OUR days are tickling with unending material concerns. Our nights become day light to surf the Internet, especially the social media into the mid night only to sleep off in the other half after we have been fatigued without any spiritual consciousness. We are living the reality of surah al –Asr (Q103). Our days are fast declining and our nights are deteriorating. 

Social media networks appear to be the most trying technology in the modern times. There is no aspect of life of the youths especially it has not affected. It is an unstoppable hurricane.

Children or students are at the cross road. They have become obsessed and immersed in this mire. There is a strong bond between them and the Internet. This is really the time when time has no value. This is the time when time flies fastest. The value which time teaches is extinct. With the fingertips of our youths on the mobile phones, nights and days have been fused into one. At the stillness of the night which the Qur’aan describes as “…layla libaasan…nawmakum. subaatan” (night as a covering and sleep as rest), our youths are on different websites to deform their characters. Only Allah (SWT) can tell when last they say the prayers before sleep or recite recommended surahs before sleep. Inside the masjid (mosque), one ought to enjoy the serenity of being in communion with Allah (SWT) but there is a heavy spiritual traffic jam caused by our various mobile phones in our pockets or fronts vibrating or ringing in their different melodies. After Salaat , time for Istighfaar and Tasbeeh is further disrupted by immediately checking our missed calls or messages on WhatsApp or text messages.



During sermons or lectures, we are physically present with our minds on our mobile phones surfing the Internet, while our fingers are busy pressing the buttons.

One of the greatest values that have slipped off our fingers is that of time consciousness and utilisation. Our appointments and schedules suffer its absence. We fix time for programme but always start behind schedule.  We go and end late.  Organisers get set after schedule. Lecturers come late knowing full well that the programme cannot start to time.  The invitees saunter in very late but feel no remorse of their injustice to time.

Our time flies like a whirlwind but we never know on what we spend it. Our lives are now regulated by the Internet. We pay it obeisance as if it is god. Our precious times are devoted to it. The psyche of e-mail, e-book, e-examination, etc is pushing us to e-Salaat , e-tilawah, e-tahajjud! We hang-out with frivolities and get fed up with spirituality. 

Can we have a momentary reflection? What shall we tell our Lord the day we will meet Him on how we spend our time? Can we confidently account for the time we spend on the Internet as being for Allah (SWT)? Has our use of the Facebook, whatsApp of great success to our soul?

Doubtlessly speaking, Internet and social media are affecting our sense of Dhikr. They deny us the real time and enjoyment of Tahajjud. It is affecting our innocence and morality. It kidnaps children from their parents. It deprives us of natural love and concern.

Its emergence is indeed one of the signs that this world is moving towards its extinction. Time is older than all of us as it keeps changing and passing away. So many things happened many centuries ago which are now antiquated. A lot of creatures – human, animals, birds, – of different kinds existed but now absolutely extinct and referred to as prehistoric. Archaeological studies have revealed a lot in this regard.
www.iwitness.com.ng
In our not too distant time too, several things that we were used to or knew some years back are now obsolete. When such things are mentioned, children born within the last ten years find it difficult to believe. We are in a moving world. Technology is ever dynamic. We, these days, almost every day witness new phenomena. One of such is the Internet and social media networks. Everywhere in the world is agog of this technology. Most of them have facilitated communication and businesses. Their use appears irresistible. Their evils or even menaces appear to have conquered our moral inclinations. It appears people have become slaves to the Internet. Man has become so bonded with all these social media networks to the extent that his life is incomplete without it. 

This technology means a lot to a Muslim. It is a powerful potent tool to practise and propagate Islaam. It has immensely expanded his knowledge horizon but not without its attendant negative implications. To a level, most average Muslims are confused by the information overload.

The Internet affords him access to unprecedented reference materials on Islaam. But not all materials or websites give correct teaching on Islaam. Non-Muslims do also have websites in the name of Islaam and by it advertently promote their own adulterated version of Islaam. There are also others who are Muslims but still promote extreme or personal opinion on Islaam. In all these situations, only a Muslim grounded in Islamic knowledge can sieve the shaft from the grain. Thus, general Muslims and youths especially have to be guided in this era of legal rulings by different scholars.

Internet today has become a kind of a modern idol. The belief in it is so strong that if possible people will want to be observing Salaat  online! The youths are at the cross road. Social media networks have become the fulcrum of their life. They are descending from a very high sharp mountain. They keep surging forward without hindrance. They are now more devoted to their mobile phones than they are to Allah (SWT). Their days and nights are in the worship of the Internet-god. Nothing in the history of man has been so time-consuming than the Internet. It is a deep and endless ocean within which unskilled youths swim.

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There has emerged the growing tendency of self-promotion. Every individual wants to be seen, wants to be liked. Apart from profile picture, you will see people posting the most ludicrous of their pictures at different postures. Somebody will post his nude posture; another will post when he is eating chicken; another will post his new attire. This leads to show-off and promotion of self. It affects pure thinking of naturally doing things for social progress. Of course, this posting allows false representation and deception.

Through the Internet or use of mobile phones, falsehood or lying is glamorously promoted. People tell what they are not. People lie to deceive and cover up. Lying through the mobile phones has been institutionalised as it is easier to be inside your room and deceive the one in the next door. The heart tends not to feel guilty telling such lies. The Internet, use of mobile phones and social media networks have drastically reduced physical contact and reduced it to artificial or meeting behind the screen. It has removed our humanity with all its feelings, love and concern and replaced it with machine–relationship. We no longer think as humans but as machines.

Internet lacks spiritual and moral essence. It is a technology without soul. It brings men of soul and deprives them of its nature. Fake news, propaganda and make-belief find comfortable support on the social media. It takes the critical mind to sieve information. Personalities are easily damaged via the Internet. People’s minds are so at peace posting untrue, fabricated information or news about death, events, and the like. 

Another great disturbing effect of the social media is the “forwarding syndrome”. It is really a murder of intellectualism and originality. Some have become specialists in forwarding just any message. Any information, message, news is ready for onward transfer without confirming the authenticity or otherwise. Only Allah (SWT) can tell what damage this has done. A lot of people have been led in error to act against the normal. There have been cases when a Muslim will forward content with bias to Islaam.

Plagiarism is real on the Internet. Many higher Institution students’ assignments, researches or projects are nothing but glorified copied work of others’ thought. A few minutes of Google or yahoo search will complete a student’s project. 

The moral realm of the Internet via its multi-faceted platforms is calamitous. Unprintable words describing the private human organ is no more a taboo! Posting of sexual affairs, deep romance, etc has become normal. Dating or getting lovers is for free on the Internet. Cases abound on Facebook lovers. The spirit of love on the Internet is really magnetic and demonic. 

How about the distraction the Internet causes for young students in schools. Their times and minds are on the Internet while their physical bodies are in the class. The unfortunate sweating, screaming teacher is talking to himself while the learners are on the Internet. A lot that could add value to a student’s learning are on the Internet but they rather prefer other ones that will give them sensual satisfaction. 

The emergence of mobile phones shortens the road to love making. It connects so fast, bonds so easily, fixes appointment without stress, deepens love feeling and leads to sexual satisfaction. Youths become conditioned to a pattern of behaviour. It changes their character in school and at home. It promotes a life of pleasure instead of that of scholarship and modesty. 

A Muslim child is not left out in this situation. His ear pieces are handy, glued to his ears and his fingers on the buttons of his mobile phone. His heart and mind are far from his Creator. His Tilaawah suffers because he has to be on the Internet 24/7. His Salaat  has become feeble because he enters through checking his last message on whatsApp/facebook/twitter, hurriedly observes it and returns to the Internet. His mind for Dhikr is disrupted because a lot of information via the Internet has saturated him. The few suwar of the Qur’aan he memorises have slipped off. Thought for hifsul-Qur’aan has no room in his mind. Tahajjud is difficult because he will be on the Internet till the stillness of the night and wake up late. You can ask him when last he held an Islamic literature in his hand!

The son of a scholar is becoming an ignoramus. The daughter of the missionary mother is becoming a laggard. There arises confusion in the home of Islaam. Parents go to the mosque, children go the Internet, even when they are in the mosque, mothers cry seeing the lifestyle of their daughters; the latter laugh at the extremism of their mother!

The future of Islaam is here, we need not go far. We are reaping the fruit of our failure as parents because of our material engagements. The coast is murky, the cloud is intense and the future appears bleak.

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If our children, while we have not even died, are not showing satisfactory sign of being our future hope. Then, what becomes of their own progenies?  The wilderness of Internet is really thick. Enlightenment should start early enough to guide these children. Denial or non-use will not solve the problem.

This menace could be tacked by first putting Allah (SWT) first. Do always fervently supplicate that He should protect you from the evils of the Internet and all that transpire on it. Do consciously watch the time you spend on the Internet, mobile phone or social media. Consider Allah (SWT) first. Detach yourself from your mobile phone. Do at times keep it away from your days, dump it at home and live a life free from it. No amount of sermon can stop you from being on the Internet or social media. But you can help yourself by realising that Allah (SWT) is ar-Raqeeb. You believe that He is watching over you. Wherever you stay or find yourself, He is watching your time and activities. This consciousness of Allah’s presence can limit your excesses or immoral acts via the mobile phone or social media.

Your thinking of Allah (SWT) as al-Baseer can also prevent you from reading or sending unprintable messages. You believe He sees you immediately as you are about composing the love messages. Your thinking of Allah (SWT) as as-Samii cautions what you say or listen to. The air waves which carry the talks is within His purview and control. The two ends at which you are discussing are not hidden from Him. He knows where all of you are. Deleting your post or message is for you but permanent in His record. He is al-Muhsii who counts how many times you have involved in such. Why even go too far? The brains behind the Internet have a central control of keeping all messages in their box.

Two other names you can recall are al-Aliim and al-Muntaqim. The first signifies that Allah’s knowledge encompasses all that you do, where you do it and how it is done. The second calls to mind the power of Allah (SWT) to punish you anyway He likes. No one dares Allah’s punishments. All that you use are His. The bodily parts you use could be taken away by him. He could paralise the hand with which you act or any other part for that matter.

So, we must see the Internet, mobile phone and social media networks as the trials of our time. It affects us all but differently. It corrupts our eyes, ears, brains and hearts except those whom Allah (SWT) saves. Each soul surely knows how it pains or affects it. A believer cannot keep living in sin. As soon as the light of guidance shines on his heart, he must turn in repentance to Allah (SWT) and mend his ways.

Corruption of the soul is the deadliest danger to human existence. The Internet has indeed negatively affected our human moral essence. Let us all return to our Lord. We can all mend our ways. Let us stop cascading in the ditch of destruction.

Let us restore the value of our soul. The Qur’aan says:

“ Then,  He showed him what is wrong for him and what is right for him; indeed he succeeds who purifies his ownself; and indeed He fails who corrupts his ownself  (Q91:8 – 10)

 

Every soul knows the extent it has gone in staining its purity through the Internet. Recall yourself to Allah (SWT). It is indeed a big trial of our time which shaytaan is using to weaken our spiritual potency. Eyes that have become obsessed in watching pornographic material cannot see good in virtue. The mind that is amorously sexy cannot enjoy the ecstasy of Dhikr. The heart that is religiously devoted to the social media network cannot experience the tranquillity of the heart. 

This trial should be treated like a cancer. Desperate and enlightened effort must be made to treat it. This trial is the subject matter of Q103: 1 – 3:

“By the time;  Verily! man is in loss;  except those who believe and do righteous good deeds, and recommend one another to the Truth and recommend one another to patience.” 

The solutions are clear; restoring our unflinching faith in Allah (SWT) as the All-seeing and All –knowing of our affairs; treading the path of doing good deeds via our conscious observance of the salawaat, reading the Qur’aan, observing Tahajjud, spending all our time on rewardable things; continuous calling our attention to the truth about this life and the Hereafter; and enjoying ourselves to patience as an indispensible tool to overcome the trial. This patience will mean that we will please Allah (SWT) by restraining ourselves from the evils of Internet which others have fallen in



Read more http://www.iwitness.com.ng/trial-of-our-time-by-zafaran-adeniyi/

Nigerian soldiers observing Eid in a makeshift mosque.

DID YOU TOO NOTICE THIS IN PROFESSORATTAIRU JEGA?... Chairman, Independent National Electoral Commission Since the commencement of the collation of Presidential election, he has been making his way to observe As-Salaat at its fixed hours by scheduling break time at prayer time. let us all check ourselves how obedient are we to Almighty Allah? Jega is the one controlling his time and he never allowed time to control him. It means he is submissive to his Creator alone and refused to be a slave to anything beside Allaah...Subhanallaah. Perhaps, you fall into the category of Muslim, who happen to be Boss in their work but always making life difficult for fellow Muslims because they are observant of prayer time. No matter how big your company or organisation is. Whether you are the CEO, GM, Manager, Director or whatever. Your post is insignificant compare to that of Professor Jega, but he did not impress fellow human being in place of his Creator. This is a big lesson for we Muslims. It will be better for you to have a rethink about the way you are treating fellow Muslims and the way you are observing your prayer. Plan around prayer time , so that you will be the one controlling yourtime and not other way round. No wonder, he was successful, where many have failed. Can we invoke Allaah for Professor Attahiru Jega , the INEC chairman. Oh Allah! Preserves Attahiru Jega for us, forgive his shortcomings and let him be more successful here on earth and hereafter.... Aamiin...

OREMUSSANCTUS:
Can any apc fan list at least 5 core developmental project tinubu de asiwaju of corruption in africa cum jagaban of weeds did wen he was d state governor of lagos?
Pls don't mention fashola, or tell me he did d blueprint for fashola to carry out, abi na four years dem deh take draft blueprint? Becos for wad I know d plan was initiated and drafted by lateef jakande. Just 5 projects its not too much.

Lol. You are needed at religion section where u make your day. Maalu

PM me.

This OP cannot be serious. The pictures are only some parts of Yenegoa. What about other parts of Yenegoa? Where is Ekeki? Where is that bushy and marshy Kolokuma Opokuma? Where is Tombia village, Where is Okutukutu, Where is Amarata environs. It is like you taking the pic of a single road in Surulere and telling me that is Lagos State. Who is even the mod that moved wrong information to the front page. Seun; your attention.

1. https://www./mssn.ng/permalink/10152313198834807/

2. http://leadership.ng/news/376267/ramadan-begins-today-sultan

Allahu a'lam.

A 2006 analysis of the database identified 125 reports of interference from electronic gadgets, of which 77 were defined as "highly correlated". In one incident a 30-degree error in navigation equipment was immediately corrected when a passenger turned off a portable DVD player. This problem reoccurred when the device was switched back on. Fight crew have reported a number of similar cases in which they have watched readings on navigations systems change apparently in response to passengers being asked to turn specific devices on and off. In another report, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) identified 75 separate incidents of possible electronic interference that pilots believe were linked to mobile phones and other electronic devices between 2003 and 2009.

In the competitive world of aviation, some airlines such as Virgin Atlantic and Delta Airlines have started advertising the use of technologies that allow greater use of mobile devices on flights. In-flight mobile phone systems such as OnAir and AeroMobile use miniature on-board base stations called picocells which allow devices to transmit at lower power levels. Transmissions are processed, transmitted to a satellite and then on to the normal ground networks. This, says AeroMobile chief executive Kevin Rogers, enables the use of mobiles “as a roaming service just like when you go to a foreign country, except that in a foreign country you don’t need a satellite link.” Some airlines are now starting to fit AeroMobile equipment during production.

These systems allow you to use your phone while at cruise altitude, but not during take-off and landing. Rogers thinks that this might change one day, but at the moment it is still difficult to “prove categorically that there is indeed no interference – so airlines tend to err on the side of caution and be conservative.”

But as Rogers adds: “Many phones are always left on anyway. If there was a real risk of interference of a mobile phone or an iPad with the aircraft’s systems, people would not be allowed to take them on the aircraft at all.”

Some air authorities remain unconvinced, however. In-air mobile services cannot be used in US airspace, for example. The US Federal Aviation Administration has come under pressure to relax its rules and last year set up a group of experts to study the question. A decision is expected by the end of this year.

Richard Taylor, a spokesman of the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority, believes it is just a matter of time before we see more widespread use of mobile devices on aircraft, but that calls will remain banned during take-off or landing for the foreseeable future.

“When regulators like us are convinced that an aircraft can be used safely even with portable electronic devices being used in the cabin, that the signal being emitted from the cabin at any stage of the flight can be safely absorbed without affecting any of the aircraft systems, of course the rules will be relaxed,” he says. “But it’s up to the manufacturers, and of course to the airlines, to prove that they are operating the aircraft safely.”

Perhaps that day may come soon. However, having learnt how difficult it is to prove definitively that planes are safe from interference, I'll be making sure my phone is properly switched off in future. After all, when I'm en route to my holiday in the sun, I don't want my handset to be responsible for tricking the pilot into landing in some rainy old place. Or for something even worse.

If you would like to comment on this story or anything else you have seen on Future, head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter.

Source: http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130604-why-we-turn-devices-off-on-planes/2

I have a guilty secret to confess. My plane was preparing for take-off from London’s Heathrow Airport in March when a flight attendant made the usual request for passengers to turn their electronic devices off. Far from complying, I pushed my smartphone deeper into my pocket. I had important work messages to check, and surely my little handset wasn’t going to cause the plane to plummet from the sky, was it?

It seems I'm not alone. A recent survey found around four out of 10 US air passengers admitted they don’t always turn their gadgets off on flights. One notable occasion saw the actor Alec Baldwin reacting furiously on Twitter after being kicked off a Los Angeles-to-New York flight before take off for refusing to stop playing the online game Words With Friends on his phone.

According to regulations, which are pretty uniform around the world, the use of portable electronic devices is not allowed below around 3,000m (10,000ft), even in "flight mode” which stops the transmission of signals. Above this height devices like laptops and music players can be used, but phones must remain off. These rules are important, we are told, to avoid potentially dangerous interference between signals from these devices and sensitive onboard electronic systems. But do these fears have any scientific basis, or is it time to relax the rules?

The fear of interference comes from the fact that gadgets connect to the internet or to mobile phone networks using radio waves. To explain the theoretical dangers, Peter Ladkin, Professor of Computer Networks and Distributed Systems at Bielefeld University, Germany, uses the analogy of holding a blowtorch to your household heating pipes. The central heating system in your house makes changes based on the readings of thermometers within those pipes, so the blowtorch will heat the water, change the temperature readings and trigger the system to make adjustments.

Personal mobile devices could act in a similar way on aeroplanes, on which hundreds of electronics-based systems, known as avionics, are used for navigation, to communicate with the ground and to keep track of the components that keep them in the air. Some involve sensors that communicate information to cockpit instruments. It's not just an issue with mobile phones. Kindles, iPods, laptops, handheld gaming consoles – they all emit radio waves. If these are at frequencies close to those of the avionics, signals and readings could be corrupted. This could affect systems such as radar, communications and collision avoidance technology, and the problem is potentially magnified if gadgets are damaged and start emitting stronger radio waves than they should, or if signals from multiple devices combine.

So much for the theory, but is there any proof that this is a problem? There are no known recorded incidents of crashes having been definitely caused by such interference, but that said the causes of accidents can sometimes remain unknown. A flight recorder may not identify that a critical system has failed because of electromagnetic interference from passengers’ devices.

System malfunction

But while definite proof may be lacking, there is plenty of anecdotal evidence that the risks should be taken seriously. A report summarising 50 cases of safety issues thought to have been caused by personal electronic devices, was published in January this year. These were compiled from the US Aviation Safety Reporting System, a database maintained by Nasa, to which crew members can anonymously submit reports of safety problems. One such case was summarised as follows: "First Officer reports compass system malfunctions during initial climb. When passengers are asked to verify that all electronic devices are turned off the compass system returns to normal.”

BREAKING NEWS: EKITI STATE GOVERNMENT
LEAD BY DR' KAYODE FAYEMI HAS APPROVED
THE USE OF HIJAB FOR ALL MUSLIM STUDENTS
ACROSS THE STATE, THIS IS CONTAINED IN A
CIRCULAR SENT TO ALL PUBLIC SCHOOLS HEAD
TEACHERS AND PRINCIPALS ACROSS THE STATE.
DR' FAYEMI SAID "HIJAB-HEADTIE IS A
FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS OF EVERY MUSLIM
FEMALE STUDENTS AND MUST NOT BE
DISSALLOWED FOR WHATSOEVER REASONS." DR
KAYODE FAYEMI, ONE MILLION VOTE FOR YOU
IN THE COMING JUNE 2014 ELECTIONS, IF
BABATUNDE RAJI FASHOLA SAN, A SENIOR
ADVOCATE OF NIGERIA &HIS OSUN STATE
COUNTERPART A SELF ACCLAIMED HUMAN
RIGHTS ACTIVIST CAN BE PLAYING POLITICS
WITH MUSLIMS FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS AND DR'
KAYODE FAYEMI A POLITICIAN CHRISTIAN CAN
RECOGNISED OUR MINORITY RIGHTS AND GIVE
THEM TO US, HE DESERVED OUR APPLAUD AND
APPRECIATION SO THAT HE CAN DO MORE! IF
FASHOLA AND AREGBESOLA CONTINUE PLAYING
POLITICS WITH OUR MAJORITY STRENGTH FOR
FEAR OF LOOSING MINORITY VOTES, WE MUST
TELL THEM HOW TO BE A GOOD POLITICIAN IF
AT ALL THEY HAVE OPPORTUNITY OF SMELL
ELECTED POLITICAL OFFICE AGAIN IN THEIR
CAREER! DR' KAYODE FAYEMI WELL DONE FOR
THE GOOD JOB!!!

https://www.facebook.com/mssnlsau?fref=ts&ref=br_tf

LIE! I spent 4 days in Topo last week. I didn't see electricity more than 3 hours.

Mckennedy:

I live at aradagun Badagry Lagos we only see electricity supply 10-20 seconds somedays whereas other areas in Badagry always have supply everyday. though there lots of petrol station which we know are paying to electricity office I feel is a sabotage to the goverment making money at the detriment of others.

I am not interested in you boy!

bigx:

I was less privileged when I was in university and I got Total, Shell, NLNG and Mobil scholarships.

I didn't apply for ptdf because I'd passed 1st year when it started but I know people too who were "less privileged" who had this same ptdf in uni then from all over nigeria.

They where all hardworkers and excelled in their studies.

Quit this attitude and work hard, you would be able to achieve whatever you want

Thanks for your patronage.

...and now, this is pathetic. Even a 5-year-old child is better than a bowl of rice. See what we have turned a one time great nation to.

more

Uhh?

More

Chai. I no fit talk. Make I dey sell my Kampala dey go jeje. Abeg visit kampala-adire..com make u help me buy Kampala/Adire.

Na money Iyabo and Baba dey fight on top. Make I fight for my own on NL too.

GET YOUR OWN. AS MANY AS YOU WANT. ALL WILL BE DELIVERED AT YOUR DOOR STEP.

Could you tell us more how the problem started. Give us an insight.

OK.

Is this a human being. SMDH.

primus_maximus: E get sum kind things wey this our governor, Adams Oshiomhole dey do sometimes wey I no just like at all
In fact, as I dey talk so, I dey Vexxxxxxxxx

Oga governor, dat day wen you seize that woman goods for Mission Road, you no see my mama own for there?........ Na my mumsi own even block road pass that woman own if we say make we really talk am
My mumsi tell me say on dat day, say she dey shout dey tell Oshiomhole say "Comrade governor abeg seize my own, Comrade governor abeg seize my own"......... But the governor no gree listen
Oga governor, abeg next time, if you wan give punishment, try make you punish everybody........ No be say you go punish 1 & leave the other..........Because na this 1 oyibo pipo dey call 'Selected Justice'

If to say you follow seize my mumsi goods dat day......... By now, my mumsi & that woman for share dat 2million 50-50............ She take 1million while my mumsi take 1million.......... & that money for really go a long way to solve sum kind family issues.

Sonita Dion

#STOLEN#

More than 3000 viewed the post, very little commented. I see! So many people ignored with disgust. The furious ones commented with heavy hearts. Lol.

Alhamdulilah.

Angola's government on Tuesday denied it had banned Islam and closed mosques in the country, after speculation that sparked outrage among Muslims worldwide.


"There is no war in Angola against Islam or any other religion," said Manuel Fernando, director of the National Institute for Religious Affairs, part of the ministry of culture.

"There is no official position that targets the destruction or closure of places of worship, whichever they are," Fernando told AFP.

Reports that Angola, a traditionally devout Catholic nation, would crack down on Muslims had drawn condemnation from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and others.

In Egypt, mufti Shawqi Allam said such a move would be "a provocation not only to Angolan Muslims but to more than 1.5 billion Muslims all over the world".

The oil-rich southern African nation has a population of about 18 million people, several hundred thousand of whom are Muslim.

Religious organisations are required to apply for accreditation in Angola, which currently recognises 83, all of them Christian.

In October the justice ministry rejected the applications of 194 organisations, including one from an umbrella Islamic community group.

David Ja, a spokesperson for local Muslims, challenged the government's account and said that a number of mosques had already been closed.

Ja condemned what he described as "political persecution" and "religious intolerance".

"A mosque was closed last week in Huambo (in the south) and we have been subjected to pressure this week regarding a mosque in Luanda," he said.

According to the ministry of culture, these closures were related to a lack of necessary land titles, building licenses or other official documents.

Analyst Alex Vines said the rumours followed Culture Minister Rosa Cruz e Silva's announcement last week that the government would crack down on "sects".

The measure "was targeting mostly Brazil-style evangelical groups that have mushroomed across Angola", according to Vines, Africa programme head at UK-based think-tank Chatham House.

Brazilian religious groups "have particularly worried establishment churches that have seen their congregations dwindle", he wrote on Chatham's website.

The headlines were the result of the government's "clumsy policy" and "poor communication", he said, warning they "might not only radicalise Muslim communities in Angola but could make Angola a legitimate target for jihadists".

Source: http://news.ng.msn.com/africa-news/angola-denies-banning-islam-after-outcry-1

Moving towards wrong direction.

I imagine someone going to pay #50 to a bus conductor but has #5,000. Wahala!

See challenge . Legs crossed.