Tboy007:

Hi all,



I happen to be a grad student in Gainesville (the city this church is located). Not only is the church advocating such sic statements against Islam. it is also doing same against Budhism, Hinduism, etc.(I have attached one of their banners). Funny enough, the members are not more than a few score of deluded maniacs. Strangely, all of them seem to be "white": at least that's the pigment of their skins. I believe their hearts are utterly black.

You can ask any student/faculty in the University of Florida (UF) (even the freshmen) and he/she will tell you how these folks are ignored whenever they bring their "crusade" on campus. There was a day they came on campus (they weren't up to 10) to the famous Turlington Plaza, and students were trying to shoo them off. The next day, the University/& the school's intl center released a stment against their preachings. In fact, the student-run daily newspaper (the Alligator) was so critical of them and advised students to simply ignore them.The group have really defiled the symbol of the dove with their hatred (They call themselves the Dove world or something similar & have a symbol of the a white dove as an insignia)

The group also came to one of our community masjid (mosque) with the hope of picking up a fight with us, carrying plackards etc. We didn't avail them such luxury. They left drenched to the soles of their feet in the hot Summer day. (We offered them bottled water, lol!!!)  A striking factor about these people is that most of them (at least those that came to the local masjid) were mostly haggard-looking white ladies, some even with babies strapped on their chest (they don't strap babies at the back as we do back  home). I can only come to the conclusion that the group is made of a bunch of high-school drop-outs & drug-taking white wannabes.


In Gainsville, we have an inter-faith forum usually held each weekend & we have several faiths and colors represented:. Judaism, Islam, Budhism, Hinduism,Methodist, Catholics, etc, & even atheist. Never have the "Dove world" bigots ever attended this gathering.(at least to the best of my knowledge)

The islamophobia phenomenon cannot be denied.I acknowledge the misrepresentation such unwanted elements as Terrorists, etc have rubbed on Islam. You may realize that most terrorist acts attributed to Islam/muslims have political/economic undertones (& these acts are conveniently undertake under the garb of Religion). The cases of Afghanistan, Iraq, etc are clear to see. I have also lived among the hausa in Northern Nigeria (Gombe to be specific) & I can tell u all the so-called religious unrests are finetuned by the politicians who take advantage of the socio-econmic imbalance of the region, the youthfull restiveness & the wrong interpretation of the so-called local imams(who are really more fetish than Islamic). I also acknowledge the fact that some muslims display ignorance as regards their faith.

But as humans, we have been endowed with the great power of intellect. We have resources at our disposal. Yet some of us refer to the so-called pastors/imams/news reporters to shape our views and opinions. If anyone ascribes devil to Islam. What a sane & sincere human will do is to grab a translated copy of the book of Islam (the Holy Qur'an) & attempt an un-biased assessment of its contents.

Without any doubt, Islam is the only non-christian faith which upholds the high status of Jesus (May GOD be pleased with him) & venerates him. The Holy book, in a chapter exclusively dedicated to Jesus's mother (Mary) absolves her of any improper act (she had been accused by the jews of being unchaste,etc:they even called her a love-peddler).

The distinction between us and most of christianity is that we don't believe Jesus is the "son" of God. Some xtains also hold this view. We believe that GOD (the exalted in Might)is so high & mighty that we can't attribute human qualities such as fatherhood to HIM. An article of faith in Islam states clearly that a believer must believe in other prophets/messengers (Abraham, Moses,Joseph,solomon,[May GOD be pleased with them all], etc) sent by GOD to humanity and we make no distinction among them.)

We believe that such chosen men of GOD were sent to different nations/peoples at different epoch of time and that Muhammed ((May GOD be pleased with him) is the seal of these few chosen men of GOD.

We acknowledge the divine birth (without any male intervention) of Jesus & some of the miracles attributed to him. As regards those miracles, our belief is that he performed them all not of his own power but of GOD's permission.

The holy book of Islam (Qur'an) is indeed a miracle to mankind. The book has confirmed so many human scientific facts. For example, while a great human mind was being persecuted for saying that the earth was not flat(I don't need to mention his name & those that persecuted him) , the book clearly says the shape of the earth is like an ostrich's egg. (which is of course geoid in shape). The book also talks in lucid tones about the embryonic developmental stages in the womb(which has recently been confirmed by modern science).


Before the modern world ever thought of coming up with "rules of engagement" in our crisis-infested plan, the book had already made mention of that 1400years ago. Funny enough, I met a pair of "whities" on campus who wore heavily emboldened crosses on their necks( I later got to know they were catholics) who accosted me and we had a brief discussion for a couple of mins: we talked about the purpose of existence. They thought everyone from the african continent is xtian (especially when i told them I was from Nigeria: Alas, one of their "fathers" is also from Nigeria). While everyone ignored them, I spared some mins with them & we talked about Islam's position on warfare amongst other things. They were astounded to realize Islam's principle on warfare as eptomized in the Holy Qur'an: "Fight ONLY those who fight you", and also the holy Qur'an's provision of accompanying the "neutrals" to a place of security/sanctuary, etc. 


There is a "basis" for every act of worship in Islam & "knowledge" is first advocated before worship . As a muslim, it is my duty to ask myself: why I should pray to GOD, why i should fast, why I should spend 2.5% on my excess income(after fulfiling all my financial responsibilities) on charity, etc.
Islam's position is to make the "TRUTH" available to all. Afterwards, it is the responsibilty of those who have heard the truth to either abide by it,ignore it or discard it: We all have choices to make, "For you is your religion & for me is mine", "Let there be no compulsion in faith" (These are few excerpts of the Holy Qur'an)

And it may also interest you that so many people (even those who don't speak the language of the Holy Qur'an: Arabic) have committed the entire contents of the book to memory. So any group of people could gather all the copies of the holy book avaialble and incinerate, the world won't lose the message of the holy book.

, Truth extinguishes falsehood,   

*** I didn't include references to the specific verses/chapters in the Holy Qur'an because I don't want to bore readers. The length of my response is already large enough. But i will be most glad to provide the references if anyone requests them. Or better still, the reader could get him/herself an English copy of the Holy Qur'an.****

****Any inconsistencies I have made on this submission is from the inadequacy of my knowledge and writing skills & anything I have written that is consistent is from the mercy of GOD. May GOD make the write-up much better understood than I have presented it****




May the peace & mercies of GOD abide with you all.

, One love!!!!!!!!

Frankly, I feel these foreign religions have not done Africans any good. We kill each other over religion, we do not trust anyone over religion and causes a host of other problems.

Why not follow the old ways? What was wrong with our traditional religions? Our ancestors had no problem with their religion. Africans are so quick to throw away their culture due to foreign influences, it shows an inferiority complex. My God is Chukwu!

EzeUche22:

What was wrong with our traditional religions?

ezeagu:

Outcasts, twin killing, blaming illnesses on "Ogbanje", human sacrifice and slavery by the "gods", apart from that nothing wrong. . . . . . . .

ezeagu:

Outcasts, twin killing, blaming illnesses on "Ogbanje", human sacrifice and slavery by the "gods", apart from that nothing wrong. . . . . . . .

Kenezi:

The Indians who still have the racist caste system to this day? Their religion has never done them any good, just like human sacrifice never did Nigeria any good, but you can have the freedom to burn cash as protection from bullets if you want.

nice.one:

Kindly make reference to the fallacies you claim to in the Qur'an. (I am sure u are probably gonna google this).Before the advents of astronomy, the holy Book had explained to us the cosmo. About evolution, the book is against Charles Darwin's theories (& this theory has been disproved by several scientists too: Some even contend that Darwin was trying to promote white supremist views) .

Islam ain't a religion of the arabs. It is a mercy to the whole of mankind!! It is a TOTAL way of life!!!

Mercy. .of the world. . . do u even read your own Quran?
Well let me help u. . . .

paddy_lo:

Mercy. .of the world. . . do u even read your own Quran?
Well let me help u. . . .

EzeUche22:

Well that was all part of our culture at the time. Even the Judaic religions has some "barbaric" practices like stoning adulterers and cutting the limbs off of thieves.

We could have "modernized" our religion and traditional practices. The Indians did not forget their gods. Their religion just evolved. That is something I admire about the Indians. Even though they were colonized, they did not forget their old ways. Maybe that is why Africa is not progressing. We have forsaken our culture and our gods.

paddy_lo:

Thank u. . .that is why things fell apart in igboland. . and other parts of Nigeria quite frankly
How many chinese,Indian or Japanese do u see worshiping a foreign GOD?. [b]. and we wonder why they are doing well. . . [/b]