You see, there had been a negative response to an opinion piece in the city newspaper regarding showing support for our Muslim neighbors. The response invited folks to come listen to Usama Dakdok this past Saturday on the topic: Revealing the Truth about the Jihad and Terrorism of Islam in a north side neighborhood community center.
Although I double majored in Asian Studies and touched on eastern religions, there is plenty more I'd like to understand about the Qu'ran and its followers. Considering the person who responded was negative to community support of our Muslim community, of course there were expectations the talk would not to be exactly complimentary. But hearing different viewpoints is important, right?
Upon entering the community meeting room, a flyer was handed out. Included were the speaker's background as Mr. Dakdok broadcasts M-F at 12:30 CST on network VCY America and online on Saturdays 9-11 Blogtalk Radio-Radio Jihad. Dakdok was born in Egypt to a Baptist pastor (in the South we always called them preachers) and moved to the U.S. in '92 with his western wife.
An entire paragraph followed about not having fear/prejudice towards fellow citizens of Muslims/ folks of Middle Eastern descent. Actions by ISIS should not affect our treatment of Muslims in our country, we should be friendly but aware. "What can we do?" asks the handout. "Education awareness, civil dialogue, and sharing of ideas."OK, this is why and I assume others were there.
The following printed verses gave me hope as to what could be a good presentation.
Yet, the Straight Way of Grace Ministry's speaker started his presentation ranting/ ok, yelling about the evils of Mohammed and how Mohammed was no prophet but rather Satan. Can you imagine demonizing another religion's prophet to start a "dialogue"?
Mr. Dakdok only apologized for speaking quickly in order to fit all he had to say in his 2.5 hour presentation. What? This wasn't going to be an hour long talk? The speed and volume appeared to be techniques to not give the listener too much time to really reflect about the info being dispensed. The yelling touched something visceral in me. I don't know about you but I have never liked being yelled at as a kid nor as an adult.
Granted Mr. Dakdok had a polished talk, firing rapid lines about Islam interspersed with 'incriminating' Qu'ran scriptures about infidels. And a repetition of lines to emphasis a point (a convincing speech strategy.) His repetition: Are we are just "stupid"? "Stupid" for trusting any Muslim. "Stupid" for believing Obama is not a follower of Islam, "stupid" for churches embracing Syrian immigrants, "stupid" for thinking we should build a wall along Mexico's border when where we need to build one is along the Canadian border since their liberal Prime Minister is accepting so many Syrians. Americans are just "stupid."
Every sentence out of this man's mouth was a jewel of hate. We shouldn't let Muslims teach our children, become citizens because they just lie. You get it, we Americans shouldn't trust Muslims. "Are we just STUPID?" "We will end up with having our grandchildren beheaded?" "Sharia (Islamic Law)" would destroy us all because of liberal lawmakers.
So, what about the Jihad and terrorism? Weren't we supposed to be talking about Jihad? The name Jihad was never mentioned during the first hour I was there.
What Mr. Dakdok also didn't allude to was what it was like growing up in Egypt as a Christian Arab and minority. Most certainly his family like many Christian Arabs were ostracized and persecuted. BUT to spread fear and hatred and gross generalizations about Muslims negating any possibility of peaceful coexistence serves absolutely no purpose. In case it's still not clear, he repeatedly called Americans "stupid" for not realizing the evil Muslims possess.
The only thing more "stupid" than the ugliness espoused by this man was me trying to last an hour listening to so much hate. I made it 50 minutes. Upon my departure, I noticed empty seats behind me. Others had not lasted as long.
In the parking lot a fellow was pulling out of his space, stopped his car and opened his side window. He said, "I guess I wasn't the only one." I responded, "Oh no, in fact, it was way too much hate for me." He told me his church had included this talk invitation in their bulletin. He was glad none of his buddies were there or they would have shot the speaker. Whoa.
When you preach hate, you can get hate in return... This talk is dangerous to our souls.
Check out this link:What It's Like Being a Muslim in America
Upon entering the community meeting room, a flyer was handed out. Included were the speaker's background as Mr. Dakdok broadcasts M-F at 12:30 CST on network VCY America and online on Saturdays 9-11 Blogtalk Radio-Radio Jihad. Dakdok was born in Egypt to a Baptist pastor (in the South we always called them preachers) and moved to the U.S. in '92 with his western wife.An entire paragraph followed about not having fear/prejudice towards fellow citizens of Muslims/ folks of Middle Eastern descent. Actions by ISIS should not affect our treatment of Muslims in our country, we should be friendly but aware. "What can we do?" asks the handout. "Education awareness, civil dialogue, and sharing of ideas."OK, this is why and I assume others were there.
The following printed verses gave me hope as to what could be a good presentation.
Yet, the Straight Way of Grace Ministry's speaker started his presentation ranting/ ok, yelling about the evils of Mohammed and how Mohammed was no prophet but rather Satan. Can you imagine demonizing another religion's prophet to start a "dialogue"?
Mr. Dakdok only apologized for speaking quickly in order to fit all he had to say in his 2.5 hour presentation. What? This wasn't going to be an hour long talk? The speed and volume appeared to be techniques to not give the listener too much time to really reflect about the info being dispensed. The yelling touched something visceral in me. I don't know about you but I have never liked being yelled at as a kid nor as an adult.
Granted Mr. Dakdok had a polished talk, firing rapid lines about Islam interspersed with 'incriminating' Qu'ran scriptures about infidels. And a repetition of lines to emphasis a point (a convincing speech strategy.) His repetition: Are we are just "stupid"? "Stupid" for trusting any Muslim. "Stupid" for believing Obama is not a follower of Islam, "stupid" for churches embracing Syrian immigrants, "stupid" for thinking we should build a wall along Mexico's border when where we need to build one is along the Canadian border since their liberal Prime Minister is accepting so many Syrians. Americans are just "stupid."
Every sentence out of this man's mouth was a jewel of hate. We shouldn't let Muslims teach our children, become citizens because they just lie. You get it, we Americans shouldn't trust Muslims. "Are we just STUPID?" "We will end up with having our grandchildren beheaded?" "Sharia (Islamic Law)" would destroy us all because of liberal lawmakers.
So, what about the Jihad and terrorism? Weren't we supposed to be talking about Jihad? The name Jihad was never mentioned during the first hour I was there.
What Mr. Dakdok also didn't allude to was what it was like growing up in Egypt as a Christian Arab and minority. Most certainly his family like many Christian Arabs were ostracized and persecuted. BUT to spread fear and hatred and gross generalizations about Muslims negating any possibility of peaceful coexistence serves absolutely no purpose. In case it's still not clear, he repeatedly called Americans "stupid" for not realizing the evil Muslims possess.
In the parking lot a fellow was pulling out of his space, stopped his car and opened his side window. He said, "I guess I wasn't the only one." I responded, "Oh no, in fact, it was way too much hate for me." He told me his church had included this talk invitation in their bulletin. He was glad none of his buddies were there or they would have shot the speaker. Whoa.
When you preach hate, you can get hate in return... This talk is dangerous to our souls.
Check out this link:What It's Like Being a Muslim in America
Wow. That would have been hard to take. Doesn't he realize the fuel he's adding to the fire? I wonder what his agenda was based on. Very disturbing.
ReplyDeleteHis agenda is that the only good Muslim is one who accepts Jesus as his savior.
ReplyDelete