7th Grade Teacher Teaches Islam ‘Fight Song’

A teacher in the Ocean View School district forced her seventh-grade class to sing a song about Islam that implied Allah was the only god.

The teacher used the melody of the song “This Is My Fight Song,” written by Rachel Platten, and altered the original lyrics to fit Islam. The original lyrics read:

Like a small boat on the ocean

Sending big waves into motion

Like how a single word

Can make a heart open

I might have only one match

But I can make an explosion

The teacher’s version went like this:

Like a sandstorm in the desert

Sending camels into motion,

Like how a single faith

Can make a heart open

They might only have one god,

But they can make an explosion.

Cw39.com reported the incident happened at the Spring View Middle School, and the chorus of the song went like this:

And all those things they have to say

Islam … Allah’s on the way

They will preach them loud tonight

Can you hear their voice this time?

This is their fight song

Spread Islam now song

Prove that they’re right song

Susan Negron, the mother of one of the students, discovered what the teacher had done when her son brought home drawings in a notebook including a stick-figure man saying, “Believe in Allah! There is no other god” and a copy of the lyrics, according to the Orange County Register.

Outraged, Susan’s mother Nichole posted pictures on a Huntington Beach community Facebook page on Tuesday, and later addressed the Oceanview School Board. Susan reportedly said, “I believe that by singing this song, the children feel comfortable believing that maybe Allah is the only god, and maybe that they should start following him. And that I’m not OK with.”

On Wednesday, the Ocean View district issued a statement from Superintendent Carol Hansen, according to the Register: “It was unfortunate the lesson on Islam ended just prior to the tragic world events last week … I apologize on behalf of the district if the song used in the World History lesson may have offended anyone. It was not the intention of the teacher to incite, anger or offend.”