Islamic-Materials Campaign
Funded by Saudi Prince
An initiative by the Council on American-Islamic Relations to distribute educational materials about Islam to public libraries in the United States was funded in part by a $500,000 donation from a Saudi prince, the Associated Press reported December 1.
Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a nephew of Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd, presented the gift to CAIR with no strings attached, according to Omar Ahmed, chairman of the Washington-based Islamic-advocacy group. “We run our own agenda and no one can influence us,” Ahmed said.
The conservative lobbying group Free Congress Foundation has charged that Saudi funding makes the CAIR selection of books propagandistic. “The books on the list present a highly misleading view of Islam,” FCF Chair Paul Weyrich said on Fox News November 27, “spraypainting over the religion’s long history of animosity to Western values.”
However, CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper said many of the books were not written by Muslims and some were produced by American news organizations. “What [FCF] refers to as propaganda really means they object to anyone offering a positive portrayal of Islam.”
CAIR claims to have obtained 4,313 sponsorships to place its $150 book-and-tape package in U.S. libraries.
Posted December 9, 2002.
|
