for his grassroots approach to Da' wah and his high profile debates with Christian evangelicals. Deedat's videos and books are often used as reference material by Islamic teachers like Toronto's Amjad Tarsin when addressing Da' wah.
In the United States, the Black Muslim Nation of Islam movement's controversial leader Louis Farrakhan in his teachings expanded the concept of the proselytizing phrase by added two more words, educate and enlightenment. Farrakhan teaches this as The 5 E's.
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Farrakhan who was the organizing force behind the 1995 Million Man March on Washington D.C. has been a controversial figure in American religious and political spheres. With its headquarters in Chicago, the Nation of Islam exerts a strong influence in the city and in its lower-income black majority schools and neighborhoods
In 2010, Farrakhan embraced the Church of Scientology's Dianetics program. While declaring he was not a Scientologist, Farrakhan urged follows of the Nation of Islam to undergo the "auditing" process of Dianetics. Just last week NetFlix bowed to pressure and announced they would not be offering a Farrakhan documentary on its media platform.
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| Louis Farrakhan |
The anti-hate group watchdog Southern Poverty Law Center reports Farrakhan as anti-Semitic, homophobic and anti-white.
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| Dr Godley |
In the early 2000's then OUSD Superintendent Dr. Thomas Godley was the first to introduce a district-wide slogan to Orange Unified. Taking his cue from a best-selling business management book by Jim Collins called Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...And Others Don't Godley's slogan for OUSD was “Taking OUSD From Good to Great”. Godley gave administrators copies of the Collins book to read and had pens printed with the new district slogan. However, in a follow-up companion pamphlet to his best-seller, Collins wrote Good to Great and the Social Sectors: Why Business Thinking Is Not the Answer explaining why his business management models in his book do not work in the public sector world.
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| Dr. Dreier |
In 2008 a new superintendent replaced both Godley and his slogan. While Superintendent Dr. Renae Dreier did not make an official district slogan, she did often insert her personal mantra when speaking- "Knowledge is Power".
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| Superintendent Christensen |
In September 2017. after a torturous recruitment process, OUSD appointed Superintendent Dr. Gunn Marie Hansen.
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| Trustee Barrios |
On July 16, 2018, OUSD Superintendent tweeted the OUSD video introducing the new OUSD slogan of "Embrace, Engage, Empower".
