Schools Remove Donated Books

Los Angeles city school officials have pulled nearly 300 translations of the Koran from school libraries after learning that commentary in the books was derogatory toward Jews.

Copies of “The Meaning of the Holy Quran” were donated in December to the Los Angeles Unified School District by a local Muslim foundation, said Jim Konantz, director of information technology for the district.

Konantz said the books, offered as a goodwill gesture in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, were distributed to the schools last week without the usual content review. The reasons for skipping the review were unclear, but the donor was known as a supportive community member.

On Monday, Konantz received a complaint from a history teacher who concluded some of the book’s footnotes were anti-Semitic. After reviewing the book, Konantz instructed principals to secure all copies in their offices until the district determines what to do with them.

“It’s not an issue of whether the Koran should be available in the library,” Konantz said. “It’s like any other research volume. But these interpretations are certainly in question.”

One of the footnotes, for instance, said, “The Jews in their arrogance claimed that all wisdom and all knowledge of Allah was enclosed in their hearts. But there were more things in heaven and earth than were dreamt of in their philosophy. Their claim was not only arrogance but blasphemy.”

Konantz said he is convening a committee to review the books. He said the panel will include history teachers, representatives from the Jewish community, and the donor, the Omar Ibn Khattab Foundation.

The decision is a thorny one because the Supreme Court has ruled that motive is critical in determining whether it is constitutional to remove a book from a school library.

USC constitutional law professor Erwin Chemerinsky said it would be discriminatory for L.A. Unified to stock books “written by Jews or Christians that express criticisms of other religions,” but exclude books containing criticisms by Muslims.

Dafer Dakhil, director of the Omar Ibn Khattab Foundation, which donated the books, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Konantz said Dakhil met with him Tuesday and offered examples of passages in the Bible that Dakhil said were derogatory toward Muslims.

Konantz, however, said Dakhil appeared to be unaware of the passages in “The Meaning of the Holy Quran” that had caused the complaint. A frequent speaker at Board of Education meetings, Dakhil has also volunteered with parent groups and has arranged for the district to use his mosque near USC for teacher-training sessions.

“In the spirit of Dafer, he was trying to increase tolerance and understanding,” board member David Tokofsky said. “That’s the person I know. It doesn’t jibe that there would be such intolerant language.”

Khaled Abou El Fadl, a UCLA Islamic law professor, said the book, a 1934 translation of the Koran, reflects the stereotypical images prevalent at the time--not only about Jews but also women.

Despite the problems, he said the translation is widely disseminated in the United States because Saudi-affiliated institutions make them available for free or at a nominal cost. Abou El Fadl said he believed use of the work was inappropriate for public schools because of its biases. Or, if used, an explanation of the historical context should be included, he said.