So for some reason I got a very odd piece of mail at work today. Posted from Alexandria, Egypt, I received book entitled A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam. Odd. The front has a picture of Mecca, lit up beautifully, and the Koran, circling around the world and flying towards me. Another flyer, "Seekers of the Truth" was also included as well as a small card from Dr. Muhammad S. Oraby encouraging me to think about the path my life is on.
2 comments here:
1- Who pulled the prank and got this stuff sent to me?
2 - Is is funny that the first thing that crossed my mind when I opened this were: "Bad cover design for the booklet but the pamphlet has a really nice paper stock!!"??
Yeah. I'm a dork.
BUT if you are curious about Isalm, feel free to visit http://www.islamic-message.net/English/index.htm which is the parent site of C.I.M.S. Corp. in Alexandria, Egypt - the people who posted this lovely packet of materials to me. C.I.M.S.= Conveying Islamic Message Society.
Irony: the book, A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam, was ironically printed in Texas in 1997 and even has its own Library of Congress number in front. So this little booklet traveled all the way to Egypt from Texas (don't mess with Texas!) just so it could get put BACK into the mail and get sent to me in the states.
PS I don't know what to do with this stuff as throwing it away would probably just be wrong of me (I always feel guilty throwing religious stuff away, even when it has been handed to me by the most raving of zealous lunitics on the street). So - any takers??!?!?
UPDATE: as of today, 10/30/08, four other people in my office have received the same thing. AND I am also now suddenly subscribed to VOGUE and it is arriving at my office. No, I don't read VOGUE. No, I don't like fashion magazines. And NO I didn't pay for it. I work at a university. Sure - I get free subscriptions to fundraising magazines - but VOGUE? Really? Evidently somebody somewhere is telling me I need to convert and learn to dress better. Obviously the answer to all my problems ... :)
UPDATE #2 (12/19/08): Thank you to all the people who have commented here/emailed me. Turns out people literally around the country - mostly at Universities - are receiving these things. Random! Anybody else?!? Let me know! AND - if anybody comes up how/why these are coming to us - let me know!! :) Happy Holidays!!!
UPDATE #3 (3/11/09): So interestingly enough I found some more answers this week. When I originally got the packet, months ago, I got curious and visited their website (the one listed on the mailing materials), and then sent an email to the listed contact email address on the site. Months and months later and finally - I received a response! The body of the email that was sent to me is copy and pasted below:
Assalaamualaykum wa Rahmatullah wa Barakaatuhu,
First of all we are very sorry for taking this time for reply but a technical problem happened in our email database which make some emails fall from the data and your email was one from them , we are very sorry again
We know that you may surprise in who you get these books , we have a project called ( know Islam ) its just a peace project which we want by it to let the people know the true meaning of Islam as we try to
We are an Islamic society that are tired of the one-sided information about Islam in the media and the ignorance in most societies about Islam. We would like everybody, man and woman, young and old, to take a look themselves and read a book about Islam. We are not out to convert anybody to Islam, we only want people to read for themselves what Islam is about, to clear away all the misunderstanding and misconception there is among so many people about Islam.
You may live in a Christian part of the world, where most people call themselves Christians. But most Christians do not really know their own religion, and wrongly think Islam or Judaism is a very different religion than their own. Not so. We invite you to our books. This will lead you to the true concept of Islam and Muslims, and not least help bridge the gap between those major religions.
We have so many free books for you to read on many subjects. We are sure these books will lead you to greater understanding of Islam and what it means to be a Muslim. Only God can lead a person to faith, we just want to make books available and to reduce the tension and misconceptions about these subjects among non-Muslims.
So make contact or go to our web place to download our books in PDF format, or ask that we send you some books by mail. Please tell us what your primary interest is.
Best Regards
Conveying Islamic Message Society
http://www.islamic-message.net/
105 comments:
I just wanted to let you know that I work at the University and one of my coworkers Kerry, spelled differently, recieved the same strange Islamic message with the same other documents today. She thought it was strange to be recieving something from Egypt, so we looked it up, and your blog was the first match. We were laughing pretty hard because the first thing that she said when she opened it was that this had to be a joke that somebody played on her. Anyway, just wanted to share with you the irony that a Kerry who also works at a university across the United States just had the same experience as you only a couple weeks later. We will keep our eyes out for the Vogue magazines that should be coming next!!!!
Hey, I just did the exact same thing! I was wondering who I knew from Egypt or more likely.... being a conductor, who I would know that is currently traveling there! Then, I saw the contents and the well-made booklet with a cheesy cover. Then the card fell out and I was thinking it was a joke or from one of my 185 music appreciation students, several of whom might be from Egypt. Then, I googled the CIMS and found this site. Now I am LOL!!!! haaaaa
I think I'll keep and maybe actually read the book. Then, I might send it to someone else - hehe.
I am the same person from the
University, I just wanted to let you know that we have had a second package from Egypt arrive for another worker. It continues....
Hey there, I also work at a university and just recieved the same book...looks like they pulled my info off of our department website, since my work title was included on the mailing label. Thought it was funny since any one who knows me would realize that Islam is the LAST religion that I would want to convert to, seeing that I am a Christian and also part Jewish...
I saw a couple in mailboxes at my U.S. University as well. The packaging and sending address were so strange I wasn't going to open it until I could find out what it was.
Isn't it odd that the ONLY mention of C.I.M.S. Corp Egypt on the Internet is on this page. Anyone have anymore info about them. Anyone live near them and can can check it out/ post a some pictures etc. ??
I just received a package from Egypt today (I also work at a university), found it odd, googled the C.I.M.S. and found this site. The book I received is called Muhammad The Messenger of Allah. Glad to know I'm not the only one who, out of the blue, received a packet from Egypt!
I also received this same package and had almost the same reaction as you did. Who pulled this practical joke? It's nice to know we aren't alone :-)
While I don't want to be overly alarmist, it is required of orthodox muslims that before they attack they give their opponents an opportunity to convert.
I happened to be the target for this at a personal level from a young muslim man in London starting February of 2001. I engaged him, and became so concerned after several months that I made 5 reports to the FBI. Part of this was that he had made references to going on a trip and not returning. That "trip" got called off he said.
Nothing happened, and then he contacted me some more, but this time asking what I thought of martyrdom and sending me literature. I suspected he was having second thoughts. He was a member of Hizb-Ut-Tahrir. http://www.hizb-ut-tahrir.org/ and http://www.hizbuttahrir.org/
I contacted the FBI again, but they didn't want to hear from me anymore and brushed me off, even claiming the agent I had been talking to did not exist. Part of that was because this man promised to kill me as an infidel, and I have reason to believe he staked me out at least once around June of 2001. This literature that he sent me increased in its stridency, and I contacted the FBI again in late July. Then I gave up. I was in Bucharest when the Twin Towers came down in New York.
I think it would be a good idea to chart whether there is any pattern to the kinds of people selected for contact at Universities. If people who receive them could say what department the are in, and what their job is, that might be useful.
I, too, work at a University and received the same packet of Muslim info. The brown paper envelope was tattered/ripped when I found it in my mailbox. So, I was not concerned about opening the packet. I am not sure when it arrived exactly as I was out a few days and campus mail is slow. I thought I'd share that my initial response was also surprise and slight uneasiness. Who would be sending this and why? I showed our office manager and my supervisor to get their opinion. I had a work contact from Egypt, so at first I thought my name and address was possibly acquired from them. My supervisor had the idea to Google the CIMS corp and found this site. I also Googled Dr. Mohammad S. Oraby. A link to a guy on Facebook came up, but I'm not a Facebook member, so it had limited info. None of the other links seemed useful. We receive mail/packages from around the world (as many do many universities)....hmmmmmm. Is that why university folks are "targeted" (that may not be the best choice of words). This is all very strange and I'll be interested to know if anything else related happens to the other recipients. I'll post again if there are any developments at my end. I'm a bit hesitant to provide personal info here (the Univ name or dept), but Kari mentioned getting emails. Perhaps I will send her my info, in case she's keeping track of some of the recipients. Thanks to Kari for creating the blog and to all who shared.
I got it too. Not knowing why and being a typical red blooded paranoid American I gave it the official US Post Office suspicious package treatment examining it very carefully until curiosity got the best of me and I ripped it open. Somewhat anticlimactic, I was hoping for foreign porn.
I also work at a University, and I (and several other coworkers) just received this book today.
Funny, I have a book that is the exact opposite of this one!
I also work at a university and received the same packet today. Several others at my university have received the same thing, and they are all Jewish. I was wondering if it was targeted to people with Jewish last names.
My last name is not Jewish. Or at least I never thought it was. Czech, yes, Jewish, not so much.
I recieved one of these "strange" packages in the mail today, and like everyone else I was somewhat uneasy about opening it. I finally did open it, and thought that the contents were very strange... A flier for the "Conveying Islamic Message Society" and a book titled "Muhammad: The Messenger of Allah." Like others that have posted here, I too work at a small liberal arts college in Virginia in the Information Technology Department. The mailing label contains my full title and everything, just as it does on our department webpage.
This is very strange, although before Christmas a co-worker recieved religious material and a calendar from Italy in the mail from an unknown sender.
I also received the same piece of mail and I work at a university. Our department director did as well.
same here, university too (in france)
I just received the same at my work address with full title - I work for an academic department at a San Diego university.
Wow, I got weirded out and did the exact same thing you guys did, googled Muhammed S. Oraby and found this blog.
I just received the same thing: tattered packet from Aleandira egypt, CIMS corp, Dr. Muhammed S. Oraby, "Muhammed: The messenger of god" booklet.
I got it at my work mailbox at a California University, no one else got it in my laboratory so far. Was I picked at random? I have a japanese last name.
Well I have a Czech last name so I am not sure last names have anything to do with it - but see the email that I updated the original post with! Very interesting!
I too received a brown envelope (it looks as if it was dragged through the wringer) and in it was a booklet entitles, "Muhammad The Messenger of Allah". It's from C.I.M.S. Corp of Alexandria, Egypt. Funny... there is no postage on the envelope, just my address and the sender's address. I checked with my colleagues and found I was the only one who received this mailing.
I also work for a university in California in Physics & Astronomy. My address shows what's posted on our website.
i work at a university in california and today i received this book as well. so did a co-worker of mine. i went as far as to ask my egyptian professors if they sent it to me. all stated they had not. one told me to google cims corp and that is where i found this blog. since i am a girlie-girl...i'm now waiting for the vogue issues to start coming. hehehehehe.
I work at a university too, and I received this today. Same book and everything, from Alexandria. I work in the department of biological, chemical, and physical sciences. My advisor was standing here when I opened it, and she is Muslim. She was surprised and said that Islam should not be pimped out like this (she didn't say "pimped out", I can't remember exactly how she put it, but that was the general idea).
My husband just received one at his office today. We both work for a California University in two separate departments... I don't think they are sending based on names, we believe a written application (husband is a software engineer) probably does the picking at random through university websites since all the information is public. I have alerted our university's mailing department as well...I don't want to get suspicious boxes like that again.
I received the package today at the University of California, Riverside. I found this blog with google.
I work at a University Library, and we've gotten one of these packages as well. We've since used it as a practical joke to our friends.
I work at a university in utah, and we just got two of the packages today. Google is still placing your blog up top of the ranks. Mystified, and slightly humored. Glad to know we aren't the only ones.
Just got mine today. I also work at a small, liberal arts college, in the IT department.
The ironic thing is that I'm an atheist, and so this stuff is pretty much useless to me. I suppose it does sort of do what the person who responded to Kari said they were trying to accomplish: improve upon the ignorance most Americans have concerning Islam. But this has got to be the oddest way to go about it I can think of.
Oh, and by the way, avoid their web site. Safari reports that it contains malware.
I just received one of the CIMS Corp packages also, with no stamps, so how does it get through the postoffice? Mine is A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam. The address also has my title on the address. We are a small private mid American Liberal Arts University in a very small village so still am wondering how they got this information. I too was very leery of opening the package thinking it might contain some contaminate. This went into File 13!
ditto. got one too and work at a private college. thought i got it because my son served in the Israeli Army and visited egypt on a vacation. i was curious about the publisher, but understand why Muslims would be worried about being linked with terrorist groups, hence publish something to clarify that their religion does not promote violence (but it does oppress women!). The scientific explanations in this brochure are unfounded, but it is a religious tract.
I received my copy today. Co-workers have received copies as well. We work at a private liberal arts college.
i got one too. i also work at a university. the wierd thing is that there is absolutely no postage on the brown paper envelope. there's only a faint red circular stamp. how does a package get to the US from Eqypt without any postage?
I work at a university too, and a co-worker in the work-station next to me received this book today as well. I'll keep an eye out for my copy. Lol. No Vogue subscriptions yet though.
I'm glad you posted this blog, b/c as others have said, when I googled CIMS, this was all that came up.
Yet another person who received one of these packages. Same story, even though it was my mom who called me and freaked out.
She works for the University library in San Angelo, Texas. I told her just to be quiet about it and wait for other people to get the package and freak out around her for a good laugh.
For a goodwill package, the only thing they seem to be accomplishing is scaring xenophobic college faculty.
Well, well, well. Just received this, didn't open until I checked it out on Google. Still haven't actually opened it. This site was the first to come up when I searched "CIMS corporation alexandria egypt". Seems my experience echos that of everyone else.
I work in ILL at a smallish college and I just got the 'package' in the mail today. It contained the booklet "A Brief Guide to Understanding Islam" and was addressed to the previous ILL person. I didn't know what to think about it, so I googled CIMS CORP and came across this site. Looks like lots of folks are getting this. I have no qualms about tossing it in the trash. It's pretty funny though, that these booklets were published in Texas, shipped to Egypt, and then shipped back to the States. Not very economical.
I work in development in my small university and received the booklet today. Apparently everyone in the college to which I am associated received the booklet as well.
Apparently, we at the University of Texas at San Antonio are not the only ones. Thanks for clearing that up!
lots of folks at Penn State Altoona receiving it too. Makes many of us nervous. We don't like being sent stuff like this without asking for it. There is a stigma, like it or not, about this and we'd rather not receive it.
Just got my envelope today (I'm a programmer at a university in southern California). So far, I'm the only one in my office to receive one. No postage on mine, either - just a sticker with a barcode and my work ZIP. The part that troubled me was that the envelope was rather worse for wear, and practically open on one end.
I just received one as well. Curious, I opened it right away. Since there was no note, I was rather freaked out, thinking that perhaps a former disgruntled student had sent a contaminated package. I teach Western art history in Oregon and often show paintings that might be offensive to Muslims. I was relieved in reading that others have received this booklet as well, with same red circle for postage -- it's all very odd and rather unsettling.
well my turn i guess....i just got one and i work for a university in california. this is very strange and honestly the first thing i thought was crap im gonna be hit with anthrax or something when i open this.....though that still didn't stop me from ripping it open. wtf am i gonna do with this garbage??
I received my package today. I checked with my co-workers and several others have also received the same package. It looks like the mailing info was pulled directly from our University faculty/employee directory as it has my position posted on it as well.
Forgot to mention in my previous post...I am from Regis University in Denver, CO.
Bingo! Just got mine, and it sure looks like it was pulled from university information. More friggin' junk mail.
Got mine today; I ..."Muhammad,The Messenger of Allah." Glad to see I am not the only recipient. I, like the rest of you, work for a university and Googled CIMS when I saw that one the package.
I received mine today. Plan on reading it. Like everyone else, I'm a professor. It's an interesting marketing approach. I don't find it offensive in any way.
Received the same today, in Belgium. As I teach Arabic at university level, I was not surprized to be offered that kind of literature, although I don't remember this ever occurring in the past.
Thanks so much for your blog! I, too, just received the booklet you mentioned, and decided to google the name, which gave me your blog. I work at a college in Memphis, TN. I think it's an interesting endeavor on their part -- to focus on university-types. Anything to foment peace is a good thing, in my opinion.
They've made it to Australian universities...we received a bunch today so I googled and your blog was the first listing.
Well, we've received the same exact mailing here in a liberal arts college in Pennsylvania...
All of the comments posted are pretty much what we were/are thinking too. I wonder how much money they wasted trying to 'not convert us' but to 'educate us'?
I got one too!!! I work at an Australian university!!!
I googled CIMS and this thread was the first thing to come up - what is this R.I.S.??? (Random Islamic Spam)
I think John Toradze (8th post) has a point - I'm a community worker - anyone else?
Hi.. I'm from Germany and I also got this package today. I'm not working for any university or anything...
It was sent directly to me.
Maybe we should all send them some scientology info or something to show them how annoying it is :D
I work at an Aussie University and rec'd the book today and I was annoyed at the Internet for putting me in a position to recieve SPAM snail mail but then I got on the internet to google the CIMSCorp and found this blog and felt relieved that I was not alone. So the internet and I are back on speaking terms...for now.
I work at a Australian uni and I got this package last week. The scary thing was where is says that they obtain you details, "on the internet", I thought it was from my faculty website (I did do my honours thesis on Al-Qaeda) but also from my Academia.edu page. I spoke to one of my colleagues who is actually doing his dissertation on the discourse surrounding Islam and he recieved quite a few of this. It seems to be trolling university faculty pages. It wasnt as "illustrated" as I'd hoped. :(
I am glad to have the mystery cleared up. I received the tattered envelope from Egypt but with nothing in it! It was in a little plastic bag from the P.O. So I just googled it. I also teach - at a State College in Massachusetts.
I am curious now about the book. I am for clearing up misconceptions about Islam. But I'm not sure contacting professors is the way to go. I think most of us are probably aware that Islam is not what Islamic fundamentalists present it a,s just as Christianity is not what Christian fundamentalists present it as.
I work at a small state college in Nebraska in the marketing department and just received this package. I was concerned and had my intern open it for me as I've never gotten mail from Eqypt at work! I know of one other person here who has received it. Strange stuff! My name is quite common.
I just got my copy too....ironically on the day before 9/11/09.....
I'm at an Australian university and also received this package. A booklet Muhammad: the Messenger of Allah and a brown/yellow folded over bit of cardboard. I'm somewhat bemused that I was chosen from my whole department for this... I think i'll have my name taken off the email list on our website
Like many others who have commented I also am an employee of an Australian University and along with several of my colleagues received a copy of this booklet yesterday. Having read through the comments I wonder just how many people actually bothered to even scan through the booklet before posting and am appalled at the level of xenophobia being displayed by members of the higher education community. While as an agnostic of long standing the booklet did nothing to shift my thinking on religion it was by no means as offensive as some of the material I have had shoved down my throat by so called charismatic Christians. It was actually refreshing to see something representing moderate Islam (The pamphlet specifically condemns terrorism.) in contrast to the stereotypical image of Muslim extremists that most areas of the media portray.
I'm also from an Australian University (postgrad/postdoc), and I have just received a package from C.I.M.S.Corp. containing a booklet entitled 'Muhammad - The Messenger of Allah' and a cardboard fold-over; "A Message of love to all Seekers of Truth". I'm an atheist, so I'll pass on this myself, but I find it rather odd that this advertising push is targeting University students/postgrads. How very odd.
Another postdoc, at University of Adelaide, Australia. We got a bunch of them for people in our office, and all of them spelled "Australia" wrong ("Austrlia") on the envelope. Boggles the mind how much postage they must be paying.
There is a little slip of paper that says "How we found you! We obtained your name and address from the internet" and provides some contact info.
It's just like the stuff that gets handed to me by churchy sorts at the market, except with fewer bad illustrations. Just as many italicized and bolded bits, though.
Work @ a Uni Tasmania Australia.
Have received my second mailing, both have different contents.
It is clear, that Universities advertise staff contact details on the web and student documents containing contact details also.
This would naturally place Universities at the upper end of the receiver scale, hence the high proportion of University respondents (we also know how and when to use Google).
Messages of peace or working to obtain peace can only be good
Just got mine, University of Western Sydney reporting in. Was very weirded out by the whole thing, kinda relaxed now to know this has been going for a little while.
What's stranger is that I'm planning to go on a trip to Egypt next year but hadn't used my uni details in any of the bookings etc so I was quite cautious when opening this package.
Dan
Brandon University in Manitoba Canada....just got the same thing!
And there it goes to University of Montreal. No reason. No anthrax either, and I don't really care about throwing away religious stuff (all of them in fact).
Got mine today in French ( merci bien! ) at Carleton Univerity, Canada.
I got one of these last week too. The French version though, so I can't read it. I guess they figured all Canadians speak french. Not so. ;) Only the paper insert is in English. I work at a University in BC, Canada. Interesting note is that the job title they've got for me isn't my own, but close.
And it continues... (WA, Australia). They copied the name/job title and address from the staff directory. I guess sending it to educational institutions is a better idea than sending it to random people from the phone book - less likely to cause paranoia, moral panic etc. Might read through it when things are quiet.
hi all
I just received my unsolicited copy of the book in the internal mail at my university in Sydney Australia- as others seem to have done, I googled the sender and found this site- so many identical experiences that I had to laugh and write in the comments section. It's like following a paper trail; so, where next?
There's probably a paper in it for someone (ha).
Seems it has taken a year for them to distribute these materials to universities in Australia. I too received this package a couple of days ago and was intrigued why someone from Egypt would send me something... So trusty old google found this site.
Anyway your reply email from islamic-message is probably right. There are a lot of so-called "Christians" out there, I like to call them Hypochristians. You get the gist.
Out of interest I thought I'd try visiting the islamic-message website and firefox blocked it!!! phew. See below:
-------------------
Reported Attack Site!
This web site at www.islamic-message.net has been reported as an attack site and has been blocked based on your security preferences.
Attack sites try to install programs that steal private information, use your computer to attack others, or damage your system.
Some attack sites intentionally distribute harmful software, but many are compromised without the knowledge or permission of their owners.
-------------------
So they want to promote peace but hack your computer. hmmmm...
Everyone has their favorite way of using the internet. Many of us search to find what we want, click in to a specific website, read what’s available and click out. That’s not necessarily a bad thing because it’s efficient. We learn to tune out things we don’t need and go straight for what’s essential.
www.onlineuniversalwork.com
Received my copy today at my university address in South Australia. Like the other posts the address contained my job title and other info that is in the University's telephone directory.
Another South Aussie Uni - same bits n pieces.
Not my choice as I, like Mohammad, had all ready created my own religion (though without the following i.e. only me)
Not offensive just a curiousity and I can see why they thought it a good idea given the Western media bias that paints them all as evil.
I am posting this to let everyone know that C.I.M.S. has started to send their brochures to Belgium, to Belgian universities to be exact. When I saw the letter from Egypt in my mail this morning, I thought this has to be a joke. Next thing that went through my mind was that this might be an Anthrax contaminated letter. So the first thing was to see what C.I.M.S. is all about. That's how I ended up on this blog.
'Got mine today too, also in a Belgian university ... For the rest, everything happened exactly as all of you/us here ;-) ).
Received 2 packages at my home address for the tenant(s) before me. Haven't opened it, but decided to google the sender company (sorry if that's invasive, but I'm a naturally curious person, and this battered package from Egypt got me wondering)
Interesting technique they have here.
Hailing from the Toronto region, Canada.
I just got mine in the mail today. I work at a university in Nova Scotia, Canada, at the tech department. In my department, we've gotten about 4 or 5 of these packages over the last year, each addressed to a different person.
I just got one here at my university office in Ottawa, Ontario.... but it's in French so I can't even read it..... :)
Got mine today, Carleton University, Ottawa/Canada. COntents in French with a one page English insert.
They aren't paying postage, they're scamming the system! Note that it's addressed to Egypt, but the return address is YOU!
It has also made it to Rhode Island College (according to them it is Road Island college). The scary thing is that the campus mail does not discriminate and would deliver practically anything.
They are arriving in the UK - I have had two!
yup they have definitely arrived in the UK. I don't even work at a University anymore, but still a letter arrived for me there (they don't do good research though as mine was addressed to the central university address with just my old office room number which is on the staff pages)
I, too work at a college and received one of these today. I googled it and this site came up. Interesting reading. At first, I thought it was a joke too. If it's serious, and I suspect it is, I'm glad that Muslims are trying to set the record straight and differentiate themselves from radical terrorists.
Well evidently this is still going on, because my boss and I both received this little parcel today. It was rather odd, but from what I have read this is simply an organized group of people who are seeking to combat the image of violent Islamic extremism with a more peaceful and educated approach. It does seem that the common thread between us all is employment within a university. Strange as it seems, perhaps we should consider this a legitimate rational approach for educated individuals to reach between their two cultures. I for one am thankful to be reminded that the Middle East is not the forsaken realm that the national media portrays it to be.
The leaflets continue to arrive in the UK - and in my case the contact details clearly came from (an ancient) part of our department website which has incomplete data on my person, so that I appear to be more junior than I actually am. They then reconstructed a job title from the context, and got it wrong.
They would have found my correct job title and my academic degrees in the staff directory of said department website, but obviously didn't check.
I get the feeling they target junior staff and PhD students.
There is something worrying about all this. Someone finds my name of some website which hardly anyone ever looks at, finds the address of my department and sends me a hard copy leaflet, but doesn't even bother to google my name to verify the data!
I and several of my colleagues (who work for a university) found ourselves recipients of these mailshots from Egypt today.
I got onto Google and searched for my details and found that the address used on the mailshot was almost verbatim taken from www.jigsaw.com - who somehow have my details. I'm not sure how or when they scraped this information about me but they have it, and it's there for the world to see.
I've since followed the link at the bottom of the index which says something like "Remove me from JigSaw" - which they now say they've done. You may wish to check whether you exist on there too......
I received the "A Brief Illustrated Guide..." over a year ago from a small, midwestern university that I was no longer working at and hadn't been working at for at least 8 months, which made me thoroughly confused. They forwarded the package directly to me seemingly without a second thought and I just now uncovered the original label, eventually finding this website like everyone else.
Thank you to the previous poster who mentioned the jigsaw website, because I went on there and found the exact info that was on the label. It seems to have been updated by a "jrob" on 11/28/2008, three months after I ended my internship at the university. Weird...
I have received this book today, I don't work in a university, I'm a foreign student in Denmark. And I am really concerned how this organization (or whatever it is) got my home address. Wondering why are we "the chosen" and what does that mean?
Apparently this campaign is still going strong. We got two copies of this in my department today (IT dept at a small liberal arts college in Oregon).
Same story here. Work at a University and the letter was coincidentally timed with the historic events of the last 3 weeks. Googled just to see who this corp was and your blog came up.
Northern Ireland also. It is not just junior people and I have the grey hair to prove it.
The only initial worry was that it might be a letter bomb but luckily not.
Go ahead and put a push pin in Wyoming on the world map. I just got one in my mail box. The only difference is the title of the book. It's called "Muhammad: The Messenger of Allah."
oh man. thanks for blogging about this. I also just got one through the mail at the school where I work too. Skeeved me out at first. Think about how much postage that cost to ship from egypt!? weird.
Same here, work at a small liberal arts college in new your in the IT.
Just got the same piece of mail.
Another coworker mentioned getting it too.
WTF???
I just got one from CMI Corps with a "funny nose and glasses" set.
I found your blog when I plugged in CIMS into Google...today, I got a mailing from them, begging me to embrace Islam.
Just so you know, it's still going on. Interesting!
Today, I get the mail too. And I'm a Muslim, but I still find it strange.
I'm a grad student in US. At first, I thought it is from my friend in the middle east. But when I saw the sender and the content of the mail, I found it very strange.
I'm a little afraid... you know I'm a foreigner here and US perception about Islam. I thank God, the content of the mail is not a book about jihad. It is a book about prophet Muhammad (pbuh).
Just got mine...and yes a clever way to use the system...addressed to Egypt, return address me. I didn't notice that detail until I saw one of the comments posted here.
I'm in California. It was addressed with my current faculty title, and department (Film/Video). It was taped together with bar code under the clear tape. I thought it was from a former student. I opened it, realized it was not what I initially thought, and then did a search...
Very interesting Flailing Monkey.
At my university in Uruguay, South America, we have received some of these books from Alexandria, Egipt. Some of them in English, and some others were the same books in Spanish translation, translation which is not very good.
test
Wesley2072 - what are you testing?
Hi, I have just happened to see this post and it is really odd. It seems someone is playing around? I am a Muslim and I do some translations to CIMS. Anyone can access the website and order free books for all around the World. It just need a quick subscription which doesn't require many details (basically just name and address). BUT it was supposed to be for people who are interested on getting these books (and personally ordered it). It is a shame isn't it? Waste of time, and money. That's a pity.
But I can imagine how weird it was for you all :)
But please do not throw it away. If you work at an University, most probably you will find Muslims students there. Hand it over to them. Or drop it in some Mosque. Maybe someone else will have interest on reading it.
Post a Comment