Famous Plagiarists.com © WarOnPlagiarism.org-- Theology and Religion Profiles

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Robert C. Hamm

Profile:

THEO-2004-RCH

Name:

Robert C. Hamm

War on
Plagiarism
Threat Level:

Blue: Guarded Risk

Occupation:

Formerly Senior Pastor of the Keene United Church of Christ in New Hampshire

Allegations:

Downloading sermons from the Internet and preaching them as if they were his own

Results:

Confronted by church officials; Subsequent resignation from the pastorate

Known for:

Serving as senior pastor from 1989-2004

Overview:

An article in The Christian Century, "Pastor Resigns After Admitting Plagiarism" reported on the case of Robert C. Hamm, formerly Senior Pastor of the Keene United Church of Christ in New Hampshire.

Evidently, Hamm had found sermons on the Internet too much of a temptation to resist, and he downloaded these homilies for use in the pulpit as if they resulted from his own theological insight.

A fellow pastor noticed Hamm's lack of inspiration and reported him to church officials who confronted him over his downloading of sermons for use without acknowledgement. According to the article in The Christian Century, Hamm "was very, forthcoming and clear that it was an improper thing to do. He asked for forgiveness."

The congregation's feelings were mixed, some believing that their pastor had done nothing wrong in using the downloaded sermons. Others, "including educators at the secondary and collegiate levels, were concerned their pastor had violated a tenet of integrity."

References

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Martin Luther King, Jr. (& L.H De Wolff)

Profile:

THEO-1955-MLK

Name:

Martin Luther King, Jr.
(and thesis advisor Professor L. Harald De Wolff)

War on Plagiarism Threat Level:

Red: Severe Risk

Occupation:

Theologian and Baptist preacher, leader and icon of the American Civil Rights Movement

Allegations:

Plagiarism in college and graduate school papers, including his doctoral dissertation on "A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman"; Verbatim thefts also discovered in political speeches including the famous "I Have a Dream" speech (see Pappas' Plagiarism and the Culture War, Hallberg revised and expanded version, p. 133)

Results:

Since these discoveries of plagiarism were made posthumously, there were no repercussions for King in his lifetime; the most serious repercussions were felt within academia, particularly Boston University where King received his PhD in theology; ongoing debate continues over the implications and ramifications of King's extensive plagiaries, and this debate is part of the larger debate concerning issues such as Affirmative Action and the treatment of African Americans and other minorities within academia today

Known for:

Civil Rights Activism and Leadership, Recipient of the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, Famous Speeches and Political Influence on behalf of African American Rights

Overview:

When Coretta Scott King donated the academic papers of her late husband, nominating Clayborne Carson to serve as the Chief Editor of the King Papers Project, little did anyone realize that these papers--many of them from King's college and graduate school days--would ignite a controversy which continues to this day.

That Martin Luther King was a great man and an important historical figure is not in dispute. His reputation as a leader in the American Civil Rights movement and his labors to achieve equal rights have rightly secured his place in American history books.

But even the greatest of men remain mere mortals, subject to weaknesses which are a birthright of humanity. As the King Papers Project progressed, word leaked out that King had plagiarized in many of his college papers, including his doctoral dissertation, and also including a number of speeches made in the course of his political career.

It was the British press which first broke the news with regard to King's plagiarism, an indication of just how sensitive an issue this was for American newspapers. An article in the December 3rd (1989) edition of the Sunday Telegraph by Frank Johnson asked, "Martin Luther King--Was He a Plagiarist?"

But it was not until November 9, 1990 that a major U.S. media outlet released the story on King's plagiarism--even though this story had been known for over a year in the newsrooms of major newspapers. In the U.S., The Wall Street Journal was the first to go public with a front page article entitled, "To Their Dismay, King Scholars Find a Troubling Pattern--Civil Rights Leader was Lax in Attributing Some Parts of His Academic Papers".

This story was definitely a hot potato--too hot to handle for the same institutions which had "lionized" and deified a mere mortal.

The response of academia was particularly appalling:

"They lied, they told half-truths, they made up fables, they did everything they could but address facts. In the face of their own university's rules against plagiarism, Boston University's academic authorities and professors somehow found excuses for King's plagiarism. They found extenuating circumstances . . . they compromised their own university's integrity . . . [and] called into question the very standing of the university as a place where cheating is penalized and misrepresentation condemned" (Jacob Neusner, in the Foreward to Theodore Pappas' The Martin Luther King, Jr., Plagiarism Story).

There were scores of responses written after these discoveries of verbatim theft by King, basically in defense of plagiarism. As Neusner notes, "To defend King's plagiarism, plagiarism finds itself cleaned up and made a virtue of blacks". Authors such as Keith Miller used the black preaching tradition and "oral culture" as an excuse for King's somehow having been held to a lower academic standard than what might have been expected of whites at a place such as Boston University in the 1950s.

Critics such as Barry Gross delivered a scathing indictment of the scholarly incompetence at Boston University which led to King's receiving a PhD awarded for a dissertation containing extensive amounts of plagiarism. Compounding the incompetence, the plagiarism in King's dissertation on "A Comparison of the Conceptions of God in the Thinking of Paul Tillich and Henry Nelson Wieman" was from another theology student (Jack Boozer) who had had the same advisor as King just three years previously, namely Professor L. Harald De Wolff.

Gross delivers some pretty damning speculations as to why De Wolff never noticed or responded to King's plagiarism of Boozer:

"So how did King's plagiarism get by? Well, there are three possibilities: Professor De Wolff neglected to read either or both theses, in which case he was incompetent, or Professor De Wolff read them both and failed to notice the plagiarism, in which case, also, he was incompetent, or Professor De Wolff noticed the plagiarism but did not think it serious enough to mention, in which case, too, he was incompetent. There is a fourth hypothesis that is possibly even more damning: that Professor De Wolff noticed the plagiarism but did not think it mattered for a black man destined to be a preacher to be held to a rigorous scholarly standard" (From Gross's review of The Martin Luther King, Jr. Plagiarism Story).

The final hypothesis mentioned by Gross seems to be quite plausible since Theodore Pappas alludes in his work to rumours suggesting that King had, in fact, been advised by his dissertation committee to cite his sources according to academic convention. Quite unfortunately, he did not do this, and his dissertation committee never followed up to see if their advice had been heeded, if, in fact, such advice had ever been given.

Shortly after the stonewalling and coverup attempted by those overseeing the King Papers Project (Clayborne Carson of Stanford University, and Ralph Luker of Emory University), two important books were published by Theodore Pappas: The Martin Luther King, Jr. Plagiarism Story and Plagiarism and the Culture War. In the years since the discovery of King's plagiaries, a number of other excellent research projects have resulted in dissertations and reports on different aspects of the plagiaries of Martin Luther King, Jr.

What this ongoing research seems to most clearly portray is not just the shortcomings of Martin Luther King, Jr. himself, but the failures of academia in confronting intellectual fraud and in holding scholars to high standards of academic integrity whatever their racial, ethnic, and cultural backgrounds.

Had the truth become known in his lifetime, Martin Luther King, Jr. himself would have probably answered many controversial questions which remain. As Jacob Neusner observed, "I believe Martin Luther King, Jr., was a man of conscience and character--but flesh and blood, like the rest of us. Those who thought to protect his name through deceit have traduced the man's own highest ideals, and did so, by excusing the inexcusable, in a way that ultimately diminished the stature and impoverished the heritage of a great man."

References

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Osama bin Laden

Profile:

THEO-2001-OBL

Name:

Osama bin Laden

War on Plagiarism Threat Level:

Red: Severe Risk

Occupation:

International Terrorist, former Afghan Mujahideen (holy warrior), Al Qaeda Trainer

Allegations:

Plagiarism of a poem by a Jordanian poet

Results:

Criticism in a London-based newspaper, skillful use of Classical Arabic poetic conventions admired by followers

Known for:

Declaring war on the US, fighting against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan, inspiring resistance against Western imperialism

Overview:

Shortly after 9/11, the New York Times Book Review ran an article by Judith Shulevitz on “Plagiarism: Osama bin Laden and a Poem by Yusuf Abu Hilalah”. Shulevitz began that article by questioning, “Should we inscribe the name of Osama bin Laden in the ever-lengthening book of famous plagiarists?” At that time, the Famous Plagiarists project did not yet exist in its current form, although the need for such a work was acknowledged by such a question.

Now that such a work does exist, the answer to Shulevitz’s question is a definite “Yes, we should inscribe Osama bin Laden’s name in the book of Famous Plagiarists.” There are many descriptive words and phrases which apply to bin Laden—murderer, terrorist, Islamo-fascist, and also . . . plagiarist.

By his own culture’s views on plagiarism and Arabic poetic theory, bin Laden is a plagiarist. But this is not to say that his crime of plagiarism is as serious of a matter as it might be for someone in the West holding a similar situation of high politico-religious standing. If anything, the cultivation of his image as a Bedu warrior-poet has only increased his popularity in the Arab world.

Views on plagiarism differ from culture to culture, and what might be seen as acceptable borrowing in one cultural context might be considered outright theft in another.

Across the cultural spectrum represented on planet earth, different cultural groups will have different ways of thinking and representing concepts and ideas, and this includes the concept of plagiarism. Gustave E. von Grunebaum expressed this notion as follows with regard to “The Concept of Plagiarism in Arabic Theory”:

"The line between literary theft and legitimate appropriation of a motive or a phrase in Arabic poetry does not run where we should be inclined to draw it, but it is firmly engraved on the consciousness of the Arabic author and critic. This line does not seem to have always been maintained at exactly the same place, but the unwritten—and later the written—rules were as well kept as the unpedantic and somewhat casual manners of the day would permit."

As Grunebaum explains, the concept of plagiarism is one which exists—and has for a long time existed—in Arabic poetic theory, but the lines between acceptable and unacceptable uses of another author’s work would probably not be drawn in the same place by someone from outside the particular cultural contexts of Arabic literary genres.

Although the concept of plagiarism is one which is generally common to both Western and Middle Eastern literary theory, it must be noted that there are other concepts which do not transfer so easily from the Arab-Muslim world to the West and vica versa. How, for example, can the Western mind conceive an accurate understanding of the suicide-martyr culture which has been fostered among Arab youth across the Middle East through a constant barrage of media images glorifying intifada, suicide bomb belts, and jihad against infidels, Christians, and Jews? And more recently, against fellow Arab-Iraqis in the continuing insurgency with suicide bombings being used with devastating effect.

And what of the Quranic injunction to “slay them [infidels] wherever you find them”? How does the Western mind, with its deep-rooted collective cultural memory of the Holocaust conceptualize an Islamo-fascist culture which reveres Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf, lauding its author as a “good” person?

On the other hand, from a possible perspective of someone from within the Arab-Muslim world, how difficult is it to conceive of the “promiscuous” liberties of the West? (This is not to say that vice and immorality are not present in Islamic cultures. These are just hidden better under a cloak of societal religiosity. In fact, all of the so called evils of the West are present in Islamic societies to a rather surprising extent inclusive of drugs, prostitution, pornography, and other social ills. “The Islamic World is in a mess” as many Muslims see it. Some would blame the *pernicious* Western influence, while others realize that just scape-goating the West for the problems of the Muslim World is dodging the problem rather than addressing the issues). Particularly the perceived immoral and sinful liberties which are punished severely in countries such as Saudi Arabia where public beheadings are still practiced today. In countries where strict Islamic law (shari’a) is the norm, adultresses are stoned to death for the same sins of their female Western counterparts, and the religious police rigorously enforce prayer five times a day, the veiling/cloaking of women, and a strict no alcohol policy (although shari'a is unevenly enforced and qadis, or religious judges, vary greatly in their theological and jurisprudential training and background).

More to the point in the case of Osama bin Laden, is it possible to understand the thinking which led to 9/11? Is it possible to understand the twisted sense of religiosity which underlies not only bin Laden’s way of thinking, but also the thought processes of the thousands who have gone through the Al Qaeda training camps, and the hundreds of thousands and more who have been directly and indirectly influenced by Al Qaeda-type propaganda? In answer to these questions, an analysis of bin Laden’s appropriation of a Jordanian poet’s work will demonstrate that such an understanding is potentially within reach.

Bin Laden was a plagiarist and pasticheur, following in a *noble* tradition of emulating his predecessors in word and deed, and then eulogizing himself, boasting about his accomplishments in traditional Bedu genres of poetry such as Fakhr (boasting), and Madih (praise/eulogy), and continuing all the while to insult his enemies using another established genre, namely, hija' or the lampoon/satire genre.

The backround for this case of plagiarism begins with the early days of Islam, a sort of “Golden Age” which Islamists look back to as their source of inspiration. The present conditions of people across the Muslim World, with few exceptions, are characterized by poverty, tyranny, and widespread perceptions of subjugation by the West. Globalization and the West’s scientific and technological achievements are a source of envy and suspicion. This state of things represents somewhat of a reverse of fortunes for Islamic civilization, for at one time it was Europe which was poor and scientifically unenlightened.

Moreover, when Islam is proclaimed to be the final revelation, the superior and perfect religion to replace all others, it becomes easier to understand the disillusionment with the present state of things across the Muslim World. Why is it Western civilization, Western technology, Western science which has advanced humanity to the frontiers of knowledge? If Islam were the “true” religion, should not Islamic civilization have maintained the acsendency over the nominally Christian West? Particularly given that the politico-religious system (s) of Islam are believed to be from Allah himself, revealed in what is believed by Muslims to be the most perfect, elevated form of language—Arabic, the very language of Allah?

The restoration of rightful Islamic rule, both within and without the Islamic World, is seen by Islamists as the way to improve the currently desperate situations which prevail. Within the Islamic World, tyrannical and unjust rulers usurp the role of Islam. Take, for example, the country of Saudi Arabia, the hub of Islam and location of Makkah (Mecca) and Medina—and also one of the worst examples of corrupt governance and restriction of basic freedoms and human rights.

Bin Laden’s quarrel is not only with the Western—particularly American—presence in the hub of Islam, but also with the ruling House of Saud whom he holds personally responsible for permitting the infidel’s presence since the first Gulf War. After being exiled from Saudi Arabia, what Bin Laden and the Taliban sought to recreate in Afghanistan was a “true” Islamic state modeled on the precedents set by Mohammed and the first four rightly guided Caliphs. Living according to the precepts of Mohammed in a restored caliphate would begin with Afghanistan. From there, it would extend throughout the Islamic World according to the the vision held by bin Laden and his “students” or Taliban as they are called in the Arabic language.

This vision of a return to the “Golden Age” of how things ought to be, and how they could be if only Muslims would submit themselves properly to Allah and the true teachings of his prophet, is a vision with profound influence among many Muslims, for the vision hearkens back to the founder and Prophet of Islam. As Mohammed surrounded himself with his helpers, Ansar, as they are known to Muslims, bin Laden surrounded himself with faithful devotees, some tens of thousands having passed through his Taliban training camps in Afghanistan. There they were infused with the same vision for restoration of Islamic rule according to the Qu’ran, for combating the ascendancy of the West, and for removing the infidel’s presence from the heart of the Middle East.

Bin Laden’s Transmogrification, the Declaration of War on America, and 9/11-- Osama bin Laden had a very privileged upbringing in one of the wealthiest families in Saudi Arabia. Other than this privileged upbringing, his background would seem to be rather un-noteworthy up until the time of a religious transformation in his life which would set him on a course toward notorious infamy in the West, and toward widespread adulation in the Arab World. Like many young men of Saudi Arabia in his time—according to some reports—bin Laden went through a period of dissolute living in Lebanon, going on rounds of binge drinking and frequenting Beiruit bars with known prostitutes. Some experts have speculated that bin Laden’s religious transformation might have been precipitated by Lebanon’s destructive civil wars and the fiery sermons in Saudi Arabian mosques interpreting this as the judgement of Allah.

It was against the Soviets that bin Laden first gained a reputation as a member of the mujahideen, (holy warriors) with his leadership in the resistance of the Afghans against Soviet occupation. Bin Laden brought the expertise and resources of his family’s construction enterprise, and he returned to Saudi Arabia as a hero once the Soviets had pulled back from Afghanistan.

Throughout their fight against Soviet occupation, the mujihadeen received financing from the USA in their struggle against the Soviets, and the CIA now refers to the transmogrification of bin Laden into its greatest enemy as “blowback” by which they mean an unintended effect or result of their previous support for bin Laden and the Afghan mujihadeen.

After the invasion of Kuwait by Iraq and a threatened invasion of other Gulf sheikhdoms, the leaders of Saudi Arabia rejected Bin Laden’s offer of the expertise he had gained in Afghanistan. Bin Laden was quite the man with a plan to fight Saddam Hussein without American assistance. But his rejection by the House of Saud—due mainly to the Saudi fears of Iraqi WMDs— set in motion bin Laden’s eventual exile from Saudi Arabia to Sudan, and from Sudan back to Afghanistan.

This period of exile is an extremely important phase in bin Laden’s religious transmogrification, for bin Laden saw this as spiritually equivalent to the Prophet Mohammed’s flight to Medina, or the hijra as it is known in Arabic. In the hijra the Prophet Mohammed had left Mecca with his closest followers, regrouping for the warfare over the next eight years which would lead to the conquest of Mecca. As Peter L. Bergen put it, “This was the model bin Laden planned to follow in his jihad against the West. And Afghanistan, in his mind, was the Medina of the twenty-first century.” From his mountain refuge in the quasi-Medina of Afghanistan, like the assassins of old, bin Laden declared war on America with his “Declaration of Jihad on the Americans Occupying the Country of the Two Sacred Places [Saudi Arabia]”.

What has happened since then is now history—September 11, the declaration by the US of the “War on Terror”, the liberation of Afghanistan from the Taliban, the liberation of Iraq from Saddam Hussein’s Ba’athist regime. As of the date this profile was created, bin Laden remained at large, most likely in the lawless, tribal regions along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. His influence remains a potent source of incitation to terrorism, attracting new recruits by the swarms to Al Qaeda and inspiring independent acts of jihad against the West.

Bin Laden Image-Spin in the Arab-Muslim World--
In a poll conducted by Saudi national security consultant Nawaf Obaid in 2003, it was found that nearly half of all Saudi citizens held favorable views toward Osama bin Laden. Quite clearly, the influence of bin Laden in the Arab-Muslim world is of a different sort than the notoriety and infamy it has inspired in the West. Given the barbaric atrocities committed on 9/11, his popularity in the Arab World is rather unsettling to say the least. Yet his message strikes some sort of common chord in the Middle East. Namely, resistance to Western imperialism—specifically the US “infidel” presence in the Hub of Islam. Language replete with religious imagery and poetic allusions are employed by bin Laden to enhance his image—the general equivalent of spin doctoring by politicians in the West.

It is commonly reported in the media, and it is often heard from the mouths of politicians that the number of Islamic fundamentalists after bin Laden’s ilk represents only a “minority” who have tried to “hijack” Islam, yet one can only wonder if this is truly the case given the enduring popularity of a man responsible for such heinous, barbaric atrocities in the name of a modern brand of Islamo-fascism.

If this is merely a hijacking of Islam, why are so many followers attracted by bin Laden’s message? Why is the replication of the early days of Islam and restoration of the Caliphate so closely intertwined with modern day terrorism?

To forward-looking Westerners, being permanently stuck in reverse gear thinking is somewhat hard to comprehend. Yet for adherents to a religion whose civilization has passed its age of glory, what could be more natural than looking backwards in time to the Prophet whose visions and message so radically transformed the politico-religious landscape of his time?

After the carnage of 9/11, a videotape surfaced in which Osama bin Laden invoked poetic language to celebrate his “success” and to warn America of further attacks to come. Bin Laden fancied himself as a skilled poet after the Arab Bedu tradition, celebrating exploits and commiting them to the collective cultural memory through the time-honored medium of poetic expression. There is a long history of poetry among the Bedouin of the Arabian Peninsula, and a skilled composer-orator of traditional Arabic poetry has historically been highly regarded.

But in more than just a few ways, something was not quite right with bin Laden’s poem heard on the videotape released by the Pentagon. The recitation of the poem followed a pleasant bantering and exchanging of congratulatory remarks concerning 9/11. To Western observers, the use of religious imagery in celebration of the 9/11 attacks was nearly incomprehensible. Absolutely revolting to the civilized mind:

. . . we thank Allah for you [bin Laden] . . . This is the guidance of Allah and the blessed fruit of jihad . . . Thanks to Allah . . . they [9/11 terrorists] accepted the fiqh [doctrine] that Muhammed brought . . . Allah be praised . . . After a little while, they announced that another plane had hit the World Trade Center. The brothers who heard the news were overjoyed by it . . . We are thankful to Allah . . . I was happy for the happiness of my brothers . . . Fight them, Allah will torture them, with your hands, he will torture them . . . No doubt it is a clear victory . . . We hit her [America] the first . . . By Allah it is a great work . . .

The next phase of the celebratory 9/11 discussion illustrates the looking-backward thinking of bin Laden and his followers to the early days, or the “Golden Age” of Islam for which they yearn and sought to re-create in Afghanistan:

By Allah, who there is no god but him. I live in happiness . . . . like the days of the prophet Muhammad. Exactly like what’s happening right now. . . . And the day will come when the symbols of Islam will rise up and it will be similar to the early days of Al-Mujahedeen and Al-Ansar (similar to the early years of Islam). . . like the old days, such as Abu Bakr and Othman and Ali . . . In these days, in our times, that it will be the greatest jihad in the history of Islam and the resistance of the wicked people.

Bin Laden then delivers his poetic oratory, portions of which appear below:

I witness that against the sharp blade
They always faced difficulties and stood together . . .
When the darkness comes upon us
And we are bit by a Sharp tooth,
I say . . . “Our homes are flooded with blood
And the tyrant is freely wandering in our homes” . . .
And from the battlefield vanished
The brightness of swords and the horses . . .
And over weeping sounds now
We hear the beats of drums and rhythm . . .
The fighter’s winds blew,
Striking their towers, telling
The assailant that “We will not stop our raids
until you free our lands” . . .

After the release of two videotapes in which bin Laden is seen reciting versions of the same poem, the London based newspaper Al Hayat ran a brief article by the cousin of a Jordanian poet named Yusuf Abu Hilalah, an amateur poet and a professor of Islamic law. Abu Hilalah’s cousin accused bin Laden of plagiarizing this poem and making several minor changes so as to speak of 9/11 in the poetic, warlike imagery of the Bedu tribal warrior.

According to the analysis of this case by Judith Shulevitz, bin Laden had appropriated from Abu Hilalah the poem which he recited vain-gloriously on the two Pentagon videotapes. The poem in question had appeared in a collection of Abu Hilalah’s poetry entitled “Poems in the Time of Oppression” characterized according to Shulevitz as being written in a “neoclassical style, with a conventional rhyme scheme, high-flown literary language and the centuries-old imagery of Arabic war poetry.”

The changes which bin Laden made to Abu Hilalah’s poem consisted only of several words. Instead of “The fighters’ winds blew, striking their monuments, telling the assailant that the swords will not be thrown down until you leave our lands”, bin Laden substituted “towers” for Abu Hilalah’s “monuments” and “the raids will not stop” for Abu Hilalah’s “swords will not be thrown down.”

Extracts from both Abu Hilalah and bin Laden appear below:

From “Poems in the Time of Oppression” by Yusuf Abu Hilalah

The fighter’s winds blew,
Striking their monuments, telling
The assailant that
“The swords will not be thrown down
until you free our lands”

From poetry recited by Osama bin Laden on Pentagon videotapes

The fighter’s winds blew,
Striking their towers, telling
The assailant that
“We will not stop our raids
until you free our lands”

Degrees of Plagiarism and Poetic Borrowing in Arabic Poetic Theory-- One of the most thorough discussions of plagiarism in Arabic theory is Gustave E. von Grunebaum’s 1944 article on the subject in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies from which his theory of plagiarism outline is adapted for analysis of Osama bin Laden’s poetic borrowing.

Grunebaum traces the historical development of the concept of plagiarism and illustrates the dependence of Arabic poets on their predecessors as quite an acceptable phenomenon with the Arab poets being able to “trace the genealogy of many a characteristic verse”. Further, Grunebaum dispels the notion that “it may sometimes appear to us that everybody copied everybody and that literary theft was universally practiced and condoned”.

Actually, there were some rather highly developed notions of originality and literary property. Like tribal law, there was no uniformity of application. But there were generally accepted notions which might even be classified as being universal with regard to literary theory. The recognition that there is nothing new under the sun, or laa jadeed taht as-shams, as the Arabic proverb goes, is but one example of such a universal type of notion.
It was Abu Hilal al-Askari (1005) who was the first to outline a theory of plagiarism (sarq assir) in Arabic literary theory, such an outline consisting mainly of “disconnected observations richly illustrated by examples” according to Grunebaum who presents the elements of this theory:

• The use of motives/themes (ma’ani ) which other authors have used is inevitable. As caliph Ali remarked: “If speech could not be repeated, it would have long been exhausted.”

• Later authors should present derivative motives/themes in a new context with verbal embellishments which “add to the beauty of its composition”

• Clever authors coneal their derivation, the means of “concealing the theft” include converting language from prose to poetry and vica versa, or using a borrowed motive/theme (ma’ani ) for a different purpose, or within a different genre

• The derivation becomes objectionable (qubh al ahd ) if verbatim copying is employed, if the litary qualities are affected, or if the derived composition generally “falls short of his predecessor’s achievement”

• Motives and themes (ma’ani ) are generally viewed as common property (mushtarak ), but the wording is what determines literary value

• Co-incidental compositions on the same motives/themes (ma’ani ), are recognized as absolving authors and poets of censure for plagiarism

After Abu Hilal al-Askari, later scholars such as Ibn Rasiq, Abdalquahir al-Jurjani, Sams-i Qais, as-Sakkaki, Qazwini, Ibn al-Atir and others developed these theoretical views further, expanding these to include concepts such as unintentional plagiarism, subconscious derivation, distinctions between theft and imitation (both good and bad imitation) and ceding of ownership (literary rights) to another author or poet.

Grunebaum mentions the period of decline in poetic composision which began three to four centuries after the founding of Islam, and the prevailing belief to this day that the earlier, classical poetic compositions are of a superior quality unattainable by modern poets.

This view of the past as being somehow better than the present is reflected in the use of archaic terms, classical and Quranic Arabic, in poems and texts such as the fatwas of bin Laden. Lack of originality as defined by Western literary conventions is one quite obvious result of such views as expressed by Grunebaum in his concluding analysis:

the Arabs are at one with their Hellenestic predecessors in the very limited sympathy they extend to originality in literature . . . [which accompanies] an almost unbounded respect for their ancestors’ legacy . . . This reverence, in turn, was based on, or at least fortified by, the conviction of the constant and inevitable decline of the human race . . . Within the history of the true religion it was again the period of the origins that came to be looked upon as the Golden Age after which faith will decrease and evil increase until Judgment Day. . . To look at civilization as necessarily decaying cannot but establish the authority of the earlier generations and depreciate whatever achievement the contemporaries may have to offer. The political conditions in which most of the Arab theorists worked ever more strengthened this perception of and acquiescence in decline. Little wonder that in this atmosphere originality never could displace imitation.

How relevant these thoughts are for today, when Islamists still look back with such nostalgia for the Golden Age of Islam! When the political conditions in the Arab Muslim world are arguably much the same or even worse than they were when Grunebaum wrote this analysis of plagiarism in Arabic literary theory over half a century ago.

Bin Laden’s Borrowing in Light of Arabic Poetic Theory-- According to Abu Hilal al-Askari and later theorists with regard to plagiarism in Arabic literary theory, it could be argued that Osama bin Laden was making acceptable use of another poet’s work to burnish his own image and strengthen the influence of Islamo-fascist propaganda.

A) First, the motive/theme (ma’ani ) of conflict and war against the invader is—for now— a sadly inevitable theme of human existence. And bin Laden has re-used this same theme of conflict with the West as employed by the Jordanian poet Yusuf Abu Hilalah in his poem.

B) Second, although bin Laden appropriated nearly the exact wording from Abu Hilalah, it might be argued that he “beautified” the composition through his word-substitution and a general application to the conflict with the West and the attack on America.

C) Third, bin Laden concealed/veiled his borrowing, omitting any citation of Abu Hilalah. Such concealment of theft is seen as admirable in this context, particularly by a politico-religious figure with such high standing in the Arab-Muslim world. Further, the use of the poem was shifted from one of general resistance to oppression—probably a reference to the Palestinian intifada—to a specific reference to 9/11 and the presence of the American infidels in the geographical Hub of Islam.

D) Fourth, although bin Laden’s verbatim borrowing might be seen as objectionable as indeed it was by Abu Hilalah’s cousin, bin Laden arguably surpasses his predecessor-poet’s achievement through slight linguistic modifications and popularizing of the verses. Also applicable to this point of analysis is the precedent for one Arab poet to cede “ownership” of a work to another. Abu Hilialah may not have said this in so many words, yet he evidently held bin Laden in high esteem, having authored a poem about bin Laden entitled “The Fighting Eagle”. Use of a lesser poet’s work and ceding of ‘literary rights’ to a “greater” poet-warrior is an acceptable practice with clear precedent in Arabic literary theory.

E) Fifth, the poem by Abu Hilalah and its theme (ma’ani ) of war and resistance to oppression/invasion might be seen as the common property (mushtarak) of all Arabs and Muslims in light of the struggles against Western imperialism. This might be another way in which bin Laden’s plagiarism represents acceptable use of a culturally-shared theme.

F) Sixth, given the connection between Abu Hilalah and bin Laden through a mutual friend and religious mentor Abdullah Azzam, it remains highly unlikely that both bin Laden and Abu Hilalah arrived co-incidentally at the same poetic composition. The Abdullah Azzam connection represents an interesting—and possibly suspicious—link between these two poets.

From the above points of analysis, it becomes evident that although bin Laden has appropriated the work of an obscure Jordanian poet, he is seen according to Arabic literary theory as being a “good” plagiarist and warrior-poet in the tradition of his poetic predecessors.

A Lone Voice of Protest in a London Newspaper--
The article in Al Hayat, the London based newspaper, would appear to be the only voice of protest against bin Laden’s appropriation of Abu Hilalah’s poem. Other than this lone voice of protest, Judith Shulevitz’s article in the New York Times Book Review analyzed the prophetic implications inherent in a simultaneous, nostalgic yearning for the past. Prophetically, Osama bin Laden was threatening the West with incidents along the lines of 9/11 and even worse.

No one has mentioned the possibility that the voice of protest raised by Abu Hilalah’s cousin might have been a cover for the Jordanian poet in case authorities got to speculating over his possible connections to Al Qaeda. But the circumstantial evidence would tend to support such a possibility, particularly given the fact of Abu Hilalah’s dedication of his poem “The Fighting Eagle” to the murderous architect of 9/11. In any case, bin Laden seems to have eluded capture following 9/11, and he seems also to have escaped censure and criticism for his lifting of Abu Hilalah’s poem.

Admiration and Adulation for a Hero-Poet in the Arab-Muslim World-- Quite the opposite of censure and criticism, bin Laden’s reputation and standing have risen greatly among the disaffected, disenchanted masses in the Middle East. The dedication of “The Fighting Eagle” to bin Laden is an ironic and pathetic example of this—ironic because the eagle also symbolically represents the United States of America. Pathetic because bin Laden and his ilk are more analogous to a herd of swine or a pack of hyenas, scavenging close to the ground for their existence. These scavenging swine/dogs subsisted for decades on the scraps thrown to them by the West, and by the same U.S.-propped up regimes, they claim to hate.

If it were not for the Western money flowing into Gulf Arab coffers, the rich sheikhs of the Gulf wouldn’t have any scraps at all to toss to the Al-Qaeda swine and Taliban dirty dogs scavenging about their camps. To many a common Arab on the street however, Osama bin Laden—and not America—is The Eagle. When it comes right down to the reality on the ground in the Middle East, Osama bin Laden is a hero for his jihad-mongering rhetoric, for his violent confrontation of Western imperialism and Soviet occupation, and for his invocation of poetic imagery to present himself as an Islamic warrior-Bedu poet.

Osama bin Laden plundered the work of a second rate Jordanian poet. This is an established fact. But it has been demonstrated in this analysis that this might be seen as an acceptable--even admirable--sort of plunder within the Arabic literary tradition. Like his warrior predecessors of old, Osama bin Laden cunningly feigned poetic skill in crafting ‘bold’ lyrics about striking the foe after a successful tribal raid. Like the tribal warriors of old, he has successfully spoiled the enemy—melting away into the desert—returning stealthily to his encampment—camels laden with booty and plunder—sword red with blood, metaphorically speaking.

Curiously, given his outlaw status, Osama bin Laden has much in common with the Jahiliyya (pre-Islamic) "pagan" poets known as the sa'alik or vagabond poets. These were the misanthropic outcasts from humanity who preferred to wander the deserts and wastelands, living among strange and evil creatures (ghouls, Arabic ghul) as they *composed* their misanthropic odes, preferring to steal and plunder--and plagiarize--while living on the fringes of humanity in the embrace of their monstrous companions.

[Note on terminology: As opposed to the more general descriptor Islamic, the word Islamist is used here in the sense of political, jihadist, radical Islamic belief]

References

End Profile THEO-2001-OBL

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Richard McBrien

Profile:

THEO-2006-RM

Name:

Richard McBrien

War on
Plagiarism
Threat Level:

Blue: Guarded Risk

Occupation:

Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame

Allegations:

Plagiarism in an article by McBrien in which he allegedly lifted information without acknowledgement from articles published by the Boston Globe

Results:

Investigations by the Boston Globe and Notre Dame after publicizing of the plagiarism allegations by the Cardinal Newman Society which has also targeted McBrien for his stance on abortion

Known for:

Theology; Support of abortion rights in opposition to the Vatican

Overview:

As reported by the Associated Press and other news outlets, Notre Dame's Richard McBrien has come under fire for allegedly plagiarizing from the Boston Globe in an article which he wrote about a Catholic Charity fundraising event in Boston. He is also alleged to have plagiarized in other articles as well: "It's not just the column, there are also two other news articles that we are aware of"(Patrick Reilly of the Cardinal Newman Society quoted in "Notre Dame priest accused of plagiarism").

The allegations seem to have somewhat of a political twist since the organization pressing for McBrien's dismissal from Notre Dame has previously criticized the priest for his stance on abortion rights. The Cardinal Newman Society has called for the dismissal of McBrien over his pro-choice stance.

This case of priestly plagiarism fits a pattern which has been observed in other instances of language lifting when a plagiarist repeats factually incorrect information and other mistakes from an original source, without any acknowledgement of such derivation"

What makes it obvious, is Father McBrien reported that the event occurred at a particular hotel, which was incorrect and the Globe had reported that it occurred at that hotel, and then the next day issued a correction (Patrick Reilly of the Cardinal Newman Society quoted in "Notre Dame priest accused of plagiarism")

Both the Boston Globe and Notre Dame University are investigating these allegations, and it remains to be seen what penalties, if any, will apply to this wayward priest and professor of theology.

Update: "Notre Dame dismisses plagiarism complaint": The National Catholic Reporter ran an article on February 24, 2006, which reported the results of an investigation into alleged plagiary committed by McBrien. In a letter from theology department chair John C. Cavadini, it was reported that the allegations were “unsubstantiated and not meriting further investigation . . . [these findings being based upon] on the grounds that the alleged copying constitutes ‘carelessness’ rather than unethical behavior; that statements of regret and apology for oversight have already been issued; and that there is no previous instance to indicate a pattern requiring investigation.”

McBrien threat level has been downgraded from Yellow (elevated risk) to Blue (guarded risk).

Update: After this first instance of alleged plagiarism, the Cardinal Newman Society has now made another allegation against McBrien concerning plagiarism in his 1997 book Lives of the Popes. CNS President Patrick J. Reilly says about this latest allegation, "There is no valid excuse for a university professor to copy or closely paraphrase the wording of another's scholarly work without clear attribution. If that is what has happened here - and the evidence is extensive - then Notre Dame's integrity is on the line" ("Notre Dame alerted to possible case of plagiarism").

References

End Profile THEO-2006-RM

Yellow: Elevated Risk

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William
W. Meissner

....................

Profile:

THEO-2003-WWM

Name:

William W. Meissner

War on
Plagiarism
Threat Level:

Occupation:

Boston College Professor and Theologian

Allegations:

Plagiarism in his book The Ethical Dimension of Psychoanalysis: A Dialogue and re-use of passages and ideas from Syracuse University Professor Ernest Wallwork's Psychoanalysis and Ethics

Results:

State University of New York Press considered the allegations and found them to be unsubstantiated; The Boston Psychoanalytic Society determined otherwise

Known for:

Research and teaching related to theology, psychoanalysis, and ethics

Overview:

The Reverend William W. Meissner, professor of theology at Boston College, is alleged to have plagiarized content from the work of another scholar, Ernest Wallwork, author of Psychoanalysis and Ethics and professor of ethics at Syracuse University. Evidently, Father Meissner appropriated passages from Wallwork's text without sufficient acknowledgement, prompting investigations by both the SUNY Press and the Boston Psychoanalystic Society (T. Bartlett 2005, "Theology Professor is Accused of Plagiarism in His Book on Ethics").

As further reported by T. Bartlett, SUNY Press initially concluded that the plagiarism allegations were lacking in substance, "any errors in attribution . . . [being considered] inadvertent and minor" according to interim director of SUNY Press James Peltz. The press has indicated that they will re-visit the allegations after reviewing the report made after a lengthy investigation by the Boston Psychoanalytic Society which determined that Meissner had in fact derived content and ideas from Wallwork's book, and in so doing was guilty of "a serious breach of professional and scholarly standards."

Psychoanalytic studies of plagiary may help to reveal the mental processes and disorders which afflict a plagiarist. The deliberate suppression of the sources of derivation is an altogether puzzling phenomenon, particularly when plagiarists are supposed experts in dealing with questions on ethics and human behavior. The conscious and subconscious reasoning processes of a plagiarist seem to work together toward strengthening the plagiarist's justification for appropriation of some other author's text, and it is quite possible that the plagiarist is not even overtly aware that he has repressed both his own creative ingenuity--and that of another author--by resorting to plagiary.

As Freud and other psychoanalysts have pointed out, what has been repressed can suddenly burst forth with new strength. Unfortunately for a plagiarist, the creative originality which he sought to repress through his plagiaries will quite often burst into full public view in the form of an author's re-assertion of authorship rights.

References

End Profile THEO-2003-WWM

Yellow: Elevated Risk

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Edward Mullins

Profile:

THEO-2002-EM

Name:

Rev. Edward Mullins

War on
Plagiarism
Threat Level:

Occupation:

Rector, Christ Church Cranbrook (Michigan)

Allegations:

"[P]lagiarism in his sermons and church bulletins" (D. Runk, "Rector's suspension raises questions about plagiarism")

Results:

Suspended for three months; admitted his textual transgressions, apologized, and returned to his position at Christ Church Cranbrook

Known for:

Service and ministry in the Episcopal Church USA

Overview:

Isn't plagiarism sort of like breaking the commandment "Thou shalt not steal" ? Might it also be the case that covetousness is involved in many cases of pulpit theft, that is to say that the deliverer of a homily covets the well-crafted sermons of others? Might cases of pulpit theft also emanate from deep character flaws such as a dishonest spirit? It seems sometimes that a preacher may be preaching to the already converted while he himself remains as yet unwilling to walk the straight and narrow path that leads to life! The broad way leading to destruction would seem to be crowded with many an un-repentant plagiarist.

Forsaking this path of un-repentance, and confessing his textual transgressions, the Reverend Edward Mullins came clean about instances of pulpit plagiarism which parishioners detected in his sermons and church bulletins. The Rector of Christ Church Cranbook was suspended for 90 days in 2002 as the Episcopal Diocese of Michigan looked into the allegations against Mullins (D. Runk).

Historically and cross-denominationally, Rev. Mullins is not a voice crying alone in the wilderness. He is certainly not alone among modern members of the cloth who have used the Internet to their advantage in downloading ideas and even entire sermons from sources akin to www.desperatepreacher.com, www.sermons.org, Preachit.org, sermons.com, preacherstudy.com, SermonCentral.com and other such websites which mirror the "termpaper mill" industry so popular among college and high school students today.

But, to be sure, their sins [of laziness, misrepresentation, theft, greed, covetousness . . . ] have found them out! Just ask Rev. W. Barnwell Heyward, Jr., formerly of Central Presbyterian Church in Clayton, Missouri. He had to resign from the ministry in 2001 after his pulpit theft and textual transgressions came to light ("'Sermon stealing' making its way into pulpits").

But don't give up yet--throw out the lifeline . . . there is hope . . . even for a plagiarist.

Forgiveness, mercy and compassion are freely available at the intersection of a plagiarist's transgressions with his/her admission of guilt. This was the case with the Rev. Mullins. He was restored to the ministry after the three month suspension following an apology for his textual misdeeds.

We all like sheep have gone astray . . . each to his own way . . . Plagiarist, be of good cheer, your sins and textual misdeeds are forgiven (The Author).

References

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Joseph Smith

Profile:

THEO-1830-JS

Name:

Joseph Smith

War on Plagiarism Threat Level:

Red: Severe Risk

Occupation:

Prophet, politician, revelator, and founder of Mormonism

Allegations:

Plagiarism of the King James Version of the Bible and other texts while composing/translating the Book of Mormon from golden tablets purportedly received from the angel Moroni

Results:

Textual criticism of the Book of Mormon; Questioning of faith by Mormon believers; Analysis of serious anomalies and discrepancies by Mormon scholars in order to explain how and why Elizabethan or KJV English was used to translate the Book of Mormon

Known for:

Founding the Mormon Church, also known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Overview:

Textual forgeries and plagiary are extremely difficult to disguise. Invevitably human error creeps into a plagiarized text, and such errors are some of the most tell-tale indicators of plagiarism. And it is not always the errors and mistakes made by the plagiarist or forger himself. Quite often it is the errors in the original text which demonstrate that a plagiarist has incorporated the very substance of another text as a composing strategy.

In case after case of plagiarism (see, for example, the case of the "sexed up dossier, or the case of Florence Deeks vs. H.G. Wells), such errors and mistakes demonstrate the derivative nature of plagiarized texts. The plagiarism engaged in by Joseph Smith in his composing and *translating* of the Book of Mormon has much in common with these other cases in that the derivative techniques reveal the characteristic textual imprints shared by un-original textual compositions.

In Roughing It, Mark Twain was one of the first to publicly--and rather disrespectfully--draw attention to such derivative features evident in the Book of Mormon:

All men have heard of the Mormon Bible . . . such an insipid mess of inspiration . . . The book [of Mormon] seems to be merely a prosy detail of imaginary history, with the Old Testament for a model; followed by a tedious plagiarism of the New Testament. The author labored to give his words and phrases the quaint, old-fashioned sound and structure of our King James's translation of the Scriptures; and the result is a mongrel--half modern glibness, and half ancient simplicity and gravity.

Such criticism hits hard at the core beliefs of a religious group of people who have endured a seemingly disproportionate share of persecution in their brief history.

It is from former members of the Mormon faith that comes some of the most balanced and fair criticism as opposed to the brusque observation of a critic such as Mark Twain (who happened to be a plagiarist himself). Former Mormons such as Jerald and Sandra Tanner, descendants of some of the first Mormons (Sandra being a great-great grandaughter of Brigham Young),described by Robert A. Jones in the Los Angeles Times Magazine as the authors of "a genteel campaign of intellectual warfare against the Mormon Church", have been recognized for their thorough scholarship and questioning of Mormon doctrine.

Although not trained in forensic linguistics, the Tanner's "genteel campaign" has resulted in articles and books which delve into some quite serious textual criticism of Mormon documents (i.e. Joseph Smith's Plagiarism of the Bible). And their textual repositories and analyses have come to be recognized even by the established Mormon Church, the Tanners discerning forged Mormon texts which even the linguistic experts thought to be genuine (i.e. as in the "Salamander Letter" affair). The Tanners' conclusion, after decades of research was that "the Book of Mormon is not an ancient or divinely inspired record, but rather a product of the nineteenth century."

What textual critics of the Book of Mormon have discovered--some Mormon scholars included--is that Joseph Smith derived language and content from the King James Version of the Bible as part of an elaborate textual composing process.

In this process, Smith made grammatical errors in his attempted use of Elizabethan/KJV English. Also, as Biblical languages scholar Stan Larson found, translation errors in the King James Bible were "mirrored" in the Book of Mormon, a strong indication that Joseph Smith was not translating from golden tablets received from the angel Moroni, but instead just copying the King James English of the Bible, "unskillfully mimicking . . . the style of the King James Version" as noted in a Master's thesis by Wesley P. Walters (1981).

Such scholars have been able to determine the precise version of the King James Bible used by Smith in his derivative composing techniques, a "version that cannot possibly be dated earlier than 1769" (Joseph Smith's Plagiarism of the Bible).

The use of Elizabethan, KJV English is a very important point of analysis, prompting the question, "Why would God reveal the Book of Mormon in a language variety spoken several hundred years before Joseph Smith's time?" Honest textual critics must also ask, "Why would characters in the Book of Mormon be portrayed as speaking a language variety [KJV English] which did not even exist yet?"

As the Tanners point out, one of the most serious textual criticisms of the Book of Mormon "is that it has the ancient Nephites making extensive quotations from works that were not even in existence at that time. In fact, in the 1st and 2nd books of Nephi, the writings of the New Testament are cited 600 years before they were written!" [emphases in original]

Such serious textual criticisms notwithstanding, Mormon scholars have attempted to answer these along the lines of suggesting that God revealed the Book of Mormon in a language variety that Smith understood (i.e. KJV English), or that Smith drew upon King James English committed to memory from his study of the Bible.

What these counter-criticisms seem to ignore are the artificialities apparent in Smith's unskillful use of KJV English. Would God have made a mistake in revealing the Book of Mormon to Smith in a grammatically and contextually inaccurate version of Elizabethan English?

What seems to be the most plausible analytical interpretation is that Smith had his King James version of the Bible open in front of him as he wrote down the Book of Mormon. The golden tablets inscribed with "Reformed Egyptian" mysteriously disappeared once Smith has completed his *translation*. Whatever the message on those purportedly ancient tablets, somewhere along the way, the message was seriously garbled by the messenger.

Why else would the Mormon church leaders have made over 3,913 changes in the Book of Mormon since it was first published in 1830? (Jerald and Sandra Tanner's 3,913 Changes in the Book of Mormon) A book that is divinely inspired and vouched for as being correct by none other than Joseph Smith himself should have no need to undergo such massive editorial revisions. In the Mormon History of the Church, Smith is quoted as saying, "we heard a voice from out of the bright light above us, saying, These plates . . . have been translated by the power of God. The translation of them which you have seen is correct . . . "

And yet, these translations were anything but correct. As Wesley P. Walters observes,

Since the Elizabethan style was not Joseph's [Smith] natural idiom, he continually slipped out of this King James pattern and repeatedly confused the forms as well. Thus he lapsed from 'ye' (subject) to 'you' (object) as the subject of sentences . . . jumped from plural ('ye') to singular ('thou') in the same sentence (Mos. 4:22) and moved from verbs without endings to ones with endings (e.g. 'yields . . . putteth,' 3:19) . . . The presence of these erroneous forms shows how artificial the Book of Mormon style really is, and what a struggle it was for Smith to cast his whole story into a language form so unnatural to his normal speech pattern.

Joseph Smith must have been a persuasive leader and orator, but even the most intelligent plagiarists throughout history have left clues to their plagiaries behind, many of these clues consisting of textual and linguistic mistakes/errors which seem nearly impossible for a mere mortal to eradicate from a derivative text.

To err, linguistically or otherwise, is a uniquely human quality . . .

References

End Profile THEO-1830-JS