The name itself is a "white-wash"
Reader comment on item: Other Taxpayer-Funded American Madrassas

Submitted by jennifer solis (United States), Apr 12, 2008 at 01:27

The Tarek Ibn Ziyad Academy is ridiculously obvious in it's mini-madrassa-posing-as-a-legit-public (charter)-school deceptiveness.

But the name of the school caught my eye - Tarek Ibn Ziyad.

Here's the school's "mission statement" regarding the choice of this particular name for their school -

"As an inspiration to our students we have named our school after Tarek Ibn Ziyad, the Ummayad administrator of medieval Spain. Thirteen hundred years ago, serving in the multi-faceted roles of activist, leader, explorer, teacher, administrator and peacemaker, he inspired his fellow citizens to the same striving for human greatness that we hope to instill in our students today."

Geez, writing that after what I found out about Tarek Ibn Ziyad gives me the creeps.

Tarek Ibn Ziyad was not exactly an ambassador for peace, let alone describable by any of the euphemisms attributed to him by the Academy's statement.

He was not an "activist", he was a Berber Muslim Umayyad military general. Tariq Ibn Ziyad is considered to be one of the most important military commanders in Iberian history. He led his troops of 10,000 to the conquest of Visigothic Hispania in 711 under the orders of the Umayyad Caliph Al-Walid I.

Opon landing at Gibraltar, Tariq Ibn Ziyad is said to have burned his ships; he then proceeded to address his troops:

"My brethren, the enemy is before you, the sea is behind; whither would ye fly? Follow your general, I am resolved either to loose my life or to trample on the prostrate king of the Romans."

I should wonder, does Tariq Ibn Ziyad Academy have a potrait of thier benevolent namesake in their entrance hall?

http://www.cwo.com/~lucumi/moors2.html

---

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened for relevance, substance, and tone, and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome, but comments are rejected if scurrilous, off-topic, vulgar, ad hominem, or otherwise viewed as inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the Guidelines for Comments. For informational purposes, we identify countries from which comments are sent.