THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume X, Issue # 228, September 12, 2008
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
MEET INGRID MATTSON
By Jonathan Schanzer
ISLAMISM & AMERICAN SOCIETY: ISLAMIST INROADS ON AMERICA'S EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS & POLITICAL
PROCESSES -- ISLAMIST PENETRATION OF AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES & U.S. POLITICS -- THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY INVITES TO
A GATHERING OF RELIGIOUS LEADERS A PRO-ISLAMIST PROFESSOR WHO HAS OBFUSCATED THE THREAT OF RADICAL
ISLAM, NUMBING HER STUDENTS & THE AMERICAN PUBLIC TO A DANGEROUS IDEOLOGY
FULL STORY:
Ingrid Mattson, a 45-year-old Canadian-born convert to Islam, caused an uproar in the blogosphere, after she was invited
by the Democratic Party to a gathering of religious leaders in Denver, Colorado, on the eve of the Democratic National
Convention. Other notable participants included Bishop Charles E. Blake, (Church of God In Christ, Inc.) and Rabbi Tzvi
Weinreb (Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America).
The commotion stemmed from the fact that Mattson is the President of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), an
organization with close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, which was labeled last year by the U.S. Department of Justice as
an un-indicted co-conspirator in United States v. Holy Land Foundation, a Hamas terrorism financing case.
Mattson's overt affiliation with ISNA created only a fleeting political liability in Denver, but she may pose a longer-term
danger to the wider American public.
Mattson is a professor at the Hartford Seminary, where she teaches Islamic law and Islamic history. Through this position
of authority, Mattson has obfuscated the threat of radical Islam, numbing her students and the American public to a
dangerous ideology.
For example, it is no secret that Wahhabism is a radical Islamist ideology responsible for a great deal of the anti-Western
violence produced in the Muslim world. Yet, in a CNN chatroom interview in 2001, Mattson stated that Wahhabism is "a
reform movement" that "really was analogous to the European Protestant Reformation." Inaccurately, she claimed that
"the Saudi scholars who are Wahhabi have denounced terrorism," despite the fact that many continue to teach its virtues.
Islamic terrorist sleeper cells in the U.S.A. carried out al-Qa'ida attacks on September 11, 2001. Last year, the Director of
National Intelligence explicitly expressed "worry that there are sleeper cells in the U.S.," and cited specific concerns
about increased al-Qa'ida capabilities on American soil. Yet, only two months earlier, Mattson insistently told the
Baltimore Sun that the supposition that terrorist sleeper cells exist in this country, "is not true. There aren't any
sleeper cells."
Despite the fact that radical Muslims have been responsible for the lion's share of terrorist attacks against Western
interests for decades, Mattson questions why the label "Islamic" is included when President George W. Bush and other
leaders talk about terrorism.
Unfortunately for her students, Mattson's teachings appear to be similarly problematic.
Whereas policy analysts and intelligence programs focus on the writings of Muslim fundamentalist thinkers, such as
Sayyid Qutb and Abul ‘Ala Mawdudi, to learn the dangers of radical Islam, Mattson teaches their writings as examples of
"ways in which the Qur'an functions as sacred scripture in Muslim history and contemporary life." By way of
background, Qutb's writings inspired many of today's radical Islamist groups, including al-Qa'ida, while Mawdudi inspired
other Islamist leaders, such as Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the father of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Mattson's apologia may seem egregious, but it is fairly standard stuff in her profession. Americans have become
increasingly aware of the way in which Professors of Middle Eastern Studies whitewash the dangers of radical Islam.
What might be more surprising is the extent to which Mattson publicly and proudly associates with a notoriously Islamist
cause like ISNA. This makes it more difficult for her to portray her Islamist leanings as "scholarship."
As Mattson wrote in a book she published in 2002, "People of faith have a certain kind of solidarity with others of their
faith community that transcends the basic rights and duties of citizenship." In other words, Mattson implies that the
Muslim identity transcends the American identity.
In the same book, she also questions the very character of America. "There is no guarantee," she writes, "that Americans
will rise to the challenge of defining themselves as an ethical nation."
It is this cynical approach to America, along with her Islamist ideals and associations, that made Mattson a political liability
in Denver.
Sadly, she is just one example of the way in which Islamism has penetrated American universities, and even U.S. politics.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Education, Training, & America's Schools:
Institutions of Elementary, Secondary, & Higher Education
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
The Fifth Column -- America's Internal Enemies:
Disloyalty, Subversion, Sedition, & Treason
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
International Politics & World Disorder:
War, Peace, & Geopolitics in the Real World:
Foreign Affairs & U.S. National Security
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
Counterterrorism & U.S. National Security
U.S. National Security Strategy
Jonathan Schanzer, Adjunct Scholar at Campus Watch and former U.S. Treasury Department Intelligence Analyst, is
Director of Policy for the Jewish Policy Center, and author of the forthcoming book, Hamas vs. Fatah: The Struggle
for Palestine.
The foregoing article by Jonathan Schanzer was originally published in National Review Online, Septerber 11,
2008, and
can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum, a foreign policy think tank which seeks to
define and promote American interests in the Middle East, defining U.S. interests to include fighting radical Islam,
working for Palestinian Arab acceptance of the State of Israel, improving the management of U.S. efforts to promote
constitutional democracy in the Middle East, reducing America's energy dependence on the Middle East, more robustly
asserting U.S. interests vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian threat.
(Article URL: http://www.meforum.org/article/1981)
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
September 11, 2008
Return to Top of Page
Go to the WEBSITE INDEX
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Public Issues & Political Controversies
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
Most Recent Articles
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Volume X, 2008
Return to Beginning of
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA,
Subject Matter Highlights
Return to POLITICAL EDUCATION Homepage
CONTACT & ACCESS INFORMATION
This is not a commercial website. The sole purpose of the website is to share with interested persons information regarding civics,
civic and social education, political science, government, politics, law, constitutional law and history, public policy, and political
philosophy and history, as well as current and recent political developments, public issues, and political controversies.
POLITICAL EDUCATION, CONSERVATIVE ANALYSIS
POLITICS, SOCIETY, & THE SOVEREIGN STATE
Website of Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr.
Government, Politics, Public Policy, Legal Issues, Constitutional Law, Government & the Economy, Cultural Values, Foreign Affairs,
International Relations, Military Defense & National Security, Geopolitics, Terrorism & Homeland Security, American National Interests,
Political Systems & Processes, Political Institutions, Political Ideologies, & Political Philosophy
INDEX FOR THE ENTIRE WEBSITE
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Conservative & Free-Market Analysis of Government, Politics & Public Policy, Covering Political, Legal, Constitutional, Economic,
Cultural, Military, International, Strategic, & Geopolitical Issues
Conservative Government Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity